Join Matt Olien and Greg Carlson, avid movie enthusiasts, for an engaging round-table discussion as they delve into their top film picks of 2023 and explore classic movies recently included in the National Film Registry.
Transcript:
The Librarian of Congress picks 25 movies to add to the National Film Registry every year. Selections tend to run the gamut from very popular, like blockbuster hit Terminator 2, to student made films.
Based on the number of movies they watch every year, you’d think Matt Olien and Dr. Gregory Carlson never sleep. Olien is Prairie Public’s movie critic and Carlson directs the film studies program at Concordia College. Today they talk about the movies that made this year’s registry list, as well as their favorite film from 2023.
Ashley Thornberg:
So just to start, let's let people know what the National Film Registry really is and what it means to have a film inducted into that.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Sure. It's a function of our taxpayer dollars at work. Any person, any citizen can submit possible titles for inclusion in this registry which preserves movies that are noteworthy, that are important to save for cultural and historical purposes.
And the Library of Congress doesn't actually do the physical preservation. And they always make that clear. But it's a way to kind of see the arc of our heritage as told through all kinds of film, from experimental, theatrically released, student-made work, family home movies, etc.
Ashley Thornberg
Well, let me ask you this. I'm looking at these were all inducted in 2023. I'm looking at the list of years that they were made. Some go back to 1921, some as recent as 2013. Does it say anything about how good a film is if it gets into the film registry not a hundred years later?
Matt Olien
Sometimes it does. But more often than not, I think it's historically important. And so you see something like a movie trip through film land, 1921.
That was shot over at the Kodak Park at the Eastman Kodak Company. And it was kind of this little film about how they make movies in 1921. So very interesting, those little films.
Of course, Gone with the Wind and Casablanca are in the film registry. 875 movies now is the total, by the way, actually, in the registry. But I think also Greg and I have noticed, too, they've really tried to include other voices in the film registry.
I mean, this movie called the Boholano Family Film Collection, ‘50s through ‘70s. That's home movies of a Filipino family. So it's not anything anybody would have seen.
We're Alive, 1974, made by UCLA film students about incarcerated women in California. No one would have seen this movie ever in a theatrical release. But here it is in the Library of Congress.
And there's a lot of movies like that. The Lighted Field, 1987, basically a plotless silent movie. So these aren't going to be at the Cineplex, but they're now preserved.
And I think that's great.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
When Matt and I worked together on the Fargo Film Festival, we had a category for experimental films. And Matt just mentioned The Lighted Field.
Well, that's definitely what I call an eat-your-vegetables kind of movie because not many people are going to sit still for a 61-minute-long crescendo of black-and-white found footage, newsreel footage from the archive where Andrew Norin worked in the ‘80s.
I like what Matt alluded to earlier that the Library of Congress film preservation, the ethos has evolved over the years to be much more inclusive than it has been. Of course, we're still going to see some of these massive Hollywood movies with huge popularity like Terminator 2 and Home Alone, which are on the 2023 list.
But when you were looking at the span of years, Ashley, you noted that the most recent ones are from just 10 years ago. And that is one of the criteria, much like it takes— It has to be at least 10 years old. It has to be at least 10 years old, correct.
Ashley Thornberg
I didn't look up any of this, so this trivia is coming to me as I am saying it here. But what percentage of these films do you know get in right away at 10 years?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Because there's only 25 per year, it's not a huge number. Just this last year, 6,875 unique titles were submitted by citizens for consideration. That's a lot of movies to think about.
Ashley Thornberg
Have you ever submitted for consideration?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I have not, but we have friends, some of our friends at the film festival submit every year.
Ashley Thornberg
What do you know about that process?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
You can cast a vote at LOC, for Library of Congress, loc.gov slash film. And you can go to that site any time, and it will share the process for how you fill out the form to suggest a title. Some people are relentless.
They'll submit the same title year after year after year to see if they can't get it over the top.
Matt Olien
And I'm glad that it has to be 10 years old, and I'm glad that 12 Years a Slave is in there, which won Best Picture 10 years ago. I still really like that movie. I think it's one of the best films of the last decade.
One of those moments where I feel like the Oscars got it right. It's such an interesting—it's kind of half art film, half historical drama, and wonderfully acted.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
You know, Steve McQueen is not an American. The Steve McQueen who made this film is a British director and brings a different kind of perspective to the historical drama that deals with the period of American slavery.
Matt Olien
And the other one that's most recent is 20 Feet from Stardom, which is a documentary that Greg and I would have seen right at the Fargo Theater when it came. And it's such an interesting movie about these backup singers. You know, Mary Clayton, who famously sings on the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter.
She sends chills up your spine in the film.
Ashley Thornberg
And yet most people can't name her.
Matt Olien
No, but the Stones wanted her on that record, and it really helped her career. And she's amazing on the record. But it's really about these singers that with the Stones and the police and Sting and people like that, that aren't as famous as Sting and Mick Jagger.
But they are crucial on a lot of these records and a lot of their tours. It's a great, great documentary.
Ashley Thornberg
Now, we've talked about being able to vote for some of these. Is there criteria beyond that, or is it just a popular vote for films getting in?
Matt Olien
I think anybody can vote, Greg. That's my understanding. I do, too.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I'm not sure about the process. The Librarian of Congress does make a short video each year or contributes to a short video each year where some of the directors or filmmakers whose work has been included get to speak to how much it means to them to be part of it. This year, another inductee that I absolutely love is Spike Lee's film, Bamboozled, from 2000.
And Matt and I saw American Fiction, which is getting some award season buzz, especially for Jeffrey Wright's performance. And when I watched the film, I thought, oh, my gosh, here is a movie that has a kind of lineage toward the things that Spike Lee was doing thematically in Bamboozled in 2000.
Matt Olien
We both just wish American Fiction would have been a little better, though. Greg and I think it kind of just missed the landing just a little bit on some of the pacing and things like that. But still, film people should check out when it's available here.
You know, we got a special screening when we saw it. Sure.
Ashley Thornberg
Have there ever been any, I'll just use the phrase, adult films ending up on this?
Matt Olien
I don't think straight pornographic films would make it into this, but certainly I'm sure some daring films have made it into this. I think so. I'm trying to think.
Is A Clockwork Orange on this? That is still a hard film to watch for people.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
It definitely can be. I think it was a surprise this year to see a movie by Larry Clark included in the 25 because Larry Clark is so controversial. He's not what we would describe as a pornographer, but he certainly makes provocative films that go right up to the edge. You might know the movie Kids from 1995. What an amazing movie that is.
Some of his films are very hard to watch. And he has a movie on the registry that got on the registry this year called Passing Through, which is kind of an expose on how black culture is ripped off by the white overculture, and it focuses on the jazz industry.
Matt Olien
And a film like Queen of Diamonds, Ashley, 1991. Again, I've not seen this, but is Nina Menkes. I think that is the director of this film.
It's about a female blackjack dealer, and it's a film that didn't make a lot of money, but I hear good things about it and would love to kind of look at that one as well. You haven't seen that either?
…
Matt Olien
I was happy to see Edge of the City make it on here. That's a film I saw years ago on TV.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Great film.
Matt Olien
And really an early black man, white man friendship shot in black and white. Sidney Poitier, John Cassavetes, more famous as a director, but he was also an Oscar-nominated actor from The Dirty Dozen. And Poitier and Cassavetes, I think, are really good in this movie.
And this is right on the cusp before Poitier got really big the next year with The Defiant Ones.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
This is a film that shows up from time to time on Turner Classic Movies. And as always, if you do have an opportunity to see it, it is always worth your time. Martin Ritt, who directed HUD, one of my all-time favorite movies.
It was his directorial debut.
Ashley Thornberg
… you mentioned that you can watch at least some of the short films on the website. What about the full-length ones? Could I go on here and watch 12 Years a Slave or Fame?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I think with movies that were theatrically released or distributed by major studios, you still need to find whichever streaming service might be providing it as part of their library or renting it online. But, of course, Matt will know that I'm a champion of physical media, so you can also still get these things on DVD, Blu-ray, and in many cases 4K. Maybe VHS or some of the older ones.
Ashley Thornberg
What about the Laserdiscs?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I still have all my Laserdiscs.
Matt Olien
And some of the big ones on here, Home Alone, Terminator 2, Judgment Day, Nightmare Before Christmas, one that we all like. The Wedding Banquet, early Ang Lee film that's really good. Apollo 13, Ron Howard's space movie with Tom Hanks.
Love and Basketball is on here.
Ashley Thornberg
Well, let's spend a little bit more time on some of these here. Let's look at a movie like Terminator 2... Let's talk about sort of that cultural element versus the strong artistic expression when it comes to what makes a movie a good movie.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Well, I think in the case of Terminator 2, James Cameron understood the rising popularity of his star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. And to me, the brilliance of this movie is the combination of cutting edge special effects. Remember the liquid morphing of the Robert Patrick Terminator.
Even more powerful to me was that Cameron and Schwarzenegger engineered a switch from the villain to the hero. And so all of those, I don't think that anyone who was around in the late 80s and early 90s didn't frequently hear the phrase hasta la vista, baby, and I'll be back and those kinds of things. They sort of transcended the multiplex and entered the broader popular culture.
But I really like Terminator 2. I just watched it with my son. He'd never seen it.
And so just a couple months ago, I popped it in again, and it really held up.
Matt Olien
I really enjoyed it. And I've evolved on Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know, I remember in the ‘80s when he got big you're rolling your eyes at Conan the Barbarian.
But he's got a screen presence. There's no question about it. He's very when he's interviewed about these things, I do sense a kind of humbleness with him about this, about his stardom.
You know, he was never going to play Hamlet. You know, he wasn't up he's not going to play a remake of The Godfather or anything like that. But that's OK.
You know, there's a place for a Bruce Willis and an Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie world.
Ashley Thornberg
You know, this is a little out of left field here, but I've been watching the Arnold Schwarzenegger three-part series on Netflix and very drawn to this idea that from the very beginning, he had a clear vision of what he wanted in life and how to go about getting it. I just thought it was really fascinating. And even though I don't think I've seen any Arnold Schwarzenegger films, it's that series has made me want to rethink that and watch it kind of from this perspective of what it is like to have a vision as a creative and to just kind of execute within a specialty.
Matt Olien
He went and he went and got it. He's both a bodybuilder and an action star. And it is as we're recording this, it's right around the holidays.
Jingle all the way. That was this Christmas movie shot down in the Twin Cities.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
So check that one out. I think Schwarzenegger also has a tremendous amount of self-awareness because he was in this hulking sculpted body for so long. People initially underestimated how funny he was.
And even and of course he did plenty of outright comedies like Twins with his identical twin, Danny DeVito. But he's really funny and stuff like Total Recall, which was a big sci fi blockbuster. But it also had a lot of kind of ironic and ironic look at society about it.
Matt Olien
I want to mention Dinner at Eight. I saw this years ago on television. A huge, big, big star film of its day.
Jean Harlow and Marie Dresler one of the early best actress winners. The Barrymores. The Barrymores are in it.
And Wallace Beery. This would have been akin to. Knives out.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Knives out. Yeah.
Matt Olien
Every star, every star. Every cast member is a star. Yeah.
Wonderful, wonderful movie. And I like that one a lot, too.
Ashley Thornberg
Well, talking about this whole like when the ensemble cast is everybody is a star. Talk about just a little bit. Some of the movies that have done that really well.
And then sometimes where it's like it was just too many stars maybe or just.
Matt Olien
I think Robert Altman has done it really well, like with Shortcuts and Nashville, where you have these multiple storylines going on with big stars. He pops into my mind, Greg, a little bit. And Love Actually had a lot of stars in it with multiple plot lines going as well.
I think those are some of the ones that have done it pretty well.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
And since we mentioned Rian Johnson's Knives Out, his follow up, Glass Onion, has the same formula. And if he continues to make Benoit Blanc films with Daniel Craig, we can expect that all of the suspects will be well-known actors.
Ashley Thornberg
How do you afford that?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Well, I think some of them like Wes Anderson. If you look at the cast of Asteroid City, they're all taking highly reduced wages to appear to make the movie happen. But I think actors who enjoy working with particular directors like Matt mentioned Robert Altman. There's a certain kind of loyalty that comes from being around this party-like atmosphere.
When I watch the behind the scenes footage and interviews related to Asteroid City, it seems like all of the actors, whether they've worked for Wes Anderson multiple, multiple times or it's just their first time, they say, I just I just want to be in this group.
Ashley Thornberg
Hmm. Let's talk about fame.
Matt Olien
Yeah. So this is a good story about how awesome my parents were and recognizing my love of film. Greg's parents.
Same thing. Greg's told me these stories. Nineteen eighty.
This comes out and we go down to Aberdeen, South Dakota, an hour south of Oaks, where I grew up. And it's like a Saturday afternoon and they drop me off at the theater to watch fame. And they did shopping and some other things, then pick me up.
And then later that summer. But I love fame a lot. It's a really, really good musical film about these aspiring dancers and singers and actors in New York.
But that's just what I want to say is they helped foster that love of movie. And then later that summer, all three of us went down and watched The Shining in Aberdeen. My mom wanted to see it because she read the book and she hated the movie, just like Stephen King did.
And I remember on the way home, Dad and I explained to her once Kubrick has the rights to that movie, he can do what he wants. And Dad and I like the movie better, better than Mom did. But, yeah, I saw fame in Aberdeen when I was 16 years old.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
The director of fame, Alan Parker, it's nice to see him get some recognition here in the registry. You know, he's another one of the Brits who came up through advertising and along with directors who went on to greater successes like Ridley Scott. You know, he brought an incredible stylishness to the movies that he made with fame and after.
You know, he's the director of several movies that I really, really like. Birdie is a great one. And did he direct Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning?
Matt Olien
Angel Heart? Yes. With Mickey Rourke.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Yeah, great movie.
Ashley Thornberg
Can I just say I'm a little surprised that Apollo 13, that it took this long to get on the list?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
…
I'm OK with it waiting. Yeah. And what you're what, Ashley, I think what you're suggesting is that certain films that that seem to be kind of part of the fabric of of America itself.
You know, Houston, we have a problem. Right. Right.
… It's a given that they will get in at some point.
Matt Olien
But a good movie for people to see, because it is just amazing to me that we could put a man on the moon in those small capsules. And then with Apollo 13, all heck breaks loose and they get them back safely. Just amazing.
The technology that NASA perfected and Ron Howard has that he's got that certain directing style that's a little more mainstream. You know, definitely popcorn type thing. But I think it all works pretty well with Apollo.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I do, too. And I think to speak in favor of Ron Howard, it's always a challenge if you're a filmmaker to take an event that has a historical outcome that we all know and still manage to make it suspenseful.
Matt Olien
Same thing with all the president's men. When you watch that movie, you know the ending, but it's so suspenseful how Redford and Hoffman get to that end. You know, just like with Apollo 13.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I'll throw out a recommendation for Frida Lee Mock's documentary, Mile In, A Strong, Clear Vision. I was lucky enough to see that in its original theatrical release when I was in Los Angeles. And I was really taken by this film.
The amount of hatred is a pretty strong word. But the challenges that this young woman, this young artist faced when designing the Vietnam Memorial, watching the story unfold in the film, it just took my breath away. It's a really, really good movie.
Matt Olien
And John Sayles made one that is a good one to see. 1987. He's a he's a very good independent director.
Ashley Thornberg
That's Prairie Public film reviewer Matt Olien. Also in studio with us is Dr. Gregory Carlson, a professor in the communication studies and theater arts department at Concordia College. Both a couple of film buffs. We spent the first half of today's show talking about films being inducted into the National Film Registry. We are going to dedicate the second half of today's show talking about some of the biggest movies of 2023.
It doesn't really get bigger than Barbie and like not just this year. That was huge.
Matt Olien
And I think this is the best film year since 2019. I think we're back on firm footing. Greg can weigh in on this.
I think we have some really strong films this year. 2019 was the once upon a time in Hollywood parasite 1917 year. And then we had COVID and , some of the best, some of the best, some of the best picture winners, , maybe, , weren't the best or maybe we're in when we're in weaker years.
But I think this has been a strong year, don't you think, Greg?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I absolutely think it's been a terrific year for movies, movies of all different kinds. I mean, Ashley, you led with Barbie and that was part of the Barbenheimer phenomenon that was kind of almost a self-perpetuating meme that turned into excitement for.
Ashley Thornberg
Has this ever happened?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I don't know.
Matt Olien
And Oppenheimer made so much money for a three hour movie. And I think people went to Oppenheimer that would not have gone to see Oppenheimer if it was because of the Barbie situation. But both films definitely might as well start with those.
I mean, I yeah, they're both in my top five for the year. I think Greg liked Barbie a little better. I liked Oppenheimer better than Barbie.
Right.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
But one thing I'll say on behalf of Chris Nolan, is that his commitment to some of the traditional processes of shooting on film in large format film and really making certain that the presentation, both theatrically and then for the follow up on home video, is absolutely the best quality it can be. That care comes across. You know, it shows.
And he's in a sense, kind of an heir to the way Martin Scorsese thought about the importance of preserving our film culture.
Ashley Thornberg
Greg, what was it you like so much about Barbie?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Ilove Greta Gerwig and and Noah Baumbach since they first teamed up on way back on Greenberg with Ben Stiller. And I thought the satire of Barbie was terrific. I wasn't really expecting. I didn't know what to expect when I went there.
Matt Olien
That's I guess the unexpected.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Wasn't that nice? The fun part about it was that you're watching. You're thinking, wait a minute.
This isn't just targeted for younger kids. This is really entertaining.
Matt Olien
Yeah. She had homages to 2001, a space odyssey and the Godfather in there. Who knew that was coming?
Matt Olien
She's perfectly cast, of course, as Barbie Margot Robbie. But Ryan Gosling, what I mean, they're talking Oscar for this guy, for best supporting actor as Ken. He's hilarious.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
He is the real scene stealer.
Matt Olien
He's got two choreographed dance scenes. Who saw that coming?
Matt Olien
With him as Ken kind of stealing the movie. And it's just a vibrant, wonderful film. I think the production design is a great chance to win the Oscar.
You know, the costuming, everything. I think it exceeded my expectations.
Ashley Thornberg
Well, am I not mistaken here in saying that Greta is the first woman to direct a film that grossed a billion dollars or something?
Matt Olien
Yep. Yeah.
Ashley Thornberg
And so I'm probably going to get her second Oscar nomination. Who does she join in that? I'm going to go with James Cameron.
Matt Olien
Probably a billion dollar club.
Ashley Thornberg
A billion dollar club. Can't be that many.
Matt Olien
The Marvel movies. Yeah. But yeah, it's an Oppenheimer, too.
Yeah. You know, Greg mentioned Chris Nolan, the sequence in that movie where they explode the first bomb in the desert in the summer of 1945, they don't know what's going to happen. That is a great sequence because you feel you know, it's going to come off, right?
You know, it's going to work. But the tension is so high amongst everybody out in the desert. You know, Matt Damon as General Groves and Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, who might win the best actor Oscar.
That's a great sequence. And I love that Nolan didn't dumb the film down for audiences. There's a lot of detail in this movie about Oppenheimer's difficulty getting security clearance later in his life.
And Robert Downey Jr. plays this kind of corrupt government official. And you really have to pay attention to who these scientists are and who these characters are in this movie. You really do.
Ashley Thornberg
You know, Matt, twice in the film reviews in this past year, in fact, even just within a month of each other, you and I talked about this concept of grooming, of sexual predators grooming their young victims. This showing up in a film like May, December, where Julianne Moore's character is substantially older than her partner. And even in Priscilla, Elvis is quite a bit older than Priscilla.
And then add in this incredible star power that he had. Is this a theme we are starting to explore? Or just like how pervasive this kind of attitude can be in pop culture?
Matt Olien
I don't know if it's a trend or if these movies came out at the right time. You know, Priscilla follows up Elvis from last year. So we're definitely on that kick.
But May, December is in my top five. I think it's in Greg's top five.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
It's one I like a lot. I'm not sure where it'll land.
Matt Olien
Yeah, I love Todd Haynes. I love that.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Yeah. I love the way that Todd Haynes across his whole career has been able to kind of walk on this tightrope that on the one on the one side is kind of the mid 20th century melodramas of Douglas Sirk, like Far From Heaven that he did as a remake. And then with the even the score of May, December, it kind of indicates that there's multiple layers to how we might receive this movie.
Some people didn't. One of our friends didn't appreciate that it was referred to as having a camp sensibility, but I think Todd Haynes is always flirting with that possibility, even even while there's a kind of serious some of the serious underpinnings of the questions it's asking about again, what it means to be a good person.
Matt Olien
And for those who haven't seen it, as I said in my review, Ashley, there's a tension in this movie. Like how far is Natalie Portman going to go? Wow.
Her quote unquote research to play the Mary-Kay Latourneau character. We're not going to say what that is, but you need to watch this on Netflix. Yeah.
And also, I said in my review, I'm sure Greg will second this. What Portman nails in her performance is this kind of Greg and I have met a lot of actor and actors and actresses through the film festival. Great people.
We love them. They've entered a profession that ninety nine out of one hundred fail at. But she had this down this kind of practiced way that she deals with the public.
Oh, you're so nice. And she's not she's not faking it, but she's got it down this kind of practiced way that she talks with people that say, I loved your movies and things like that.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
In fact, it's funny because there was a certain amount of online conversation questioning whether or not Natalie Portman is a really gifted actor playing an actor who's sort of not a good actor.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
And I think that that's how I would describe it. I think she's really talented.
Matt Olien
You know, if not for Lily Gladstone, who I think is going to win the Best Actress Oscar, Portman.
Ashley Thornberg
And that's for Killers of the Flower Moon. Yeah.
Matt Olien
Portman could be looking at her second Oscar this year. Certainly she's going to be nominated.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Yeah. I absolutely love Lily Gladstone. And if she wins, she would certainly be deserving of that win.
She would. We've had films watching Lily Gladstone's career. We've had films that I have that she's appeared in play in the Fargo Film Festival, seeing her kind of come up.
And of course her breakthrough role was in Kelly Reichert's Certain Women, which is a movie that we can't recommend highly enough. It's one that if you missed it, you should really go back. Laura Dern's brilliant in it.
It's a great, great movie.
Ashley Thornberg
I love that she can be in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro directed by Scorsese. And Lily is the one we're talking about here.
Matt Olien
I think she's the one that's going to win. Scorsese certainly has a good chance to win Best Director. And we can get to that in a minute.
But yeah, it's great that a Native American born in Montana might win the Best Actress Oscar.
Ashley Thornberg
Greg, you wanted to talk about Asteroid City.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Well, the Asteroid, I love Wes Anderson. Matt knows Wes Anderson is my probably my favorite living filmmaker, along with David Lynch. And I thought Asteroid City, unlike Owen Gleiberman, who had it on his five worst films of the year list.
I don't know. I'm not sure what he was thinking. I think Asteroid City is Anderson continues to work towards a balance of these highly entertaining and totally improbable kinds of dollhouse creations.
And these actors we watch are just having some fun. But he's doing it with this absolutely next level command of structure. I mean, when you think about Asteroid City, it's sort of the next step beyond things like French Dispatch and the Grand Budapest Hotel.
That are playing with the design of the narrative itself in terms of who's telling the story. Is it a story within a story within a story?
Ashley Thornberg
Yeah. And this is the first time Tom Hanks has been in a Wes Anderson.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Yes.
Ashley Thornberg
Do we think he's going to be a regular? Is he going to be the next Bill Murray?
Matt Olien
I love his line. I love aliens. I love the desert. He was fine with hanging out and hanging out.
Matt Olien
For me, for me, who did not write my doctorate on Wes Anderson, like like Dr. Greg here did next to me.
Ashley Thornberg
Wait, is that actually true? That is true. That's fascinating.
Matt Olien
I'm telling you, I like Wes Anderson. He's not my favorite film director, but I did think this was a return to form for him. I was not as wild about the French Dispatch or Isle of Dogs.
I think this is on par with Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom and Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums, which is probably my favorite. So for me, it was a return to form after I thought French Dispatch was a little didn't quite work for me. So this is in my top five or six of the year.
And I expect a lot of nominations.
Ashley Thornberg
Well, I think it says a lot to Greg, you mentioned in the first half of the show, actors, big name actors taking a substantial pay cut just to to work with that kind of creativity, because this is not going to make money the way that a Marvel movie would.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Yeah, that's right. And another one that's on both Matt's list and my list that isn't going to be a blockbuster, but I think will be remembered at awards time is Celine Song's film Past Lives. If it weren't for Asteroid City, that might be my number one film.
Matt Olien
Yeah, it's right up there. It's a marvelous film. I do expect the Best Actress nomination for Greta Leigh.
It's really if you missed it when it was out, this is worth seeing. Some of it is in Korean language, some is English, but it's really about the crossed paths of people in life and kind of that missed opportunity and trying to reconnect. Greg, do you know if it's going to be eligible for the International Film Oscar?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I don't.
Matt Olien
Is there enough foreign dialogue in there?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Wow, I can't remember. I looked at the long list, which is currently still a very, very long list for international feature, and I don't recall seeing it on there. But it's a really good question.
Matt Olien
Yeah, we both like the holdovers. Greg and I did. That is one of my favorites of the year.
The Alexander Payne movie with Paul Giamatti set in 1971 at an Eastern Boys College. And the breakout stars of this movie, Giamatti should be up for Best Actor. I'm predicting he will be nominated.
But Divine Joy Randolph, I think, is going to win the Supporting Actress Oscar as the cook who stays around during Christmas break. She's wonderful in it. Dominic Sessa, I really hope for a supporting actor nomination, Greg.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Yeah, he's kind of a long shot, but he would be worthy of the nomination. I like your pick that Divine Joy Randolph could actually win the Oscar. She was about the only thing that made that terrible, otherwise terrible series, The Idol, worth watching.
She comes on screen, and it was like she was in a different project altogether. And seeing her in the holdovers just cements our understanding of her talent.
Ashley Thornberg
When you're going with a name like Divine Joy, you've got to bring it. And it sounds like she does.
Matt Olien
I think what Payne pulls off here is an original screenplay, which he did not write, Greg. I can't remember the co-writer.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
And it's loosely based on a French film that Payne had seen and been really inspired by that had a similar story about a person who has to stay behind on a holiday to be the kind of caretaker of a group of boys.
Matt Olien
But it has this early 70s American film sensibility to it. He even shoots it almost like you're watching The Heartbreak Kid with Charles Gruden or something like that from the early 70s or Harold and Maude.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I was just going to say that one. Oh, I haven't seen that in a long time.
Matt Olien
I think it's the kind of film that's an artistic film, but audiences like it as well. And I expect a lot of nominations for the holdovers. And Killers of the Flower Moon.
We haven't even talked about this yet.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
Right. It's so monumental. It's a film that you get the sense that Scorsese, he's so devoted to the theatrical experience, but it's three and a half hours long in the movie theater.
You really have to plan out your schedule if you don't want to miss anything. Plan your bathroom schedule. But it's almost like you could imagine it being a multi-part series on Netflix because it has that much scale and scope to it.
The original author, David Gran, visited our community, came to Concordia as part of the National Book Awards. And I was fortunate enough to get to meet him and hearing Gran tell stories about how fulfilling it is to be able to go on the set and watch Martin Scorsese direct. That's sort of like, it was a proximal thrill for us to hear about getting his teenage son taking phone calls from Leonardo DiCaprio to do a little character research.
Matt Olien
I liked it, didn't love it. I do think it's going to be right in there for best picture and director. As Greg knows, they kind of switched the screenplay around from the book.
The book was much more focused on the FBI investigation.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
The subtitle was End the Birth of the FBI.
Matt Olien
And Scorsese wanted it more about the Osage community in Oklahoma. And I applaud that for sure. But what threw it off slightly for me is that puts the DiCaprio character, he was initially supposed to play the FBI agent.
Now he plays kind of the dim-witted moron in the film. And it threw it off for me just a little bit. And I thought he overplayed the part a little bit.
I know that's an unpopular thing to say. Because I loved him. I know you did.
Ashley Thornberg
I know you did.
Matt Olien
We'll see. I think he'll be in the best actor mix, but he's not going to win because Cillian Murphy is going to win. Or Bradley Cooper in Maestro as Leonard Bernstein.
Ashley Thornberg
All right. Now we are recording this just before Christmas. And Matt, you haven't yet seen Poor Things as we are recording this.
Matt Olien
I'll see it in the next 48 hours.
Ashley Thornberg
Okay. But by the time it airs, we'll have already had a film review on it. But Greg, what did you think of this film?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I love Poor Things. I'm a Yorgos Lanthimos fan. Going back to his movie, Dog Tooth, which just took the indie film world by storm when it came out.
And then he spun that out into a really successful career where each movie that he's made, each subsequent movie, seems to have a bigger budget, bigger stars, and more interest in the theater. You remember he did The Favorite, one that I know Matt enjoyed a lot. And so did I.
He also made The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He made The Lobster. He's worked with Colin Farrell a lot.
But now here's his second team up with Emma Stone. And it looks like they're planning to continue working together. It was such a fruitful collaboration.
But I don't want to give any spoilers to Poor Things. But if you've seen the trailer, you know that it is kind of a steampunk, Victorian-era spin on the Frankenstein mythology. And it does so, of course, with the kind of updated thematics that address lots of the questions we have about the current age related to feminism and the differences between men and women and beyond.
And I just thought Emma Stone gives a brilliant, brilliant performance in this movie. As soon as I finished watching it, I wanted to watch it right away again.
Matt Olien
I can't wait. And Greg, Zone of Interest is another movie, Jonathan Glazer's film, that's really getting some awards buzz. And I have the screener, and I will see it actually before this show airs.
But you've seen it. What do you think?
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I have. It's as chilling and effective as any of Glazer's earlier films. He made Under the Skin with Scarlett Johansson, which I love.
He did Birth with Nicole Kidman. He uses some really fascinating directorial techniques. For the Zone of Interest, he designed a set that allowed him to place hidden cameras that would then give the actors room to improvise and let scenes play out at length.
And so you get this, there's this eerie and unsettling feeling as you're watching the movie that you're just kind of eavesdropping on regular life. The sound design is what really puts it over the top, because the story is about Rudolf Haas, the longest serving commandant of Auschwitz. And his family lived adjacent to the concentration camp.
And so the sounds of the furnaces, the sounds of the gunshots and the screams are always kind of there in the background. So it really, it's a film that commands and demands a lot of attention.
Ashley Thornberg
As always, there's popular movies and then there's movies that critics enjoy. Anything you'd recommend that maybe just didn't really get enough play?
Matt Olien
I'll recommend one that did make pretty good money… I liked Air, the movie about Nike booking, getting Michael Jordan into their fold with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck. I actually enjoyed that movie.
It's a sports film that I think non-sports fans will like. I also liked You Hurt My Feelings with Julie Louis-Dreyfus, which was at the Fargo Theater. She Came to Me with Peter Dinklage and Marissa Tomei as a tugboat captain.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
And I like the Australian horror movie Talk to Me as well.
Dr. Gregory Carlson
I would throw in a plug for a directorial debut by a filmmaker named Tina Satter called Reality, which is another wonderfully experimental film in that it uses the direct transcript of a conversation between a woman being accused of committing a crime and the authorities who were recording that interview.
And it just, it wrung me out. I was sweating by the end of it.
I also, the last one I have to mention is certainly turned into a blockbuster, but it was my most pleasant surprise of 2023, and that is Godzilla Minus One. This film has done so well that they're re-releasing it in the black and white version theatrically. The audience would spontaneously applaud at the end of this movie. This happened at multiple screenings, including the one I went to.