The Canadian Movie Draft Live from Toronto!

19:24Sean Fennessey:Any film that is set in Toronto or has been shot in Toronto standing in for another city is eligible in that category. So here's the question for you. And honestly, feel free to take as long as you'd like to answer this question. People will love that. What makes a movie Canadian?

19:42Matt Johnson:Depends who you ask. Well, we're asking you. We're asking you. Okay, look. I couldn't get James Cameron. You don't know that. You don't know that Avatar's in trouble. He might have said yes. Okay, now look. There's a joke in this country. And that is that you can tell a movie is Canadian because there's an uncanny valley as you watch it. And you're like, this just doesn't seem like a real movie. That's not the answer you're looking for, though. That's what we would say. If we'd like, you would say, oh, this looks very Canadian almost as an insult. When I was going to film school, you'd be like, oh, yeah, this looks very Canadian.

20:14Matt Johnson:And that would be a way to be like.

20:16Sean Fennessey:What does that mean, though?

20:16Matt Johnson:Because there's less money in the production or. You know what? There's a lot of things that go into it, but there is a certain aspect of reality. If you've never made a movie before, people here who have will know. It is not as easy as just setting up the camera and filming what you wrote. Like there's a huge amount of craft that goes into actually making it feel, for lack of a better word, real. And in Canada, for a long time, we just hadn't figured that out. so now I would say what makes a movie Canadian when you're watching it at least nowadays is that it is so tied to the point of view of the filmmaker and I mean if I'm talking about the last decade in this country it would mean that it is very very specific typically autobiographical in some way and is endemic to the place so strangely like the fact that you're having Toronto as a location but in other movies like Good Will Hunting et cetera, which I imagine is going to be very high on that.

21:16Matt Johnson:Well, you'll have to watch and find out. Well, I'm trying to think of a more... Okay, sure. Maybe I'm giving stuff away. Sure. But now that actually has a big piece of it, like the actual geography. It's no... Letter Kenny, I remember when I was in the United States. Yes, yes, yes. Jared's a great guy. There were so many people who were like, oh, I love that show. It's the best. Canada is so crazy. They felt the same way before, I think, about Trailer Park Boys. And from my own experience, when I would travel and screen Nirvana the Band, I've made this joke before, but I think that Canada is seen as a bit of a sci-fi premise, like as a country.

21:57Matt Johnson:And so I think just the location of this place is kind of what makes a movie Canadian in a lot of ways, just because it's slightly different. I've told this joke also before, but did I tell you what the German film students said to me after the world premiere of Nirvana, the band, the show? What did they say? So at the South by Southwest Film Festival, there's this group of three young German, very, very high energy film students who are like, oh my God, this movie's unbelievable. I can't believe what you're doing. And I was like, yeah, yeah. I know it's pretty crazy, right? Are they Werner Herzog?

22:30Matt Johnson:You know, my Werner Herzog impression is different. This is in the north of Bavarian accent. We can't believe you are so crazy. How did you do this? And I was like, so what specifically do you mean? Like, I know we break the law a lot. And they was like, so much jaywalking.

22:51Matt Johnson:And I mean, that kind of sums it up. I think that there's things that we don't even notice are interesting about our country or our city. That when you travel them, other people really seem to love. And before we were very shy about that because I'll never forget, I was making Nirvana the Band as a TV show. And some of the advice that I got from somebody who'd made a show similarly, who is older than me was whatever you do, do not make it obvious it's set in Toronto. Set it in a nameless city that seems like it could be America, like it's going to be the death of it if you do that. And I would say that that just in the last 10 years has really changed.

23:29Sean Fennessey:I was wondering about specifically Nirvana because Toronto is such an essential ingredient to the series but how much did you worry about making it coherent because a lot of times when you're capturing a city like for example Chris's beloved Michael Mann if you've seen the film Collateral the geography it's like

23:49Matt Johnson:Grand Theft Auto a little bit

23:51Sean Fennessey:how did you get from that part of town to that part of town in four minutes in Jamie Foxx's cab do you worry about those things Michael Mann assures me that's possible. Okay. He has assured me. He told me. Yeah. He did? Yeah. We did like an interview with him when we did Heat for Rewatchables and he was just like, it's possible.

24:09Matt Johnson:It's like that podcast where, what was that big, huge crime podcast that first got famous and then they tried to redo the drive that the murderer Serial. Serial. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't believe that guy either. So, you know what? The answer is, like obviously you watch a movie like Nirvana the Band and then you say, were you worried about its coherence The answer is no. But the geographical, like, it gets a big laugh every time the movie screens in Toronto and we show, like, the Much Music building. And then right across the street is the Paradise Theater. And then you look back and it's another part of the city.

24:44Matt Johnson:And, of course, to you guys that means nothing. But to us, that's all we've got. Like, this is a city with only four streets. And so if you mess, if you accidentally turn Queen Street into college or Bloor, people are like, wait a minute. You just wasted a whole street. We don't have that many of those. So we knew that we were doing it when we did it, but we just couldn't. And I think even the people from Toronto forgave us. I mean, they're all here, so we can ask them. In America, they have no idea. They just think it's one magical street where the Rivoli and McDonald's are on one side and then the Paradise Theater with the guts.

25:22Matt Johnson:No, did we use the exterior of the Paradise for both? Yeah. And the Paradise Theater is on the other. And they come here and they're like, where is it all?

25:28Sean Fennessey:So to us, at least to this arrogant American who has had David Cronenberg, Sophia Romvari, Chandler Levesque, and yourself on the show just this year. It does feel like there's like a moment happening with Canadian film, or at least we made four movies.

25:45Matt Johnson:Yeah. Yeah. It's so, well, it's so funny because you think about that comparison in America and it was like, wow, four movies got made. I would say you're just getting to the foot of the problem that we have in our country, which is that movies just do not get made nearly at the rate as they do in your country or in the rest of the world. And that's starting to change. And I hope, I remember when I first made The Dirties, I thought, oh, wow, now that it's been proven that an idiot like me with no money can make a movie that plays outside of Canada, everybody's going to do that. and it seems like it was like a decade later that people started doing it.

26:26Matt Johnson:But again, I think that, I mean, I don't want to think that, no, I'm not saying anything negative.

26:35Sean Fennessey:But do you think that there is, is that just my little periscope view of things? No, no, it feels that way here too.

26:42Matt Johnson:No, it feels that way here too. But again, what's happening is just that four people made movies and it really isn't deeper than that in my opinion. Now, look, the sad part of that story is one of those filmmakers is David Cronenberg, and the other three are in the middle of their career. It's not like me, Sophie, and Chandler are fresh out of film school kids, and it's a miracle. I wish that were the case. I'm going to get excited when a 22-year-old film school grad shows up and has made some masterpiece that changes the world. Then we'll really be on the map. right and so and that is coming I guarantee it's coming but this is great and I love it anytime that Canada gets mentioned in the same sentence as the word cinema I think it's a miracle but I don't think we're there yet and that's not a pessimistic point of view that's an optimistic point of view do you have any films that we might think are eligible for the Canadian movies draft that you would like to strike off of the board.

27:45Matt Johnson:There's so many of those that you would need to start saying them because there's so, so, so many. Like I think a lot of movies that get even made by Canadians that everybody thinks of as Canadian movies are just like, we don't consider them Canadian movies. Like Dune 2. Get real. That's a movie shot in Australia, my man. And I think that Denise, the only Canadian and the storyboard artist who's a real genius, a guy named Sam Hideki. I think it's the only two Canadians on. Sam, get a woo. Somebody there knows the storyboard artists of Dune. Yeah, he truly is a genius. But no, that's not a Canadian movie.

28:20Matt Johnson:Not even close. I don't even think Denis would call that a Canadian movie. Okay. Go ahead. Well, I just, I mean, is the entire crowd going to rebel at us then? Yeah. How do you think this is going to go? Well, you got to make sure you're picking like movies that when you think of them, it's like, oh yeah, I can't believe that movie even got made. It's a miracle anybody saw it. and on Letterboxd it has like 20 ,000 views. That's your ceiling for Canadian movies. That's not going to be a good draft, Matt.

28:45Sean Fennessey:That's not going to work here, bro.

28:47Matt Johnson:You are having an American movie draft. I'm sorry to tell you. Until you're talking about movies by like Don Owens. Someone's about to take Titanic in this draft.

29:00Sean Fennessey:But with that in mind, you did a thing that so many of the directors that I think we'll talk about today did, which is you went to maybe not specifically Hollywood, but you went to America to make a movie. Yes, yes, yes. And so I'm curious like how you thought about that, whether that meant anything to make that choice.

29:17Matt Johnson:I was just sick of this country. I was ready to go. And it was about time. No, you know what's so funny? I think that there's a misapprehension around Canadians who leave to America to make, and then almost become de facto Americans, and those who just make movies in America. And if I had moved, then maybe I would feel like I was more on the hot seat right now, but I don't feel that way at all. If Americans are going to pay for me to make movies in their country, I'll take that deal a hundred times.

29:51Matt Johnson:And I wouldn't begrudge any other filmmaker who did that also, because one of the big challenges we have, and I'm talking about mostly young filmmakers in this country, is that it's so hard to get reps in. in America, Michael Mann's such an amazing example, actually. He's a guy who's just always working all the time. His stuff is always getting financed. And if you look at the course of his career, his early, early, early stuff is nowhere close to where he gets mid-career. And it's because he's done so much because there's so much money for filmmakers to keep going. And you can have small films that fail or even medium films that fail and keep going.

30:26Matt Johnson:In Canada, it takes so long to get the financing for a movie together that even somebody like David Cronenberg is waiting three, four years between movies, not by choice. Right. I'm sure if he could, he would be making them again and again and again and again and again. So I'll always take opportunities to make movies. I mean, I'm making a movie about Magic the Gathering in Australia, just like with the same team that made Dune. It's the same producer. So, so yeah, I'm not, I love it. Would it be eligible for the... Not at all. No, definitely it would be. Canadian director. Yeah. Well, you might as well put Terminator up there.

31:00Matt Johnson:Okay. Get real. It might go up there. I'm trying to think of the closest you could get. Like, what is the absolute peak of the mountain in terms of a Canadian movie? I was going to say, do you want... Get real? What? Someone yelled Ghostbusters. It's not even close. Matt is going to run into the crowd. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. Do you have a favorite actual Canadian movie? Mine is The Fly. I think. And I think The Fly is a true masterpiece that shows Canada off so well. It's got some writing issues. We can go into that later. But then there's another film that you guys have definitely never, ever seen, shot in Toronto by a director named Don Owens called No One Waved Goodbye.

31:39Matt Johnson:And this is an unbelievable masterpiece that is hugely influential, especially in Toronto cinema. I'm ripping him off all the time. But the absolute top, like, what is the best? That's what the draft is. strange brew, maybe brain candy. Like, silent porn is okay. Let's not... Crazy, yeah, yeah. Crazy is actually great. Let's not draft. I thought what you guys were looking for was the inside track, but then I realized you're competing against one another. Yeah, also, I'm asking this now instead of three days ago when I could have done some prep. So that was a mistake on my part. I'm getting the sense that you guys might really get destroyed by this crowd, and that because Are you rooting for that?

32:25No. I want you to win. It's okay. You want me to win or you want us to win collectively? I want the Americans to leave happy. Yeah. We always do.

32:36Sean Fennessey:It's ironic because this is typically a competition amongst us. Yeah. But you're saying tonight it's against them.

32:44Matt Johnson:You're going to find out. Do you think that they'll name even one actual Canadian movie? It's hard. I made this joke before, but the tragedy of Canadian movies is that really Canadians don't even know. You showed this in the trivia. Canadians don't even know Canadian movies. The average American filmgoer probably knows the same number of Canadian movies as a Canadian filmgoer.

33:08Sean Fennessey:Well, we have a very loose definition of Canadian movie. As we're about to find out. You're more Irish Catholic and we're more agnostic.

33:16Matt Johnson:Basically for you, any Kevin Smith movie is going to be a Canadian movie.

33:22Matt Johnson:Should we add a new category? That would have been fun, yeah. I could draft ball rats? Let's go. He went to the Vancouver Film School, so that counts.

33:31Sean Fennessey:Wow, okay. Maybe we should swap out the Villeneuve category for Kevin Smith. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that. Okay, last question for you, Matt. Will you come back to Canada to make a film ever again?

33:45Matt Johnson:I'm making one already. I'm making one right now. Everybody, yeah. What do you mean come back? I live on Roncesvalles. I went to America for three months to shoot that movie, and it was the worst time in my life. I hated it. We're sorry about that. I couldn't believe it. You know, it had nothing to do with the Americans.

34:08Matt Johnson:But, yeah, you know, I tell people when I come back, because we've screened Nirvana, the band, internationally so much, and it's been such a hopeful message that I've received, which is that for the very first time I've heard from young film students in America, wow, I wish I could have been a Canadian. And that's the first time I'd ever, it's been the opposite. When I went to film school, we all would have killed to have been born an American citizen, to be going to USC or Tisch School of the Arts. Like we would have killed. And to see it even slightly inverting is the miracle of my life. And so we're going to be getting a lot of your filmmakers now, and we're going to be putting on these little half sarcastic trivia games in your country saying, oh, does this even count as an American?

34:55Matt Johnson:You guys like John Ford movies? Yeah. When our cultural production has dwarfed you. Okay. And you're all, I'm trying to think of what that would mean. What would you even need to learn? The thing is, people don't even sing the national anthem here anymore. We've got no culture left.

35:14Sean Fennessey:I'll tell you one thing. I'd be happy to send Bo Bichette back to this country. I don't, you know. No, no. Careful, careful. No, it's his fault. It's not my fault. He seems like a nice man. He's a baseball player. He's a baseball player. He was a Blue Jay for some time. He actually storyboarded in three. He hasn't made any films. He's only broken my dreams. Okay. Thank you for having me, guys. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this. Thank you, Matt. Please treat these guys nice. Goodbye. You are the best. Bye. Thank you.

35:54Walked right into that, you know?

35:56Sean Fennessey:Well, it was always going to be this way, you know, but that's, listen, I was warned by Jack Sanders not to make a Boba Shett reference and I did it anyway. Matt Johnson, God, the fucking man, right? It is cool when a native son has such an incredible moment. One of the all-time great guests on this show, but it's time to bring on another guest. One of the greatest guests in the history of this show. He is, of course, our mean pod guy. Please welcome critic, author, genius, Adam Naiman.

36:44hey guys hi Adam Americans used to dodge drafts here

36:52yeah yeah wow hey don't count us out it might come again I'm also glad you platformed an obscure underexposed filmmaker like Matt we don't hear from him enough

37:11what did you make of all that preamble about what is and is not Canadian well there wasn't volume in the back for a while okay and then I heard the trivia stuff kind of dying okay okay then I heard Matt talking and he's a lot of that is right you know and but what was wrong it's a long conversation but I but I think the question I heard Matt talking about that kind of uncanny valley like we have such a pop cultural inferiority complex because you guys are our baseline and movies are different than music or tv like there was always legislation around like you know songs will get played on the radio along with it's like when you grow up you're like the tragically hip and you two are the same yeah right or and that they're the same you know they're on they're on the the top 10 countdown yeah yeah and and tv and tv there's a lot of very robust production certain kind of respect for canadian tv but with movies it's hard like english canadian movies are made in the same language as american movies they're kind of not made at the same budget level you know like one of the course i teach at u of t about toronto film i'm like the first movies are gonna look at it like from the mid 1950s or early 60s matt mentioned nobody waved goodbye so i'm like this is the primal scene 1964 you know what's been made at this point elsewhere everything i mean it's 1964 like they've made laventura they've made psycho the french new wave has like happened i mean it's it's really interesting to talk about why that is there's no studios there's no infrastructure like any toronto movie made before 1960 is a totally independent gesture and it often copies what's being made in the states like horror or like a lot of teen juvenile delinquency movies which is essentially what nobody wave goodbye is and when matt says that he's copying nobody wave goodbye like it's a very intelligent comment because toronto movies are all about shooting without permission, running around.

38:57Like that was a movie that was commissioned by the NFB as a documentary about juvenile delinquents in Montreal. And he's like, how about a fictional movie about a kid in Toronto? And the NFB was like, they made that behind our back, but also people actually like this movie. So like a lot of English Canadian films are about getting away with something and then hoping people will pay the barest amount of attention to it because we live in the shadow of you guys, which is working out extremely well politically as well. I love where we're located. It's been great to be this close. Have you guys thought about introducing Transformers to your cinema?

39:35And do you think that would raise the bar a little bit economically? You know, Megatron? It was buried at sea. Soundwave. Megatron was buried at sea. I had a Soundwave toy, man. You know, I collected Transformers. we don't push back and Canadian cinemas don't either. I mean, it's an ugly thing to talk about sometimes. There may be people in the industry here, but it's like, you know, in the seventies movie theaters actually invested in Canadian movies to put a gun to their own head to show them. Right. We put money in these movies. This is the only way we will show them is we are literally trying to get our own money back from it.

40:11I mean, some movies do really well. I mean, Nirvana and Blue Heron, like they've played consistently in actual movie theaters. You can split those definitions very finely about like what an actual movie theater is and like what's mainstream and what's arthouse. But it's hard to get that kind of sustained traction. And I always think about this idea of movies breaking containment, which is like what might a normal person go see on a Tuesday? And I know normal is a tough word. But festival circuit, like people say that English Canadian cinema is like a foreign cinema in its own country. Or something you watch in school or something you watch with the rhetorical equivalent of a gun to your head, which isn't right.

40:49It isn't the way most people feel, but I hear people laughing because it's kind of true. And I teach Canadian films in school and I ask my students, like, how many of you last voluntarily watched a Canadian movie? And they're like, I don't know. And then I'm like, what about a Matt Johnson movie? And they go, yeah, we watched that. Because that's a real thing that's kind of happened. And my students this year were super excited and interested in Blue Heron. So the thing you've identified as happening is kind of happening. Now, whether those movies represent something narrow in terms of authorship, representation, race, subject matter, that's a really actually interesting conversation to have.

41:23But I'm sure very soon we're going to be drafting The Terminator.

41:25Sean Fennessey:I was going to say, do you think we're the best people to have that conversation in this country? Sean, my friend, you came here. And for some reason, you invited me. When we started talking about this, what did you think about this as a subject matter? Did you think, I'm locked and loaded. I know what my six picks are. Well, you have a have a way of making up interesting categories. So there I couldn't read your mind until the categories showed up. But no, I will be completely honest. I had the instinct of, OK, so now I got to do some Googling to figure out which movies I already know and love are, in fact, Canadian.

42:01And I'm sorry, you know, but that's and I didn't even say it with a Canadian accent. But I thought that there was a lot that American cinema has just sort of slurped up that I'm sure I'm familiar with, but that is maybe not would not meet Matt Johnson's definition of Canadian cinema. I think I've got a couple in there now. Does anyone follow Chris Ryan on Letterboxd? You should. Do people see you guys see him logging Videodrome like an hour and a half ago? No, but it was a rewatch, though. It was a rewatch. I was just getting like lubricated for tonight.

42:41Sean Fennessey:How did you think about this endeavor? I thought it was going to be a lot harder. I did not know the categories until obviously you decided to reveal them. And I thought it was going to be much more like deep Ogoian knowledge. And I was like, all right. Well, why isn't it? Well, you made the game. But you could use your deep Ogoian knowledge here today. You can paint your picture. You can paint your picture. You can paint your picture with gosling and stuff like that. And that's cool. Well, here's the thing. I think I sent you an email. I think one of my suggestions was best incest and it was ignored.

43:10Yeah. That's why I'm the host, you know? Meet me after the show, Adam, and we can break that down.

43:20Sean Fennessey:I think what I was aiming for was some balance regarding the interests of the show and paying respect and homage to the wonderful cultural history of this classic centrist Sean I'm staying right down the middle we have to figure out a draft order Amanda you want to re-read those categories so we can kind of be psychologically prepared for this before getting the order Ryan Gosling, David Cronenberg Cameron James or Villeneuve Denis Canadian director, Canadian star and Toronto plays itself or somewhere else It's worth mentioning Canadian director cannot include Cronenberg, Cameron, or Villadu and Canadian Star.

44:06Was it originally Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds? That was your suggestion. I had a whole thing about picking a movie from before when Reynolds' eyes went dead and I thought it was going to get a good line, but we can't do it. Of course we can.

44:18Sean Fennessey:There's plenty of room for it in Canadian Star. Right. Okay. So don't spoil your own draft. I'm going to repeat the jokes. All right. We're going to need a draft order, so let's hear it. I just want to be fully transparent. Backstage, Amanda Dobbins accused me of cooking the books, of rigging the draft order. Well, let's just, Jack, why don't you share with the people the timeline of how this was determined? It was determined quite simply before I came over here from the wonderful hotel. I ripped four individual pieces of paper, wrote all of your amazing names on them, put them in my Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie hat.

44:52Sean took you to a DVD store. Okay, okay. All right, all right. Thank you to Bay Street Video. An amazing, an amazing institution. Anyway, Jack announced at 6.30 p.m. tonight that he already knew the draft order. That's correct. And I would just like to say that, you know, I have some questions. Honestly, I'm not going to lie. It, like, feels pretty good. Okay. I like that you're on tilt a little bit here. Drafting first, Chris Ryan. That's good. That's correct. Wow. That's not very nice of you guys. Okay. Drafting second, Amanda Dobbins. Okay. the fuck is this drafting third not gonna like this Sean fantasy yeah and drafting the turn is fun the turns fun yeah Adam is like no it's not fun so and this is yeah Elizabeth putting the in order okay

45:43Sean Fennessey:okay and fourth is Adam Neiman yeah so you're feeling wounded always okay you're feeling elated I'm playing free this is an awesome draft there's also not like I am not like going to be overwhelmed by the idea of not getting some Gosling or Cameron movie. Like, I'm playing deep cuts. I'm playing personal faves. I'm honoring our hosts. And that is why Elizabeth is going to have to dig deep in the cards for my first pick, which will be Videodrome in Cronenberg. And this is my favorite Cronenberg. I re-watched it last night. I just want to let everybody know. I watched a lot of fucking movies before Letterboxd and I didn't go in and just like log them all and be like just you know I did this in 1989 it's just like this is what I do he has a lot of comments on my Letterboxd habits what do I say?

46:40you're like oh how you watch five seconds of a movie and log it and it's like that's not true

46:44Sean Fennessey:Chris goes to YouTube and he watches three minutes of a movie and he's like bang knock that out heart sweet hereafter done exotica done saw the trailer Boom. Log that joint. I watch billions on shorts. Come on. Videodrome. I am an active Reddit poster under the name Brian Oblivion. This movie predicted the following 35 years that would come after it. It is still in one of my favorite, probably top two James Woods performances. How about that? That's a cool draft. And Byron Dalebek from Ghosts of Mississippi is number one. And it is just such a haunting portrait of mass media and also human desire and violence.

47:33And I just adore this movie. So I wanted to get it first.

47:36Sean Fennessey:That's a great one. This is a favorite of yours as well. Do you feel... How do you feel right now? Yeah. My favorite day every year is showing Videodrome to students who haven't seen it. And they just buzz and levitate and want to talk about it because it's amazing. And it's such a Toronto-coded movie. How many people here have seen Videodrome. Yeah. So you guys know that there's a famous story about Cronenberg going to get funding. He tries to go down to LA and he's in a meeting with Lorne Michaels and Moses Neimer, which someone should write a one-act play about. And, you know, Moses Neimer was the impresario of city TV.

48:08And without putting words in anyone's mouth, he was not very nice to David. So the scene in Videodrome where a civic TV executive named Moses gets his head blown off is very satisfying. Spoiler. Yeah. But Brian Oblivion is also obviously Marshall McLuhan, right? So you can't get more Toronto coded than a kind of stand in for for Marshall McLuhan. And it's just like this is the greatest movie. I actually have Marshall McLuhan right behind. That was a good joke. Not going to say where it's from, though. No, non-Canadian filmmaker Woody Allen. You know nothing of my work. All right, Amanda, you got the second pick.

48:46Yeah. But, you know, Chris, normally when he gets first pick, you know, throws a curveball and that was just like respectable and you know honoring Canadian filmmakers Die Hard with a Vengeance or Iron Man 3 or whatever

48:59Sean Fennessey:did they shoot any of Iron Man 3 I think they did some exteriors so now it's like you know I gotta do something with dignity also I can't totally go crazy I disagree I think we left dignity back in like 2018 it's really very true but I think I have something it's fairly obvious but it's still from the heart. So that seems like a good. So in Cameron or Villeneuve, I will take Arrival, which is my favorite Denis Villeneuve movie. And also, I believe, filmed in Canada, at least parts of it. No one's saying yes. Okay. And those aliens live here, right? That's why they have to come here. I think that this is an incredibly beautiful and upsetting and memorable movie about, you know, obviously aliens and, and, you know, how they talk to them.

49:53And let's be real, it handles the aliens. I didn't laugh like when the alien came out in disclosure day, but there's something poetic about it. They don't ride segways, but I, you know, it has a lot of, it, it, it does a lot of sci-fi tropes that I typically don't respond to in a, in a lyrical and I found very emotional way. And I think about it all the time. So I, you know, I left Titanic on the board, which feels a little crazy. Like right now I'm like kind of sweating, but I love Arrival. So I'm sticking with it. Can I ask a question? There are no take backs. Yeah. I just want to get this conversation rolling.

50:33We could return to it over the course of the evening. Does Denis Villeneuve already have as many good movies as James Cameron?

50:40Sean Fennessey:Okay. So I'm not sure if you're up on this, but Chris has been waging a war against his father, James Cameron, for the past five years. And it's one of the damnedest things I've ever seen. Did you know that he didn't make the one with the Soldado? Yes, I did. He made the other Sicario. Yeah. Because you're a Soldado guy. Soldado has a lot to like. Yeah. So Chris. It's kind of a girl dad movie, honestly. in the entire history of the big picture Chris has asked to sit in on an interview with me one time and it was for Stefano Salima to talk about Day of the Soldado that's a true story did that go well?

51:21Sean Fennessey:I can't remember he was a lovely fellow his films are evil so what happened with you and Cameron? you're just on the spot you don't want to go on the record you don't want to answer No he does not have more Good movies than James Cameron Just checking I think it's pretty neck and neck James Cameron is an inestimably Greater filmmaker But he's been making cartoons for 15 years Is this an anti-Avatar audience? This is an anti-Avatar audience? Yeah This show is over Okay I'll make a choice I'll also follow sincerity I'll take my favorite Canadian filmmaker whose name is Sarah Pauly and I'll take under filmmaker I'll talk about Take This Waltz though I really like all of her films Take This Waltz absolutely beautiful movie starring Michelle Williams Seth Rogen about reaching a point in your life where you realize that maybe not everything is as it seemed or are you happy enough or satisfied enough with where life has taken you and it's just incredibly emotionally confrontation and thoughtful and features amazing performances.

52:35Sean Fennessey:And I thought about doing Stories We Tell 2, which I think is also a super special movie. But that'll be my pick for a Canadian director. What do you think about her?

52:49My kids here, right? Leah, you're somewhere. I took Leah on the... There you are, buddy. I took Leah on the Center Island Scrambler for the first time last summer. And I think the Center Island Scrambler scene in Take This Waltz is like sublime. The video killed the radio star. bit like trading in something old for something new and the way it just stops like that's a great piece of film direction there's usually like one or two great sequences in each of her of her movies that's my favorite of them for what it's worth that's your favorite

53:13Sean Fennessey:Sarah Polly film okay great well Adam the time has come you're at the turn so you have two films that you can take here you can keep the earnest vibe going or you can mean pod guy it up well I'm gonna pick a Denis Villeneuve movie that I actually like and which qualifies and which is pertinent which is Enemy. Is this the giant spider? That was my fucking pick. Which is a hate letter to Toronto from a Montreal filmmaker. It is the ugliest this city has ever looked in a film. I have to say, this city looks so good compared to Enemy. I was covered in piss. So there was a year at this festival in this building where Denis was here with two films.

53:56There was Prisoners, which is like a job for hire, you know, with Roger Deakins and a sort of like big American film, they actually like play the Star Spangled Banner at one point on a trumpet. And you're like, it's a movie about America. And then Enemy, which is, you know, about Toronto. And I interviewed him for both movies. And I'm not going to say which one his heart was more in, but it was Enemy. And I love this film as a movie about, you know, doppelgangers and doubles. But it's a great movie about Toronto because if you've seen Enemy, how many people here have seen Enemy? Yeah. This is a movie about someone who suffers a debilitating existential crisis because he rents a Toronto independent film and he watches it and he sees himself on screen and he goes that is messed up why am I seeing myself and so when I teach this movie at U of T it's all about the shock as a Torontonian of seeing yourself and your city on screen it literally drives you crazy but you know I like Jake Gyllenhaal in it a lot it's just so exquisitely assembled and shot it's a great performance by Sarah Gadden Amanda off mic I think you were spoiling it by mentioning the insect that's in it.

55:00There's a great spite. Oh, yeah. Yeah. For people who haven't seen it, there's a famous scene with an insect.

55:05Sean Fennessey:It's a 12-year-old movie. Statute of limitations on spoilers for Canadian movies is longer. What about for The Odyssey? Can we spoil that? Yeah. He makes it. That's about the enemy. It's about Enemy, not The Odyssey. Yeah. Some guy quietly inside is like, fuck! Spoiled! But, no, I mean, I like Enemy a lot because I think Villeneuve has gotten more of, he's a filmmaker who's all about scale and we can hold off on whether he's good with scale as we talk about more of your other movies. I like how small Enemy is. I think it's brilliantly managed and it's really funny movie. Like funny, funny. So that's my pick.

55:45Sean Fennessey:The movie memorably opens with a title card that says chaos is order yet undeciphered. Yeah. What do you think when a filmmaker puts a title card like that at the beginning of their movie? I think they really would like to be taken seriously in adapting Jose Saramango. And if you go on Reddit, which is a great place to go, it's really good for your mental health. Brian Oblivion again. Brian Oblivion. There are all kinds of deep dive explainers on what that quote means pertaining to me because my students always come back the next week. They go, I solved the movie. And I go, is it the Reddit thread about the quote?

56:19And they're like, yeah. I'm like, and there's also like good YouTube explainers. YouTube explainers are the highest form of film criticism. them. They're so good.

56:33You do YouTube explainers. Not anymore. I've been meaning to mention this to you. It's been a while. Talk about it now? No. Okay. I'm not going to renegotiate that on stage. You have another selection. Yeah. I want to mention a great Canadian filmmaker who's actually the Canadian, which is Alan King, the late documentarian who, as much as Fred Wiseman, is kind of, you know, key in pioneering. People call it direct cinema or cinema verite. This is a film, I don't know if people are familiar with Alan's work, but he was just fascinated in the way that institutions and individuals sort of related.

57:08There's a film that kind of got famous, because Criterion, when they used to do the Eclipse box sets, I'm going to cheer for the Eclipse box sets. When it was like the movie didn't go in the full collection, they would do kind of like a deep dive. And there's a movie called Warrendale, which is about a home for emotionally disturbed children in Etobicoke and this very unconventional method that's used to treat them, which is the people at the facility. They just hold them. And the movie at no point says that's what they're doing. And there is no interview with the people you're holding these children.

57:37So you watch the film. It's like, are they hugging them? Are they restraining them? Is this abuse? This is wild to watch 62 years later. But, I mean, even at the time, the lack of judgment in the movie was, like, commented on. He gives the audience so much space, even while he is just pushing you right into the faces of these children. So it's a movie about mental health. It's about generational conflict. It's so empathetic and almost kind of exploitative at the same time. And the nonfiction films he made, you know, going forward are about a lot of those same themes. One of the first years I covered TIFF when I was young and the world was beautiful and all of that was called Dying at Grace, which is set at Grace Hospital in Toronto.

58:14It's about five patients in palliative care who are all at the end of their lives. I know I'm bringing the vibe down. We'll talk about the Soldado later. And it's the most astonishingly, like, terrifying, humane, normalizing movie about death. Like, it should be mandatory viewing for people to just watch this thing. I got to know Alan a little bit before he died. He's just one of my heroes. So I want to mention him.

58:41Sean Fennessey:Do we think Elizabeth is backstage furiously trying to find a Warrendale card that was not printed up? I think it's... No, she's got a single... What I meant to say was Titanic. Wow! Look at this winner. Yes! For Canadian director... Well, it was Alan King, but we'll say Warren Dale was the stand-in for Alan King. That's fine. That's a wonderful pick. I do have that criterion set. Married Life, one of the great... Married couple. You have everything. We were at Bay Street Video today and I was like, Sean, here's an insane movie. No one's heard of it. He's like, no, I have that. I did. You did.

59:19It's called the Tracy Letts syndrome.

59:21Sean Fennessey:He's an inspiration. Yeah. He's going to kill you. You know that, right? Yeah. I'm going down with him. Great playwright, Tracy Letts. But not a great third chair? No, he's great, but I'm just saying he's a great playwright. Who do you think should be a third chair? He's sitting right there. I'm just asking you.

59:44You know what? The answer according to the... I have students who send me the big picture Reddit threads. The answer is apparently not me.

59:54It's funny how you guys keep bringing up Reddit. Who? Me and Adam? Yeah. Well, we're just really well-informed guys.

1:00:01Sean Fennessey:We're plugged into the moment. Are you guys actually the posters there? No. Oh, I would never. Never. No. I'm way busier on other Reddit boards. I'm figuring out what enemy is about, Adam. I have a pick I mean Matt Johnson kind of spoiled my pick but I was always hoping to get The Fly so The Fly is still on the board so that will be my David Cronenberg pick yeah which I think is his best movie maybe it's his least I don't know esteemed you know awards-y film but it's because it's pure genre but he obviously applies a ton of incredible thought to it but amazing performance by Jeff Goldblum as Brundlefly in the movie about a transformation a guy who's turning into something that he doesn't want to, but he does want to feel power about a dying masculinity.

1:00:50Sean Fennessey:That's why you collect so many DVDs. That's true. I relate to him. I don't know. What's my version of the fly? It's probably the Arabato Blu-ray that you were pointing out to me today that I was like, I have that. That was the fly that got in my machine. And yeah, I mean, it's, it is also kind of a, for hire job. Like it was his idea, but it's a remake of a sci-fi heroically produced by Mel Brooks. That's right. Yeah. Did you catch Matt's drive-by on the script? Did you not like, Is there like any writing problems on? Matt is very fond of aggressive opinions, maybe more so than I am.

1:01:22Sean Fennessey:We'll do it later. We'll do it scene by scene. We'll do a breakdown. But yeah, I think it's his best film. I think it's his most entertaining movie, saddest movie. And I think his movies even now are incredible, but that's the one that I return to the most. So that's my Cronenberg, The Fly. Okay. At some point, we're going to have to break this like holy Canadian streak. and I guess I'm going to be the one to do it. No, listen, this is eligible, but in what I've learned from drafting lo these many years with these men is that you have to take what you want when you want it and when you have the opportunity before they can take it away from you.

1:02:02Mahoney's not here. Well, yeah, but, you know, Sean's taking notes every single time. Sean wants what Mahoney has. So, um, I think everyone knows the opposite.

1:02:13Sean Fennessey:Um, so I'm just, I'm going to take a film that means a tremendous amount to me and to my, um, film watching career and was a filmed in the suburbs of, of Toronto, I believe. Uh, and that film is Sophia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides. Um, now I understand that it's standing in for Detroit, which is an American city. Detroit is almost as foreign to me as Canada And now less so More so because Canada, I understand So in that sense, I was just learning about a suburban world And it's a beautiful movie about being a teenager And not understanding what's going on with you Or what's going on with anybody else and trying to make sense of, or not, as the case may be, of a very, very complicated time with very few words.

1:03:14Is Josh Hartnett Canadian? No, he's not. He's just in another great Canadian film trap. Don't steal my bit. Yeah, listen, I thought about it because that would be eligible in this category. But it's also an important movie about Josh Hartnett. But obviously also Sofia Coppola's debut film. And thank you for letting her become a filmmaker, Canada. There we go. What?

1:03:42Sean Fennessey:You managed to get Sophia on the board. Yeah. I never doubted. I always do. CR two picks for Canadian star. This was a lot of deliberation on this one, but I have to give it to an officer of the order of Canada. And that is Donald Sutherland. And I wanted to do this because I was looking at his filmography today, which I'm like broadly familiar with. But I guess I had not really thought about the fact that he was a fan of the Canadian star. that he makes a great movie from the 60s in every decade, at least one great movie in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, aughts, if you're including Hunger Games. And what a phenomenal, not only star, but also anti-war activist and incredible social activist and has been in some of my favorite movies like MASH and Include and Backdraft.

1:04:33What's the... He's fucking awesome in Backdraft. he is telling the truth in JFK let me say that that is the only history book you need brother

1:04:44Sean Fennessey:would you select JFK in the Canadian movie draft would that be your it would make me want to move to Canada no but Sutherland I think he may be the number one seed in Canadian stars you think so? I wrote about him for Ringer I think he's the star of my favorite movie of all time which is Don't Look Now by Nick Westroak Yeah, I mean, he'd be He's a top two seed, right? I mean, we'll see who the other guy Might be in a second He's a great pick Ryan Reynolds? No Remind me, Chris In Backdraft, he's like the Hannibal Lecter of arson, right? He's the arsonist who De Niro goes to interview in prison I think his name is Whisper Yeah And he whispers And they talk about fire like it's a person Do you remember the one where You'll remember What's the one where Sylvester Stallone puts him in the electric chair?

1:05:35Is that Lock Up? Is that Tango and Cash? No, it's Lock Up. Lock Up, yeah. Yeah. He's in a lot of great movies. Okay.

1:05:43Sean Fennessey:So, I mean, is there a card that you want Elizabeth to come out with? Yeah, throw MASH up there. Okay. All right. All right. Tell him about Korean War vets, but sure. But, like, I mean, okay. Virgin suicides. What is short to right? MASH. What do I want to do here, man? Yeah. What do I want to do? I think I'm going to go... I'm going to get away from this lovely country. And I'm going to go to another country just south of the United States of America and do Sicario for Geneva LaNouche. Okay. Obviously, a passion project of mine. A movie we just did on Rewatchables. And one of the most astonishing thrillers that's been made in this century, I think.

1:06:28Incredible performances by Benicio Del Toro and Josh Berlin and Emily Blunt. And yeah, I almost feel like I'm talked out about Sicario. But some of the three or four of the best sequences in any action film. Thank you. You guys are right, MASH. I'm sorry. I could have picked something more interesting. And then, yeah. So Sicario is my point of... Any comments on Sicario? Yeah. Polite applause. Liked it? Yeah. Good. What do you think about Sicario, Adam? He kind of likes it, though He's going to say something He was like, uh, but he kind of likes it It's a It's a brilliantly made kind of evil movie I don't like it one bit But it's very well directed

1:07:16Sean Fennessey:What was the movie that I saw And you hadn't seen yet? And you're like, what am I going to think of this? And I said, you'll be ambivalent at best But in five years, you'll give it a reconsideration That was Disclosure Day I then filed a 2 ,300 deeply ambivalent review about Disclosure that's like, let's take a look back in five years. So he's right. Yeah. It's good to know each other. Absolutely. Okay, so Sicario, which is a film that primarily takes place in Texas and Mexico here at the Canadian Movie Draft. Air Force Base in New Mexico, yeah. New Mexico. Got it. Okay. What's up with Taylor Sheridan lately?

1:07:49Sean Fennessey:How's that going? Well, he's actually speaking to people now. He's getting out on the press tour. He's got a book out. When's he coming on the watch? We've made the ask. Have not heard back. Have not heard back yet. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Every episode, we break down what's worth your time, what to watch, what to skip, what to put on the list. But some things on the list aren't exactly fun to get to, like sorting out your coverage. It's not a blockbuster. It's just one of those things that matters. That's where State Farm comes in. One of their 19 ,000 local agents can walk you through your options in person over the phone or through their easily accessible app and help you get the coverage that's right for you so you can get back to the fun stuff like arguing about movie rankings like a good neighbor State Farm is there.

1:08:35Sean Fennessey:Amanda, you have a pick. So I will say just to pull back the curtain that in Canadian Director and Canadian Star I thought we were choosing films to represent but that's fine. Oh, I thought we were like saying this person's filmography. I can go either way but so in Canadian Director I will take Norman Jewison who and you know I was going to go with Moonstruck, obviously, but an entire, which, you know, is a film set in New York, but that's okay. Filmed here, Moonstruck. Right. And, you know, but an entire body of work, including, you know, Thomas Crown Affair, without which we would not have Thomas Crown Affair, 1998 or nine.

1:09:13One of my favorite films of all time. No, like an amazing director. And I know also, you know, a titan of Canada film and film preservation. And Moonstruck is one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen. A friend went on a date recently in L.A. to see Moonstruck. And I mean, it's tough because when the guy is not Nick Cage on a date, then it's just there's not going to be another date. and that is a high bar to live up to but also I think it reminded her that love is possible just not on that date

1:09:50Sean Fennessey:Have you ever found Danny Aiello sexually appealing? I mean that is the thing when you're sitting next to Danny Aiello no Chris same question yeah I think he has a beautiful singing voice yeah as you know I don't like singing So, um, well, we go to karaoke tonight. You're going to change your mind. Yeah. Well, what's your karaoke choice? I I've been thinking a lot about Sheryl Crow. Um, so yeah. So what I'm going to break out. I haven't decided yet. What? I've never heard you sing. Yeah. I mean, surely you've heard me sing around the kids. Nope. Okay. Well, T minus 95 minutes. Um, Norman Jewison, a great choice and incredibly storied career.

1:10:37Sean Fennessey:I feel like you know a little bit about what he means to the country too. Well, he left. Yeah. Well, yeah. And he made a landmark movie about American Civil Rights as a Canadian filmmaker. Then he came back and built the Canadian Film Center. So that was good. And I mean, he's often used as an example of like the kind of filmmaker who left at a time when leaving was a very understandable option. You know, languish in obscurity or work with, you know, Sidney Poitier. I mean, it makes sense. But he's a very dependable director. and there's this like two film run of his in the early 70s or three film run it's like Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof and Rollerball like these are major big you know 70s What about Fist?

1:11:17I like Fist it's good a lot of good movies You guys seen Fist?

1:11:22Sean Fennessey:Sylvester Stallone plays a union organizer? Yeah Very believable movie Yeah And it radicalized him towards the left wing politics he espouses to this day Yeah That's actually what Tulsa King is about but not a lot of people dug deep into season two. So just hit me up afterwards. You guys want to chat? I think I'm going to do star and I'm going to do my, my Canadian, my favorite Canadian film star of all time. That man's name is Jim Carrey. Yeah. Did Jim Carrey make any Canadian movies? I don't think so. You're asking me? What do you got against Jim Carrey? No, no. I love Jim Carrey. I'm trying to think of what he might have Man on the Moon wasn't shot here right Is anyone sure about that it's not shot here I don't think so Isn't that crazy A proud Canadian it was very clear to all of us in America That this man was coming from another place to be on in living color He never had his love guru where he wore like a jersey or something Yeah

1:12:24Sean Fennessey:I'm just going to say it right now I'm taking Ace Ventura Pet Detective First of all I was Rudely left off that Rewatchables episode For reasons that are mysterious to me even now I don't think I was on that. No, you weren't. Zach Lowe was on it. God bless him. One of my favorite people in America, but he also loves Canada. Zach Lowe. Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. Not sure I've ever left Harder in a movie theater in my entire life. I have no regrets whatsoever about it. Is the film perfect? No. Is it a progressive bastion of deep thought? No. Should it be available publicly now? Probably not. Will you show it to your child?

1:13:00Probably. So can I ask a point of order? Yeah. Does this mean that like Dumb and Dumber is off the board? It does. Yeah. That's a tough break for you. Yeah.

1:13:08Sean Fennessey:Yeah. Oh, you were thinking Jim. Well, again, I was thinking about this in terms of films. And if I had drafted Jim Carrey, I would have put the Dumb and Dumber card there. But now I can no longer do that. It's really hard to overstate Ace Ventura. King. The Mask. Dumb and Dumber. Just a preview of what's going to happen. Being 11 in America when that was all happening, when it was really unfolding in that way. He was the funniest person who would ever, ever live to me at that time. And now he's in three Sonic movies. Do you know in the last interview that she did before she died, Pauline Kael was like, Jim Carrey's been the only thing worth watching in American movies.

1:13:44That's a direct quote from Afterglow. She was still getting shots up right to the end.

1:13:48Sean Fennessey:She was. A true shooter. Just a baller. She was. Yeah. Flip Murray? Who would you compare her to? Yeah. A real bucket getter. Okay. You ready? Yeah. Sorry, it's on me? Yes. Yeah. so for Canadian star Chris was talking about you know top seed so in a different bracket I'm going to say the top seed's Christopher Plummer and the movie I'm going to pick because I want to see its name up there is The Silent Partner which is I think maybe the most entertaining movie ever shot in Toronto where he plays one of the worst guys ever you know he begins the movie robbing a bank dressed as Santa Claus and proceeds to do some really really awful things including one scene so gratuitous that the director refused to shoot it it's like shot by a second group of people.

1:14:31But that's like a tax shelter classic when people were allowed to basically just use, you know, Canadian movies as an excuse to write money off their tax. A lot of crooks making movies in the 70s at that point. But it's just such a perfect mix of like a Canadian star, Christopher Plummer, Elliot Gould. My students are delighted to discover how hot Elliot Gould is, by the way. They look at that, the famous picture of him with Grover on the cover of TV Guide. I actually put it up on the screen for them. but The Silent Partner is made in a very like mercenary way at a period where Canadian movies were very mercenary and the whole movie is about just like skimming money off the till and stealing from yourself so it's kind of like a great allegory of the tax shelter even though that's not what they were trying to do and Plummer is amazing in it.

1:15:13I love a guy who acts in The Sound of Music and then calls it The Sound of Mucus for the rest of his life and I will also say about Christopher Plummer to name a Michael Mann film. I've said this a few times on the record. You can quote me on this as a dumb thing that I'm going to say. Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace in The Insider is the best acting ever that I've ever seen in my age. Mr.

1:15:34Sean Fennessey:Wallace. Mike, try Mr. Wallace. So, I mean, Christopher Plummer is great. His name should be up there. I hope the Simon partner is what we're going to write down. He goes head to head with Sutherland for me. Do you think Christopher Plummer in The Insider going Mike, Mike Wallace, is better than Pacino standing in the middle of the ocean on a giant mobile phone in The Insider? Heat is a garden of earthly delights But I think he's I think he's an amazing actor in that film To the point that the movie made Mike Wallace Angry I think the real Lowell Bergman was like You should be flattered to be played by Christopher Plummer Which is a hard line That was a great line So yeah, Christopher Plummer for sure Great pick

1:16:17Sean Fennessey:You know what I read about it this morning? So the movie is adapted from a novel Written by Curtis Hanson And Curtis Hanson wanted to get the job to direct it. And they said, no, you're not ready. So Daryl Duke made it. Yeah, it's a Danish novel with an American screenwriter and an American Canadian star. This is how we made movies here in the 1970s. And it's great. Sorry, I keep looking at Canadian director. I guess I invented a Canadian director named Warren Dale, Cynthia Dale's father. So we have Christopher Plummer. What's left? Okay, I'll pick a Cronenberg movie. I'm going to rep for the most recent David Cronenberg movie which I think is extraordinary and exquisite which is The Shrouds which is a movie that has been somewhat polarizing it's an older man's movie it's almost unbearably painful what it's about which is that idea of loss and wanting to keep tabs on your loved ones but it's also extremely funny if people have seen The Shrouds so the opening scene of the film Vincent Cassell who looks exactly like David Cronenberg in this movie he's on a date with a very attractive lady and he's like I had a wife you know she died she's like that's sad I liked her very much that's sad but you're single and rich right he's like yeah he's like my wife's buried right over there would you like to see her and then he like turns on the video feed and she's like I'm getting out of here it's very funny and you know we had this year I think James Gray like going oh for whatever at Cannes but that's a B plot to the fact that Cronenberg hasn't won a competitive award at Cannes they had to invent the award for audacity for for crash you know and francis fort coppola apparently wouldn't shake his hand when he gave it to him you know this is awesome to me like i could have just as easily picked crash but i think the shrouds is at a really high level and i think that now there's a lot of younger filmmakers who like to mention david and say he's my hero you know my movies are made in his style someone should give the original guy who is still alive money to make his movies because they're really really good and you know the shrouds is a wonderful motion picture great pick okay I'm just going to be extremely obvious I'm going to draft in Toronto plays itself or somewhere else and I'm going to take one of my favorite movies of the century which is Scott Pilgrim versus the world not made by a Canadian director though it is faithfully adapting the Brian O'Malley piece.

1:18:42Sean Fennessey:And apparently, I don't know if this is still true, but at the time was the largest production ever made in Toronto. I guess at least until Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, which is now the owner of that title. But Scott Pilgrim, is the Toronto and Scott Pilgrim recognizable to you? Is it coherent to you? Does it feel like an adequate reflection of what it was like to be in a shitty indie rock band in 2011 and be an absolute misogynist towards women? Yeah, I'm very... Adam? There's a very interesting follow-up to Scott Pilgrim called Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which is made in a great Canadian spirit of apology, where it is like, this is what Scott Pilgrim was like, the documentary reality of that movie at a certain point.

1:19:29Let's reframe Scott Pilgrim. Let's kill Scott Pilgrim in the first episode and have a completely different kind of dramaturgy to it. I mean, it wouldn't be interesting if the first Scott Pilgrim wasn't so influential. this is the first argument my students always have which is they watch this movie like this is like a movie about a shitty guy who cares and the cultural moment seems very over this torontopia cultural moment which was all sort of about indie rock and it was very insular and very kind of you know we're all friends and we listened to broken social scene and then there was a garbage strike and then rob ford got elected and then everyone was like how did that happen and i think it's instructive to watch scott pilgrim if you want to see how solipsistic the city was that that happened And on the other hand, it's the best piece of direction Edgar Wright ever did.

1:20:11And that scene where Brie Larson lip syncs metric or sings metric, the, the, what is it? Black sheep. That is a great scene. So mixed, mixed split decision on Scott Pilgrim in America. We don't give a fuck about all that.

1:20:24Sean Fennessey:Rob Ford. You don't, you don't care about the emergence of right wing populism in America. Sure. It was, it happened. You know, I wasn't like, let me just sit down and think about what this means. This movie is a lot of fun. But I think that I do think that that movie Is aware of the fact That Scott is a piece of shit Do you not see that? Well I like when he meets The dark part of himself At the end And they go to brunch Which is a very Toronto coded activity We like standing in line For brunch You guys are claiming brunch? We have brunch I am claiming brunch For our country Give us this

1:20:59Yeah For our city Not for our country Okay

1:21:03Sean Fennessey:So Toronto Yes on brunch. Yeah. Canada mixed. Vote vote yes on brunch in Toronto. We love standing in lines though. Like look at Tiff. Okay Amanda. All right. I we just got to get real. We got to go to Gosling. Okay. No one else wants to touch it but I do. And honestly you say that. Yeah. I think me and Sean might feel strong. We're strongly. I know. And you two are going to get in a fist fight or whatever about Place Beyond the Pines and Drive and all of these beautiful things. And then I'm just going to go double Canadian and take the notebook, which is kind of a miracle of a movie. And we're living in the Colleen Hoover era now of all of these sappy book to movie adaptations starring people you don't really want to see on screen and preposterous plots.

1:22:00And you don't understand the magic of Ryan Gosling in the rain telling Rachel McAdams it's not over. It was never over. I mean, you know, listen, I know he was in other things, but kind of two stars being made at once. It's very emotional. I remember watching it on an actual DVD in college. No kidding. And just, yeah, just like weep. I mean, that's what we had in 2005, right? We still have it. I know, but I'm just like, it wasn't like a laser disc, right? And weeping. And it's honestly a beautiful movie. It really is. Even the flashback plot with James Garner and Gina Rattlins and the spoiler alert dying in their bed like old people.

1:22:46And, you know, it makes preposterous things really real. Sorry, Chris.

1:22:51Sean Fennessey:That's what happens in the notebook. I've seen the notebook. I've seen that it's not over. It was never over. Scene has been stitched into so many Joel Embiid highlight reels where it's like diagnosed with Bell's palsy. And he's like, it's not over. It was never over.

1:23:12We're fucking back. Trust the process, baby.

1:23:19Sean Fennessey:Is it my turn? Yeah. What's your prediction right now for the Sixers season? What's that? What's your prediction for the Sixers this season? The record. I'm going to do about$10 right now. No. That the Sixers will have a better regular season than the Knicks. Ooh. What do you mean by a better record? More wins. I want to die right now. I just like, I thought we were done with the Sixers and now it's back. Amanda, you're done with the Sixers. I've been done with the Sixers for years. I'm sorry. We're not going to make this into a sports podcast, but I just thought it would be an interesting, sweet in the pot of our relationship, you know?

1:23:51Sean Fennessey:I don't think the Knicks will have a better record. now in the playoffs, what do I think will happen? I think we'll win. $20 Canadian dollars on the Raptors. Fair enough.

1:24:06How much money is that in America? That is$6.73.

1:24:13That's why I write for you. For Ryan Gosling, I'm going to go a little bit left field here. And I'm going to go only God forgives. Oh, yeah. A misunderstood Gosling performance and I'm going to turn to you guys Really a misunderstood Ref and Masterpiece about Mothers and Sons, Swords Revenge Thailand Synths Neon lights

1:24:43Sean Fennessey:Dissolves White man goes to a foreign nation and decides he needs to kill Everybody because he wants to fuck his mom He's assimilated into the culture He's basically like Half Thai at that point He's learned all of their martial arts and will kill them with it No he gets fucked up that's the best part He can't even fight This movie when I saw it was the biggest disappointment Of my life Coming off of Drive I was like so Hyped for it I think you and I Sent like 800 T9 Sidekick texts about this Whenever this came out And I sat there and it's so boring and weird. And now I have since recontextualized it as a masterpiece of world cinema.

1:25:25And that's just what we do here. So only God forgives. That's Gaz. And Toronto, better get this one while it's still on the board. Dawn of the Dead, the Snyder Cut. This is set in Milwaukee, but was shot in the Thornhill Square shopping mall. Is that active? Dornhill Square? No. Demolished immediately. Not even any, like, cool backroom-style YouTube videos of it. Too bad. I was going to try and make a pilgrimage tomorrow. Okay. Just to pray at the altar of Big Brother Zack. You just went Only God Forgives Zack Snyder? Yeah. That's incredible stuff. Yeah. Honestly, pretty good movie. I like it.

1:26:16Yeah. James Gunn wrote the script. a couple other people rewrote it Scott Frank I think got involved there what? yeah are you breaking news on that? no it's on Wikipedia okay and just like is probably the best use of Snyder's specific kinetic gifts as a filmmaker and Sarah Polley's amazing Sarah Polley co-star I was gonna get there Bing Rames some other folks what about him? he's in it too where's he from? America sure yeah so Only God Forgives and Dawn of the Dead 2004 are my picks okay

1:26:49Sean Fennessey:thanks for being here Chris yeah okay Amanda back to you okay so I have Canadian Star and Cronenberg left and both have been you all have your picks so I can kind of do whatever I want I think I think I'll go I'll do Cronenberg and I was informed that his feature on Charlie XCX's album is not eligible because it has not been released yet, but I look forward to that and to Charlie, who continues to honor Canadian cinema and also be fun. I think I'm going to do a History of Violence. Yes. I re-watched both Vigos, you know, because when you have the chance. And while Eastern, they're both excellent, but there is something so obviously messed up about a history of violence.

1:27:51And you know exactly what's going to happen, both because you've seen it, but also just because the way the film language uses the familiar beats to make things clear to you and you still don't want to believe it. And it's a little bit because of Vigo's performance and it's a little bit just because of the pacing and the amazing shock construction. So it's like an incredible, very upsetting movie. You've chosen the one David Cronenberg movie Explicitly about the United States of America Well I listen And I apologize but it's really really good It's great It's the best And Charlie wasn't allowed Do you relate to William Hurt in that film?

1:28:30In what sense? That I have a younger brother? How else? That I'm going to be killed by the Oops I shouldn't say that That I'm going to be nominated for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor For this podcast Yeah. You watch Viggo Mortensen. If you were to watch Viggo Mortensen and the four movies he's made with Cranberry, that was the best actor of all time. Yeah. I mean, those performances are just amazing, especially History of Violence. Like when the turn comes and he's kind of like, actually, I am this guy. What he is doing like physically and with his face and with his voice, those like micro mutation is incredible.

1:29:05Also, once again, teaches us that Philly is where everyone goes to die. Yeah. Crazy. Do you know? Crazy Joey Cusack and the Cusacks? Who are your guys in the Philly Mob? Did you know? Just, I mean, it's most of the Irishman documents this, so yeah.

1:29:23Sean Fennessey:I have to give you credit for not selecting the movie where Vigo is nude. That's... Sure. I mean, and you know, scrotal tucks have been a topic of discussion on and off the podcast recently and in a way that fight scene qualifies, but... Would this room generally say that they're pro-scrotal tuck? I've really been trying to explore this Are you going to give some context? So we podcasted about a number of things Recently And I don't remember How it came up But we talked about whether there was such a thing As a scrotal tuck And I'd like everyone to know that we've done Some independent reporting after that And we have heard two separate instances Of like known scrotal tucks Happening to That actors that you've heard of figures have received scrotal talk.

1:30:10So gigantic tactical error inviting my kid. Oh, sorry. Lee, I'm so sorry. Buddy, you okay? Sit down. Okay. Your kid is going to be like, Dad, can we watch Only God Forgives Tonight? She wants to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre every day. Yeah. I'm only speaking of anatomy. We all have bodies. Absolutely. That is a David Croteberg quote.

1:30:35Sean Fennessey:Okay. It's up to me. It is. I don't have a Cameron or Denis movie. What's the most respectable movie I could do? I really wanted to take Enemy. I thought that was the only pick. Pick one of those other great movies he's apparently made more than James Cameron. Well, I didn't say that. Or, like, The Terminator. I'm taking Aliens. Yes. Which I think is amazing. And that was shot on location in Toronto? Yeah. Yeah. In the, uh, in the, the, the Bloor viaduct, you know, absolutely amazing sci-fi war masterpiece and total re-imagination of what the alien movie could be. And, um, I, I think probably changed action cinema forever.

1:31:27Sean Fennessey:Um, and I think his commitment to, uh, practical filmmaking in that movie is probably why Chris's heart is so broken. Over the Avatar situation. I understand. I get where you're coming from. You'll always have aliens. It's not going anywhere. But if you all want, you can also have fire and ash. And not just fire. Fire and ash. And the way of water. Yeah. Well, you've had that. Yeah. You've had the way of water. You rejected it. I did. But aliens is wonderful. I mean, is Cameron, like, do you claim Cameron? You know, does he feel meaningfully Canadian? Because he claims Canada. There was that famous podcast that said he should be president.

1:32:03Because he's just as a project manager. He could like he'd be like a centrist Democrat who could probably like he'd be environmentalist and you could kind of get stuff done. There was once a list that was published of like the best Canadian movies that was kind of like your draft where it was like it's all it's all good. You know, and like Titanic and Cameron movies were there. And when you looked at it that way, it was kind of ridiculous, which isn't to say your podcast is ridiculous. But that list was ridiculous when they published it because you would have like I've heard the mermaid singing in the Terminator.

1:32:31It's like these things are not like each other. But, you know, I mean, we proudly claim. I think what's not more interesting, but that Villeneuve is probably, unless anyone has a better candidate, he's probably the second biggest Canadian director of all time, like by a mile at this point. Simply by making the Dune movies as a Canadian born filmmaker, like unless I'm forgetting someone, they really are the top two in terms of industrial schlep, you know.

1:32:58Sean Fennessey:Even more than Ivan Reitman, you think? I'm going to take the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, the tenth. Do those apply in Canada? No. Okay. Did you watch the Dune 3 trailer? I did. No, I didn't actually. You didn't watch the Dune 3 trailer? Sorry, we've seen a lot of it in footage. Live reaction right now? Yeah, pull it up. Our eyes, if you could put it up there, our eyes aren't that good. Picture a big spaceship sitting there. Okay. Well, we saw seven minutes. we saw the opening of the film at CinemaCon okay and it was sick it was fucking sick I don't mind saying yeah you know despite whatever this guy's talking about I don't know what the hell Adam is talking about the movie looked fucking amazing so I don't need to watch the trailer I think you'll like it okay cool it looked awesome yeah and your Taylor Joy covered in blood do you want me just narrate the entire story sure go ahead Chalamet blue eyes yeah fully going through a little midlife crisis as he becomes a god and And yeah, Momoa back.

1:34:02Yeah. Duncan, Idaho? Yeah. Cool. I'll explain that to you after. It's complicated. Can't wait. You have two picks. I do. For Ryan Gosling, I want to pick Breaker High. People know.

1:34:20She's not going to have a card for this, is she? You know, like one of the great Canadian young adult. How would we describe it? young teen adult boat coming of age but it's a tv show so that's uh we don't do that here no no we we we don't do that here i mean i think ryan gosling is a good actor who's often in movies that i i don't like so i'm kind of caught i was really hoping reynolds was going to be there because i was going to pick adventureland which is a beautiful movie and it was going to be a whole thing but um you know what for chris i'm going to pick a movie i don't even like but it's just going to make him so happy to see it on the board i love chris so i will pick drive even though i don't like it it's beautiful have you seen the the new nicholas winning refen film i'm seeing it on tuesday and my breath is baited i cannot wait because much like chris i like refen when he is absolutely unbearable he never like only god forgives my favorite nicholas windig refen directed thing because it's like almost unwatchable there's a high compliment i love that series i've put in so many hours with the guy man i know too old to die young all 11 hours copenhagen Cowboy all six hours.

1:35:26You know when you know it's a good series is when one episode is 90 minutes when one episode is like 37 minutes and when no two episodes are in the same language. Yeah. You're like this is an excellent streaming television series. I love it. I'm not it's not a bit I think it's great.

1:35:42Sean Fennessey:We're going on Twitch immediately after you see her private health. Me and you we're going to talk it out because it is not good. Okay you've got another pick. Okay I'm going to cheat. I'm going to put one movie on the board then there's a second movie that I have to mention. The movie I'm going to put on the board is Clement Virgo's Rude from 1995, which is an important movie in TIFF's history, an important movie in Toronto film history. It's a gesture against the fact that so much of the mythology around Canadian Toronto films is that, you know, stories about white characters. So here's a black Toronto director, largely black cast, very much influenced by Do the Right Thing.

1:36:14There's even like a DJ character connecting the narratives. Like it had its 30th anniversary last year and I thought that that anniversary kind of came and went with less circumstance than it should. Very important, crucial Toronto movie. So for people who are not sitting, how many people here have seen Root? It's going to be more than a few. That's not enough. You should see it. I was thinking more for the people who are like watching it. So Root is the pick, but I mean, I can't say that my favorite Toronto movie is not the one that my kid is in, which is Matt and Mara by Kazik Radvinsky, where Leah's sister Avery is excellent as a baby, which also stars Matt Johnson, but her scenes with Matt were left sadly on the cutting room floor.

1:36:47He, she was at TMU, the former Ryerson, and shooting with him and he just riled her up because he's like, where's your dad? Which is narratively in context. But Avery took this literally and she's like, yeah, where is my dad? And Matt was like, yeah, where's your dad? Where's your dad? Knowing full well that I was around the court and I'm like, this is great. Now I'm a basket case child on the drive home. But Kaz's movies in general as Toronto films, Tower and Matt and Mara, I think are very important. But yeah, Rude's the one on the board.

1:37:15Sean Fennessey:There wasn't a placard for Rude. How do you feel about that? It's very telling. Yeah. I have a Gosling left. That's my last category. Put the Metallica shirt on, dude. We know what you're going to do. Place me on the pines? Yeah. Yeah, place me on the pines. There you go. I mean, there's nothing Canada about the movie. I don't really know what to say about that part of it. It's about Schenectady and being a fucking loser in Schenectady and thinking that you deserve more than you have. And then Ben Mendelsohn comes and destroys your life. Yeah, but he teaches you how to be a great bank robber, which is normal stuff that happens when you are best known for riding motorcycles in circular cages.

1:37:59Sean Fennessey:Deranged movie that could only be based on true life experiences. Derek C. in France, I don't think raced motorcycles inside of cages, but I do think he observed people doing that and had conversations with them. I sincerely love this movie, even though I know it's incredibly sincere and sentimental about being a sad guy. I think this is like Gazi's best work. I wish he never left this era. I like what he's doing now. I think he's super talented. But he was actually like unafraid to be pretentious in a way that I wish more movie stars would be. And this movie lives in my heart. Thank you for experiencing that.

1:38:43Okay, I have Canadian star left. This is very easy for me. I will be taking the other star of the notebook, Rachel McAdams. Mean Girls. Obviously, Mean Girls was eligible in Toronto plays somewhere. It's not. Is it specified where? And it doesn't matter. Anyway, it's filmed in Mean Girls is filmed here. Wedding Crashers. You all know how I feel about Morning Glory, Family Stone, Spotlight. I mean, she's someone who obviously makes romantic comedies and good romantic comedies, which are a genre that's important to me. But sort of like a comedian who in a different era, I think, would have had an even bigger career than she already has.

1:39:26But if you haven't seen Send Help, very good in that. Do you like Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret? She's amazing. I can't believe that she got nominated. So everything that she is good in everything that she does, she's so watchable. We just did a Diane Keaton episode. And she obviously starred with Diane Keaton a couple times. and eulogized her or, you know, did her in memoriam tribute at the Oscars. And, you know, you think that in a different time period, Rachel McAdams had some of the stuff. So, and also Regina George's Forever. So. Also known to have come here of her own volition to watch movies at the Lightbox when she was in Toronto.

1:39:59I won't say which movie she was at, but it was one that were like four people here and I was one of them. And she was in the back row with the baseball cap watching a Brazilian movie and that ruled.

1:40:06Sean Fennessey:Why would you not say what the movie is? It was neighboring sounds. Okay. Do you guys know that I went and saw Neon Demon the day it came out? And Elle Fanning was there watching herself in Neon Demon? I had this exact experience. Were you at the movie together? With Jacob Elordi. That was the craziest thing ever. She was just hanging out with her friends. Just being like, look at this dude cook. Look at this guy. What a filmmaker. She said those words to her friends? That's what I imagine they were talking about. My turn? You have the last pick of the draft. I can't. I was going to do something.

1:40:44Chris, name a Canadian broker. No, you know what? Here's the thing. So I did have, this is in all sincerity. So like in the early 90s, there was basically like, it was much harder to come across movie information, even though my father was a film critic. He didn't really share much with me. And we would, you know, I would rent videos from the store on the corner. And I early in high school became obsessed with Miller's Crossing. So I rented Miller's Crossing a hundred times. And there was a trailer at the beginning of the Miller's Crossing VHS that I was like, God, this looks interesting, but I don't know if like, it's my thing.

1:41:18And I rented Adam McGowan's The Adjuster when I was like in high school. Let me tell you, sexually formative movie for me. And also, like, you know, Matt spoke about the uncanny valley nature of Canadian films. And I think that that can be read as a critique. but his movies specifically have that same thing, but I would say it as a positive trait of their films where you're like, this is reality, but it doesn't really seem like reality. I watched his movies when they were a little bit over my head or at least his early stuff like Exotica or whatever. You know, I think I kind of - What'd you think of that one?

1:41:52Again, you know, provocative stuff. Really, really got the conversation rolling, but - With who? You know, my camp girlfriend. But yeah, would you rank him as a titan of Canadian filmmaking? At first, I thought I was going to have to break it to you that the Coens weren't Canadian. No. I'm picking the big Lebowski. And that sensibility just spoke to me, those noted Canadian filmmakers. There's the scene in Sirius Man where he tries to flee to Canada and then gets his head blown off. That's right. The sign's just like Canada that way. Goodbye. Adam and Gwen are extremely important. and a filmmaker who's had an interesting turnaround in his reputation because he was kind of, you know, a breakthrough.

1:42:37I mean, Exotic is a huge international art house hit, you know, it was distributed by Miramax. Sweet Hereafter, he competed for Best Director against James Cameron. You know, very significant for an actual Canadian movie to be nominated for director and script. And then his fortunes kind of turned because we have this thing in this country that I'm sure none of you know anything about, the tall poppy syndrome thing, where it's like, oh, you're successful? Well, now you suck. And I found Egoin's last few films, including the one he made with Amanda Seyfried, not Canadian, but a great actress from Mean Girls.

1:43:04Seven Veils, I thought was really good and really interesting. And I hate the phrase return to form, but it was like very back to that period of just narratively interesting, kind of perverse movies. I mean, it's good that he's here, even if his name is now the adjuster. Adam McGuigan, 100%. It's actually my name, but we'll get to Adam. Christy adjuster, Ryan. That was like the best pick of any of us. I don't think so. I think that was just like but I just needed I needed to get him up there on the board.

1:43:33Sean Fennessey:Yeah, you came by it honestly all right. I mean honorable mentions now obviously we didn't set this up to be a pocket history of Canadian film. We're not capable of doing that. Yeah, we did our best but also we picked the notebook in a place beyond the pines. So you know, there's the only so much that we could do what stands out as things that we didn't pick that

1:43:56last night last night I feel like is a real point of pride, right? Like the Sandra Ohm movie. Don McKellar's movie. Yeah.

1:44:03Sean Fennessey:Don McKellar's last night. That's certainly one. Sure. We had mentioned Going Down the Road, which my mom bought Sean a book on. My mom bought it at the book store. She's like, give this to Sean so you can know what Going Down the Road is. Adam's mom, thank you. I have not seen the film, so I'll watch the film and then read the book. There were a couple... Honestly, one of the cool things about doing these drafts is it forces you to do your research on different subjects, and sometimes they're a little bit easier to come by because you're reflexively just like, oh, I have this all kind of in my memory.

1:44:31But for this, I got to know a filmmaker named Denis Arcand, who obviously later in his career gets Oscar noms, right? But I found these three films from the 70s that I didn't really know about. The big one, Dirty Money, came out in 72. These Montreal-set crime films. Gina, kind of a rape revenge movie. And there's another one. But they're just really, really awesome movies. I mean, Zacharias Canuck, Alanis Abamsawin, late Jeff Barnaby. We didn't talk about indigenous cinema. We have a documentary tradition in this country. We mentioned Alan King. I mean, there's a lot to Canadian film. And we can end list the things we kind of left out.

1:45:09But it's an interesting cross-section anyway. Mansfield Park? Patricia Rosamund. We didn't mention her. Sure. Okay.

1:45:22Do you guys know what Bon Cop Back Cop is? No. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Can you guess?

1:45:36I don't know if I should. Is it a... How many solitudes are in Canada? Two. It's good cup, bad cup, but like one is French and the other one is not. Okay. Got it. Yeah, it's our In the Heat of the Night. Is it a movie or a TV show? Both. Okay. It's your In the Heat of the Night. It's a movie that turned into a TV show. If we could pick TV shows, I would have picked Shorzy. We didn't pick Nathan. You wanted... Is Finding Francis a Canadian movie? No? No.

1:46:07Sean Fennessey:It's a tricky one, right? Because Nathan Fielder, you know, Matt Johnson accepted greatest living Canadian filmmaker. But he hasn't made a feature film. You know, he's doing other work. Well, other than Finding Francis. It was a feature-length documentary by a Canadian filmmaker. So we omitted it. did they show it on big screens here? He came and showed it at the Bloor Hot Dog Cinema. Was anyone at that Q &A? Do you remember how mad he was that he didn't have a chair? Because very hard with, I've seen Nathan Fielder live in Toronto twice, including also at the Danforth Music Hall. It's extremely hard to tell if he's doing a bit.

1:46:43Maddening, in fact. And when he was at the Bloor, he was sort of like, I came all this way. And I seem to recall that there wasn't a chair and everyone was kind of like laughing. He's like, no, no, I like I could use it. Like I really need a chair.

1:46:57Sean Fennessey:When Chris and I were working at Grantland, I think it was maybe ahead of the third season of Nathan for you. He came in and he was coming in to do a podcast with Bill Simmons, which was one of the greatest podcasts of all time. If you've never heard it, I highly encourage it as Nathan fucking with Bill for an hour. And he similarly, I couldn't. Were you there that day when Nathan came in? I couldn't tell. I was, but I don't remember anything extraordinary about it other than like another guy standing around at the Grantland offices. Well, he shook my hand. He looked me in the hide. He said, thank you for everything you've done,

1:47:30which is actually a classic fantasy move.

1:47:33Sean Fennessey:I know I would do that to a stranger. So it was game recognized game, obviously. But, you know, he didn't know who I was or what my name was when he said that. He's so special. I love him. I saw him at a party once talking with Larry David. And I was like, I think that the earth's axis is tilting. They can't handle this. Yeah, another honorable mention I didn't get to, but one of the best movies shot in Toronto in the last few years is Trap, the M. Night Shyamalan. Yeah. So much great, great, great girl dad movie. And it's so funny when they park for the Sky Dome under the gardener. Where it's like, I can't wait for this concert.

1:48:11I'm like, you are an hour and 10 minutes away on foot. Crazy dad, Josh Hartnett. But a brilliant movie on many fronts.

1:48:21Sean Fennessey:Okay, we have to get going. But before we go, we have to recap our draft. And then you have to vote on our draft right now. So before you vote, CR, you picked first. Why don't you tell us what you have? Is there like a QR code? There's going to be as soon as you read your pick. So for my draft, I did Ryan Gosling. I took Only God Forgives. For David Cronenberg, I took Videodrome. For James Cameron slash Denis Villeneuve, I took Sicario. For Canadian director, I took Adam McGoyan's, a de-adjuster. For Canadian Star, I took the classic Canadian film MASH. And for Toronto Plays Itself or Others, I took Dawn of the Dead, Zack Snyder's remake.

1:49:01Amanda. Okay. For Ryan Gosling, I took The Notebook. For Cronenberg, I took A History of Violence. For Cameron of Villeneuve, I took Arrival. For Canadian director, Norman Jewison, for Moonstruck. Canadian Star, Rachel McAdams, Mean Girl and Everything Else. And for Toronto Plays Itself or Somewhere Else. the virgin suicides

1:49:21Sean Fennessey:for Gosling I selected the place beyond the pines pure masterpiece for David Cronenberg I took the fly for Cameron or Villeneuve I took aliens for Canadian director I took Sarah Polly and take this waltz for Canadian star I took Jim Carrey and Ace Ventura pet detective and for Toronto plays itself I chose Scott Pilgrim versus the world for Gosling for Chris Ryan I picked drive for Cronenberg I picked The Shrouds, an actually Canadian film. For Villeneuve, I picked Enemy, an actually Canadian film. For a Canadian director, I picked Alan King, who's actually Canadian. For a Canadian star, Christopher Plummer, in an actually Canadian film, The Silent Partner.

1:49:59And Toronto, an actual Canadian film, Rude.

1:50:05Guess who's gonna win?

1:50:06Sean Fennessey:Would you say you played in the spirit of the game, or would you say that you just sucked up to the audience for an hour? A little bit of both. Yeah. There's going to be. Actually, sucking up to the audience would be naming American movies because we're in Canada. There is a QR code behind me. You have one minute. I think it's been up for a little bit. So, yeah. Starting now. That's nice. But listen, vote for your heart. It's okay. You know, it's. Have you won every live vote? No, I believe that David Sims won. But we were in the final two. So we held hands. It would be funny to get me enough votes that so that I can make Adam name and hold hands with me like Miss America style.

1:50:48Or do you do you know that reference? Do they have Miss Canada?

1:50:51Sean Fennessey:And I'll say here they are. Yeah. Mr. And Mrs. Canada. Vote now. Yeah. Chris, can you just vamp for 57 seconds? What will you do if you want some material here? Go to the Thornhill Shopping Center. Start start a global zombie pandemic. Save society. Will you drop a pin tonight and let people know where you're going to be? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Okay. For sure. Do you know how to drop a pin? I don't. I don't.

1:51:24Are we, are the votes ready? Do we want to talk about tomorrow night at all? Yeah. Is there anything, is there any vamping? I don't know. I hope, is anybody coming tomorrow? Okay, great. Thank you so much. You guys know, you guys know what you bought tickets for, right?

1:51:37Sean Fennessey:Yeah. Okay. It's not a surprise. Though I'd like to come back and do a surprise screening. It's a live screening of my episode of Inception from the Rewatchables. Are you guys excited about that? Six out of ten. Yeah, we're screening Tenet, which will be a lot of fun. Yeah. We're chatting afterwards. Chris has some bits planned, but we won't tell you what they are. Oh, yeah. I forgot. You've been working on your material. How much did you work on your material before this pod? Not at all. Okay. And I'm not going to be here tomorrow, but I'm going to miss it very much. Okay. Does anyone else find it surreal that Chris Ryan is in Toronto?

1:52:10No. You guys are very sweet. Take that energy into the voting booth with you. Not that I'm influencing you guys. Do we have results? Yeah. What are the electioneering rules in Canada? Voting is closed. Okay. We usually announce our results at like 8.01 p.m. You guys do it fast? Very well. Yeah. Is it a clean system here? Are we going to go into this with them? Okay. Canadian politics doing just great. Are you accepting new citizens? Sorry? Are you accepting new citizens? Me personally? Yeah. Isn't that something you do as well? You can nestle just behind the few DVDs I still have left displayed in the basement.

1:52:53Sean Fennessey:That's right where I belong. That's right where you belong. Okay. Jack, do we have results? The votes are in. Okay. In last place with 14 % of the vote. Wow. Christopher Ryan. Wow. Didn't work at all. Wow. Just like only God forgives You'll understand it in five years It's cool In third place With 21 % of the vote Sean Fennessey Wow oh my god Adam come here Okay This is so exciting here we go Very exciting In second place With 26 % of the vote Mean pod guy Adam Naiman which means Amanda Dobbins Has won the raked draft Canada. Wow. It's almost like these events are 50 % women and she wins every vote.

1:53:47Thank you all. You're very sweet.

1:53:49Sean Fennessey:Next live draft. It's going to be me, you and nine women. And then we'll see what happens.

1:53:56Sean Fennessey:This was very special. Really appreciate you guys hosting us here tonight. Want to say thank you very, very much to Tiff for hosting us. This is really cool. that they were able to have us out. You know, Adam has been a huge and important part of the big picture for a very long time and not only lends the show gravitas, credibility and thoughtfulness, but he's also the funniest person who comes on the show. So this is very special for us to get to do something live. To hear that, Reddit threads.

1:54:26Sean Fennessey:Matt Johnson is a genius and the man, and that was very cool that he joined us tonight. So thank you to Matt.

1:54:34Sean Fennessey:I want to say thank you to Criterion for helping us out tonight. Thank you to Elizabeth Fearman, who fearlessly runs events for The Ringer. Helen Eichner on her team, whole Spotify group. Thanks to Jack Sanders, our producer for this event. Give it up for Jack.

1:54:51Sean Fennessey:Thank you, Canada. We'll see you next time. Thank you, guys.

1:55:04Thank you.