#most of you would literally act like creeps near the actors or freak out

[will80sbyers]

did you know people can be both GA fans of a show and content creators knowing people that get them tours on set because they are probably rich and stuff

[stokan]

The Top 20 Things of 2019

1. “Shallow” at The Oscars How can something be so anticipated, so hyped, so seemingly bigger than the freaking Oscars themselves, and yet still somehow exceed all expectations? We now know the answer: by completely subverting them. That’s why it makes perfect sense that the greatest moment of Lady Gaga’s career would be the simplest one. Her and Bradley Cooper simply standing up from their seats still gives me chills every time I watch it (and I’ve watched it A LOT). And the close up on their faces needs to be shown in sex ed classes.

If I could travel back in time, sure going back to kill baby Hitler would be great, but mostly I’d just want to go back to the exact second the curtain starts to raise on this performance, before I knew where it was headed next.

2. Olivia Colman winning Best Actress at The Oscars If you think it’s weird that there are two separate things from the same awards show on my list of the top things from the entire year, then, well, you’ve come to the wrong place.

This is the absolute platonic ideal of someone winning an Oscar. Our genuine shock at hearing their name, THEIR genuine shock at hearing their name, the genuine emotion from everyone involved, a speech that is heartfelt, human, funny, and charming in a way that only a true star could ever dream of being, all in equal measure. And it’s all part of a YouTube clip you can watch endlessly and find new things every time. (Glenn Close’s reaction when she loses is like an entire drama in and of itself.) Sure awards shows may be dumb, but then also, this is why they’re not.

3. Sharon Van Etten - “Seventeen” in advance of this year’s Oscars I just want to be on record that my favorite movie from 2019 about aging, feeling that life is passing you by, grappling with mortality, the passage of time, and the generation coming up behind you is Closing My Eyes And Listening To “Seventeen” By Sharon Van Etten. It has it all: the creeping melancholy and regret, the sense of doom that you try to dance away, the feeling that the past was maybe just a dream, the urge to yell into an increasingly uncaring void.

Part of the curse of aging is everyone becoming their own Casandra. Now you know, but no one will listen. And part of the joy of aging is realizing it doesn’t really matter if they do.

4. The writing on Succession

“Proof that, as long as the writing is there, TV doesn’t need to be anything more than people having conversations in rooms.” - theringer.com

I have a rule with these year end lists that I can’t feature something I’ve listed in a previous year. But it’s actually illegal to write about the best of 2019 without mentioning Succession. So I’m going to get around my self-imposed rule by this year specifically highlighting the writing on the show.

The amazing thing about Succession is how watchable it is not despite, but almost BECAUSE of the fact that not much actually happens. People talk a lot about things they are GOING to do, or MIGHT do, but there’s not a ton of actual DOING. And that’s actually great, because what we’re really here for is the talking. Every character talks with the biting wit of an Armando Iannucci character, the deep intelligence of an Aaron Sorkin character, and the realism of an actual human being. I find myself constantly rewinding just to make sure I took in the brilliance of each dialogue exchange. And literally every line Kieran Culkin is given to say would be the best line of the entire season on 90% of the shows on TV.

Everyone talks about how great the acting on Succession is, and rightly so, but actors are nothing without good words to say. And on Succession, to paraphrase a president of the United States that I’m sure ACN would love, they have the best words.

5. The chemistry of Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein in Booksmart My favorite movie of 2017 was Lady Bird. My favorite movie of 2018 was Eighth Grade. So suffice it to say I was well prepared for how much I loved Booksmart. But what I was not prepared for at all was the incredible chemistry of two actors I had previously never even heard of before: Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. It feels impossible that the two of them aren’t real-life best friends. Life-long friendship is such a specific bond it feels impossible to fake, and yet somehow Kaitlyn and Beanie pulled the magic trick off. Experiencing the giddy contact high of their chemistry felt like being in the presence of a miracle. And anyone who says the romantic comedy is dead clearly didn’t see Booksmart, because maybe the best romantic comedy of the decade was the story of two people realizing the deepest, purest, most unique love of all can sometimes be the love you have for your best friend.

6. Fleabag Season 2 What on earth is there left to say about Fleabag that hasn’t already been said? And yet somehow even with all the discourse about this show it has still maintained its status as the rare cultural phenomenon with a 100% approval rating. To be as massive and as beloved as Fleabag and yet inspire zero backlash, not even a stray contrarian take from an online troll, feels impossible, and yet also, in the case of Fleabag, totally right. If (the now VERY problematic) Louie was the beginning of giving people money to make their idiosyncratic, personal, not-quite a drama not-quite a comedy TV shows, then Fleabag is the end. The apex of the art form. There’s nowhere to go from here but down. 2019 was the year television finally peaked. It was the year we all witnessed perfection. And it was the year that we fittingly all had a priest to guide us there.

7. Chelsea Peretti’s monologue at the WGA Awards Ironic that the year that proved that awards shows don’t need hosts is also the same year that gave maybe the best example ever of what a great awards show host can do. Chelsea goes so far inside baseball it gives new meaning to the phrase “corker”, and it’s all the better for it.

8. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride If you don’t think Father of the Bride is the best album of 2019 then congrats on not being a late-30s straight white man. But as a late-30s straight white man myself I’ve got two big things going for me:

1.) A life that has benefited from a history of privilege and near-total control over society stretching from the beginnings of civilization up until today 2.) An understanding that Father of the Bride is the best album of 2019

But what about Bon Iver and Wilco and The National and Sturgill Simpson and Big Thief, didn’t they all put out albums for late-30s straight white men this year you ask? To which I say: did any of those albums have a song on them called “Unbearably White”? No they did not! And that sort of ironic self-awareness is the kind of shit that has fueled a million straight white male sketch comedy scenes. It is the air we breathe. Also, have you heard “Harmony Hall” lately? Or “This Life”? Or “Stranger”? I mean, come on, leaving Brooklyn to make your “settled down in LA” album is the sort of late-30s straight white guy catnip James Murphy could only DREAM ABOUT. I may not have much these days, other than unlimited power and privilege, but at least I will always have Vampire Weekend, and they will always have me.

9. Lizzo Every year there is one thing that defines the year. One thing that 50 years in the future when someone mentions that year, it will be the first thing that pops into everyone’s head. And in America for 2019 that thing will be the impeachment of Donald Trump. But if there is a second thing, then it’s Lizzo. She was there when the year started, only got bigger as the year progressed and was arguably still getting more popular as the year ended. And she was everywhere. She was on massive stages and behind tiny desks. She was at the movies, she was on TV, she was coming out of every open car window. And she was definitely at every wedding you went to this year. Lizzo WAS 2019.

With the impeachment of Donald Trump I don’t know how far down the presidential line of succession we have to go before we get to Lizzo, but I know we would all be better off if we would hurry up and get there. Lizzo is the best of us.

10. This picture of Baby Yoda 

Ok I was wrong. Take everything I said about Lizzo and double it for This Picture Of Baby Yoda (you know the one, or if you don’t, click the link above). On the wikipedia entry for the year 2019 that definitely needs to be the picture. 

11. Kodi Lee on America’s Got Talent I realize you probably weren’t sitting around watching America’s Got Talent this summer. I certainly wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t happened to be working the live show tapings. But lemme tell you, if you didn’t see the show, you missed out on something truly magical this year. Something that makes you rethink what human beings are capable of. Something that goes so far beyond inspirational that I don’t think our language has a word to fully express it. Kodi Lee is a real life superhero, and provoking emotion is his superpower. Making it thru a full Kodi Lee performance without crying should be the new Turning Test. Forget America; Humans Have Talent indeed.

12. Taylor Swift - “Cruel Summer” Look I didn’t expect to ever find another “Teenage Dream”, but, well, here we are. I mean, a Taylor Swift single produced by Jack Antonoff and co-written by Annie Clark is pretty much genetically engineered to be one of my favorite things ever, but still: wow. Do the kids still use the term “banger”? Because if so, this is why the term was invented. I would have more to say about how great the rest of Lover is as well, but sorry, I gotta go now. I have to listen to “Cruel Summer” for the eight millionth time.

13. Michelle Williams in Fosse/Verdon If there was an award for best acting performance in any medium this would be the clear winner for 2019. In fact, can you win an EGOT for one single performance? What about a Nobel Prize? I can’t come up with an award or a title big enough to truly honor Michelle Williams’ work in Fosse/Verdon.

As a fellow actor very rarely a performance will come along that will make me think: ok we’re done here. Let’s all the rest of us pack it up and go home, because someone just won acting. This is one of those performances. So congrats to Dame Michelle Williams, you’re the new Pope.

14. American Factory My favorite line in all of Shakespeare is “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. And nothing is evidence of that more than the piece of art I have thought about most this year: the documentary American Factory (available on Netflix right now!). So many of the things we in western societies believe are universal bedrock virtues and value are in fact simply products of the society in which we were raised. Individualism, personal expression, autotomy, the importance of leisure time, and so many other things, are not absolute human values, only relative ones. What is important to someone in America, can be ridiculous and incomprehensible to someone in China. And vice versa. And neither side is right or wrong, only thinking makes it so.

American Factory is documentary that doesn’t say WHAT IF EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW WAS WRONG, but instead shows something that is perhaps even more powerful: what if everything you know is simply just that, a thing you know.

15. White Claw Life is an endless parade of infinite options, possibilities, and choices. So I have no idea how you personally chose to spend your 2019. With one exception: I Know What You Did Last Summer. You drank an alcoholic seltzer water. Probably many of them, but at least one. At a park, at a beach, in a backyard, definitely at a party. If at some point this summer your paws weren’t wrapped around a White Claw (or a similar product) then you didn’t actually experience 2019. Because this is the year we all collectively got obsessed with combining America’s two hottest drink trends: flavored sparkling water and…hold on, lemme look up the name of this stuff…alcohol?

History may record summer 2019 as Hot Girl Summer, but those us who actually lived it know the truth: it was Hard Seltzer Summer

16. Marriage Story A movie that fundamentally misunderstands things I care about deeply - theater, Los Angeles, how the entertainment industry works - is my favorite movie of the year because of how deeply it gets right the thing I care about most: human beings. The way we talk, the way we behave, the way we love, the way we hurt, the way we create bonds that never fully go away. It’s been said a lot, but part of the beauty and magic of this movie is that it doesn’t take sides. Both people are right and both of them are wrong. And that’s how human relationships often work in real life, but rarely in art. There are no heroes, there are no villains; there’s only being alive.


(Also, Adam Driver, Imma let you finish, but Raul Esparza doing “Being Alive” is one of my favorite YouTube clips of ALL TIME. If you ever need to weep uncontrollably and you don’t have time to watch Marriage Story, then Raul Esparza’s “Being Alive” will do the trick)

17. Lil Nas X - “Old Town Road” “What kind of music do you like” used to be a very important question. Your sense of identity used to be defined by the type of music you listened to and what that choice said about you. But now music-as-cultural-signifier is as dead as the concept of owning music itself. Rap music is for elementary school kids. Country music is made by queer black Americans collaborating with Dutch teenagers. Billy Ray Cyrus and Korean pop stars appear on remixes of the same song. A song about an old road and an antiquated mode of travel becomes a massive hit thru the brand new music app TikTok. What kind of music do we like in 2019? All of the “kinds” of music at once, in one marvelously inescapable two minute burst of joy. Music is dead; long live music.

18. Chernobyl If you thought it was crazy that the year’s biggest song was a novelty country/hip-hop track by an unsigned artist rapping about trying to find parking for his horse, then wait until you find out what the summer’s biggest hit TV show was about! I mean, nothing screams “summer fun” like nuclear radiation and shooting dogs. But as always, no one ever truly knows what people will want until you give it to them. And clearly what we really wanted in our LOL Nothing Matters age was a captivating reminder that life on earth truly could end at any moment. Some things very much DO matter. And that something as dramatic, devastating, and consequential as Chernobyl could have happened in the fairly recent past and already have been largely forgotten about is incredible. But if you can take such a compelling story and tell it as well as the makers of Chernobyl did, then people will watch and learn and better understand an issue of vital importance, no matter how seemingly uncommercial it might be. So in a very 2019 sentence: thank you creator of the the Hangover franchise for your miniseries about a 1980 Russian power plant explosion. It was our collective summer obsession. (2019 was a weird year.)

19. Raphael Bob-Waksberg - Someone Who Will Love You In All You Damaged Glory

“I think about how loving someone is kind of like being president, in that it doesn’t change you, not really. But it brings out more of the you that you already are.”

Back in the day, Raphael Bob-Waksberg had a tumblr that was so good it both single-handedly inspired me get much better and writing my thoughts and putting them on the internet (thus what you are reading right now) and intimidated me out of doing it more often (why I now do this only once a year). In fact, I’m almost positive I had his tumblr listed as one of my top things of a year in the past, which is really the highest honor a tumblr account can receive. It was one of the single most impactful forces in the direction of my creative life. And now Raphael has taken the voice that created that tumblr and created my favorite TV show (BoJack Horseman) and wrote my favorite ever Craigslist post, and used it to create a book about love and loss and being human. And it feels like a wonderful treasure that was written just for me. It IS my worldview, expressed better than I ever possibly could. When I meet people now rather than doing the usual introductory small talk I am just going to hand them a copy of this book.

20. The New One - Mike Birbiglia Speaking of art that felt deeply personal to me…just hearing even a rough outline of the story Mike Birbiglia tells in The New One was enough to start me on a path of perhaps reconsidering one of my most deeply held beliefs. By talking about parenthood in a refreshingly honest and shockingly open way, he is able to possibly change lives. I know finally actually seeing the show in person (and it’s now available on Netflix) felt like a possible turning point in mine. Is it theater? Is it standup? Does it matter? Here’s what there are no questions about: it’s hilarious and deeply felt and perfectly constructed. It’s an absolute master class in story telling. And it’s my favorite thing I saw this year.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #201 - Predator

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) There is very little in this film to make it a sci-fi movie (because for the large part it isn’t, but more on that later), but the very first scene of the alien ship sending down SOMETHING leaves no doubt as to the origins of the Predator. It’s not demonic, it’s not a government experiment gone wrong. It’s extraterrestrial, plain and simple. Which means the film can jump right into the story past sci-fi exposition.

2) This initial “hand shake” between Dillon and Dutch really shows the very basic conflict at the heart of their relationship. A conflict of strengths, each needing to be better than the other. Arnie has fun with it but Dillon seems to be a bit more insecure. It is this conflict which is at the heart of their relationship.

3) Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch.

Dutch is actually my favorite character played by the legendary action performer. Upon first meeting Dutch you easily understand who he is as a character. There’s a sense of honor and morality, a strength to him (both physical and - you can sense - emotional), and he’s not eager for a fight. This last one is important. Dutch is the leader of rescue team. He’s not looking for a life, he’s not looking to take life. He’s looking to save it. But he will do what is necessary to save his objective. Dutch is also able to keep a straight head constantly and work through bad situations, something which will save his neck more than once. The thing that transcends Dutch above other Arnie characters for me, like The Terminator for instance, is that he just feels unique from those other characters. It’s a little more than just Arnold Schwarzenegger while also being very full of life and just interesting.

4) When you are working with an ensemble cast in a 107 minute runtime, you have to establish things quickly and you have to establish them well. The chopper ride into the jungle gives the audience a clear sense of not only the team dynamic but each character as an individual. They transcend basic stereotypes to be unique. You understand their sense of humor (or lack there of), their relationship with each other, their bravado, you just get who they are.

Language warning: use of f****t.

5) There is a simple base difference between Dutch and Dillon which speaks greatly to the conflict they will have.

Dillon [about the mission]: “Never knew how much I missed this, Dutch.”

Dutch: “You never were very smart.”

Remember, Dutch isn’t itching for a fight. But Dillon is. Dillon is very much a hit first kind of guy, while Dutch is a hit second but hit hard kind of guy.

6) The first scene in the jungle and later the skirmish between Dutch’s men & the guerrillas does well to establish how tough/capable they are. How dangerous they really are. The scene with the guerrillas in particular does this in an entertaining action movie way, but more than anything else it helps to also establish how deadly the Predator is. It takes a LOT to take this guys out, as we see in these two scene. They’re not some drunken teenager at a cabin in the woods, they’re fucking killers. So the fact that the Predator ends up killing pretty much all of them speaks greatly to how dangerous IT is.

7) The skinned victims is our first indication about how fucking deadly the Predator is. These weren’t random people in the jungle, at least one of them was a green beret. It creates a greater sense of tension and fear, while Billy’s analysis of how the fight went (they fired in all directions but there’s no blood or tracks) continues to set up a great sense of danger.

8) The Predator’s heat vision is akin to the point of view shots used in Jaws. It builds suspense by giving the audience info the characters don’t have (that the Predator is near and could easily kill them) while also playing into our fear of the unknown. We know it can see them but we don’t see it. We don’t know what the Predator really looks like for most of the film.

9) Ah, cheesy 80s one liners.

According to IMDb, this was improvised by Arnie.

10) This is…I just…I laugh at this every time but maybe I shouldn’t.

(GIF originally posted by @drivingmradam)

Poncho: “Huh…okay.”

Like, it’s kinda stupid and even Poncho knows it! Like what kind of hyper masculine bullshit is, “I ain’t got time to bleed?” But it’s so fucking awesome in how fucking ridiculous it is! This is one of the most iconic lines from the film and it’s just…it’s a lot. I’m laughing as I write this! I love that stupid line!

11) I really like this film but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out it had literally only one female character who doesn’t pass the sexy lamp test. She’s basically an exposition device (and not a great one) who acts as an obstacle for the guys more than a character.

12) Carl Weathers as Dillon.

Weathers plays Dillon REALLY interestingly. You understand that you’re never seeing the whole picture with Dillon. There’s something always beneath the surface. Something always mysterious about the character. He plays the part with a wonderful amount of snake-likeness and gives the strongest performance outside of Schwarzenegger. He’s just really good to watch.

13) Fun fact: that’s 80s screenwriter and current writer/director Shane Black as Hawkins.

Producer Joel Silver wanted Black close around to review the script in case there were issues. Black didn’t have to make any edits though I think, liking the script as it was. He is currently directing the sequel/reboot of the series with The Predator (coming out in August of 2018).

14) Sound design is a surprisingly important aspect for the Predator’s design. Not only the vocals provided by legendary voice over actor Peter Cullen (best known as Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise), but the way he plays with soundbites from other characters to creep the audience out. It works really well.

15) The tone shift once the Predator kills Hawkins is striking and powerful. You know shit just went sideways as the tension skyrockets. This is no longer an action movie with a war setting. This shit just got scary.

16) Predator really isn’t a typical action or sci-fi film. It doesn’t concern itself too much with space jargon or big explosions (although the film does have some of the latter). The bet way to label the film would be as a survival movie above all else. Through heavy elements of suspense and still the inclusion of solid action, we know what the goal of the movie is for these characters: to live through it. And that works really freaking well.

17) SAVE SOME FREAKING AMMO GUYS!

Poncho: “We hit nothing!”

The look on Dutch’s face and how scared shitless all these badass military dudes are upon hearing this continues to set up just how bad a situation this is. These guys don’t scare easily, if at all.

18) So after Blain dies Mac freaking loses it.

Mac: “He was, um, my friend.”

THIS IS PURE HEADCANON BUT I think Blain and Mac were dating. People on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum weren’t allowed to serve in the military in 1987, so they have to stay closeted (which would also explain why Mac talks so passionately about his sexual appetite with women on the chopper; he’s overcompensating). The hesitation in Mac’s voice before he says, “friend,” makes me think they were more than just friends. And we get a sense of just how incredibly deep their relationship was as the film progresses, with Mac talking to the sky alone thinking Blaine is looking down on him and going so passionately after the Predator which killed his love. It’s probably NOT this, I’m probably just looking for a little more gay in my movies, but I think I’m just going to head canon it this way because it’s fun.

19) Survival isn’t an easy thing, not in the circumstances set up by the film. But there is always that possibility. If there’s no hope this wouldn’t be a movie about survival, it would be a movie about death.

20) Tension comes from slowing things down not speeding them up. A scene which represents this idea well is when the surviving party is waiting for the Predator to fall into their trap. The tension is so raw, so intense. It could be watching them already for all they know. And just when the film lets the tension relax just a little bit THAT’S when the figurative bomb drops.

21) A similar scene which gets high tension out of slow pacing comes from when Mac and Dillon move in on the Predator. It’s slowly paced and the audience never knows quite what to trust. If the voice of Mac calling to Dillon is really him of the Predator’s recording. It all just works very well.

22)

Dutch: “It didn’t kill you because you’re unarmed. No sport.”

Then why are you all carrying around your weapons? (Below is “How Predator Should Have Ended”.)

23) I don’t know why, but this line has become super iconic with time. I think it’s Arnie’s accent.

24) Every good movie has a low point. A place where there’s no clear way out. Dutch laying in the mud, waiting for the Predator to kill him, and the audience totally expecting that to happen, is this film’s low point.

25) The design of the Predator.

It’s at this point in the film when we start getting good looks at the Predator (albeit not its face, but more on that later). There is a nice almost tribal look to it, with the mesh and the way the armor looks on its body. When you see it you just understand that this is a hunter above all else. These elements help to differentiate the Predator from other movie aliens (like the Xenomorph from Alien or the invaders of Independence Day). It’s striking, simple, elegant, and above all else memorable. THAT’S what works.

26) The climax of this film works well because it does away with sci-fi and action film tropes. Gone are the blasters and big machine guns, no more explosions (until the very end), it’s all very old school and analog. It takes what the story is most basically about - survival - and boils that idea to its core. That’s what Dutch is fighting for right now, that’s what is at stake. Not the planet, not a war, not for ideals. He is fighting for his right to live.

Beyond just what the scene is about, it’s wonderfully paced. With strong tension through and through, it’s born from a clear visual palette and (again) slowed down pacing. But it picks it up when necessary, throwing in the surprise and monkey wrench into Dutch’s plan as well (such as when the Predator approaches from behind Dutch). It just really fucking works.

27) It is worth talking about that the Predator is not some mindless, purely animalistic creature. the Predator IS a character. There is a personality and flavor to its actions. A sense of pride in the way it hunts, a sense of honor. There are multiply times where it can EASILY key its prey but it has to be done right. I always got a vibe that this was a younger Predator too, although I can’t explain why. This feels like more of a right of passage than a trip to a game reserve. It makes mistakes, which I think makes it a little more inexperienced. It’s incredibly important that it succeed at its task and to me it’s so it can be considered an adult now.

28) The face of the Predator.

The reason the face of the Predator works, why that reveal works, is because it matches perfectly what we know about the character while still being surprising. Its large teeth represent its viscousness, its eyes are fierce and piercing, the whole thing just FEELS threatening.

28.1) It’s worth noting that the Predator mandibles were James Cameron’s ideas.

29) Tying into note #27 about how the Predator is a character, that final laugh it has before killing itself is so wonderfully freaky. It is the honorable thing to do, taking its own life so this “lesser” being can’t. And the laugh is because it believes that by killing itself Dutch will die too, completing the task it set upon itself. Even when it loses you feel like it’s still a threat.

30) Is it me or do these end credits feel like the opening credits for a cheesy 80s show?

Predator is an excellent gem in the sci-fi/action genre. By doing away with many of the tropes which define both of them, we are treated to a richly suspenseful story of survival. There is a wonderful sense of pacing to the film which supports its suspense, while its elegantly simple plot (survive) is a clear motivator for the characters. The Predator itself is an amazing monster to grace the screens of cinema, but the human characters are nothing to sneeze at. Not when you have performers like Schwarzenegger and Weathers throwing their hats into the ring. All in all, Predator is just a really great film.