570: Conclave / Letterboxd Reviews / Top 10 Movies About Religion

[00:00:00] And I like them bringing the very ancient, as the synopsis says, bringing this very ancient world into the modern day. Like you see a cardinal vaping and it just feels very much of this time. It doesn't feel too ancient. Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 570 and my name is Henry.

[00:00:27] This time around I'm going to be tackling the recent film Conclave and then we'll be counting down my top 10 films dealing with religion. Not necessarily faith friendly movies, just films dealing with the world of religion in one way or the other. And I of course will be doing Letterboxd reviews of Conclave, all the usual stuff. So thanks very much for joining us.

[00:00:55] As always, please make sure to rate, review, subscribe, like, follow, all the normal things and thank you very much to all those who have. Alright, well let's go ahead and get into Conclave. And we do have a clip, so take a listen. I thought we had your support. If we liberals are not united, Tedesco will become Pope. You have no idea how bad it became, Thomas. The way he in a circle attacked the Holy Father towards the end.

[00:01:23] The smears, the leaks to the press. It was savage. He fought him every single day of his pontificate. And now that he's dead, he wants to destroy his life's work. If Tedesco becomes Pope, he will undo 60 years of progress. You talk as if you're the only alternative, but Adayemi has the wind behind him. Adayemi? Adayemi, the man who believes that homosexuals should be sent to prison in this world and hell in the next.

[00:01:51] So, Conclave is now on Peacock for streaming, currently. It's directed by Edward Berger. Stars Ray Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucien Mizzamati. Not a huge cast, otherwise. Isabelle Rossellini. And the synopsis is,

[00:02:31] Well, I just got around to seeing this one recently. It had been on my list for a while, not only because of its acclaim that it's received, but I really like Edward Berger. He did All Quiet on the Western Front most recently, and I think that's honestly one of the best World War I movies ever, and just one of the best recent war movies, period.

[00:02:59] And along with the great cast, even though I'm not religious myself, I consider myself to be agnostic at this point, as I have said before. I still find the world of religion interesting, the cultural impact, the history of it, and other elements. So, the papacy and cardinals is something that is definitely a part of that. So, I tend to seek out movies and TV shows that follow this kind of story,

[00:03:27] with another example being The Borgias, the Showtime series, or The Two Popes. There's a handful of good ones out there. And I'm a little torn, because I don't think I liked it as much as I hoped I would. I think it will still grow over time. It definitely sticks with you, and it's so meticulous and rich with its research, and its presentation of the Vatican,

[00:03:55] and of the voting system, the different practices within it. It just feels like you are actually in a world of real cardinals doing this. And, the costume design, the production design, I don't know what was shot on location, or in real places, or what was made for the movie, which is definitely a compliment. Ray Fiennes and everybody in the movie are top-notch, as always. There were points I was really enjoying it,

[00:04:25] and I think the end, which I won't spoil, is very effective. And I like the, I know some people describe it as almost like a gossip drama for the cardinals, like Mean Girls, but at the Vatican. And, even though it's much more serious than a movie like Mean Girls, that's not that far off. And I like the conspiracies, and these webs of lies, and whether they intended it to or not, it definitely speaks to

[00:04:55] modern-day politics and elections with people getting cancelled and their votes plummeting, or not. In some cases, certain things coming back from their past, and them trying to completely sweep it under the rug and say it doesn't matter, and I'm a new person now, et cetera, et cetera. Also, in terms of the script, I don't know what was exactly brought from the novel that it was based on, or the book,

[00:05:23] but it is so intellectual with how these people speak, like the vocabulary. And I said in my Letterboxd review, you need a dictionary on hand while you're watching this. Not in a bad way, it just is very challenging, and you, I believe that cardinals in this position talk this way, so it doesn't feel like it's talking down to, it just feels these guys are very high class, and you kind of just need to do your best to keep up with them.

[00:05:54] This would definitely be lower than All Quiet on the Western Front. I still think it's very much worth watching, but with how blown away I was by that movie, this one didn't really make me feel the same way. I will be curious to re-watch it, and I would like to read the book as well, maybe that'll help fill in some spots. You could call this Oscar-baity, I don't know, but I think it is a little bit more subdued

[00:06:22] and unpretentious as a lot of other Oscar nominees are, so I don't really, yeah, it came out later in the year, but I wouldn't say, oh yeah, this is just trying to get an Oscar, an award, it's just a well-made movie. So, that one is a heavy four out of five. All right, with that done, let's get to some Letterboxd reviews of Conclave, and as always, if you want to have your review read

[00:06:52] for an upcoming episode, suggestions, please let me know in any of the contact information in the show notes, on social media, comment on Letterboxd, whatever, we'd love to hear from each and every one of you, or if you don't have a Letterboxd account, just send me your written review, that's fine too. So, the first one comes from Emily Wellstead, gave it four out of five, and says, Ray finds immediately forgetting he's sequestered when he hears drama.

[00:07:21] Nina, the cat lady, gave it two out of five, and says, I thought this whole movie would be boring. I was wrong. It was even more boring than I thought. Stuart Mulrane gave it five stars, and says, an absolutely magnificent film, with stunning performances, especially finds, and visuals all around. The direction and script are sublime, taking what sounds on paper like a fairly dry and boring subject, and injecting it

[00:07:51] with the perfect level of drama and intrigue to make it a truly riveting watch. Last one is from James Lutz, and gave it three out of five, says, well acted all around, and multiple shots looked beautiful, the writing starts off solid, but then unravels in the third act. The message is two on the nose, and the twist at the end comes out of nowhere, and is not the mic drop moment the film acts like it is. Again, if you want to have

[00:08:20] your review read, get in contact with me, and I'll do my best to get you on the show. Let's end off with my top ten movies about religion. This is just movies that are either following religious figures, religion in history, satirizing religion, you know, it's a pretty good mix, there's horror in here, so I think it's a fairly well-rounded list, and let me know your favorites, your least favorites, whatever, and what you think

[00:08:50] of my list. Number ten is The Last Temptation of Christ, the Martin Scorsese movie with Willem Dafoe from the 80s. This is easily one of the best Jesus biopics, biblical biopics. At the core of the story, yeah, there's the religious stuff, obviously, but I think it's mainly just about a guy who's being chosen for something, who thinks he's being thrown into this

[00:09:20] certain situation, and he is very reluctant to be, and having to step up, or having to find ways of dealing with it, so it's a very underrated Scorsese movie, a great Willem Dafoe performance, very long, it's 240, I think, total, so you gotta really sit with it, but a great watch. Number nine is Bruce Almighty, the classic Jim Carrey comedy.

[00:09:50] This is one of the most re-watchable, easily watchable comedies of all time. I remember back when I had cable, and maybe it's still making its rounds now, but it was always on TV. If it was on TV, I would put it on and I could watch it from any point in the movie, and the jokes never get old, the story of him becoming God, and having all these amazing powers, and then losing them, and coming to terms with what it means. I think it's nothing deep,

[00:10:20] of course, but it's insightful, it's a great Jim Carrey performance, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston. Number eight is Spotlight, the best picture winner from about 10 years ago. This is about the Spotlight investigatory group in Boston who uncover scandals and, you know, expose people, amongst other things, but this is the true story of them exposing the Catholic Church

[00:10:49] and all these priests and other figures molesting children within the church, and it's across the whole world, not just in Boston. What I, I wouldn't say it's a five out of five for me, but nevertheless, what I did really like is that it is, I mean, you could call it dry in terms of the presentation, but I think it's more so just telling this story without any kind of fluff, any flair, because it doesn't need it. It's just these

[00:11:19] journalists wanting to get this story out and expose these terrible people when the church is trying to protect them, and you don't need anything crazy in terms of the direction, you don't need a bunch of graphic content, nothing like that. It just is a purely, like, Spartan way of telling this story, and I'm glad it won best picture. Number seven is a, comes from a religious story, and that's Noah, the Darren Aronofsky film

[00:11:48] with Russell Crowe. Darren Aronofsky usually incorporates some kind of religious aspect into his movies, and he has come out as atheist, but he said that he's always loved the story of Noah, so he wanted to tell a kind of atheist take on it, so it's, kind of comes across like a fantasy epic, and I think it also speaks a lot to the environment and climate change, so there's a lot going on there. It's also

[00:12:18] very rare that you get a movie made with, I'd say, a hundred million dollars or more with a story that is not for the target audience, you know, a lot of devout Christians hated this movie because it made things so far away from the biblical story, which, you know, to each their own, I don't care about that, but I just appreciate different takes on stories, whether it's truthful or doing something completely different, I think we need more and more of that these days. It looks

[00:12:48] beautiful, the action is well done, there's good drama, some pacing issues, but the overall structure and story is very gripping. I like the rock Transformers, some people don't, I love them, the supporting cast like Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Jennifer Connelly, the creation story, the creation of life montage is beautiful, just that rapid cutting of the world and animals evolving over time, like,

[00:13:18] just, I can't imagine how long that took, but one of the best sequences that Darren Aronofsky has ever done. Number six is The Exorcist, one of the only horror movies on this list. Of course, it's a classic, one of the defining horror movies ever made, and while it wouldn't necessarily be one of my favorite movies ever, it's still undeniably a masterwork, and its influence is everywhere in

[00:13:48] movies. I'm always up for a good exorcist, what I call Catholic horror movie, so it for sure deserves a place on this list. Number five, halfway done here, it is the director's cut, specifically, of Kingdom of Heaven, the Ridley Scott epic about the Crusades, starring Orlando Bloom. This is still my favorite Ridley Scott historical epic, even in all

[00:14:17] the ones he's done since this. It is one of Orlando Bloom's best movies. The action, the scale, I mean, the theatrical cut is alright, but I think this is one of the cases where the director's cut is a lot better than the original version. It does a great job of showing the Crusades narrative in terms of the conflicts, the mentalities of individual people, and how that drove them to cause all this

[00:14:47] violence and their motivations. I think it's very, I mean, nothing crazy deep, but there's enough there to have good substance and just a very under appreciated modern epic. Number four is Mother, another Darren Aronofsky film. This is one of the most insane movies that I've ever seen. The third act is unbelievable. It's complete, utter insanity. The violence,

[00:15:17] the shocks. Jennifer Lawrence is amazing in this, one of her best movies ever and performances ever. The entire narrative is really anxiety inducing. You're with Jennifer Lawrence the whole time and just following her through this house and she has control over nothing. The religious figure, I mean, he's seen as a religious figure who's the husband and this worship that people have for his work. The rebirth

[00:15:47] of Jennifer Lawrence at the beginning and the end. I understand that people don't like it because there's a lot of disturbing content in there, but in terms of ambitious movies, this is one of the best that I can think of and one that I kind of want to show everyone, even if they end up hating it because it is so unique. Number three is The Tree of Life, the Terrence Malick movie with Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain.

[00:16:16] This was the first Terrence Malick movie that I had seen and made me instantly fall in love with his movies. It sounds pretentious, but his movies are often described as visual poetry. They're so nonlinear, very surreal. Scenes don't flow normally like they do in most other movies. But like Noah, the creation story of you seeing dinosaurs and that

[00:16:46] evolving over time is perfectly done. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are at their best as well as Sean Penn, although he doesn't have as much to do, I think. One of the aside from just the creation stuff, the visuals, it's one of the best looking movies I'd say ever. I think that's fair to say about this movie and if you don't believe me, go watch it and you'll see. Number two is Mary Magdalene with Rooney

[00:17:16] Mara and Joaquin Phoenix by Garth Davis who also did Lion. I wasn't expecting anything from this movie, I didn't know what to expect, I just went for the cast and it was one of the most touching character pieces especially dealing with religion that I've ever seen even now. it's slower, you know, it's more deliberate in its pacing and it's very subtle and soft-spoken but Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix,

[00:17:46] the cinematography, the score, it's one of those biblical biopics that has very little religion in it in terms of discussions, it's mainly just this woman having this very profound experience. and number one is Silence, the Martin Scorsese film with Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver. It's about these Jesuit

[00:18:15] priests traveling to Japan in I believe the 17th century when Christianity was legal and so they have to sneak through Japan to try and find their mentor and if I'm talking like if someone asked me okay what's a profound deep rich movie that I should watch that or that had a great impact on you Silence is almost always one of the first ones that I think of. There's so much going

[00:18:45] on that it's even hard to compact into a short description or review and like Mary Magdalene or Last Temptation of Christ it is an epic it's not flashy you know it's not necessarily speaking to one party let's say it shows people who are devoutly religious it shows you people who say that they're religious but then they deny it when they're faced with danger life-threatening situations

[00:19:14] people who are persecuting religion so it has so many facets of the world of religion and also the narrative the evolution of Liam Leeson's character who is the mentor and what they find him to be later on in the film and how that changes them I just could not say enough about this one it's an amazing movie and I get that it didn't do that well it's also a passion project for

[00:19:44] Scorsese but I hope that he does more movies like this because this is not only my favorite religious movie but my favorite Martin Scorsese movie to date and that is my top 10 movies about religion again let me know your favorites what you think of my list if you think I should have included others or taken some out whatever we'd love to hear from you please rate review subscribe like follow all the things hope you stick around and please tell your

[00:20:14] friends about the show and hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I'll see you next time