Justin and Nicole discuss The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and how we think about the morality of war. We find the movie entertaining but technically not particularly adept. We talk about the morality of war in general and of the world wars tackling what it means to have rules of war.

Justin recommends Shogun and X-Men '97 . Nicole recommends Brooklyn 99 and Who Killed the Video Store.

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Adam and Nicole discuss Civil War and the movie's meditation on war photojournalism. We appreciated all the technical aspects of the movie, editing, cinematography, soundtrack, and sound design. All of the elements worked together to create a nuanced, almost meditative view on the role of photojournalism in war reporting. The movie tackles the inherent contradiction in taking a great photo of something horrific. 

Adam recommends Middlemarch and Orphan. Nicole recommends Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

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Nicole, Lexy, and Stacy tackle the Oscars covering costume, production design, song and animated films. We share our thoughts on the nominees and the films we saw in 2023. 

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Nicole, Lexy, Justin, and Stacy tackles the Oscars covering the best performances-- supporting actor/actress and leading actor/actress. We share our thoughts on the nominees and the films we saw in 2023. 

Nicole, Lexy, Justin, and Stacy tackles the Oscars covering Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Picture. We share our thoughts on the nominees and the films we saw in 2023. 

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Christopher and Nicole with special guest, Dan, discuss The Farewell and the issues that come along with generational conflicts that cross international boundaries as well. We disagree about the actual quality of the filmmaking particularly the bizarre score, Dan discusses the dissonance between what was considered funny by Asian vs non-Asian audiences, and the tension between the families who emigrate and the families who stay. It's worth hearing the real story from This American Life. For more on Lulu Wang, check out this article from The Atlantic.

Nicole recommends early Ang Lee: The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman. Christopher recommends Star Trek: Discovery.

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Nicole and Stacy talk with Sari about Get Out, the fear of being black in white spaces, white fragility, and horror movie tropes. Mentioned in the episode is a an interview with Jordan Peele on the Nerdist podcast.

Recommendations this week: This Is Us and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.

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Garret and Nicole gush over Wonka and the movie's whimisical and joyful pure imagination. We love the cast, the costumes, the sets, and the world the movie created. We literally tear up talking about getting enveloped by this movie. We talk about the value of having genuine emotional experiences at the movies without having to tackle all the world's ills.

Garret recommends reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory out loud to another person. Nicole recommends While You Were Sleeping.

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Adam and Nicole discuss Napoleon and what makes for a good war movie. We don't know what this movie was about and found it a failure of a narrative. Beyond that, the acting and casting choices didn't work, the soundtrack made no sense, and only the costumes were worthy of praise. We discuss what makes for a good war movie including having stakes, an understanding of the cause, and perspectives from among the ranks. Also you actually have to have two armies fighting in the movie for it to be a war movie.

Adam recommends The Leftovers. Nicole recommends Memphis Belle. 

Garret, Stacy, and Nicole discuss the Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes after also reading the book. As fans of the Hunger Games, we all enjoyed the movie and the look back at how Katniss and Peeta's games came to be. We praise the cast diversity, but disagree on the success of the rewind back to earlier times presented in the movie. We discuss what it means to play the Hunger Games and to win them. We dig into how our backgrounds and personalities guide our chosen strategies.

Garret recommends seeing the movie again. Stacy recommends catching up on history. Nicole recommends The Power of One.

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Justin and Nicole discuss Rustin and the intricacies of putting together social moviements. We highly enjoyed the performances, particularly Colman Domingo who captured the charisma and passion of Bayard Rustin. We talk about the challenges, the infighting, and the varying approaches to building a social movement.

Justin recommends Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Nicole recommends Nature's Premium aloe cream.

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