Listener Feedback: Gordan’s Oscar Picks, Jason’s Top 12 of 2015, and Alasdair’s Most Anticipated of 2016

11. Me, Earl, and the dying girl

Hilarious, cool, and devastatingly sad all at once.  A must for film lovers in general just to see all the silly fake movies the main characters make.  You guys have to see it.

10.  Dope

You guys saw it.  Great original music by Pharrell.  Story is a bit convenient at times, but overall I found it hilarious and tonally consistent enough to tell a serious story in a funny way.  The serious ending monologue by the main character gave me warm feelings of assuaging all my white guilt for liking the movie and saying hell yeah you go to Harvard.

9.  Beasts of no nation

The two performances are so great.  The main character did an absolutely amazing job doing just horrible things.  Idris Elba was perfectly menacing and somehow magnetic at the same time for most of the movie.

8. Ex Machina

Cool, slick, and simple thriller.  Disturbing endings generally leave me loving a movie, and this ending didn’t disappoint.

7.  Inside out

Loved the movie and not sure where to put it on this list.  It’s just another great Pixar movie that I’ll always be able watch and cry all over again.  Hard to compare it to other movies here, but it’s just great.

6. Big short

The funny explanation of how big banks bankrupted the country with creative business practices and no accountable federal oversight.  All the characters are interesting.  Brad Pitt’s character bothered me a bit.  He had the most morally indignant moment in the movie about how they were all wrong, and it didn’t ring true to me given his role in the movie in general.  Much like his show up for 5 minutes in 12 years a slave and save the day (great white savior) as the most morally righteous white man in that movie he once again seems to have taken a self-serving role here.  But that’s the only nit I can pick with this one really, and overall I liked his character just not that moment walking out of the casino where he lectures his underlings.  It took me out of the movie more than Selena Gomez or Margot Robbie ever could have haha.

5.  Spotlight

Perfect movie really.  Perfect performances all around.  Simple film-making coupled with quick and moving story-telling leads to a straightforward (as easy a movie to watch about the subject matter) as possible.  If anything I think it should have been less watchable and harder to take in many ways.

4. Hateful 8

The tarantinoest movie Tarantino has ever made I think.  Trolling the audience as much as placating them, and in many ways placating the audience through trollery (Channing Tatum’s head exploding).  Loved every minute of the 3 hour run time.  Sam Jackson delivered an amazing performance for the ages here, especially that one scene (referenced in the podcast previously lol).

3.  Star Wars

Excellent theater experience.  It was all I’d hoped it would be and more.  Everything I could say has been said, it’s great.

2.  Mad Max

For all the reasons you guys love it.  It’s quirky and weird and really moves.  The characters are all very despicable in many ways and the few likable characters are just so hardened by the point we meet them that they are very believable for the world they are in.  A stand alone movie with just furiosa and doof warrior scenes would be in my top 10.  Great practical effects.  WITNESS ME!!!!

1.  Room

Sorta maybe made this number 1 in protest for it not even being mentioned in the podcast haha.  But it’s top 5 on the year anyway for me.  It’s definitely the most emotionally charged movie I saw all year (including the movie where the emotions are the characters). I cried no less than 4 times and I saw it twice here at my little hippie theater.  It’s very hard to watch and is just pummeling for a lot of its runtime, but needs to be to drive home just how important room is to this little boy and how difficult it will be for him leaving room.  I don’t want to say much more about it since you guys haven’t seen it.  MFNP’s tears will be shed all around multiple times throughout, just see it.Honorable mentions:

What we do in the shadows

It was a great year for movies.  Keep up the good work there fellas.

Jason from the south-Midwest (Tulsa Oklahoma is sorta Midwest)