The Top 10 Underseen and Overlooked Movies of 2025. Plus: ‘Is This Thing On?,’ ‘Ella McCay,’ and Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.

28:15And so she believes that rather than maneuver and manipulate the way that a politician does, she can kind of blunt force her way to change in the world. And she finds out that just like she can't always do that with her personal life, she can't do it in the real world. So when I say that there's stuff about it that I like, as an idea, that's a good idea for a movie. And I kind of admire that Brooks wants to make a movie about this where it's like it's not unlike a one battle after another where it's like we fucked up and now I'm Governor Bill. And like Ella McKay wants to come along and kind of fix things and improve the world.

28:48And, you know, her father was a real asshole. And she's like, she's entitled to not forgive him. Right. You know, and that the only people in her life who she can really trust are women and these strong older women. So like all of those ideas, I think, are sound. Yeah. The movie, it feels like people took laughing gas before they started making it. Like it is bizarre. Oh, yeah. The tone, the joke writing, the performance style, the editing. It's so misshapen all over the place. It's really goofy. And so those basic ideas are also the ideas that, you know, undergird Mary Tyler Moore and certainly broadcast news.

29:28But the tone is Leslie Knope and Parks and Rec. Totally. And in a way, and because it is this like small town, unnamed vibe, there is a like you know, unspecific sitcom quality to the way they're all speaking to each other that undermines a lot of the situations. And then the stakes are both really big, but in the sense that she's like a young woman, like trying to figure out the world and make the world a better place. But it's also, you know, it's like her ultimate downfall is like a four-figure bribery scandal, like by her dumb husband and like the local news reporter. It's not even like like Axios or something.

30:10You know, it is like really very, she works so hard for like an incredibly admirable, like we need like child health bills in this country now more than ever. But like they just yell tooth tutors a lot to talk about it, which again is good. Like teach children how to take care of their teeth. And she's got a lot of statistics about it. But they're just screaming tooth tutors in a way that is like cutesy and gimmicky. and it is also, you know, not the Pentagon Papers. So it's a real, it's silly. And then the interpretation of this script and this is not played as silly. It's played very sincerely.

30:55It is. And it's quite confusing. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Like an action blockbuster, the holidays move quick. But with Prime, fast free delivery means those last minute gifts arrive right when you need them. Last year, while watching Singing in the Rain with my son, I realized a pair of tap shoes would be a perfect Christmas gift, and I had them under the tree for him on Christmas Day. Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays, especially when it's last minute and just can't wait. Last minute holiday magic? It's on Prime. Head to amazon.com slash prime to shop now.

31:30Brooks is a tricky character, because I feel like Terms of Endearment and broadcast news are for their times perfect movies. I like broadcast news more. That's one of my favorite movies of all time. I think a total classic. One of the great movies, yeah. Terms of Endearment, very effective melodrama. You know, Terms of Endearment based on a Larry McMurtry novel. Broadcast news is not based on anything but Susan Zerinsky, the CBS News producer, was a critical component and the Holly Hunter character is based on her. it. It's interesting to think about that and then the other films that Brooks has made.

32:09As Good As It Gets was a very big movie in its time, but I don't feel like it has as strong a reputation as it did. I'll Do Anything was famously like kind of a flame out where it started out as a musical and then it tested so poorly that they took all the songs out of it. And then Spanglish is a movie, as I mentioned, on the Sandler pod that I really don't like. And How Do You Know is considered kind of a catastrophe. And so this guy who has given the world Mary Tyler Moore and The Simpsons and The Tracy Ullman Show and Taxi and these great movies, he has a reputation earned of greatness. But there's no denying that like there is just a total lack of clarity of what this movie is even supposed to be.

32:54Like you point out the performances, I think you're right on. There's a sequence in the movie that I found utterly confounding. between Spike Fern and Iowa Debris. Spike Fern plays the emotionally stunted poor brother of Ella McKay. And he is... Agoraphobic until proven otherwise. Yes. And he has to work up the temerity to go visit his ex-girlfriend whom he broke up with under confused circumstances and then recompel her to get back together. Yeah. The scene, I felt like I was on mushrooms. I was like, what is... One, Spike Fern's performance style. He made a choice, right? It's like that is a character choice that he made to talk that way, to communicate that way.

33:38I didn't like it. I didn't think it worked. Your mileage may vary on that. It's very specific. I had more problems with Ella McKay's expository dialogue in the scene, which I texted you during the film. You're still using your math to advise people on sports betting? Great job, everyone. Yeah. I was the only person in the theater, by the way, so I was allowed to text. There are a lot of lines of dialogue, of expositional information delivery that are not good throughout the movie. But, you know, Vulture described this film as gas leak cinema, and I think that's very accurate because there are times where you're in a scene in the movie and you're like, what's wrong here?

34:19Like, is everyone okay? Why is this like this Woody Harrelson giving a very strange performance as a desperate dad who cheated on his wife, played by Rebecca Hall earlier in Ella's life and then Rebecca Hall's character passes away and he becomes this kind of itinerary figure. After like five minutes. That death is very weird. I don't, but then comes back into her life later on just as she's being named governor because he needs to reconcile with her and he needs forgiveness from her so that he can maintain a relationship with a woman who is really into healing. But that storyline like never resolves itself and he's just like a gnat in her ear throughout the movie.

35:00And you don't know if you're supposed to think Woody Harrelson's funny or tragic. I found all that incredibly confusing. Camille Nanjiani like wasted in a weird part as a state trooper who is a bodyguard. Who wants to preserve the budget of the state and thus doesn't want overtime. I was shocked by that. Who would care? Who would care about overtime budgets? We need to protect the sanctity of the overtime budget. He knows because he spent time with her, and that's something she would care about. Like, I got it. I got the point they were making. But again, it's like the details just are not aligned in any way with reality and or what they're trying to communicate in the movie.

35:42It feels very, to use your phrase from earlier, small stakes, low stakes. And the other thing is that, as you pointed out to me when you were watching the movie, I mean, the movie just literalizes the trauma thing in such a dumb way. So it does two things, which is, and this is not Julie Kavner's fault. But so Julie Kavner starts the film as the narrator. She introduces herself as the narrator. And you hear her before you see her. So you're like, oh, okay, Marge Simpson is narrating this movie. and then her opening narration uses the word trauma at least three and maybe four times. Quite literally.

36:23Ella looks up trauma in the dictionary. I forgot about that when explaining to her little brother. I was like, is this a satire? It was unbelievable. Dude, that's, I mean. It was so, so, so bad. And there was like, and that's part of like the half me too plot. Like this is a movie that is trying, you know, it read a 2011 or I guess 2018 New York Times op-ed page headlines only and then was like let's write something quote unquote to the moment tough tough stuff can I tell you what movie this reminded me of tell me I mean this was this was my particular spiral so the movie concludes Spoiler alert for Ella McKay.

37:13Jack Loudon, an actor I love, is her dumb American husband. He's been done no favors in this film. It's really, really upsetting. Also a very bad performance. Well, sure. Again, there are just some people who shouldn't be American. You know, we all know what the accent is. And I think that we just have to be honest about the capabilities of accent coaches in this day and age. Anyway, she... Jack Loudon... I honestly don't really understand why he's mad at her, and so he bribes. He accepts a bribe from a reporter. He's going to be the first husband of this state, and he's a person who has supported his wife through all of her ambition.

37:56And she has gotten to the mountaintop, and she neglects to thank him in her inauguration speech, and he feels cast aside. He wants to be a special, important guy and not just the inheritor of a pizza parlor company. Right. But he's also very stupid. So he's very stupid. He accepts a bribe from a local reporter who's found out that they, a married couple, had sex on. He provides a bribe. Oh, he provides a bribe. He writes a check to a reporter. Oh, okay. That's right. Okay. Which, of course, the reporter would never cash because the reporter is trying to ensnare him in a scandal. but like that's the dumbest plot point I've ever heard.

38:35Yeah. What politician's husband is writing a personal check to a reporter? It's just dumb writing. It's really bad writing. So. Jim Brooks is a fucking legend. I'm an idiot podcaster. I don't understand it either. It's very upsetting. And so that puts Ella's career as the governor in doubt. And so she negotiates with the state legislature, who are portrayed as the most powerful people on God's earth, to just also like a belief in local government that I have long since abandoned in this film. So she negotiates in her aunt's bar that she will resign and not run again for office if they put the child health bill through and they include the tooth tutors.

39:28So in the end, the resolution of this is that Ella McKay gets to be governor for three days and her work is done, but she gets no credit for it. And she doesn't have any of her family left except for maybe her brother because he's agreed to leave the house. This reminded me deeply of The Intern. uh another uh late career movie made by a true hero of mine that is just about how a millennial woman must be personally and professionally humiliated uh in order to i don't know what what am i supposed to take from this it's just like you you can only have it all if you don't have anything and you you have yourself great thanks so much everyone these are challenging lessons from some of our finest filmmakers.

40:21Yeah. You can only be a good divorced father if you do stand up comedies and you can only be a capable governor of a small state in New England if you are publicly embarrassed. Right. And don't have a job anymore. Well, that's not true. Then she starts legal aid. But then, oh my God, that was, I forgot how this ends. Okay. So really admirable. She starts like a nonprofit to support housing and to prevent evictions. And so they're like, they're like in the call center. Kumail Nanjiani's character is now working for the call center instead of the state. And they're like manning the phones and like a really important call comes through.

41:03And they're like, oh my God, I knew it. I knew that we did it. And so they like hand her the piece of paper. And you like expect like Ella's going to be governor again or something. And she's like, everyone, I'd like to announce I just got the news. we have saved 8 ,342 people from, you know, houselessness this year. And I was like, that's awesome. That is more than I have done. And it's a real problem here in Los Angeles and like elsewhere in the world. But also it's such a specific number. It's like in this, it's like when they're waiting to hit a million users in the social network. It's like, you know, we've had like the you know fundraising tally on the thing and we hit like 8 ,492 what are you talking about i i i think i think this there's real sincerity in this point of view which is very valid that the change is not going to come on a macro level it's going to come on a micro level and i believe in that yeah and i think james brooks's heart is in the right place i think the idea that like it's actually people who have to fix the world and they have to work really hard and they have to be comfortable being hated and being annoying is very real.

42:19And we're in in 2027 we're going to start to feel that because the only people that are going to be able to rise up in terms of what's happening in this country right now are people who are willing to be really annoying about it. I think it's again an interesting idea. Like I'm on board with where he's going but to your point about the specificity of that number and the that just the general oddity of tone. I think a lot about the ending of Broadcast News, which is like such an elegant emotional quagmire that that character is placed in. Even there, saved by the impulses of Jim Brooks, like saved by what happened on set because they filmed a different ending.

42:58Yes. And so, at the end, an alternate ending that they were trying that famously was ruined by a cameraman. And so they, you know, they were like forced into this ending, which, you know, is maybe telling in its own way of like sometimes there are impulses that. Yeah, the door is swinging, right? And it can go the other way sometimes. And I. This one is just it's just all wrong. And I think it'd be funny to try to reclaim it. And I know a lot of critics and podcasters are doing that. And, you know, the Ella McKay meme with the, you know, fixing the heel is a thing. And people are having a lot of fun with this movie.

43:35but to me it's a much more sad story about the complete kind of desecration of these kinds of movies for moviegoers. The fact that the only way to make a movie like this successful now is to pretend like it's actually not as bad as it actually is and lift it up with memes when like what we do need to me ultimately is what Jim Brooks has otherwise been doing is he he's been a producer for other filmmakers and he has supported other filmmakers in the last 30 years. You know he He produced Jerry Maguire. He produced Big for Penny Marshall. He produced Kelly Freeman Craig's movies. You know, most recently, Are You There, God?

44:13It's Me, Margaret. That's a great act. We need more Kelly Freeman Craig's making movies like this. Like, that's actually the thing that's going to get these movies going. And that requires studio executives not being fucking cowards. This is, you know, one rumor, one theory is that this movie exists so that Fox, Disney could get another Simpsons movie that James L. Brooks said, I'll give you another Simpsons movie, which is happening, I guess, in 2027, if you let me make my movie Ella McKay. That's sad. I mean, maybe you'll like the Simpsons movie, so that'll be nice. I think the first Simpsons movie is really funny.

44:48Okay. And the Simpsons completely changed my life and my point of view on comedy and writing and satire and the American family. So I thank James L. Brooks for all of his works. Ella McKay is a no-go. Underseen and overlooked. Yeah. You were not able to participate in this last year. You were on leave. That's right. We talk about a lot of movies on the show over the course of the year. Stuff slips through the cracks. It does. Doesn't get attention. It's a brief mention after a festival maybe and we don't circle back to it. So we've put five together. How was this exercise for you? I found my groove.

45:23For a second I was like, we've been talking about a lot of films. And we see films at volume, but I'm not quite at the volume that you do. So I think most of my picks have come up in passing. There's also a genre element to most of them that, you know, I decided to run towards my interests. Not that, you know, cinema often does. I haven't looked at your list. Yeah, in this case, I collected a few. So in the end, it was rewarding. Okay. there are still some 2025 movies that are just now coming out that we're not going to get a chance to talk about at least until we come back in January right so I kept those off the board yeah I wanted to cite The Plague before we talk which opens on Christmas which is a film that played at Cannes earlier this year it's written and directed by Charlie Pollinger it's about a bunch of boys at a water polo camp and is a very upsetting body horror movie.

46:30This would be a tough one for you to watch as the mother of two young boys and being a little worried about where their lives are going and whether they'll be the bully or the bullier. Yeah. The bullied or the bully. I mean, neither is a good option. It's a fascinating movie. Everett Blunk gives an incredible performance as this kid Ben in the movie. Joel Edgerson's in the movie as the coach at the camp. And the sound design and the score of this movie is remarkable. I just wanted to put it out there for people. It's coming out on Christmas. Okay. Check it out. It's the sort of thing that would be on this list if it had like an August release date, but it's coming out later this year.

47:08Okay, so let's start. Do you want to go first? Sure. My number five is a film that we briefly discussed. Yeah. And that is currently still in theaters, though if they're smart, they will get it out on some sort of VOD platform soon because I do think at home, for people interested in romantic comedy, that Eternity would pass the smell test. Now, you had some unkind things to say. Here's what I will say about Eternity. Okay. It is, I guess it's a high concept romantic comedy if you haven't seen Defending Your Life. And if you have seen Defending Your Life, It is just a sort of remake of Defending Your Life.

47:50It stars... As well as A Matter of Life and Death. Right. Like A Matter of Life and Death and Defending Your Life smashed together in one movie. And it stars Elizabeth Olsen as an old woman who dies and finds herself in the afterlife. And the way the afterlife works is that you have to pick one eternity, like one really awesome place where you're spending the rest of your life. and her two husbands are both waiting there to spend the rest of her life, her eternity with her. And so she has to pick which husband she wants to spend eternity with. And her two husbands are played by Miles Teller, who plays the person she spent most of her life with, her second husband, who she spent 35 years worth, and then Callum Turner, who was her husband who died in the war.

48:43And then it specified the Korean War and there are a bunch of jokes about that, which I thought were pretty funny. Why are there no movies about the Korean War? This, you know, I think this movie works better in the setup than in the final hour, as most high concept things do. I think this film has a profound understanding of Callum Turner's appeal. I was going to say, it's not hard to know why you enjoyed the film. But I was like, wow, they really get it. And I think that there are a lot of people who really get it. And it's funny. They're supporting performances by Dave and Joy Randolph and John Early, my favorite.

49:24And, you know, like I have thought about different moments and not just all of the Callum Turner being hot moments, though. It's like really, really funny how this is just a movie about how Callum Turner is hot. Like we're all really happy for Dua Lipa. but it you know whether it is like the the life museum that she goes through which you know has like been recreated in movies over time but it's another reference point or a Dean Martin holiday song came on the other day and I laughed at the Dean Martin Miles Teller that part is funny the Dean Martin part Miles Teller is really good in this as the other guy he is it's a very weird part for him to have taken on he is definitely taking on the other guy part he's the Albert Brooks to William Hurt in broadcast news.

50:07And, you know, Miles Teller is six feet tall, very handsome in the star of Top Gun Maverick. So for him to be playing like the schlubbier guy is kind of cool that he made that choice. I think he's the best part of the movie. Elizabeth Olsen's trying. I don't really think that character is very well written. I get what you like about it. I get what you like. I'm not going to piss in your cereal. When she's with David Joy Randolph in the afterlife convention, drinking a lot of wine, there are funny moments. It's like well observed. I do think that the understanding of the Callum Turner of it all and everyone else is like making jokes about it.

50:41It's like and if you want to spend time with Miles Teller being charming also in a grumpy way, I liked it. I think it's a good at home experience. It's kind of like it doesn't land the plane. It doesn't land the plane. That's fine. But it is kind of like if in defending your life, Albert Brooks in in Purgatory needed to choose between Meryl Streep and Heather Locklear. you know it's like yes but like that's fine let's have more movies like that that's what I'm saying I would like to honor the setup yeah because that's powerful I get you I didn't love it but I do think that similarly we do need these films yeah exactly and you're right that you're definitely right that at home this would do very well at Christmas you know you could see people cozying up around the fire watching this movie okay that's a good pick I like it your picks are very pop in a good way that will make for a good discussion.

51:31I'm not sure if my picks are going to make for a very good discussion, but I do want to put them on people's radars. And I tried to pick a mix of stuff that was both available to stream and on VOD. Is Rungano Iñoni's second feature film, which came out via A24 earlier this year, but a very limited release. It was a 2024 festival film. Um, she's a Zambian filmmaker. It's a very unusual movie about, um, a woman who comes across the dead body of her uncle in the street at the very beginning of the movie and sets off this kind of like perplexing series of familial interactions and cultural curiosities around her journey.

52:21Stars, uh, actress, Susan Chardy, who's amazing in this movie. There's like a very specific overt reference to Missy Elliott in the Super Duper Fly video at the very beginning of the film that kind of like grounds you in the oddity of the movie. Beautiful cinematography and colors and music in this movie. And it's just kind of transfixing. Like I haven't really talked about very much African cinema here. It's a very rare African film to get distribution in the United States from a major studio. it's a real portal into this world but also not alienating it's very funny and very unusual and very disorienting at times it's on HBO Max right now if people want to check it out and I hope that Iñoni gets to make more movies because she has some real flair okay number four just veering way in the opposite direction this is Ojai yeah which I believe you saw with your sister Grace I did when she was in town yes So this was a Sundance film directed by Sophie Brooks and co-written by Brooks and Molly Gordon, who stars in it, along with Logan Lerman.

53:30And it's about a young couple who go on their first weekend away together and then learn some things about themselves and their relationship to each other and then try to rectify that. I'm team Molly Gordon. And... I think she's wonderful. She's wonderful and really funny. And there's a scene in this film when she's asked to tell the Logan Lerman character about her childhood and is just running around, like, talking. And it's very funny and very fun. Did you relate to this character? Yeah, of course. You did, yeah. Of course. I think this movie is very bad. However, I do think, I do think, I love Molly, I love watching Molly Gordon.

54:19it's also her friend is Geraldine who's also amazing so when they're on it's great I mean I don't if you're watching it as a movie about a relationship is it self-recrimination the movie is it Molly Gordon being like sorry I'm so such a pain in the ass is it like are we meant to be empathetic towards her is it yeah we are okay I think so I think that she does she does some very violent and uncomfortable things to the Logan Lerman character in the film? Yeah, well, sometimes you deserve that. You know, if you're dating around. Listen, they've been dating for four months and they've had a conversation about not using protection.

55:01What have you done to my friend, Zach? And or having, it's totally respectful. But it's just like every once in a while, you gotta like call people and get them in line. In line, yeah. Especially where sexual health is involved. Yeah, for sure. So I, no, I thought this was funny. I mean it's like again like all things like the setup and the first 30 minutes are very funny and then you know things kind of peter out but I was rooting for her and you know you got this mama don't Molly Gordon edition like don't go on a weekend vacation with someone when if you're not clear on the is this something on the parameters of your relationship is this something that a fuck boy will do will he be like let's go on a weekend vacation and be romantic together so it's you know a crucial plot point in Bridget Jones' diary of course but I I do think at this age and at this budget level it's uncommon it is particularly delusional okay normally they wouldn't commit to 48 hours or you know that's sort of what I'm saying yeah sure that's strained credulity right but so I think the response then also perhaps strains credulity or is a proportionate response to the act involved I see fair point you know Fair point.

56:16Maybe it does. Yeah. It undergirds the premise. Yeah. Number four. Speaking of your boyfriends. Yeah. Is Urchin. Urchin is available to rent on VOD right now. It is the directorial debut of Harris Dickinson. Who is a very accomplished, tall, handsome actor who clearly wants to be Mike Lee. This new movie is about a guy named Mike who is sleeping on the streets of London and who's trying to get his life together, trying to get his substance abuse under control, trying to escape the very gnarly fate of his life. the movie is somewhat conventional in the way that it explores those aspects of his story you see him kind of receding back into bad habits and getting a job and losing a job and you know getting into a relationship and then messing up that relationship and some of that stuff feels very familiar some of it does feel like Mike Lee's Naked the David Thule's movie the movie takes a really interesting kind of cosmic turn near the end that is really exciting and I think augurs well for where Harris Dickinson's going as a director.

57:31Like, I thought, halfway through the movie, I was like, this is a little bit more straightforward than I want it to be, despite the fact that Frank Delane, who plays the Mike character, is phenomenal in this movie. He definitely could have been on our performances list. Really hyper-committed. I really, really liked his work in the movie. But the final 10 minutes or so, when we start to feel him kind of like exiting the normal plane of existence, is hopefully a sign of things to come for Harris Dickinson. So people should check this out. It's a cool movie. Imperfect, but very interesting. How do you feel about Harris making this leap?

58:05Will he take himself off screen to make these films? No, he's going to be in four Beatles films, so it's going to be okay. Who's he playing again? He's John Lennon. Is that good casting? We talked about, and I believe Paul Meskel is Paul. Paul McCartney, yeah. I can see it. Is John Lennon attractive? well I think that the glasses and the hair can kind of you can bring Harris to where Lennon was I see and there was a magnetism to him you know so you can't deny that who played Lennon okay alright okay number three for you The Wedding Banquet I haven't seen this well it's streaming on Paramount Plus I believe let's make sure that that's the right one Wedding Banquet Paramount Plus.

58:57Yes, it is. So, this is a remake of the Ang Lee movie, The Wedding Bank, and it's directed by Andrew Ahn, who did Fire Island, and it's co-written with Ahn and James Seamus, who wrote The Wedding Bank. That's right, the original. And so it follows, it's a similar setup, but it's in the U.S. now, and so it's a gay couple and a lesbian couple who are, you know, the gay couple wants to get married, but one of the men is concerned he won't be accepted by his family and then also will be cut off. And then the women couple are trying to, the woman couple are trying to have a baby and they're doing IVF, but they're running out of money because it's quite expensive and it's not going well.

59:48so um they two of the one of the men and one of the women decide to do like a and there's also some immigration status involved so they decide to do like a fake marriage okay in order to get the money pay for the IVF um and get lock citizenship down and then obviously like the plan gets like pretty messy um this is and that makes it sound like a lot more farcical than it is what I liked about this movie was that it was pretty emotional. Like, you know, it plays everything softly and it has a great cast. It's Bowen Yang, but Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran and Yunye Jung, who you remember from Minari.

1:00:30That's right. Academy Award winner. So, it's an outrageous plot, but everyone is soft-peddling it. Actors I like a lot. I thought this was like a pretty good soft-touch portrayal of IVF, which, you know, it's like not it's not about it it's just like a thing that happens and it's hard for the people which I appreciate you know it's just like maybe a good lesson in general we don't need to make things like about stuff it can just yeah it can you can portray a thing and how it affects people and that communicates it I don't know if you noticed that while we were recording it was announced that Bowen Yang is leaving Saturday Night Live it was actually yeah it was strange in the middle of the season after eight seasons yeah I don't know being definitely one of the most notable cast members it's kind of odd yeah I mean he's hasn't he sat out some performances or some hosts as well I think it's been a it's true it's been a fluctuating relationship as I understand it anyway I'm a fan of him he's pretty good and that's I would say like the the women are the performances to remember but I liked it okay great call yeah um number three for me just came out okay I I should have interviewed the filmmaker okay this movie is written directed, produced, and edited by this person, Curtis David Harder.

1:01:49It's called Influencers. It's a sequel. There was a movie in 2023 called Influencer. It was a thriller on Shudder about a young influencer, a woman who is stalked and eventually meets a grisly end at the hands of a dangerous woman, played by the actress Cassandra Nod, who is incredible in the original Influencer. Influencers continues the story. Another character from the film is trying to find the Cassandra Nod character CW and bring her to justice. The movie is kind of globetrotting at this point. It takes place in southern, this one takes place in southern France. These are really stylish, really slick, smart movies about the internet and how the internet works.

1:02:34There's like an AI component to this one that is, I think, pretty clever. And these movies are made, this movie's been made pretty cheaply and really sharply. And it's like, it is, it does eventually become a violent thriller but there has like a little bit of like John le Carré like spycraft going on in it that is pretty nifty and at this scale for like effectively a straight to shutter movie I thought it was really impressive and I think Harder is a really good filmmaker so I want to give it a little shout because I feel like it's maybe not getting enough attention this movie is pro AI? no like you no but it is it has a It's a really funny movie about like right wing influencers versus left wing influencers, lifestyle influencers versus people who are just trying to have fun, but capturing their lives on social media.

1:03:25That's me. It's pretty. I'm just having fun. Many people are saying you're just having fun, not trying to get free yogurt. You would never do that. You would never attempt to acquire yogurt. I'm really grateful. I'm still eating that yogurt. Thank you, Payland sisters. Jack, is this okay? Of course. It's all great. Jack got some yogurt. That's great. Congrats on your yogurt, Jack. Happy for you, bro. Thank you. What's number two for you? Megadoc. Yeah. Which we've talked a little bit about, but I thought on this episode, especially after the James L. Brooks... Streaming now on the Criterion channel.

1:04:02There you go. So this is Mike Figgis' portrait of the making of Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, which I saw at the Venice Film Festival. and has amazing access. And the further we get down the road of Francis Ford Coppola, but also of these beloved filmmakers hanging on, chasing their dreams to the very, very end, past 80. It's very specific to Coppola in a lot of ways and what animates him and what makes him one of the great American filmmakers and also what explains all of the completely inexplicable things that have happened in the back half of his career. Again, like incredible access.

1:04:49I'll just still think about the request from Natalie Emanuel's agent that she not be filmed eating. Just really, really special stuff. But it is also a movie about someone who has been dreaming of something his whole life. and specifically about making a movie and waiting for the technology to catch up to this vision in your head. And can it? And can the vision in your head be realized? And how that actually happened or didn't happen in Coppola's case and in the case of Megalopolis is, I think, fascinating. Again, really helped me understand Megalopolis. But if you are listening to this podcast and you're interested in how films are made, it's really good.

1:05:39Totally agree. I like this movie a lot. It's a great shout. The next film I'm going to recommend is another movie that we talked about on the show. I saw it out of Sundance. It's called The Things You Kill. It's now available to be rented on VOD. I thought there was a chance we would be talking about it a little bit more and maybe you would have to see it because it was Canada's submission for international feature at the Academy Awards. It was not selected. Okay. It's a film about a Turkish university professor teaching in the United States, and his mother dies, and she dies under suspicious circumstances, and it drives him kind of crazy.

1:06:15And as he's grieving, he hires this gardener to enact revenge on the people who he feels may or may not be responsible for his mother's death. This is like a very chaotic, violent, scary, disorienting thriller. I think I probably used somewhat regrettably the word Lynchian to describe it back in January when I saw it at Sundance but it does have those elements of what is really happening what is the dream state what is the mania of a person in the face of crisis really really strong filmmaking from Ali Rezakatami the writer and director Eakin Cox's performance as the star as Ali is really really good and this is like a bit of a it's just a it's a gem.

1:07:01It's a really, really good small independent feature that had a, you know, had a festival premiere and seemed like maybe it was destined for bigger things and then these movies just kind of come and go sometimes. So The Things You Kill is my number two. Okay, number one. Joanna briefly mentioned this on our performances of the year. But it's Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, which is now streaming on Netflix. Have you seen this yet? I have not seen it yet. Well, I just absolutely loved this and not just because Jane Austen is the title. It is a romantic comedy, I guess an intellectual romantic comedy, but it's your pretty classic love triangle.

1:07:38There's a French woman who is stylish enough that I, you know, was being like, I guess I need to get bangs now or a sweater. So you need that element. She's a writer. And then she goes to the Jane Austen Writers Residency. And she meets someone there and then someone else from her life comes back. and then she's also so she's trying to decide between them but she also has writer's block and as much of it is about her trying to be an artist or a writer as it is about which of these knuckleheads is going to figure it out. I thought it was very funny and it like small is unfair but like self-contained in a great way and very charming.

1:08:22So if you're looking for something to stream there you go. Do you think Eileen would like it? I don't know. Where is Eileen on Jane Austen? doesn't seem to care that much. Well, then I wouldn't say dislikes, you know, then, then maybe she wouldn't like it, but I do think that there in the way that Jane Austen is like the bones of so many of our romantic comedies, you know, she, I think she appreciates many of the hallmarks. She does. There is like, they recreate like a period style ball at some point, but, but not in the sense and sensibility. We've done a week's worth of night shoots to make this real.

1:08:57It's like the people at the residency are doing it for shits and giggles. Okay. So there's some knowingness to it. Okay. It's convenient that it's streaming on Netflix. Yeah. My number one is available to rent right now for 99 cents on Amazon Prime. Okay. Wow. It's called Volcanizadora, which means tire repair shop. Okay. I think in Spanish. Don't fact check me on that one. Okay. This is a very strange movie. It is the latest movie from a guy named Joel Petrikas, who is a vigorously independent filmmaker who makes unusual, intimate indie movies, shot on film. It's about two guys who go into the forest to follow through on a very fucked up pact that they make with each other.

1:09:46One of the guys is set for a potential prison sentence. The other guy is a state of crisis in his life. but the movie is just like kind of a hang just these two dumb guys talking at each other for the first hour before the events of the movie get a little bit more complicated interesting movie about male friendship we've had several of those this year yeah it gets very gnarly near the end some intense stuff that happens in the back half it's also very funny and there's there's nobody making movies quite like Joel Petroikas and your mileage will definitely vary on whether or not you enjoy the movie but if you can get your head around what it is he's trying to accomplish I think it's very singular very beautiful you know guys you're going through it men are going through it in 2025 yeah you know dads this is a dad movie as well dads are going through it dads are having a hard time because they want to be good fathers right they want to be successful men right they want to not go to prison right they are trying to figure out how to have it all.

1:10:52Yes. It's hard. So whether you're in Volcano Zadora. And James Zellberg says you cannot. Yes. You'll be Woody Harrelson and you will not be forgiven by your daughter. That is where we land. Yeah. So that's it. That's our list. How are you feeling? Two more episodes to go this year. Two more episodes to record. How many episodes left for people to listen to? 16 more. So this will be the first 30 episode month. No, I'm kind of, okay, so this, okay, so one, two, three, four. four more episodes in this calendar year. Yeah. And then another one. So five before we come back from the break. That's right.

1:11:30Mm-hmm. You think that's the perfect amount? I mean, I hope people listen. We're working pretty hard. We are working very hard. So, thanks to Jack Sanders, our producer, for his work on this episode. The next episode is about Marty Supreme, which is a really, really good movie. It's really, really good. Please go see it. Yes, we'll be talking about it in depth. We'll see you then.