285: Little Miss Sunshine + Top 10 Movies of 2023

[00:00:09] Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds podcast. This is episode number 285 and my name is Henry. And I think I'm Elf. This week we have a pretty great show. It's our recap of 2023. First we're going to be doing a retro review of Little Miss Sunshine from 2006 because

[00:00:30] you just got around to seeing that for the first time and we watched it together. Figured it'd be a fun one to talk about. And then we're going to be counting down my top 10 films of 2023 and then

[00:00:41] your top five TV shows of 2023. So should be a great time. And if we have time for anything else, we'll get to that. But just thanks as always for joining us. Make sure to subscribe if you've

[00:00:51] not yet already. Just hit that button right there. Give us a rate and review all the good stuff. And thank you to all the people who haven't just tuning in for the first time I think and

[00:01:01] bumping up our numbers a little bit. Many thanks. Well, how you doing? It's been a rough couple of weeks. Tell us. Tell the world. Just health stuff, ovarian cyst burst and then just a domino effect in my body. So it's been a

[00:01:20] fun time. Yeah. It's been a chaotic couple of weeks to say the least and quite the year. Well now are we going to recap the year? Non-movie? Oh crap. I guess. We could be here all year talking about last year. Yeah. It has been quite an unpredictable,

[00:01:39] very, very tough year especially for you because you've had a number of medical diagnoses and also have gone on a long time without knowing what was going on. We only recently got a few of those

[00:01:51] things figured out kind of. Yeah and like a dozen ER visits later. Yeah. I think we have the record there. And while having to balance everything else, it's been quite the year. In terms of film buds,

[00:02:04] we've still had episodes out every week in one way or the other but we've also missed quite a lot of newer films so we weren't as consistent in terms of new films but we still had plenty of good

[00:02:13] reviews. So hopefully it was still a good year and you checked out the bonus shows on our Bandcamp page and then... Hey, this year we can catch up with last year and have reviews for the new

[00:02:25] movies coming out which there's quite a lot of good movies coming out. Yeah. I'll get to my top 10 list but there are still a handful of ones that I really do want to see that might make that list

[00:02:37] later on but I think my top 10 list is still pretty a good representation of movies I like and was interested in and all that good stuff so it should still be pretty satisfying I think.

[00:02:49] But other than that, we appreciate everyone having stuck around. We know it's been a little chaotic and the release schedule has been a little wonky but we made it though. We made it through the year. So what are your personal highlights of this year not including me?

[00:03:05] Highlights? I mean, I guess... Well, we got two of our dogs this year. Those would definitely be Barbenheimer talking about movies. That was quite the nice phenomenon, random phenomenon. I'll talk more about both of those movies later on. I mean, those are my two favorite things,

[00:03:21] I think, and then just getting to spend the year with you with my squeeze. Aw, how cute. Yeah, what about you? We could be here all year. Well, a positive thing, I started my photography business

[00:03:37] and that's going pretty well. I started in June and people are still booking with me and I had a pretty busy holiday season, which I was thankful for. A lot of holiday mini sessions,

[00:03:52] those are always chaotic, which mini sessions if you don't know are like 15 to 20-minute sessions back to back to back to back. It's hard to coordinate them and also if someone's lost, I kind of had to have Henry there. People are always getting lost. They

[00:04:12] don't know which way is up. But I don't know if I should say this but I wrote out pretty detailed instructions on how to get to the place where we were and I made a video

[00:04:25] showing how to get there and no one could seem to find it, which I, looking back, I'm like, how could they not? Hey, I still have trouble finding my way home at night.

[00:04:38] That's true. All houses look the same out here. So that was a little chaotic. But hey, I got to do mini sessions in, whatchamacallit, the helicopter? Oh, the hangar, helicopter hangar on base. Helicopter hangar on a military base. So that was pretty interesting. It was fun to

[00:04:57] work with some military families and it was good dough, y'all. A lot of lettuce. Yeah. I had some painful family and friend, I guess you would call it breakups. Disagreements. Disagreements that led to breakups, let's just say that. And that was painful but at the same time,

[00:05:20] I'm grateful for because they were sucking all of my energy out and causing me stress. So painful but I guess necessary. Yeah, I would say so. Blessing in disguise, if you will. But I met some pretty cool people and nice people

[00:05:40] doing photography. So that's an upside. But other than that and the health issues and finally figuring out sort of what's wrong. Yeah, that's been my year. Photography business, family and friend breakups, and health issues. And dogs, many dogs.

[00:06:01] Yeah. It was a pretty stressful work year as well because we had a lot of extra days or normal days that I'd have off or due to training and things like that. So now we have

[00:06:12] a little bit of a break from that, which is nice. Been watching a lot of movies still, even though I didn't see a ton of as many new films as I wanted to see, still did a lot. And

[00:06:21] also if you haven't checked out our bonus show page at filmbuds.bandcamp.com, there's I think 65 plus bonus shows you can check out there covering directors, franchises, actors and all

[00:06:33] that stuff. And you can subscribe there and get a bunch of content and all the donations go to help support the show. And thank you to all those who have. Well, we have a lot to talk about. Should we

[00:06:43] step on stage, if you will? Get in the van. Let's get in the van. Let's get in the van. Yeah. So let's get to our review, retro review of Little Miss Sunshine. And we do have a clip. So take a listen. Why did you want to kill yourself?

[00:07:03] No, don't answer the question, Frank. Richard. Don't answer it. He's not going to answer the question. I wanted to kill myself. Richard. He's a sick man. He's a sick in his head man. Richard. I'm sorry. I don't think it's an appropriate conversation for a seven year old. Well,

[00:07:16] she's going to find out anyway. Go on, Frank. Okay. So as I said, Little Miss Sunshine came out in 2006, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris stars quite the cast. Steve Carell, Tony Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin. I think those are the

[00:07:40] big ones. That's the family. Not gonna lie. I thought Tony Collette was... Thoma Thurman. Yes. I was just sitting there. I was like, oh, come on. They look the same, but they're not related. That's crazy. Anyway, go ahead.

[00:07:53] Yeah. And the synopsis is a family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant, take a cross country trip in their VW bus. So I remember I'd seen this one

[00:08:07] many, many times over the years. I saw it, I think around the time that it came out and was still, even though I was quite the wee lad, I was quite a big fan of it. And it's one that I

[00:08:19] hear mentioned a lot still has quite a shelf life compared to a lot of other dramedies, indie dramedies, whatever you want to call it. So this was a first time watch for you as we mentioned. Yeah. I've had people recommend this movie over the years, but I've

[00:08:35] never dived in and watched it. I think we watched it because I needed a laugh. And you recommended that. Yeah. We had a bit of a comedy night. Yeah. And overall, I really liked it. It had some emotional moments for sure.

[00:08:54] But the little girl reminded me of me because I just could relate. I used to do dance and theater, even though I was not any good. And I used to have goggle glasses like her and just slightly chubby.

[00:09:14] You don't want to say anything too off the record there, but... And I ate ice cream. So there you go. Hey, me too. Well, like I said, I'd seen this one many times over the years, and I think

[00:09:27] it was a bit of a family favorite if I'm remembering correctly. So I do have a little bit of a nostalgic fondness for it. And it definitely set maybe a little bit of a trend

[00:09:37] in terms of indie comedies and dramedies where it's that it can get pretty dark, but there's also a lot of humor to it. And that's something that has really carried on over the years

[00:09:47] and gotten more and more popular, not necessarily just because of this one movie, but definitely is one of the more standout ones. See, usually indie movies are kind of a coin toss for me. I either really love them or I don't really love them. And they're too...

[00:10:03] I don't want to say artsy, but just too weird artsy, if that makes sense. You see, I mean, I'm the opposite. Those are usually the ones I seek out, but I can

[00:10:15] understand that for sure. So I've seen it, I don't know how many times and I love the movie. Tonally, it's pretty great. Like I just said, it gets into some pretty heavy stuff with Steve Carell trying to commit suicide, and then him being on a suicide watch,

[00:10:33] Paul Dano, and the movie's old so we can... And then Olive asking, hey, what happened to your wrist? And it's like, oh boy, let me tell you. And he tries to explain and then, geez, the father is just a dick in this movie. I don't like the

[00:10:53] dad. Yeah. And that scene is funny because Abigail Breslin, who would go on to be in Zombieland and some other things, she's really good in it. And this was her breakout, obviously, where she's going on and on asking him the questions. Okay, so that's when you decide

[00:11:09] to kill yourself. And he says, well, no. And it just gets worse and worse and worse. And then the father, he is definitely the jerk of the family. But there are a couple of moments

[00:11:19] that give you that redemption in some ways, and where he does make up for some of his losses, even though he still has that loser winner mentality. I hate that. My father has the same kind of mentality that you have to be the best of the

[00:11:35] best of everything. If you're not going to be the best, then why even try? And it's like this. And he asked all of, hey, are you going to win Little Miss Sunshine? Is it going to be worth

[00:11:47] going out there for? And she's like, yeah, it's going to be worth it. I'm awesome. Oh, and also, I don't think it was actually shot entirely here or if it was shot in other parts, but actually, it takes place largely in New Mexico and Albuquerque.

[00:12:03] You know what we should do? An episode of movies shot or based in Albuquerque. Well, actually, one that I just thought of that I was told about recently is, you know, Employee of the Month with Jessica Simpson? Vaguely.

[00:12:20] And Dane Cook, where it takes place at a Costco and they're... I think so. That was shot at the Costco outside of the base. Oh, crap. Inside and outside. Okay. Yeah. So we're in New Mexico right now. So we had a little bit of that connection there. And

[00:12:35] then Paul Dano, he's trying to... He's on this, what do you call it? A battle of silence because he wants to get into the Air Force Academy, which I'm in the Air Force myself. I didn't go to the Academy. I'm not that...

[00:12:46] Well, he wants to be a pilot. Yeah. And he wants to go to the Academy and then become a pilot. And then spoiler, it's almost 20 years old, but he is colorblind and you can't be in the military really at all.

[00:12:59] If you are colorblind, obviously. And so that's a really good moment. But it's just kind of funny. He's like, I'm still gonna learn how to fly. I'm like, well, I hate to break it to you, but... Because all the buttons look the same.

[00:13:12] So if you're colorblind, you can't really... If someone says, hey, hit the red or green button, you can't hit the red or green button. Yeah. So... So it's a safety thing. Yeah. And the movie is really, really funny, I think, and very consistently funny. It's

[00:13:29] got good drama as well. And I think all the chemistry between the actors is good. Fun fact, I did interview the composer for this movie, Michael Dana, on the Music Buds podcast, which you can check out. Yeah, plug that episode, boy.

[00:13:40] Yeah. So you can check that out. I had completely forgotten about that when we watched this. The road trip overall was really enjoyable where they... The honk... The honk? The horn goes out and just honking uncontrollably where they get stopped by the cops, where the

[00:13:56] grandfather dies and they have to put him in the back of the bus. That was horrendous. That was... I was just speechless. I just couldn't believe they did that. Yeah. And Alan Arkin, another great actor, RIP, talking about realism and the repercussions,

[00:14:15] them taking the bodies a little much, but it's a movie. Just go with it. Well, the thing is, okay, that hospital lady was so strict. How did they get that far with

[00:14:26] the body? Okay. And what happened? Because they had to make a report and call the funeral home to pick up the body. And just how did they not get in trouble for that?

[00:14:41] Yeah. So it's a little silly in terms of the realism of it, but for plot point, it's enjoyable. Then the final pageant is quite the shocker. I mean, no one's expecting it when it happens

[00:14:52] because Alan Arkin, the grandfather, is rehearsing with Abigail Breslin in the basement, so nobody knows. Which big point there, you may want to look at what your daughter's rehearsing. No. Okay. If this was our daughter, I would be like, all right, show me your routine, girl. Let

[00:15:08] me see. I wouldn't just say, okay, you've been working on this routine. You're so great and excited. I would want to see it. Yeah. But the super freak sequence is quite funny. It's cringe, but intentionally so. Well, I was shouting no at the TV. I was like,

[00:15:27] oh no, because I've never seen this. I don't know how I haven't seen this, but anyway. Yeah. And then the family getting on stage to support her because she's getting booed and all that stuff. So, I mean, that's a fun end and it's the family coming together.

[00:15:45] That's good. I really like when Paul Dano realizes he is colorblind and he's sitting outside the bus. And for one, he just starts cursing at his family. He's like, you people suck. You have this suicide depression. Blah, blah, blah, and just gives his family a new one,

[00:16:00] essentially. But then he's refusing to go with the rest of the family to the pageant. And then Abigail Breslin just puts her hand on his shoulder and he just says, all right.

[00:16:12] And so it's kind of these little sweet moments that feel pretty real in terms of families hating each other and being really pissed at each other. And then having, at least some of the time,

[00:16:21] not always, having little things that they're like, all right. So it has a lot of touching moments. I do have to say they got the attitudes of the women and little girls on point.

[00:16:37] I don't really want to admit this, but I was in a pageant. I did it for two years and I didn't really like it, but I did it for two years. And I feel like it was like

[00:16:51] Little Miss something. Of course, it's always Little Miss something with these little pageants, but I kind of know what, well, I remember what the backstage attitudes were. I remember because this kind of shocked me. I remember this little girl looking at my

[00:17:15] puffy pink dress at the time and she looked at it and said to her mom, oh my gosh, I love her dress. I hate her. So, well, they got the attitudes right. I do have to say.

[00:17:34] And one moment that you liked, I remember is because there's the whole scene of her eating ice cream or wanting to eat the ice cream, but then the father saying, you're going to get fat and you want to be fat and blah, blah, blah. Basically being my dad.

[00:17:47] But then she asked the Miss America winner or whoever it was, do you eat ice cream? And then she says, yeah, I eat ice cream. And so she gets that validation of. And she named her two favorite flavors or something.

[00:17:59] Yeah. So it's those real moments that make the movie work for sure. No, that made me tear up. I was like, thank you. Thank you, Miss California. Thank you so much.

[00:18:11] I know this is a movie, but if this was real life, that would mean so much to a little girl. Like if she was getting bashed by her father for eating ice cream with her waffles,

[00:18:25] then I think her asking Miss California if she eats ice cream, she says, yes. I think that's just a heartfelt moment. I really like that moment. And Toni Collette is really good. She's always really good. Alan Arkin,

[00:18:40] probably one of Steve Carell's best early non-comedic. He is funny in the movie, but one of his best, more dramatic roles that he's given. The porn scene. Oh yeah. Oh wait, the one where he, with the cop or the. Both.

[00:18:54] Yeah. Where he meets the guy or he sees his old. Flame. Flame in the gas station. That's really funny. So I mean, to me, the movie is really, really memorable and maybe a little underrated. That's not too crazy to say. I'll definitely rewatch it in the future.

[00:19:09] Yeah. Let's see. Good score. I will say it because I did interview the guy, a great composer. Yeah, it's a really solid movie. So if you've not seen it, I would. I think anybody could really like it. It's one of those. It's.

[00:19:21] I don't see many people really hating on it. Yeah. I don't know how you could hate it. Yeah. Anything else? I don't think so. But just props to her for doing the super freak. Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:35] Yeah. Parents, if your child is entering a pageant and wants to dance and her grandpa is teaching her all the dance moves in the basement, maybe just maybe go down there and. Give it a look. Yeah. Give it a look. Give it a review.

[00:19:56] Yeah. All right. Well, it's a five for me. I love Little Miss Sunshine. So. I think I rated it four or four point five. So pretty high for me. All right. Cool. Well, hope you enjoyed that. Again, that was, you know, it's a little bit of

[00:20:08] a random choice, but it's one that is nice to talk about. I think it's a very worth mentioning and bringing up after all these years. So the best of twenty twenty three. I'm as we said,

[00:20:21] I'm more of a movie person. You're more TV. So I saw way more newer movies than you did. But then you saw basically all the TV that I don't watch because I don't watch much television.

[00:20:32] I just like something where I can watch like forty five minutes of it and either be done or binge watch the whole series or season. And I because I wasn't feeling well for. The year. The year.

[00:20:49] I ended up binge watching a lot of TV shows and also rewatching some of my favorite shows as well. But I did what I feel like I did watch a lot of new stuff this year,

[00:21:02] which I'm really proud of myself because I usually watch the same like three TV shows. So I myself cut myself in the back. Anyway, let's dive into it. All right. So what I was thinking now you have five shows, correct?

[00:21:18] Yes. So what I was thinking, since I have ten movies, I could do ten through five in like linear fashion and then we could bounce back and forth by four, three, two, one. OK. Yeah, that works.

[00:21:29] So again, I did. There's a handful of movies I missed. I missed Killers of the Flower Moon, the new DiCaprio film. That's probably the biggest one that I think would be on the list. So there's a handful of films that maybe it's obvious which ones I didn't see,

[00:21:43] but I still think the list is pretty good and a good representation of the year. I will say, I think this is was a better year than the last couple of years, even the ones I didn't see. I can just tell it's probably overall a better year than

[00:21:56] the last few have been. I think this year might be one of the best in a long time. I think especially in terms of blockbusters, there's a lot of good summer movies coming out.

[00:22:05] So I'm so I'm really excited about 2024 kicking off. So number 10 is Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three, which we did review on the show. And I still like the first one more. But in terms

[00:22:19] of superhero film films, definitely, I think it would be my favorite of all the ones that came out this year. Very emotional. Loved all the stuff with Rocket Raccoon. What did I say? Did I say Rocket Raccoon? I said Rocket for a second.

[00:22:33] Rocket the Raccoon. Yeah. A good end to the trilogy. I'm hoping they just kind of call it there because I please do not make a series of movies with the new Guardians because it's not

[00:22:44] going to be the same and we're not going to care. Yeah, it's my opinion. So definitely worth checking out. Not a masterpiece or not top five Marvel for me, but definitely one of their better ones since

[00:22:54] in game. Next one, number nine is John Wick Chapter four, which I love. It took me a while to get into John Wick. I love Keanu Reeves in general. And I think the third one is still who

[00:23:05] doesn't? He's so dreamy. That is true. And I did review the John Wick trilogy, Bill and Ted, and The Matrix on the bonus show pages. So you can check out most of Keanu Reeves' filmography there.

[00:23:17] Maybe is my second favorite of the four so far. It's a little long. It doesn't need to be over two and a half hours, but the action is pretty insane. Enjoyable. And Keanu Reeves is really,

[00:23:26] really good in that role. Then number eight is The Killer, the new David Fincher film on Netflix with Michael Fassbender about the serial killer or assassin, who is not really that good of an assassin, ironically with how the movie is presented, but that's funny. A little cold

[00:23:45] on austere, a little distant, but still a very well made, well calculated, detailed movie. So we're checking on that is on Netflix if you haven't seen it. Number seven, Evil Dead Rise, which is

[00:23:57] the Evil Dead sequel, spinoff, whatever you want to call it in the Evil Dead franchise. I love Evil Dead and I was really surprised about how much I enjoyed this one. And I did do the Evil Dead

[00:24:07] franchise on Bandcamp as a bonus show, so you can check that out there. Really enjoyed it. I think anyone, even if you haven't seen any of the previous films, you could watch it and get a

[00:24:16] pretty easy understanding of it. So good horror, good slasher, supernatural gore film, and one of the better horror films of the year. Number six, Bo is Afraid with Joaquin Phoenix by Harry Astor, who did Midsommar and Hereditary. Is Bo afraid? He is afraid. In the whole movie,

[00:24:37] coincidentally, one thing I did leave my review on Letterboxd of this that's actually pretty popular, not to brag, this review is pretty popular. And I thought it was quite funny myself. I said the

[00:24:48] first 40 minutes or so of this movie where he's basically this complete, in his own head, he's paranoid, he's nervous, he's scared of all these homeless people running around. He's like just, he's running from place to place, doesn't know what to do. He's just in a complete state of

[00:25:03] mania. I said the first 40 minutes of this is how myself and everyone I know feel living in Albuquerque right now. Big hit on Letterboxd. How many likes? Probably 30, 35. Hey, for Letterboxd, that's not bad. Not to brag. I thought you were going to say like more than a thousand.

[00:25:22] That's like, that's pretty rare to get a review like that. So 30. He probably put in 30. All right, thanks to all those likers out there. Yeah, good movie. I think it's his worst of the three. He

[00:25:36] doesn't even come close to having a bad movie, but if I had to pick, this would be my least favorite. But still worth checking out. Very incredibly bizarre. One of the most bizarre movies of the

[00:25:44] year, in my opinion. And Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as always. All right, well, that is through six through 10. So do you want to do your number five show? Sure. Okay, so I'm going to do

[00:25:57] 5 4 3 2 1. Just do five and I'll do five and four and four. Oh, okay. Number five. Lay it on us. Number five is Thousand Pound Sisters. Yeah, which if you'd said six months ago, a year ago that we would be watching that show, I would have said you're nuts.

[00:26:15] Yeah, it's very easy to watch. And also, it's very easy to get invested. But it's very easy to get invested in surprisingly. I thought I would be bored by now, but I'm not. But it's been

[00:26:34] interesting to see Amy and Tammy's weight loss journey and everything that is entangled with that, I guess. And trying to get the surgery, the weight loss surgery, the gastric bypass,

[00:26:48] and then being denied and then having to work even harder. But I do have to say props to Tammy for getting on track. She's lost a ton of weight. Used to be about 700 pounds, right? 600, 700. Yeah. I think 600, over 600. And it took her getting to the bottom to realize,

[00:27:15] hey, I'm going to die if I don't make some major decisions. And she finally got the surgery after five years. She finally got the surgery. And I will say because I'm not really a big

[00:27:27] reality show fan. See, I'm not either. I'm not either. I guess one thing that makes the show... Now, there is of course, we don't know what if there's just drama for the sake of drama in terms

[00:27:37] of banter between characters. Yeah, you never know if the producer's just saying, hey, say this. But at least there is that overarching goal of these people are trying to lose weight seemingly. And so that alone is interesting. It's not just desperate housewives. It's actually... And you

[00:27:56] actually see the progress and or lack thereof. Right. So I missed the couple middle seasons. I think you watched, you binged them and I missed maybe three or four. I think you get the gist.

[00:28:08] Yeah. But the most recent season that's going on now, I'm really enjoying actually. And I'm pretty invested in. And I like the brother. I really like him a lot. He's that foundation. And then Amanda, right? Amanda. Yeah. Relative... Gotta get unstuck, girl.

[00:28:25] She's a very good character in terms of reality. So let's be real. So yeah, anyways, continue. But I do. I like it a lot as well. Yeah. I mean, I'm really liking it. I mean,

[00:28:38] not to spoil anyone, but the records are out there. Tammy's new husband died in this fall before the season even aired. So it's so sad to hear him say, I'm trying to get better and I want to get better and I want to live. And

[00:29:03] him not making any progress and knowing that he died is depressing. And I hope Tammy is healing from that and doing well. Because I actually... You never know how they are in real life, but I would actually be friends with Amy and Tammy. Sometimes their attitudes

[00:29:26] are not the best, but most of the time, they're funny and actually make me laugh. But Amy and Michael... Good stuff. I'm so invested though. And I didn't know he had no teeth. That's actually

[00:29:44] kind of funny. He is. Because I think we were wondering why he was talking the way he did. I didn't know he didn't have any teeth. And then Amy was making jokes about that. But I feel for

[00:29:56] her, I hope she gets through it. But I feel like every season, it's either Tammy or Amy is going through it mentally. And since I guess the first four seasons were Tammy going through it, it's

[00:30:12] not Amy's turn. So season four was released in I think May. And I think that's when I watched season one through four. And then now we're on season five. So got to see what happens. And I hope Amy and Tammy are listening to this. They probably are not.

[00:30:31] Probably not. All right, well, that's your number five. So my number five movie is Scream 6, which I saw the fifth scream and then this one pretty short in a short time span that really

[00:30:44] reignited my interest in the scream movies. And I went back and watched all of them. And I did a bonus show on that as well. I thought the movie was awesome. I think it's fairly underrated. It's

[00:30:54] really well directed. When Ghostface has a shotgun, that's iconic. Is this the one with Jenna Ortega? Five and six have Jenna Ortega. Okay, I need to catch up. The actress who was booted recently because of her social media posts. But anyways, I think the

[00:31:09] movie, both five and six, but this one even more so are awesome. It brings enough of the old stuff back, but also creates its new story and incorporates some more modern ideas and

[00:31:20] concepts. So I thought the movie was awesome. I've seen it two or three times now. And I think it would be my second favorite of the franchise just below number one. So big, big fan and you really,

[00:31:32] if you haven't seen any of them, you could easily watch five and not be lost. But I would still start at the very beginning. But if you must and be a millennial, you can watch the reboot,

[00:31:42] watch five, and then you can decide what you will. But big, big fan. Yep. Your number four show. Number four, only murders in the building season three. Honestly, it's getting a bit repetitive at this point. It's like, okay, lives.

[00:32:04] Lives are normal. And then someone dies in the building. And they try to figure out who and they have a podcast about it. And then they catch the killer. And then someone dies at the end of

[00:32:18] the season. And then that's where it kind of leads off. Good cast, though, this one, some of your favorites. Meryl Streep was in the latest season. And I think she was pretty great. Selena Gomez, always enjoyable. Always enjoyable. Yeah, I mean, I don't really have any

[00:32:36] complaints about the season other than it's just a bit repetitive. Paul Rudd was in the season. And I didn't really his character is meant to be a douchebag, though. But yeah, I mean, I,

[00:32:49] I don't think it's the best season. I think the best season is season one when it all starts. But still still worth checking out. Still worth checking out. My number four movie is Ridley Scott's Napoleon, which I did review recently on the show.

[00:33:08] I didn't see in theaters. Unfortunately, I'm a big historical epic fan. And I love Ridley Scott's historical epics that he's been doing over the last decade or so or really his whole career,

[00:33:17] but a lot recently, Joaquin Phoenix, another one on the list for me for for him. I thought he was amazing. The action is incredible. Some people really were hating on the movie. I don't totally

[00:33:27] get that. I thought it was very well produced and put together, well written, well acted and very visceral, but also has some good humor, good score. So I thought overall, it's not his absolute best, but I think it's a little misunderstood. We're checking out if

[00:33:41] that's your thing. If you're not into that kind of movie, I don't know if it's one for you. What's her name? Oh, shoot. Vanessa Kirby, who plays Josephine, is amazing in it as well. Really, everybody's great, but she's great. And her character is very interesting. And I know

[00:33:57] Ridley Scott has talked about releasing a four hour cut director's cut on Apple TV, which I'm dying to see. I always love director's cuts. The movie is two and a half hours now,

[00:34:08] but he's hoping to do a four hour cut on Apple TV. Can't wait for that. And if he does, I'll definitely review it in one way or the other on the show. So big fan, underrated,

[00:34:18] in my opinion. I guess I can see why some people were hating on it, but don't really get that. Personally, go see it for sure. All right. Your number three show. All right. Number three, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, technically still ongoing. It's ongoing, but technically

[00:34:35] it did start in 2023. So I haven't seen the whole first season because it's not out yet, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. I think I want to say we're six episodes in, but I'm not quite sure. I think so. Six.

[00:34:54] Something like that. I wish the episodes were longer, but as someone who was a fan of the books, I think they're doing really well. Each episode is like a chapter of the first book. The casting, I think there's mixed opinions about the casting, but I actually don't hate

[00:35:17] the casting. I think it's pretty good. The flossing scene was horrendous. Classic. Horrendous. I hate to say that I'm a big fan of Logan Lerman, so I liked the movie, but

[00:35:35] they did skip a lot and change a lot. So I'm glad they're going into detail with the show. But I do think... What's his name? Yeah, I do think Walker- Scoble? Scoble. Scobel. Is doing pretty great as Percy. But anyway, what were you saying?

[00:35:54] I was just saying, I didn't really know about the series coming out. I saw the movies way back when. I don't remember much about them. I never read the books. So this was pretty unfamiliar territory for

[00:36:05] me. And I liked it more than I thought I would. I will say, maybe it's just my personal taste. I would rather just see this condensed into a two to an half hour movie because I feel like- Yeah, I agree.

[00:36:15] There are parts in the middle that just feel a little vanilla and a little... They're just slugging along to get to certain points. So I feel like I'd rather just watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the epic movie, because I thought the first two episodes were

[00:36:30] awesome. I was like, wow, this is actually really good. But then I think that the middle episodes are going up and down a little bit for me. Still solid, just not as succinct as I would like it to

[00:36:40] be personally. But I liked it more than I thought I would. Yeah. Well, same here. But I do have a friend that has read the whole entire series. Because I've only read the first book, sorry guys. And she really likes the first season.

[00:37:03] I mean, she thinks they're doing it justice. So can't wait to see how it ends. Oh, one thing. Get Lin-Manuel Miranda out of all these things. Tired of his cameos. Okay. Rant on. Tired of his constantly being the lyricist for every Disney movie. He's talented, great. Take

[00:37:25] a break, bud. He's just scraping that dough. He's saving up. He doesn't need much more. He did Hamilton. He has plenty. He's saving up. But anyways, anything else about Jackson? Well, actually, I mean, I was going to say I wasn't expecting the casting for

[00:37:42] Aries. But it kind of works. Anyway, again, can't wait to see what happens. I will keep you guys updated. All right. We're down to three now. So number three is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

[00:37:58] If you have listened to the show at all, know I'm a big Indiana Jones fan. And you guessed it, I did a bonus show on it, which you can check out on Bandcamp. So shocker there. Plug it.

[00:38:09] It's probably the middle of the pack. I wish Spielberg had directed it as opposed to James Mangold. But still, it's nice to see a movie or a franchise where you're actually seeing the character age. It's not like you see Captain America in game with makeup and he's old.

[00:38:25] Or like the Vampire Diaries, and they're supposedly like 17 or 20 something. And they're like 40. Yeah. And so the big thing I liked about the movie is you're seeing Indiana Jones do all the things he used to do, but he's 80. So it's a pretty interesting idea. And

[00:38:42] Harrison Ford does that really well. Is he really 80? Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. So I think it's a very good movie. If you're an Indiana Jones fan, definitely watch it. If you haven't seen any of them, I would start at the beginning. I wouldn't start with this one

[00:38:54] because you kind of need the timeline to really get wrapped up in it all. But very good movie, a good old fashioned adventure film, and a good sendoff for the character, which I will greatly miss. All right, now are you on three or two? I'm on two. Okay.

[00:39:11] All right. So number two on my list, The Summer I Turn Pretty Season Two. So I have been reading the series since I was like 12. It's a book series based on books. So

[00:39:27] I would definitely read the books first. I hate to be that person, but I would. The show is pretty darn close to the books. And I think the casting is really good. And I think they're doing the characters justice. The Conrad and Bellie scenes break your heart

[00:39:49] at the same time. You love them. And then there's this flirtation going on with Jeremiah. I know it sounds really cheesy and corny, but it's really good. You get invested pretty quickly, I would say, especially if you're a fan of the books.

[00:40:07] Yeah, Jenny Han does it again. And fun fact, she actually went to UNC Chapel Hill. Oh, nice. And we're from North Carolina. I'm from Chapel Hill, that area. So that's kind of cool. But

[00:40:20] yeah, she does it again. But hey, you can't really hate a romantic cheesy series on the beach. Hard to hate. Trying to choose between two brothers. But yeah, I really like season two. I can't wait for

[00:40:38] season three because I already know what happens. And I can't wait to see it play out on the screen. Go ahead for your number two. Whoa, we're almost done with 2023. I mean, we are technically done. But anyways,

[00:40:52] number two for me is Barbie, which we did review on the show. And if, as I said back then, if you told me a year or two, three years ago that I would be loving a Barbie movie,

[00:41:02] or it would be as successful as it is, it's now the most popular film on Letterboxd ever. That is insane. Yeah, I would have said you're crazy. But I've seen the movie two times now,

[00:41:14] I think three maybe and I love it. It's one that it's a great example of a studio taking something that has no story and making it very creative, because you can see studios doing that and

[00:41:26] failing horribly. But then this they actually put some depth to it and some creativity and Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling amazing and just overall movie I think is so creative and fun. Heartwarming moments as well. A lot of good ideas. I know some people rag on because like,

[00:41:41] it's one of those movies. It's kind of like woke and all that stuff. And I think that with how the movie is written and acted and performed, those ideas feel necessary and real.

[00:41:55] They don't feel sure they're a little on the nose. But at the same time, it's a Barbie movie. It's not. Yeah. I mean, like I said, with our review of Barbie, so go check that out. But like I said, the speech that what's her face? Margot Robbie.

[00:42:10] The speech. Oh, America Ferrara. Yeah. The speech that she made was so real, because women do still struggle with that stuff. And that is still very real. You can call it woke or whatever, like whatever you want. But those are

[00:42:28] still real problems that we struggle with. So I think it was necessary, especially in this day and age. Yeah, I think it's very necessary. But go on. Yeah. Well, I mean, not much else to say you can check out our review. Just big fan. I'm glad it

[00:42:45] did as well as it did because of production value, but also the ideas and all that. So I love the Barberheimer phenomena, whatever you want to call it. I thought that was really

[00:42:55] cool. And I know some people are trying to recreate it with other movies, and I just don't think that's going to work. It's yeah. Nobody was expecting it to happen. That's why it did. So yeah. Anyways, big fan. And the promotion on this was crazy. Yeah, for sure.

[00:43:09] And I'm just Ken. Yeah. Classic. It's iconic. Iconic. Yeah. All right. Well, now your number one show of 2023. All right. My number one show of 2023. No pressure. The Morning Show. I watched the new

[00:43:27] season, season three. So if you have been watching it and didn't know season three was out, what you doing? Go watch it. But I watched season one through three, and I had to take breaks because

[00:43:40] it was kind of heavy at times. But I really, really enjoyed it. Has an amazing cast. Steve Carell, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon. You know how I love my Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon movies, and I also love Steve Carell. Yeah. See, the funny thing is I don't watch the

[00:43:59] news. And I love this show so much about the news. And I actually did some research on the show. And Jennifer Aniston's character and Steve Carell's character are actually loosely based on people that have been on the Morning Show. Not in the Morning Show. Yeah. It's called...

[00:44:22] Today Show? The Today Show. Excuse me. Excuse me. So that was kind of interesting. Reese Witherspoon's character is a standalone character, but her character is pretty interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Reese Witherspoon has ever played an LGBTQ plus character. I'm not sure.

[00:44:45] I don't think she has, to my knowledge. But you see actors that have never played one and that are straight play one and it doesn't work. She actually does a really great job at representing.

[00:45:04] So I just wanted to mention that because, yeah, not a lot of actors who are straight and pull it off that well. She's very emotionally invested and she just does a really great job,

[00:45:17] I think. I think it was really interesting to kind of see behind the scenes of news. I know it's not real, obviously, but it's based on... On news. Well, on the real art of news telling and whatnot. So can't wait for season four.

[00:45:40] Reese Witherspoon, please. Let's work on it. Bring it. Bring it. I didn't really know how to end that one. Sorry. Yeah. But yeah, that was my number one. What is your number one? Well, my number one, I'm full on Barbenheimer. My number one is Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Shocker.

[00:46:02] Yeah, which I love Christopher Nolan. I love World War II history. I like biopics. I like Kelly Murphy. I think he's amazing. I'm so glad that the movie did so well to where he's really

[00:46:11] getting a lot of recognition. And I know that the whole Barbenheimer thing definitely made it a little bit more financially successful than it did. But really, it's a three hour, partially black and white biopic about the making of the atom bomb. And it made almost a billion dollars.

[00:46:27] So pretty insane. It's one of Nolan's most successful financially. I'm sure it's going to sweep the Oscars along with Barbie, but really, really great movie. I'm really excited to go and watch it again. Absolutely love seeing it in theaters. Really worth watching. Everyone

[00:46:42] should watch it because it is a very important story and a very important part of history that completely changed the world forever. And the portrayal of or depiction of Oppenheimer and his struggles and his conflicts and all that really is pretty amazing and shows Nolan is just continuing

[00:46:59] to kill it. So that is by far my favorite of 2023. I do want to review it at some point. We didn't review it formally. I might do a bonus show or we'll do something else for it. So keep an eye

[00:47:11] for that. And if there's anything that we didn't review that you'd like to see done formally, let us know on social media at film buds or letterboxd or email, whatever we'd like to hear.

[00:47:20] If there's anything we missed that you would like to see covered. Well, the 96 Academy Awards is on March 10th. So maybe, maybe hear me out. We can have a live reaction. We can do that. We can,

[00:47:35] it'll be long y'all. So just warning. I forgot how long this Oscars are. But we could do a live reaction to that. So yeah, that's a, that's an idea to put out there, but yeah. Yeah. I can't

[00:47:49] wait to, I can't wait to watch. That'd be fun. We could see everybody dressed up and their little tuxes and dresses and stuff. So fun. Little tuxes and dresses. What are you? 90? I'm just kidding.

[00:48:00] A 90 year old grandma. I'm just kidding. Everybody looks so happy and healthy, you know? Yeah. Quote unquote healthy. All right. Let me lose like 20 pounds to fit in this dress in like a week.

[00:48:10] Yeah. Anyway, so that's our top 10, top five of 2023. Again, if there's anything that we missed, let us know of certain suggestions that you'd like to see reviewed and all that and keeping out for

[00:48:22] any bonus shows on band camp and all that stuff is in the show notes if you haven't checked it out already. And thank you to all those who are continuing to listen, support the show,

[00:48:31] share it, post about it. Now, what are your, before we end off, what are some of your New Year's resolutions? See, I'm not really a New Year resolution guy. Hate to say it. Not really

[00:48:43] my thing. I usually just come up with it on the fly or be like your friend and say, hey, I'm going to be fit. I'm gonna go to the gym first day and then day one, I'm done. I have a friend bless his

[00:48:55] heart. But so I don't, I usually don't come up with really firm things. That's just not really my never really done that. What about you? I think my major one, there you go. That's English.

[00:49:06] My major one is to kind of do everything I can to get healthier. So including kind of the basic things that you probably, if you're really healthy, God bless you, that take for granted like eating healthy and exercising, gentle stretches,

[00:49:28] therapy, stuff like that. Because apparently my body does not like medication. Hmm. I always have the side effects and they're not great. So you've seen them. They're not great.

[00:49:41] One left me with not being able to speak. Yeah. And I had to take steroids to make that go away. And then the steroids gave me side effects. So everything I take gives me side effects. So

[00:49:58] it makes me scared to take any medication whatsoever. So I'm trying to take all the supplements I can to feel better, including ginger supplements for inflammation and daily vitamins that just keep my vitamin levels. Okay. B12 helps fibropane and then omega three. So it's a lot

[00:50:24] to take. I feel like I'm choking on supplements by the end of the day, but it helps. And also drinking teas and all that crap. Yeah. I feel like a hippie because I'm big time hippie because I'm

[00:50:39] going the natural approach because I've, the thing is I've gone the unnatural approach. I like I've taken medications and I hate that they don't work for me. God, I would do anything

[00:50:51] to have an anxiety pill that works for me. And I would do anything to have like a pain medication that works for me. But unfortunately my body is just weird. Another resolution I have would just to continue creating in any way possible, the podcast, writing, photography,

[00:51:15] build my business some more. But those are my major two. I won't bore you guys with all of my new year's resolutions, but that's, those are the major two. Cool. Well, and also maybe make a friend. Yeah. Right. I have dogs, you know, who needs friends?

[00:51:36] That is true. All right. Well, I guess that is about it next week. I know we are going to be trying to see Mean Girls depending on my work schedule and things. We may be able to do that

[00:51:46] for next week. Maybe not. Just depends on how things are. It is still a little unpredictable in terms of what we're able to do and when, but either way, we'll have a good show for you next

[00:51:55] week. And if we can't go see Mean Girls, maybe we can do something from the past year that we missed. We'll figure it out. But let us know if you have any thoughts on social media at FilmBuds, letterboxd, email, as I've said many times, subscribe, rate, review,

[00:52:08] share with your friends. And thanks to all of our new listeners. We hope you'll stick around for the long term. We're not going away. I hope we didn't scare you off though. Yeah. And I did mention this on one show recently, we are coming up on year eight,

[00:52:22] eight year anniversary of FilmBuds. That's insane. Yeah. So I started this when I was in 2017. I started this in June. So pretty insane to think we're still here. So thanks for all those people who have listened in the past and now. And in the future.

[00:52:38] We gotta have an anniversary episode, even though I'm new to the podcast. Yeah, I know for sure. So. Have all on. Let's get everybody. Let's get every single, you know. Chloe. 20, 25 people on. So, all right. Well, thanks for nice to have us back together here doing the show.

[00:52:54] Yeah. So nice. Yeah. And we hope you enjoy it. Even have as much as we did and see you next time. All right. See you guys.