FH Mini 146 – Best of the Best (Pictures)

[0:00] Live from the Flophouse Pavilion in downtown Hollywood, California and Brooklyn,

[0:05] it's the first annual Best Best Picture Awards,

[0:08] a celebration of the objectively best movies in the history of cinema

[0:12] according to the Academy Awards voters and nobody else.

[0:24] I'm your host, Elliot Kaelin, author of Joke Farming,

[0:27] How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense,

[0:29] and joining me today are my gala co-hosts...

[0:32] Dan McCoy!

[0:33] And Stuart Wellington from television.

[0:37] Which television, Stuart?

[0:39] Anyone you watch Stuart Wellington on.

[0:42] Or is the band television? Is that where you came from?

[0:45] Yep, Marky Moon, that's my dad.

[0:47] Your dad is Marky Moon?

[0:49] Yeah, Marky Moon is friends with Marky Mark, that's the same nickname, yeah.

[0:53] They don't agree on politics.

[0:56] No, Marky Moon, Marky Mark and Biz Marky all hang out in the Marky Club at the Marky Market.

[1:02] You know, we never know what these minis are going to be,

[1:05] and I was just very excited with the blast of energy we just got.

[1:09] My pleasure.

[1:11] Well, it's an old Flophouse mini, but as listeners may know,

[1:14] the Academy Award nominees were announced not too long ago,

[1:17] and the Academy Awards are coming up sooner than you can imagine it.

[1:20] And so in this Flophouse mini, we're going to talk about the best pictures.

[1:25] That's right, every year Hollywood's shiniest and sunniest and most famousest

[1:30] get together to decide what is the greatest work of cinematic art

[1:34] that was created that kind of previous year.

[1:37] And of course, this being a movie podcast where usually we watch a bad movie and then we talk about it,

[1:43] I thought instead of talking about bad movies, let's talk about the best movies,

[1:46] the best pictures there are.

[1:48] So I wanted to start with a couple of games for you guys.

[1:53] And by start, I mean that's the whole thing.

[1:55] We love games.

[1:57] We're a couple of game boys. Pick us up and push our buttons.

[2:01] This should be a song, Stuart.

[2:03] This should be like the early 90s kind of like...

[2:05] I'm a game boy.

[2:07] Put a cartridge in me.

[2:09] It's like a...

[2:12] Why can't I remember the name of that?

[2:14] The German band, Kraftwerk.

[2:16] It's like if Kraftwerk had lasted a little bit longer, you know, with these songs.

[2:19] I'm a game boy.

[2:21] I'm kind of blurry.

[2:23] But you're going to have some fun.

[2:25] And like a little bit like more the poppy Gary Neumann style.

[2:29] Yes, yes.

[2:31] In game boy.

[2:33] So anyway, we got off track pretty quick, but that's okay.

[2:37] We're talking about best picture winners, best picture movies.

[2:40] And so first, I wanted to go through the nominees for this year's best picture.

[2:44] We're going to play a game called Best Word Association.

[2:47] I want each of you to just give me one word, whatever comes to your mind,

[2:50] when I say the name of each of these best picture nominees.

[2:53] There's ten of them.

[2:54] I'm really interested to see how many Elliot has seen.

[2:57] I want to know how many you guys have seen too.

[2:59] I've seen a surprising number of these actually.

[3:01] Of all of the nominees for best picture this year,

[3:03] I've actually seen one, two, three, four, five, six, seven of them.

[3:08] Of the ten?

[3:10] Thank you, Dan.

[3:12] That's probably about where I'm hovering.

[3:15] I really want to see Sentimental Value, Secret Agent.

[3:18] I haven't seen this yet.

[3:19] My older son really wants to see F1, so I guess I'll watch that with him.

[3:22] But the other ones I have seen.

[3:24] Elliot, you're a dad.

[3:25] You should love F1.

[3:26] I should already watch F1, yeah.

[3:28] So I'll say this.

[3:31] It stands for fun.

[3:33] F1 was nominated for best visual effects,

[3:35] and having been the guest of Friend of the Flophouse, Todd Vaziri,

[3:39] took me as his guest to the Academy Awards special effects bake-off presentation thing,

[3:44] and I was like, the effects in F1 are amazing.

[3:46] What they did with special effects, that is astonishing.

[3:49] But you would not know it watching the movie.

[3:51] So here are the movies.

[3:52] I'm going to name them one by one.

[3:53] You just give me each one word that you associate with that movie or that just makes you think of.

[3:56] And the first one is sinners.

[3:59] Vampires.

[4:03] Guitar.

[4:05] Okay.

[4:06] I mean vampire guitar is a good name for a movie.

[4:09] One battle after another.

[4:10] What's the one word that makes you think of?

[4:12] Beers.

[4:13] Oh, that's what I was going to say.

[4:17] Okay.

[4:18] So beers for both of you?

[4:19] All right.

[4:20] Yeah, beers.

[4:21] Train dreams.

[4:22] I'm going to say trees.

[4:23] Okay.

[4:24] I'll say beautiful.

[4:25] I just watched it yesterday.

[4:26] Marty Supreme.

[4:28] Ping pong.

[4:29] Tents.

[4:30] Tents like you sleep in?

[4:32] Yeah, not like tents.

[4:34] Well, that could go either way.

[4:36] Yeah, yeah.

[4:37] But you mean tents like, ooh, this is uncomfortable.

[4:39] Okay.

[4:40] Can I change mine?

[4:41] I'm a wigwam.

[4:42] I'm a teepee.

[4:43] The problem is you're too tense.

[4:44] Yeah.

[4:45] I'm going to say bathtub.

[4:46] Bathtub.

[4:47] Okay.

[4:48] Sounds good.

[4:49] Sentimental value.

[4:50] Irreversible.

[4:51] Nordic.

[4:52] Does that count?

[4:53] Sure.

[4:54] Sure.

[4:55] The secret agent.

[4:56] Handsome.

[4:57] Brazil.

[4:58] Okay.

[4:59] Hamnet.

[5:00] Boring.

[5:01] Sad.

[5:02] F1.

[5:03] Vroom.

[5:04] Dance.

[5:05] Okay.

[5:07] F1.

[5:08] Vroom.

[5:09] Dad.

[5:10] Begonia.

[5:11] Bees?

[5:12] Yeah.

[5:13] I was going to say bugs.

[5:14] Okay.

[5:15] And Frankenstein.

[5:16] Tall.

[5:17] CGI.

[5:18] Okay.

[5:19] So, aside from Hamnet, I didn't really feel like I got the kind of results I was looking

[5:20] for here.

[5:21] But that makes me wonder.

[5:22] So, I want to say, before we get into other—

[5:23] Are we supposed to make snap judgments?

[5:24] I can do that.

[5:25] No, no.

[5:26] We don't have to do—well, before we get into it.

[5:27] I want to get your thoughts then.

[5:28] How many of these did you guys see?

[5:29] How many of the Best Picture nominees this year did you see?

[5:30] You know what?

[5:31] I'm going to have to look at the list.

[5:32] Okay.

[5:33] Well, I'll mention them one by one.

[5:34] You tell me if you guys—

[5:35] Yep.

[5:36] Sinners.

[5:37] Yes.

[5:38] Yes.

[5:39] One Bad Laughter Another.

[5:40] Yes.

[5:41] Yes.

[5:42] Train Dreams.

[5:43] Yes.

[5:44] No.

[5:45] Marty Supreme.

[5:46] Yes.

[5:47] Yes.

[5:48] Sentimental Value.

[5:49] Yep.

[5:50] No.

[5:51] The Secret Agent.

[5:52] Yes.

[5:53] Yes.

[5:54] Yes.

[5:55] Yes.

[5:56] No.

[5:57] The Secret Agent.

[5:58] No.

[5:59] No, not yet.

[6:00] Hamnet.

[6:01] Not yet.

[6:02] I watched half of it, and I was like, you know what?

[6:03] I don't want to watch this.

[6:04] Did you watch the ham half or the net half?

[6:05] Because half the movie is about making ham and half is about catching fish in net.

[6:08] It just like—it like did not engage me to such a level that I'm like, I don't need to

[6:11] watch all this.

[6:12] There's no law.

[6:13] I can stop now.

[6:14] You're right.

[6:15] That was my experience with Eddington.

[6:16] So, that's a .5.

[6:17] I was like, all right.

[6:18] That's a .5 for me.

[6:19] Yep.

[6:20] What about F1?

[6:21] No.

[6:22] Yep.

[6:23] It's a movie based on a key on a keyboard.

[6:25] No, not yet.

[6:26] What about Frankenstein?

[6:27] Yep.

[6:28] Yes.

[6:29] Okay.

[6:30] Well, I want to see—

[6:31] Wow.

[6:32] Elliot's seen more than me.

[6:33] That's crazy.

[6:34] I saw mostly this year.

[6:35] I've seen five and a half.

[6:36] Only six.

[6:37] I really took advantage of the—I still have to take more advantage of the Writers Guild

[6:38] screener app that has—

[6:40] Yes.

[6:41] That's great.

[6:42] You know, I was—at first, I was like, you know, a little bit annoyed at the switch over

[6:46] to not sending DVDs anymore.

[6:50] It's so much better without them.

[6:51] Yeah.

[6:52] Now that, like, they've put all of the For Your Consideration movies on one app rather

[6:57] than, like, having, like, a bunch of links all over the place, I'm like, yes, please.

[7:00] I love this.

[7:01] Yeah.

[7:02] It's much better.

[7:03] So thank you, whoever's idea that was.

[7:04] Are you—were there any movies you were surprised by getting nominated for Best Picture this

[7:08] year?

[7:09] I want to know, are there any you're surprised by?

[7:10] Are there any you hope win?

[7:11] Are there any you really hope don't win?

[7:12] Are there any movies you wish were nominated?

[7:13] Well, I was definitely surprised by F1.

[7:14] I didn't feel like that was even in the conversation.

[7:16] And I'm surprised by—

[7:17] I mean, the conversation does not have the movie F1 in it.

[7:18] There's no part where Harry Kroll is watching TV and the movie F1 comes.

[7:19] The movie wouldn't be made for another 40 years.

[7:20] He'd probably fucking love it, though.

[7:21] It would really take his mind off of the web of lies that he's enmeshed in.

[7:22] I was also surprised, though, by Frankenstein.

[7:23] Frankenstein's the one I would say.

[7:24] Yeah.

[7:25] Before it came out, like, people—it just seemed like, ooh, Guillermo del Toro's getting

[7:26] the majority of the nomination.

[7:27] I was like, oh, my God.

[7:28] Oh, my God.

[7:29] Oh, my God.

[7:30] Oh, my God.

[7:31] Oh, my God.

[7:32] Oh, my God.

[7:33] Oh, my God.

[7:34] Oh, my God.

[8:06] I was also a little surprised by that one.

[8:07] I mean, I liked Frankenstein, but yet I didn't feel—I was like, this is fine.

[8:10] Yeah, this is good.

[8:11] Yeah.

[8:12] I'm not mad at it.

[8:13] I was surprised that Bogonia was nominated, if only because it's such an off-putting movie,

[8:17] but I feel like it—and it was kind of a—it was a recommendation from me in an earlier

[8:21] episode, but I feel like it does not quite reach the height of, like, this is off-putting

[8:25] in a way that I find meaningful, that it's, like, affecting me, you know, completely.

[8:30] Is it more digestible than, like—what was the last one you did?

[8:34] Kinds of Kindness.

[8:35] Kinds of Kindness.

[8:36] I never saw Kinds of Kindness.

[8:37] I feel like part of it was, like, coasting on the just general love of Yorgos and Emma

[8:42] Stone working together.

[8:43] I think that's part of it.

[8:44] I certainly—I certainly—I liked Bogonia more than Poor Things, which I—which I didn't

[8:47] particularly like, but—

[8:48] No, I've seen it.

[8:50] But are there—and I have to say, like, are there—so are there any that you guys hope

[8:54] wins?

[8:55] What's your pick that you would like to have win?

[8:57] I mean, I would say this isn't necessarily a hope, but, I mean, I would love to see Sinners

[9:04] win.

[9:05] I feel like there's a chance that, like, Sinners and One Battle After Another somehow are going

[9:10] to split the vote, and then something like Sentimental Value, a movie about making movies,

[9:16] might win, which I love Sentimental Value, so I wouldn't be mad at it.

[9:19] I would be very happy if either One Battle After Another or Sinners won.

[9:25] I also really, really love Marty Supreme, but if we're, like, making choices here, like,

[9:31] I think that giving it to Coogler or Paul—Thomas Anderson, like, is a more meaningful narrative.

[9:40] Like, they've, you know, like, they've built up a career, and I think that the Safdies,

[9:45] like, still have plenty of chances, or I guess it's just Josh for this one.

[9:51] I would—I think Sinner—I'd be fine with Sinners winning.

[9:55] I liked it a lot.

[9:56] I'd be fine with One Battle After Another.

[9:57] I'd be fine if Train Dreams won.

[9:58] I thought—I really loved Train Dreams.

[9:59] I thought it was a good movie.

[10:00] I thought it was a beautiful movie.

[10:02] Yeah, I'm sure you'd like it.

[10:04] It does not fit an exciting political narrative,

[10:07] because it is about a white guy living through the early 20th century,

[10:12] but I think it is really gorgeous.

[10:14] Train Dreams did for me what Hamnet did not do for me,

[10:17] which was to create this kind of beautiful feeling of Gossamer emotion and human life,

[10:23] whereas Hamnet, I was looking for that from it.

[10:25] I didn't quite get it.

[10:27] That one was absolutely gorgeous.

[10:29] I was affected by it, but not super affected until the very end of Train Dreams,

[10:36] where I'm explosively crying all of a sudden.

[10:39] You were ejaculating tears out of your eyes.

[10:41] What happened to the train?

[10:43] The train had such dreams.

[10:45] Dan was actually watching Thomas the Tank Engine.

[10:47] Unsurprisingly, movies where maybe an emotionally constricted man

[10:53] has some sort of big catharsis affects me.

[10:57] I find myself very – one of the big plot points is an out-of-control fire that destroys a home.

[11:03] I mean just because of the recent history of my local area, that really hit me very hard.

[11:09] But I think I haven't seen – I really want to see Secret Agent, Sentimental Value.

[11:12] I haven't seen them yet, but I feel like –

[11:14] I feel like you guys both really like Sentimental Value.

[11:17] I know. I mean I love his movies. I think True is great.

[11:20] So I really want to see it, but I feel like the cream of the –

[11:23] This is the first one where he's like really touching on like being a father, which I think is interesting.

[11:28] Well, that's what Frankenstein is all about too.

[11:30] But I feel like those – that handful of movies is like the cream of the best pictures.

[11:34] They're the best pictures of the best pictures.

[11:35] But okay, so we've talked about that.

[11:37] Were there any movies that you wanted to see nominated for Best Picture that year that did not get a Best Picture nomination?

[11:41] No other choice.

[11:42] Yeah, that's where I would go too. I really love that.

[11:44] I feel like I've seen folks dismissing it as a lesser work by Park Chan-wook, and I think that's –

[11:51] I'm like, yeah, it's too funny and good.

[11:53] But also like a lesser Park Chan-wook.

[11:54] It's a little bit like when the Coen brothers would do a movie like Big Lebowski and people are like, they just did Fargo.

[11:59] Now they're doing a comedy.

[12:00] It's like, yeah, and they're doing one of the greatest comedies ever.

[12:02] Like there's – them doing like a silly comedy is still head and shoulders above most other movies.

[12:08] They're like, oh, this funny Hitchcockian thriller is also a condemnation of the unyielding appetite of capitalism for progress and artificial intelligence.

[12:18] And what – I mean we didn't really get to talk about it that much, and I won't talk in detail since you said you shouldn't have seen it.

[12:24] I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it yet. I really want to.

[12:26] But I feel like the movie that you think it's going to be, like it's sort of in there, but it's also so different.

[12:33] Like the film takes these unexpected turns all the way through it and takes – gives everyone more complex, stranger emotional arcs.

[12:44] Like the – just like the incidents in it go off in ways you would not expect.

[12:51] It's just – it's great.

[12:52] Yeah, it's terrific.

[12:53] That's great.

[12:54] And are there any movies that you were glad were not nominated for best picture that you worried might be?

[12:59] I don't like – I don't feel like there's some big movie that I bear some sort of ill will against this year.

[13:07] You weren't like – you were like good. Wicked didn't – Wicked Part II didn't get a nomination.

[13:11] I mean it certainly shouldn't have.

[13:13] Like I liked the first half fairly well, but like, man, they really fumbled that.

[13:18] Like it shouldn't have been two movies.

[13:20] It shouldn't have been. I thought the second half was fine, but like it should have been one movie, yeah.

[13:23] Well, guys, let's move on.

[13:25] I had one – it's time for one best picture trivia question for you.

[13:29] This is a question about best picture first before we get into the real meat of today's episode.

[13:34] People complain all the time that comic character movies, movies based on comics characters, they never get nominated for best picture.

[13:41] They don't get respected when they're so popular.

[13:43] Can you tell me what was the first comics character movie to be nominated for best picture?

[13:49] The first movie nominated for best picture based on a comics character.

[13:52] This is easy. I got it.

[13:54] Dick Tracy.

[13:56] I don't think that was nominated for best picture.

[13:59] Let's see.

[14:01] Richie Rich.

[14:03] I don't think Superman was nominated.

[14:06] I'm wondering whether it's some like trick thing like –

[14:12] Could be. Could be a trick thing.

[14:15] Is it – was Annie?

[14:17] No, but you're thinking the right – when you're thinking about comic strips, the first obviously –

[14:21] Rose is Rose.

[14:23] Pearl's the fourth in line.

[14:25] Friendship message.

[14:27] Shoe, the movie.

[14:29] I'm going to start on fucking shoe again.

[14:31] How Joker, Black Panther, that stuff was kind of nominated.

[14:34] First comics movie nominated for best picture was Skippy from 1931 based on the comic strip character Skippy.

[14:40] So they've been nominated in comics movies for decades and decades.

[14:43] Yeah, what was Skippy like?

[14:45] Some peanut butter.

[14:47] So Skippy is about a little kid named Skippy.

[14:50] That the comic strip is about.

[14:52] What is he so for?

[14:54] Skippy peanut butter actually – they used the name and the maker of the Skippy comic strip sued Skippy peanut butter because they were using it without his permission.

[15:02] What about the comic strip Jif?

[15:04] How did that go?

[15:06] In exchange, the creator of the Skippy comic strip got unlimited peanut butter for life.

[15:11] That was the settlement.

[15:13] That was the peanut butter solution.

[15:16] That was not the last big brand to be named after a character from a best picture winning or nominated movie.

[15:23] Because as I was explaining to my friend Tom just this past weekend in San Francisco, Popeye's is not named after Popeye the Sailor Man.

[15:30] It's named after Popeye Doyle from the French Connection.

[15:34] So with that in mind, let's go into the main –

[15:38] With that in mind.

[15:40] Let's go into the main meat of this episode, the best picture awards.

[15:43] We all know that the best picture award goes to the best movie of the year it came out.

[15:47] That's scientifically proven.

[15:48] But what movies are the best of all the best picture winners?

[15:51] Finally, you, Dan, and you, Stuart, get to be the academy as you vote for the best best picture in the different best picture categories.

[15:58] Are you ready to tell us which best picture pictures are the best best pictures of the best picture pictures?

[16:04] I think so.

[16:06] I can do my best.

[16:08] I'm going to name a category of best picture movies.

[16:10] I'm going to let you decide.

[16:11] We've got a lot of these, so let's not discuss them for too long.

[16:14] But you can have fun discussing them.

[16:16] That's fine.

[16:17] It's just fodder for funny conversation.

[16:18] It doesn't matter.

[16:19] So starting off –

[16:20] You backed off.

[16:22] Our first category is best musical best picture.

[16:26] Which of the best pictures that are musicals is the best?

[16:29] And our nominees are Chicago, Oliver, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music.

[16:38] So back-to-back musical best picture winners, An American in Paris and The Broadway Melody.

[16:44] For me, this is an easy one.

[16:47] I'm going to go My Fair Lady all the way.

[16:49] I have to admit I've not seen The Broadway Melody.

[16:53] But I think My Fair Lady is head and shoulders above the other ones.

[16:58] Okay, Stuart, do you agree?

[16:59] Which of these musicals is the best musical best picture?

[17:01] I would say the only two I've seen were Chicago and Sound of Music.

[17:04] I'm going to say Sound of Music.

[17:06] All right.

[17:07] There are some other musicals that were nominated for best picture –

[17:09] or that won best picture, but they'll be in other categories.

[17:11] So Dan says My Fair Lady.

[17:13] Stuart says The Sound of Music.

[17:15] No love for Chicago.

[17:16] Where would you go, Elliot?

[17:18] In this category, I would also say My Fair Lady.

[17:21] Yeah, I feel like having me argue in this category when Elliot is just sitting there head brimming with knowledge of this garbage.

[17:30] That would be like if I was like, what's the best Warhammer guy, guys?

[17:34] Off mic before our – we did our last episode before this, and now we're doing the mini episode.

[17:41] But at the very beginning of our recording session, I remember Stuart saying something like,

[17:45] should I get into really boring old musicals like you guys?

[17:49] And I was like, yes, you should.

[17:51] Yeah, you should.

[17:52] We can finally connect on another level.

[17:54] Dan was talking about his dislike of Meet Me in St. Louis, which all right.

[17:58] I mean it's a beautiful movie, but OK.

[18:00] It's just not for me.

[18:02] I understand.

[18:04] You don't want to go out and burn every print of it.

[18:07] No, I hope not.

[18:08] That would be a crime.

[18:09] So best musical, best picture.

[18:11] I think that means My Fair Lady is going to end up winning this one.

[18:14] Let's move on to the next category.

[18:16] Best sports, best picture.

[18:18] There's a lot of best picture winners about sports.

[18:20] The nominees are Gladiator, Chariots of Fire, Million Dollar Baby, Rocky, and Ben-Hur.

[18:28] What is the best sports, best picture?

[18:30] These are all movies that won best picture, but what's the best one of them that is about sports?

[18:35] Well, I'll admit that I don't think I – I remember my parents watching Chariots of Fire when I was a kid.

[18:41] Too young to be interested in watching Chariots of Fire.

[18:43] It sounds cooler than it probably is.

[18:45] There's no actual fiery chariots.

[18:47] Apollo isn't flying through the sky.

[18:49] I know the Vangelis theme.

[18:51] Yeah.

[18:52] But – so of the ones I've seen, I'm going to put Rocky at the top.

[18:56] It's not just a good sports movie.

[18:58] It's a good movie about people, like a small-scale people movie.

[19:03] Yeah, no shocky here.

[19:05] I'm also putting forward Rocky.

[19:07] There's no shocky.

[19:09] You're right.

[19:10] If there had been a shocky.

[19:11] Yeah, what would the shocky be?

[19:13] Yeah.

[19:14] I don't know how to react to that.

[19:15] Maybe when that little robot touches you.

[19:17] That's not in this Rocky.

[19:19] Rocky IV unfortunately is not –

[19:21] I thought that's what we were talking about.

[19:22] Rocky IV was the best picture.

[19:23] No.

[19:24] Which one were we talking about?

[19:26] The first Rocky.

[19:27] The Mr. T one?

[19:28] No.

[19:29] Again, that's Rocky III, not that one.

[19:30] Okay.

[19:31] I think he means Creed.

[19:34] I think he misspoke.

[19:35] He meant Creed.

[19:36] Yeah, yeah.

[19:37] No, I would also go with Rocky on this one.

[19:39] You know, I do like Million Dollar Baby a lot.

[19:41] There's something about boxing.

[19:42] I don't like it in person, but I like it in the movies.

[19:44] Why is that, guys?

[19:45] Yeah.

[19:46] I don't like seeing people punch each other in the face in real life.

[19:48] I remember the fighter even though I think the boxing –

[19:52] The boxing is the worst part of that because they shoot it like you're just watching it on television.

[19:56] No, but you're right.

[19:57] Boxing movies tend to be good movies.

[20:00] I don't know what it is about it, but like, yeah.

[20:03] There's a lot of great boxing movies.

[20:04] Raging Bull.

[20:05] Raging Bull, The Setup.

[20:06] Like, there's a lot of good boxing movies.

[20:07] Fat City is about boxers, right?

[20:10] On some level, I would lump something like Warrior

[20:14] in with boxing movies,

[20:15] because MMA has a lot in common with boxing.

[20:17] It's similar, yeah.

[20:18] It's similar.

[20:19] So let's say, Rocky,

[20:21] congratulations on Best Sports, Best Pictures.

[20:23] Celaya Stallone, come up and accept the award.

[20:25] Thanks, guys.

[20:26] I appreciate it being the Best Sports, Best Pictures.

[20:28] And moving on, we don't want him to say anything political,

[20:31] so we play Rocky.

[20:32] Wow, you're making fun of Rocky there, Stuart.

[20:32] Yeah, I know.

[20:33] I brought you my Tostitos.

[20:35] He was right there in front of you.

[20:37] I guess I have to thank Adrian,

[20:40] by which I again mean the Emperor Hadrian,

[20:42] but I don't like to say the H.

[20:44] You built that wall.

[20:45] You used to have a tree in it,

[20:46] but those guys cut it down.

[20:47] Anyway, moving on.

[20:48] A lot of people don't know I'm Cockney,

[20:49] so I don't say the H.

[20:51] That's what I am.

[20:52] Yeah, they called me the Cockney.

[20:53] It used to be called Rockney,

[20:56] to express that I'm a Cockney.

[20:58] But people thought it was about Newt Rockney.

[21:00] And I'm like, I'll make a movie about a Newt,

[21:01] like a little salamander that's weird, all slimy.

[21:05] It's one of the worst amphibians, honestly.

[21:07] Yeah, really, what a sucky amphibian.

[21:10] This is ridiculous.

[21:12] Well, moving on to the next category,

[21:14] we've got Best Social Issues, Best Picture.

[21:17] These are the best pictures

[21:18] that are about big, important social issues.

[21:21] Let's take a look.

[21:22] And the nominees are.

[21:22] Dan's getting upset already.

[21:24] He hates it.

[21:25] He only wants escapism, escapism, nothing else.

[21:29] And the nominees are.

[21:30] Gentleman's Agreement, an indictment of antisemitism.

[21:33] The Lost Weekend, a hard-hitting look at alcoholism.

[21:36] Nomadland, which is about how hard it is

[21:38] to keep a toilet in your van

[21:39] and you have to poop in a bucket.

[21:41] The Best Years of Our Lives,

[21:42] the tales of men dealing with World War II trauma.

[21:45] And One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,

[21:47] about our nation's mental health system.

[21:50] Who wins the Best Social Issues, Best Picture?

[21:53] I just gave Dan shit, but the thing is,

[21:55] I think I've only seen one of these movies.

[21:58] I deserve this shit.

[22:00] I've seen Best Years of Our Lives,

[22:03] One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,

[22:04] and The Lost Weekend.

[22:06] I haven't seen the other ones.

[22:07] You didn't see Nomadland?

[22:08] Did not see Nomadland.

[22:09] Me neither.

[22:10] I only saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

[22:12] I've seen all of these movies,

[22:13] although I have to admit, if I'm being honest,

[22:14] I fell asleep a couple times during Nomadland.

[22:18] I think that one-

[22:20] Should I see any of these other ones?

[22:22] I mean, the ones that I've seen are all good.

[22:27] I would recommend them.

[22:28] But you gotta pick a best one.

[22:29] That's the way that, you can't be like,

[22:30] they're all winners.

[22:31] Everyone gets a trophy.

[22:33] The entire Academy Awards system would break down, Dan.

[22:36] I think One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[22:38] is a very entertaining movie,

[22:41] and it certainly doesn't,

[22:43] like it has, you know, spoilers,

[22:46] a heartbreaking ending,

[22:48] but it's maybe a little too cutesy

[22:50] about mental health leading up to that.

[22:53] Like, I'm not 100%.

[22:57] I might go Lost Weekend.

[22:58] Okay, Lost Weekend.

[22:59] Stuart, just based on the titles,

[23:00] which one would you pick?

[23:03] Chariots of Fire.

[23:05] Okay, that was the last category.

[23:07] Oh, the issue is running.

[23:08] The social issue is that these chariots

[23:10] keep bursting into flame.

[23:11] Nomadland's more current, right?

[23:14] So maybe that's-

[23:15] It is the most current, that's true.

[23:15] It'll be the most relevant to me, Stuart.

[23:18] And mine, the one I would pick,

[23:20] I think would probably be the one

[23:20] that's in some ways the least immediately relevant now,

[23:24] but The Best Years of Our Lives

[23:25] I think is an amazing movie.

[23:26] I think it's just an amazingly beautiful movie,

[23:28] and it's so well-observed.

[23:29] It has some funny moments,

[23:30] but it's really touching.

[23:31] It's really beautiful.

[23:32] So I would go with The Best Years of Our Lives.

[23:35] It's got one of my all-time favorites,

[23:36] Myrna Loy in it.

[23:37] So moving on, the next category,

[23:41] ooh, time to get tough, everybody.

[23:43] It's Best War Best Picture.

[23:45] The best picture about a war.

[23:47] Now, the nominees are The Deer Hunter,

[23:51] Platoon, The Hurt Locker,

[23:54] All Quiet on the Western Front, the 1930s one,

[23:57] Gone with the Wind, the 1930s one,

[24:00] From Here to Eternity,

[24:01] The Bridge on the River Kwai,

[24:03] and Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King.

[24:06] Which is the winner for Best War Best Picture?

[24:09] Stuart, none of these really stick out to you in any way,

[24:12] do they?

[24:13] I was about to say,

[24:14] you picked a bunch of things that glamorize war, dude.

[24:19] I didn't pick them.

[24:20] The Academy picked them.

[24:21] Which is the Best War Best Picture?

[24:24] Obviously, you know my answer.

[24:26] It's Lord of the Rings, Return of the King.

[24:28] I would guess that would be Stuart's answer.

[24:29] Yeah, which war is that, by the way?

[24:32] The war between, I mean, it's the final War of the Ring,

[24:35] but it's also the,

[24:36] it's the war between the forces of Sauron and-

[24:39] No, no, but I just wondered,

[24:40] I don't remember, what's the official name of that war?

[24:41] Like, I know that there's the War of the Five Armies

[24:43] in The Hobbit.

[24:44] Battle of Five Armies, yeah.

[24:45] Battle of Five Armies, what's the name of this war?

[24:46] I think it is the War of the Ring.

[24:47] Oh, okay, the War of the Ring, yeah.

[24:49] Imagine if that series was called The War of the Ring.

[24:53] What a badass title that would be.

[24:54] Even better than Lord of the Rings,

[24:55] The War of the Ring, amazing.

[24:57] Although, Lord of the Rings makes you wonder,

[25:00] who is this guy?

[25:01] Yeah, that's true.

[25:02] Why does he not show up in the book?

[25:03] Why so many rings?

[25:04] Is he Alan Moore?

[25:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[25:08] For me, like-

[25:09] Gone with the Wind for you, Dan?

[25:11] I mean, the filmmaking in Gone with the Wind is terrific.

[25:14] Like, the message is not good,

[25:17] but it is a beautifully mounted epic movie.

[25:21] But part of the question I have when thinking about this

[25:25] is like, well, am I just saying which movie

[25:28] I think is the best,

[25:30] or does it matter whether it is a good exemplar

[25:34] of war movies, for instance?

[25:36] Because I-

[25:36] I think you're just picking

[25:37] what you think is the best of the movies.

[25:39] But would those be two different choices for you?

[25:44] Possibly, but I don't know

[25:46] what would be the exemplar of war movies pick

[25:50] that I would pick.

[25:51] Well, Dan, which is the closest to your experience of war?

[25:54] I was going to go with Bridge on the River Kwai,

[25:56] which I think is my favorite of those movies,

[26:00] but it is less about the act of war

[26:03] and more about the confusing space

[26:06] these characters find themselves in as prisoners of war,

[26:11] and how one of the characters

[26:14] sort of lets the, I don't know,

[26:19] lets their need to do something

[26:22] and have pride in his work blind him

[26:25] to sort of the larger context of the war.

[26:29] I do have a question just to help you clarify.

[26:32] Yeah.

[26:33] How many Mumakil are in Bridge over River Kwai?

[26:36] I mean, by my count, there's less than one.

[26:40] Less than one.

[26:41] How about Witch King's Unfell Beasts?

[26:45] Witch King of Angmar, to be specific.

[26:46] Yeah, yeah.

[26:47] Witch King of Angmar?

[26:49] Oh, you don't want to know.

[26:51] That's a classic Middle Earth comedy bit,

[26:55] is the Witch King of Angmar.

[26:56] Now, okay, look, we got to,

[26:59] this fell beast is going to the Witch King of Angmar.

[27:02] Witch King of Angmar?

[27:03] Yes.

[27:04] Yes, King of Angmar?

[27:05] No.

[27:07] And I would choose,

[27:08] I think the original All Quiet on the Western Front,

[27:10] I think it's still a really powerful movie.

[27:11] I haven't seen the new one,

[27:12] but there's part of me that's like,

[27:13] I saw the original.

[27:14] I don't know that I need to see the new one.

[27:15] Yeah.

[27:15] You asked before.

[27:16] I think if, yeah, if I was going to pick a war, war movie,

[27:19] that would probably be the one.

[27:20] Uh-huh.

[27:21] Not the Hurt Locker, one of the least, I think,

[27:23] accurate looks at war to win Best Picture?

[27:26] If there's this idea that there's these just like,

[27:28] these kind of freelance bomb disposal guys

[27:30] cowboying around, you know, just doing whatever.

[27:34] I don't know.

[27:35] I mean, I can't speak to the accuracy of it or not.

[27:37] Like, I don't know.

[27:38] Oh, I forgot that, Dan, you were found out

[27:40] that the war stories you used to tell all the time,

[27:42] it was revealed that that was stolen valor.

[27:44] Yeah, yeah.

[27:45] That's right.

[27:46] Dan, we used to go to bars and Dan would get free drinks

[27:48] by telling his old war tales.

[27:50] Yeah.

[27:51] He had that phony arm that squirted blood.

[27:53] They're all stolen from old EC Comics.

[27:56] EC Comics and also the Aubrey Maturin novels.

[27:59] And we're like, Dan,

[28:00] there's no way you fought in the Napoleonic Wars.

[28:02] Dan would be a great Stephen Manturin.

[28:05] Oh, Manturin, that's right.

[28:05] That's how you say it, yeah.

[28:06] Whereas I feel like I would be a great Jack Aubrey.

[28:09] That's the basis of our friendship.

[28:11] All right.

[28:12] I guess I'm what, one of the boats?

[28:14] Yeah, you're the boat we're riding around on top of.

[28:16] Yeah, but it's like a talking boat.

[28:18] Yeah, it's like Swiss Army Man.

[28:19] You're all the seamen.

[28:22] Well, I do have two children.

[28:23] Moving on to the next category.

[28:26] Best British person, best picture.

[28:28] These are movies that are of particular interest

[28:30] to British people.

[28:31] The Academy likes to recognize British things.

[28:35] And so-

[28:36] King's speech, baby.

[28:37] So your nominees are The King's Speech,

[28:40] How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver,

[28:43] Mutiny on the Bounty, Cavalcade,

[28:45] and A Man for All Seasons.

[28:47] Which of these British person best pictures

[28:50] is the best British person best picture?

[28:53] Are there any you have not seen?

[28:55] You have not seen Cavalcade.

[28:56] I know you haven't seen Cavalcade.

[28:58] There's no way.

[28:59] I haven't seen Cavalcade.

[29:00] I haven't seen A Man for All Seasons.

[29:03] What were the other last ones you,

[29:06] I think the last four I haven't seen.

[29:07] Mutiny on the Bounty, you've seen that,

[29:08] certainly, right?

[29:09] Clark Gable and Charles Lawton?

[29:11] No, I haven't seen it.

[29:13] You've seen Mrs. Miniver?

[29:14] I've seen King's Speech.

[29:16] I haven't seen Mrs. Miniver.

[29:17] Okay, so you have seen almost none of these movies.

[29:19] So between the ones you've seen-

[29:20] I would go with How Green Was My Valley.

[29:23] I mean, pretty good movie.

[29:24] A Man for All Seasons sounds really cool,

[29:25] so I'd pick that one, but I'm not familiar with it.

[29:28] Okay, well, it's the story of, what's his face?

[29:32] Thomas Becket, is that?

[29:33] No, no, that's Becket.

[29:35] A Man for All Seasons is-

[29:37] Becker?

[29:38] Becker is the story of Thomas Becket.

[29:40] A Man for All Seasons is about the,

[29:43] is Thomas Sir Thomas Moore?

[29:44] Oh, yeah.

[29:46] Yeah.

[29:48] I apologize if you didn't hear-

[29:48] Well, I got the Thomas part right.

[29:50] Yeah, you did, that's true.

[29:51] But you were thinking of Thomas's English muffins,

[29:53] which they've not made a movie about yet.

[29:55] I was thinking about my own John Thomas.

[29:58] Don't need to hear about that.

[30:00] I made a semen joke just a moment ago.

[30:03] You know what, I'm gonna go with the King's Speech also.

[30:06] And only because it does everything that movie needs to do.

[30:08] It's an entertaining watch.

[30:10] You know exactly going in, exactly what's gonna happen.

[30:11] Although, Hug Green in My Valley is great also.

[30:13] Meet Me in the Bounty is great.

[30:15] I've also never seen Cavalcade,

[30:17] and I've been meaning to for a while.

[30:18] Maybe, actually, you know what, maybe I'll say,

[30:19] maybe I'll say Meet Me on the Bounty.

[30:22] We're moving on to the next category.

[30:23] The next category is, we've got,

[30:25] we've got a couple more categories till the ad break.

[30:28] The next category is Best Based on a True Story Best Picture.

[30:32] Okay.

[30:32] These are movies based on a true story.

[30:34] And some of these movies have come up in previous categories

[30:36] that are also based on true stories.

[30:37] These are other ones.

[30:38] And the nominees are, 12 Years a Slave,

[30:41] Gandhi, The Last Emperor, Schindler's List,

[30:45] Amadeus, Spotlight, Lawrence of Arabia.

[30:48] I know Dan's gonna say that one.

[30:49] A Man for All Seasons, again, double nomination.

[30:53] Patton, The Life of Emile Zola, and The Great Ziegfeld.

[30:57] No, I mean, for me, number one with a bullet

[30:59] out of those is Amadeus.

[31:00] I love Amadeus.

[31:01] Yeah, I thought you were gonna say Lawrence of Arabia.

[31:03] Amadeus is really good.

[31:04] I mean, Lawrence of Arabia is also a fantastic movie,

[31:06] but I'm gonna go with Amadeus,

[31:08] because I, like, even as like a kid,

[31:10] where you don't think like, oh, you know,

[31:12] you're gonna watch Amadeus.

[31:13] Like, I watch that movie over and over again.

[31:16] It's like funny, and like the performances are so great.

[31:20] It like moves for like a long movie.

[31:22] How can you be the best hater of all time?

[31:25] Yeah.

[31:26] That's true.

[31:27] And also, it's got the craziest poster

[31:30] I've ever seen of a movie.

[31:31] That poster promises something that is weirdly fantastical

[31:35] compared to what you actually get.

[31:36] But it is a really good movie.

[31:37] F. Murray Abraham's so good in it,

[31:38] as you're saying, the greatest hater of all time.

[31:43] Stuart, you're also gonna say Amadeus?

[31:44] Yeah, I mean, it's tough to beat it, right?

[31:47] It's-

[31:48] I feel like I have to say Schindler's List

[31:49] because I'm Jewish.

[31:50] Yeah.

[31:51] And that movie had such a big impact

[31:53] on everyone I knew when it came out.

[31:56] And it is an incredibly well-made movie,

[31:58] but it is certainly not fun.

[31:59] And also, it also cemented Steven Spielberg

[32:02] as also like, not just a great box office smash,

[32:06] but like an important filmmaker.

[32:08] Exactly.

[32:09] Although I would say, when it comes to his greatest movies,

[32:12] I still would say probably E.T. is his greatest movie.

[32:15] There's something about it that's just so beautiful

[32:17] and so magical.

[32:17] But you're right.

[32:18] I think that is the movie where it was like,

[32:21] oh, Steven Spielberg has more than popcorn on his mind.

[32:24] I think you just wrote a fuckin' variety piece about it.

[32:28] That's true.

[32:30] Now we gotta set it, put it in the portal of time

[32:32] to go back to 1993.

[32:34] Although Lawrence of Arabia does fuckin' rock.

[32:36] I mean, it is a very close one, but-

[32:40] That's a tough one, yeah.

[32:41] Lawrence of Arabia also narrowly missed being nominated

[32:43] in the Best British Person Best Picture category.

[32:46] I don't know how it didn't make it in there.

[32:47] Must have split the voters.

[32:49] Coming up, the next in the next category,

[32:51] we're almost up to our break, halftime.

[32:52] The next category, Best Made-Up Story Set

[32:55] in an Earlier Time Period Picture.

[32:57] These are kind of historical movies,

[32:59] but they have made-up fictional stories

[33:02] in historical settings.

[33:03] Can I guess one of these?

[33:04] It's called historical fiction.

[33:05] There's a-

[33:06] I've never heard that phrase before.

[33:07] Never heard of it.

[33:08] Shakespeare in Love's gotta be in this one.

[33:09] That's one of the nominees.

[33:10] The nominees are Shakespeare in Love,

[33:13] Unforgiven, Titanic, Dances with Wolves,

[33:16] and No Country for Old Men, which is set in 1980,

[33:19] despite being a 21st century movie.

[33:21] So I'm calling it-

[33:22] I've actually seen every single movie in this category.

[33:24] That's crazy.

[33:25] We did it, we did it.

[33:26] We had a category where Stuart saw them all.

[33:28] Correct.

[33:30] As long as they're mostly movies from the 90s up till now.

[33:33] In fact, they're all movies from the 90s up till now.

[33:34] Can you run through them all again really fast?

[33:36] Because mine-

[33:37] Unforgiven, Dances with Wolves, Titanic,

[33:40] Shakespeare in Love, and No Country for Old Men.

[33:42] Stuart, it's so good that I didn't nominate Cimarron

[33:46] for the, I think, 1930 Best Picture winner,

[33:48] which was a circle blister.

[33:50] I will say 100%, it's gotta be Unforgiven.

[33:52] I feel like Unforgiven is so good,

[33:55] and Hackman is so good in it,

[33:57] and it's so both bare bones, but also straightforward.

[34:01] It completely dissects the myth of the West.

[34:05] And that scene with Gene Hackman and Saul Rubinick

[34:08] in the fucking, and Richard Harris in the jail

[34:12] is like a perfect movie scene.

[34:14] Deck of Death.

[34:16] Yeah.

[34:17] You know, just to provide some variety,

[34:21] Unforgiven's way up there, but I'm gonna go,

[34:24] I'm actually gonna go with Shakespeare in Love.

[34:25] I like, I think it gets undervalued

[34:30] because of its lightness, and also people mad

[34:35] about Saving Private Ryan not winning that year,

[34:37] so they needed to shit on Shakespeare in Love

[34:41] because you can't just like two movies.

[34:44] You have to, one must win.

[34:47] That is the Oscars thing, but yeah,

[34:50] that movie's so much fun that I'm gonna go with it.

[34:54] All right, that's pretty good.

[34:55] I think I would either go with Unforgiven,

[34:57] or I might give it to Titanic, to be honest.

[35:00] It's not my favorite movie, but it is undeniable

[35:02] that it is a movie that captures people's hearts,

[35:05] that tells a big, bold story, and they're bucks.

[35:09] The ship's wreck scenes are amazing.

[35:11] The romance touched people.

[35:13] James Cameron drew that picture of Rose, I believe,

[35:16] in the movie, because he's that good and earnest.

[35:18] He's a double threat.

[35:19] He's both a director, and also he can sketch.

[35:22] I feel like people are gonna be mad

[35:24] that none of us picked No Country for Old Men,

[35:25] but that's never been one of my Coen movies.

[35:28] I respect it, I like it, but it feels like, I don't know.

[35:32] I just, I want a Coen movie when I see a Coen movie.

[35:34] I feel the same way.

[35:35] I liked it, but I was showing my older son

[35:38] the beginning of Hudsucker Proxy yesterday,

[35:40] and like, that's what I want out of a Coen Brothers movie,

[35:42] is I want them to make a movie nobody else could ever make.

[35:44] And it also suffers from the fact

[35:46] that it shares a category with fucking Unforgiven.

[35:49] Yes, and Unforgiven, I like more than No Country for Old Men.

[35:51] I mean, it's a, I mean, say what you will about his politics.

[35:55] Clint Eastwood, great filmmaker.

[35:56] You know, I'm a big fan of his work.

[35:58] Finally, we have one-

[35:59] One take guy.

[36:00] Yep, because he is old and does not wanna work late hours.

[36:04] One final category before we take a short break.

[36:06] The final category for this half,

[36:08] best picture in a foreign language,

[36:10] and the nominees are Parasite.

[36:13] So guys, what's the winner in that category?

[36:15] Oh, I see what you did there.

[36:18] It's Parasite.

[36:19] I mean, I will say Parasite rules.

[36:22] It's very good.

[36:24] Yeah, Parasite.

[36:25] We'll see if it changes.

[36:26] Still the only best picture winner

[36:27] to be in another language.

[36:29] You know, I guess Last Emperor has Chinese in it,

[36:32] but there's also English in it.

[36:33] Parasite, there's no English in it, you know?

[36:36] Just entirely in Korean, right?

[36:38] So Parasite, by default, wins that one.

[36:41] Now it's time for us to take a short break

[36:43] for the sponsors of this year's

[36:45] first annual Best Picture Awards.

[36:49] Dan, who is sponsoring these awards?

[36:52] Well, The Flophouse and, you know, by default,

[36:56] the sub show that you've invented within The Flophouse

[37:00] is sponsored in part by Soul Wellness.

[37:04] If you're trying to drink a little less in 2026,

[37:07] instead of that cocktail, try Soul's out-of-office drinks.

[37:11] They've got the same relaxing vibe

[37:13] with zero alcohol and zero hangover.

[37:17] If you want a delicious CBD and THC and or THC product,

[37:24] Soul makes feeling good simple.

[37:26] They've got precise dosing, clean ingredients

[37:29] and formulations designed so you get a predictable

[37:32] feel-good effect rather than, you know,

[37:34] maybe having more than you anticipated

[37:38] or not enough to feel it.

[37:40] Soul makes it predictable and it's the alcohol alternative

[37:44] that puts you in control of your mood.

[37:47] Their best-selling out-of-office gummies,

[37:50] those will give you a customizable calming buzz

[37:53] from down at 1.5 milligram for a microdose

[37:56] or a gentle lift at 15 milligrams.

[37:59] It's the easiest way to unwind without the grogginess

[38:03] that you might get with alcohol.

[38:06] So give yourself the gift of a healthier unwind.

[38:08] Right now, Soul is offering my audience, our audience,

[38:12] 30% off your entire order.

[38:14] Go to GetSoul.com and use the code FLOP.

[38:17] That is GetSoul.com, promo code FLOP for 30% off.

[38:23] We're also sponsored by Oura Frames.

[38:25] Now, many of us have aging parents

[38:30] and you're probably wondering, I wanna get them a gift.

[38:32] Maybe you get them a gift for Valentine's Day,

[38:36] for old, you know, Parents' Day.

[38:39] Old Parents' Day.

[38:41] Parents' Day.

[38:43] But a lot of times you're trying to think,

[38:44] what would be a good gift for my parents who are aging

[38:46] and also are mad that we don't take more physical photos

[38:50] to put in a giant photo album?

[38:52] Well, Oura Frames make digital picture frames

[38:55] that let you, that when you get it,

[38:57] you can open it up and preload a bunch of your digital photos

[39:01] to share those memories with your parents.

[39:03] And it also comes with a free gift box inside,

[39:05] so you can just give them that gift.

[39:07] It's easy to set up.

[39:08] It only takes a few minutes.

[39:10] And that lets you share all your photos and videos.

[39:13] It's easy to download.

[39:15] It's great for parents.

[39:16] It's also great for Dan McCoy, who has one.

[39:18] I get to see occasional pictures of me slide by

[39:21] and I'm like, because I'm in that picture, I care about it.

[39:24] That's right, that's right.

[39:26] I wanna be reminded of my friends.

[39:27] Yeah.

[39:28] Named number one by Wirecutter,

[39:31] you can save on this perfect gift

[39:33] by visiting ouraframes.com for a limited time.

[39:37] Listeners can get $35 off their best-selling Carver mat frame

[39:42] with code FLOP.

[39:45] That's A-U-R-A frames.com, promo code FLOP.

[39:50] Support this show by mentioning us at checkout.

[39:54] Terms and conditions apply.

[39:56] And the final sponsor for this year's first annual

[39:59] Best Best.

[40:00] Picture Awards is The Flophouse, or rather, Flop TV.

[40:03] That's right, Flop TV, our one-hour online video show,

[40:07] still available to watch the recordings

[40:09] through the end of February.

[40:11] Go to theflophouse.simpletext.com.

[40:13] New episodes are, of course, done for the season,

[40:15] but if you manage to miss the season somehow,

[40:17] even with our huge ad blitz

[40:19] that we took out all across the country,

[40:21] just go to theflophouse.simpletext.com

[40:23] where you can watch every episode of Flop TV

[40:25] through the end of February

[40:27] when it goes back in the Flophouse vault.

[40:29] You can enjoy us talking about

[40:31] the adventures of Pluto Nash, Jack Frost,

[40:33] Xanadu, Zardoz, Doctor Dolittle,

[40:36] and Plan 9 from Outer Space,

[40:37] some classic bad movies right in front of your face

[40:41] with our faces on camera.

[40:43] That's just theflophouse.simpletext.com.

[40:46] Hi, I am Jordan Cruciola, and I host Feeling Seen.

[40:54] I'm here with Maximum Fun member of the month,

[40:57] Khalil Goodman.

[40:58] Hi, Khalil.

[40:59] Hi, Jordan, thank you for having me.

[41:01] So great to see you.

[41:02] I gotta know what's made you feel seen.

[41:04] I figure you've thought about this

[41:06] if you've listened to the show a bunch.

[41:08] I read X-Men when I was six.

[41:10] When you're a kid who makes art,

[41:12] which I am, and you're a queer kid,

[41:14] there's this feeling of something is different,

[41:16] but you don't know what it is.

[41:17] You can be different, but it can be a superpower.

[41:20] What would you say to others

[41:21] who might be considering supporting the show?

[41:24] What would be your sales pitch to them?

[41:26] If you love this thing,

[41:27] if you are getting all of this joy

[41:30] and comfort from this thing,

[41:32] make sure that this thing that you like will continue.

[41:35] Thank you so much, Khalil,

[41:36] for taking the time to talk to me today

[41:37] and for listening to the show.

[41:38] My God, it means a lot to just know

[41:40] people are really listening

[41:41] and valuing what they're hearing.

[41:43] Thank you so much.

[41:44] Become a Maximum Fun member now

[41:46] at maximumfun.org slash join.

[41:51] If you wanna know what's going on in the world of movies,

[41:53] you should be listening to Maximum Film

[41:55] so we can tell you all about it.

[41:57] Okay, but what if you already know

[41:58] what's going on in the world of movies?

[41:59] What if you're kind of obsessed with movies,

[42:01] like maybe you have a problem?

[42:02] Well, then you should definitely be listening

[42:04] to Maximum Film because we too have that problem

[42:08] and it's important you know you're not alone.

[42:10] We're talking indies you'll wanna seek out.

[42:12] Blockbusters and blockbusting wannabes.

[42:14] Classics we can't get enough of.

[42:16] I'm comedian and writer Kevin Avery.

[42:18] I'm film critic Alonzo Duraldi.

[42:20] I'm festival programmer and producer Drea Clark.

[42:23] Together, we're Maximum Film.

[42:25] Smart about movies and Hollywood,

[42:27] so you don't have to be.

[42:28] But if you already are, that's also great.

[42:30] And hey, we see you.

[42:31] New episodes every week on maximumfun.org.

[42:35] And we now return to the first annual

[42:38] Flophouse Best Best Picture Awards

[42:40] hosted by Elliot Kalin, Dan McCoy, and Stuart Wellington.

[42:43] You know guys, there's been a lot of movies

[42:45] with a lot of guys in them.

[42:46] And sometimes the guys in best picture movies have problems.

[42:50] So this next category is the best

[42:53] This Guy's Got a Problem best picture movie.

[42:56] Are you ready for the nominees?

[42:58] Yes.

[42:59] Yeah, I got problems.

[43:00] I wanna see movies about guys with problems.

[43:02] So everyone wants to see movies about guys with problems.

[43:04] And so the nominees for best

[43:06] This Guy's Got a Problem best picture are

[43:08] Marty, Rain Man, Hamlet, A Beautiful Mind,

[43:13] Forrest Gump, Kramer Versus Kramer,

[43:15] and Silence of the Lambs.

[43:18] What is your best This Guy's Got a Problem best picture?

[43:20] Marty, of course, it's loneliness.

[43:22] Rain Man, it's dealing with his brother.

[43:24] Hamlet, he's gotta figure out how to avenge his dad's death.

[43:27] Beautiful Mind, he's got some real issues.

[43:29] And he's got like ghost problems, dude.

[43:31] And ghost problems.

[43:32] Beautiful Mind also kind of has ghost problems.

[43:34] Forrest Gump obviously has an issue with history.

[43:37] Kramer Versus Kramer, he's got this divorce

[43:38] and kid to deal with.

[43:39] And Silence of the Lambs, there's a lot of problems

[43:42] that that guy has in that movie.

[43:43] He hungry.

[43:45] He's so hungry and hangry.

[43:47] So what is your win for best

[43:49] This Guy's Got a Problem best picture?

[43:51] Yeah, I'm just gonna go personal fave from this,

[43:53] Silence of the Lambs.

[43:54] It's a little bit of a different kind of problem

[43:58] than a lot of the ones you put in there.

[44:02] Yeah, Silence of the Lambs I think gets,

[44:06] I think it's easy to overlook certain things

[44:10] about Silence of the Lambs in like just focusing

[44:13] on the amazing performance from Anthony Hopkins.

[44:16] But it's a very well told story and it's very beautiful.

[44:20] It's also shows parts of America that you don't often see

[44:25] like these like shitty steel, like Midwestern steel towns.

[44:29] And it's like filled with,

[44:33] it's filled with like extras that just, I don't know.

[44:36] It's awesome, it's great, it's a great movie.

[44:38] Yeah, I mean, I do think it's worth bringing up

[44:42] in our modern world that like,

[44:47] sort of in spite of it, it tries not to be this,

[44:49] but it can be taken in some very transphobic ways.

[44:53] Like the movie itself tries to say like,

[44:56] hey, that's not what this person is.

[44:58] They have a different pathology.

[45:00] They think they're like this, but they're not.

[45:02] And I think Jonathan Demme as a director

[45:05] was very much a friend to the queer community

[45:09] or tried to be, but it's clumsy in certain ways

[45:14] relating to like making that difference,

[45:16] like not villainizing like a character

[45:19] that could be seen a certain way.

[45:20] I certainly do feel like they are playing

[45:22] on the audience's discomfort for that type of person

[45:26] in order to make Buffalo Bill seem more out to tray.

[45:30] But it is a really well-made movie.

[45:32] I have to say though,

[45:33] I think my pick for this category is Marty.

[45:34] Marty is another touching movie.

[45:37] It's really good.

[45:38] Ernest Borgman's really good in it.

[45:40] And it's a really, it is the opposite of most,

[45:43] Best Picture winners, not all,

[45:44] but most in that it is super small stakes.

[45:46] I would call Marty the Enora of the 1950s.

[45:50] In that it is a movie about,

[45:50] that is not, it is not huge scale.

[45:53] It is about human beings and loneliness.

[45:56] And Marty is fucking nude for most of the movie.

[45:58] Like he's just keeps stripping his clothes off.

[46:00] So, you know, you got this very intense sex scenes in it.

[46:03] Oh yeah, okay.

[46:05] Let me just watch how to stream Marty.

[46:09] Mr. Skin, Ernest Borgman.

[46:12] But I think Marty, I think Marty accomplishes it

[46:15] for what it's doing in the fifties,

[46:16] a lot of what Enora is accomplishing

[46:18] in what it's doing.

[46:20] But obviously about a different type of person,

[46:21] but Soundslam still really good.

[46:23] Yeah.

[46:24] Solid picks.

[46:24] Moving on to the next category.

[46:26] Things are getting interesting.

[46:27] This is the category of Best Problematic Cast Member,

[46:30] Best Picture.

[46:31] Best Picture with a Problematic Cast Member in it.

[46:33] And the nominees are Annie Hall,

[46:36] American Beauty, Braveheart, and Grand Hotel.

[46:41] Grand Hotel is in the category of course,

[46:43] because of Wallace Beery,

[46:44] one of the stars of Grand Hotel who,

[46:46] when he was 30,

[46:47] he dated and then married teenage Gloria Swanson,

[46:50] and then seems to have secretly poisoned her

[46:52] to end her pregnancy when they were married.

[46:54] So not a good guy at all.

[46:55] Very problematic.

[46:56] What is your win pick for Best Problematic,

[46:58] Best Picture, Best Picture?

[46:59] I mean, I think that Annie Hall

[47:01] is a full order of magnitude better

[47:03] than any of those other movies.

[47:06] I will say this, Grand Hotel is a great movie.

[47:08] In terms of like-

[47:09] I haven't seen Grand Hotel.

[47:10] Big star thirties, Hollywood kind of like,

[47:13] kind of like melodramatic storytelling.

[47:15] It's really good, but I agree with you.

[47:16] Annie Hall is much better than American Beauty

[47:18] or Braveheart,

[47:19] and I think better than Grand Hotel too, yeah.

[47:21] What do you think, Stu?

[47:22] No, I'm with you guys.

[47:24] Okay.

[47:25] You're not getting on a limb for American Beauty?

[47:28] Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's funny how,

[47:31] like how taken with American Beauty everybody was

[47:33] when it came out, and also Braveheart.

[47:37] But also I think that Annie Hall

[47:39] has a lot of sort of quiet influence

[47:41] that maybe people don't think about

[47:44] because it's, again, a comedy

[47:46] and people don't take them as seriously,

[47:47] but despite the fact that, spoiler alert,

[47:50] it's not your typical rom-com

[47:52] where they like end up happily together.

[47:55] I think it-

[47:56] Thank you for having spoilers for Annie Hall.

[47:57] Yeah, I think it's-

[47:58] A movie that builds on suspense

[48:00] to an almost unbearable peak, you know?

[48:03] I think it is as responsible for like

[48:06] what the modern rom-com is as When Harry Met Sally.

[48:09] I think you don't,

[48:10] well, you certainly don't get When Harry Met Sally

[48:11] without Annie Hall.

[48:12] And it's a movie so good

[48:15] that people will do some extreme mental gymnastics

[48:19] to justify their love.

[48:21] Yeah, I mean-

[48:22] Or their love of the work of a specific person.

[48:24] If only for Diane Keaton's performance in it,

[48:27] rest in peace.

[48:27] Yeah.

[48:28] One of the true amazing legendary masters.

[48:30] Like, she's so good in it.

[48:32] And that scene where she's telling the story

[48:34] about her relative who died,

[48:39] I remember as a kid watching that movie,

[48:40] my parents not really understanding

[48:42] any of the jokes in the movie,

[48:43] but that scene, like,

[48:45] there was just something about it that really,

[48:46] I was like, I gotta figure out what this scene means.

[48:48] Like, why it's in this movie?

[48:50] Like, what is she doing in it?

[48:51] And it just always really captivated me.

[48:53] So I'm gonna go with you on that one.

[48:54] Moving on to our next category,

[48:56] best crime movie with the in the title best picture.

[48:59] And the nominees are The French Connection,

[49:02] The Sting, The Departed,

[49:05] In the Heat of the Night,

[49:06] and On the Waterfront.

[49:08] What is the best picture

[49:10] that's a crime movie with the in the title?

[49:13] Well, oh, The French Connection.

[49:15] That's The French Connection.

[49:16] Yeah, French Connection's the best.

[49:18] What was the third one you said?

[49:19] The Departed.

[49:20] I'll read the nominees again.

[49:21] The French Connection, The Sting,

[49:23] The Departed, In the Heat of the Night,

[49:26] and On the Waterfront.

[49:28] In the Heat of the Night has two the's in it.

[49:30] So that might give it a little leg up.

[49:32] I have a lot of affection for The Departed.

[49:35] It was a movie that was playing

[49:37] when my wife and I made out for one of our first times.

[49:40] So I think about it fondly.

[49:44] But I mean, compared to,

[49:49] and it's very entertaining.

[49:51] I think it's good,

[49:52] but it's not good, fellas, to me.

[49:57] No, no, it's not Scorsese's best, yeah.

[50:00] Scorsese's best, but it's still good.

[50:02] But we're not putting it up against other Scorseses.

[50:05] No, you're just putting it up against these movies.

[50:07] And I'm putting it up against French Connection movie, I'd like quit.

[50:09] And for me, French Connection, of course, has that legendary chase,

[50:14] but I'm not the biggest fan, you know?

[50:18] You gotta pick one.

[50:20] Maybe the taboos that it's broken of, like, gritty, horrible cop.

[50:26] We've seen it enough since then,

[50:28] and I also don't like that kind of cop existing in real life,

[50:32] so maybe that...

[50:34] I'm gonna go with Departed.

[50:36] I like In the Heat of the Night quite a bit, too, but...

[50:40] I mean, On the Waterfront is great.

[50:42] I don't like the politics of On the Waterfront,

[50:44] which is, you know, Ilya Kazan saying,

[50:46] it's good that I named names.

[50:48] But I will say, I think I might go with French Connection

[50:50] only because I think it does such a good job

[50:53] of showing the different details of rich and poor in it,

[50:56] or different lives.

[50:58] The scene where it's like the bad guys are eating a fancy meal,

[51:00] and Popeye Doyle, I think, is just eating a slice of pizza

[51:02] in a doorway or something like that.

[51:04] I think the details in it are so good.

[51:06] So I might say that one.

[51:08] But maybe, you know what, I might say The Sting

[51:10] just because it's my mom's favorite movie.

[51:12] I'm voting for The Sting because it's my mom's favorite.

[51:14] That's what I'll do.

[51:16] She loves Ragtime.

[51:18] Well, she loves Robert Redford.

[51:20] I mean, my mom had such a huge crush on Robert Redford for decades.

[51:22] I had a huge crush on Newman.

[51:24] Oh, wow.

[51:26] Our moms could have had sex with that movie in a threesome.

[51:28] I don't understand.

[51:30] It would be foursome.

[51:32] The movie is just a single unit in this conjecture, I guess.

[51:34] I guess so, yeah.

[51:36] You're going to have to draw it for me, Dan.

[51:38] Hold on.

[51:40] Look, I think there's a website where you can put that image up.

[51:42] So let's go to the next category.

[51:44] We're coming to the homestretch of the show.

[51:46] Just a few categories left.

[51:48] This category, Best Shirley MacLaine Best Picture.

[51:50] Which of these best picture winners with Shirley MacLaine in it is the best?

[51:52] I've only seen one, but I really love The Apartment.

[51:54] You should see Terms of Endearment.

[51:56] I think you'll like Terms of Endearment.

[52:00] I've only heard many puns on Terms of Endearment's name.

[52:02] Don't see Sperms of Endearment.

[52:04] That's a different movie.

[52:06] Sperms of Enrearment, I think.

[52:08] I don't know.

[52:10] That one I wasn't familiar with.

[52:12] I've got to see Terms of Endearment again.

[52:14] I saw it.

[52:18] I've got to see Terms of Endearment again.

[52:20] I saw it when I was younger.

[52:22] I really thought it was great.

[52:24] If a long weepy about someone dying at the end,

[52:26] but also just normal life happening,

[52:28] can make a child interested in it,

[52:30] it must have been pretty great.

[52:32] It must be a great movie, yeah.

[52:34] Like Beaches?

[52:36] Like Beaches.

[52:38] I think I'm still going to go with The Apartment,

[52:40] but this one's a close one.

[52:42] It's a tough one.

[52:44] They're both really good movies.

[52:46] The Apartment and Terms of Endearment are both really close.

[52:48] I think I'm going to go with The Apartment also,

[52:50] but they're both really good.

[52:52] You get a little bit more Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment.

[52:54] Or maybe you get more in Terms of Endearment.

[52:56] I'm not sure.

[53:00] Someone, watch both movies,

[53:02] tally up the amount of screen time

[53:04] Shirley MacLaine has in both of them.

[53:06] Send them in.

[53:08] But we can all agree Around the World in 80 Days

[53:10] is not winning this category.

[53:12] No.

[53:14] I'm going to go with the Godfather Part 2.

[53:16] That's it.

[53:18] Just two nominees in this category.

[53:20] Which of these Godfather movies that won Best Picture

[53:22] is the best of the Godfather movie Best Pictures?

[53:24] Oh boy.

[53:26] I'm going to go with the first Godfather.

[53:28] The Godfather Part 2 is great,

[53:30] but the first Godfather I think is magical.

[53:32] I think it's just one of the greatest movies ever made.

[53:34] I think I'm going to go with that too.

[53:36] There's this big scope of the Godfather Part 2

[53:38] that I think, at the time,

[53:40] a lot of people were like,

[53:42] I like the focused quality of the Godfather more.

[53:44] You can watch the Godfather without ever seeing Part 2

[53:46] and you're like, wow.

[53:48] But if you watch the Godfather Part 2,

[53:50] I don't think you're like, amazing.

[53:52] You've got to see the first one.

[53:54] I should give Part 2 another watch

[53:56] because I think I only saw it immediately

[53:58] after watching the first one

[54:00] and being like, yeah, that was good too,

[54:02] but I feel like having some space would be good.

[54:04] You may have accidentally watched Jane Austen's Mafia.

[54:08] I was like, damn, this thing is so fucking funny.

[54:10] You're like, what a weird turn

[54:12] that the first movie is so serious

[54:14] and the second one is so hilarious.

[54:16] All right, so the Godfather takes it.

[54:18] Next category, best best picture you've probably never seen.

[54:20] And the nominees are

[54:22] The Broadway Melody,

[54:24] Cimarron, Out of Africa,

[54:26] and Tom Jones.

[54:28] Have you seen any of these movies?

[54:30] I've seen Tom Jones.

[54:32] I've seen none of them.

[54:34] I still believe Out of Africa might just be a movie poster

[54:36] that kids have seen and they're like,

[54:38] Oh, this was a hit.

[54:40] It was in the top five for a long time.

[54:42] I've never seen it.

[54:44] Don't know anything about it.

[54:46] So Dan, which one are you going to choose?

[54:48] By default,

[54:50] I'm going to choose the one I've seen, Tom Jones,

[54:52] which I think is a pretty good movie.

[54:54] I'm going to pick Cimarron

[54:56] because it makes me think of Spirit,

[54:58] Stallion of the Cimarron,

[55:00] a movie I have not seen either.

[55:04] I'm just going to pick Out of Africa

[55:06] because I don't think I'm ever going to see it.

[55:08] I'm sorry. We're all out of Africa.

[55:10] I just want a little bit.

[55:12] We're doing that shit for the podcast

[55:14] at some point.

[55:16] We've talked about it too much now.

[55:18] We'll watch Out of Africa.

[55:20] Someone's going to Sam Goody.

[55:22] They wanted to get the single for Toto's Africa.

[55:24] Oh, we're all out of Africa.

[55:26] That might be a fun flop TV season

[55:28] of best picture winners none of us have seen yet.

[55:30] That'd be a great idea.

[55:32] That's a good one for flops.

[55:34] It's the non-flops.

[55:36] You heard it here first. Let's do that.

[55:38] Stuart, don't forget that idea. That's a good idea.

[55:40] We've only got two categories left.

[55:42] It's a long night. I know. I know.

[55:44] It's a long ceremony.

[55:46] Best picture you probably forgot one best picture.

[55:48] The nominees are

[55:50] The English Patient,

[55:52] Driving Miss Daisy,

[55:54] Ordinary People,

[55:56] Gigi, and Slumdog Millionaire.

[55:58] These are movies you may have forgotten one best picture.

[56:00] I thought you were going to put the artists in there.

[56:02] They show up.

[56:04] Which one of these

[56:06] is the best picture

[56:08] you probably forgot one best picture?

[56:10] Same again?

[56:12] Again, the nominees are The English Patient,

[56:14] Driving Miss Daisy,

[56:16] Ordinary People,

[56:18] Gigi, and Slumdog Millionaire.

[56:20] You guys have seen at least some of these movies, right?

[56:22] Yes.

[56:24] I've seen

[56:26] Slumdog Millionaire,

[56:28] and Driving Miss Daisy,

[56:30] and Gigi.

[56:32] You never saw The English Patient?

[56:34] I never saw The English Patient.

[56:36] I would figure you were the right age at the time to see every movie that was coming out.

[56:38] That just seemed like

[56:40] it was really long.

[56:42] Miramax,

[56:44] I don't know, Prestigi.

[56:46] I saw that movie in the theaters.

[56:48] When I listen to Blank Check and they're doing the box office game,

[56:50] and movies will come up and they're like, I don't know what that is.

[56:52] I'll be like, I remember seeing that movie in the theaters.

[56:54] They were talking about

[56:56] Ray Fonz lets it hang out.

[56:58] Pure Luck?

[57:00] What's that?

[57:02] Pure Luck?

[57:04] An American classic.

[57:06] I didn't laugh once the entire movie.

[57:08] You're yelling at your phone.

[57:12] What's your vote?

[57:14] I don't

[57:16] really like Slumdog Millionaire.

[57:18] I would go so far as to say

[57:20] I don't like it.

[57:22] It said it was the best movie released that year.

[57:24] What movie is it

[57:26] objectively better than?

[57:28] According to the Academy.

[57:30] Actually, that was a weak year.

[57:32] The other nominees that year for Best Picture were

[57:34] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is not a good movie.

[57:36] Dog shit.

[57:38] The Reader, a movie I fell asleep during.

[57:40] Milk, good movie.

[57:42] Frost Nixon, which is good but not great.

[57:44] If those were nominees, I would have given it to Milk.

[57:46] What was the last one you said?

[57:48] Frost Nixon.

[57:50] I think that movie sucks.

[57:52] I think it's really weird how they're

[57:54] doing all these fake documentary

[57:56] interviews with the actors playing

[57:58] characters. I hate that shit.

[58:00] Instead of doing

[58:02] this category, would you rather vote?

[58:04] I'll vote for Milk.

[58:08] Let's say of the top five movies

[58:10] of that year, 2008,

[58:14] that was the year that

[58:16] it would have been the previous year.

[58:18] Slumdog Millionaire did come out in 2007.

[58:20] I always get mixed up because it's like

[58:22] 2008.

[58:24] That was the year that everyone was mad that The Dark Knight

[58:26] was not nominated for Best Picture.

[58:30] Instead, let's go to

[58:32] what's the best movie of 2008 according to

[58:34] the highest grossing films, number 1 through 5.

[58:36] Number 1, The Dark Knight.

[58:38] Number 2, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of

[58:40] the Crystal Skull, second most

[58:42] profitable movie of the year.

[58:44] 3, Kung Fu Panda.

[58:46] 4, Hancock.

[58:48] And 5, Mamma Mia.

[58:50] You can either choose from the original nominees or from those.

[58:52] Mamma Mia might get in there.

[58:54] I knew that was a dark horse for you, Stuart.

[58:58] Which is what The Dark Knight rides.

[59:02] I'm going to say from the original nominees,

[59:04] I think I'm going to say, I might say The English Patient

[59:06] to be honest.

[59:08] Or maybe Ordinary People. Nah, I think The English Patient.

[59:12] I feel like, actually, I would probably say

[59:14] Ordinary People is the one that I forget won.

[59:16] I am sure that

[59:18] the racial politics would

[59:20] horrify me now. I remember when I

[59:22] saw Driving Miss Daisy as a kid,

[59:24] it was a sweet,

[59:26] funny movie with two really

[59:28] strong performances in it.

[59:30] I will say, when I was putting this category together, the two that

[59:32] I forgot the most won Best Picture

[59:34] were Driving Miss Daisy and Slumdog Millionaire.

[59:36] I was like, Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture? I forgot about that.

[59:38] Whereas, I always remember that

[59:40] Gigi did, because I think it's the year that

[59:42] Vertigo would have...

[59:44] It would have been nominated that year

[59:46] if it was nominated, and I'm like, oh, Vertigo

[59:48] is such a more amazing movie.

[59:50] You know? Yeah.

[59:52] And it's less about how you should thank heaven for little

[59:54] girls. Yes, exactly.

[59:56] You should not thank

[59:58] heaven for little girls, unless you're the father of a little girl.

[1:00:00] Thank heaven for that little sweetie pie.

[1:00:01] You know what?

[1:00:02] I forgot it was Bruce Beresford who directed Driving Miss Daisy.

[1:00:06] You guys have seen Breaker Morant, right?

[1:00:07] What a movie.

[1:00:08] That movie's good.

[1:00:09] No.

[1:00:10] No.

[1:00:11] What's it about?

[1:00:12] Breaker Morant?

[1:00:13] A guy named Breaker Morant?

[1:00:14] Well, there is a guy named Breaker Morant.

[1:00:15] There's a guy named Breaker Morant.

[1:00:16] But it's about these three soldiers in the fight.

[1:00:17] It's Australian soldiers fighting in the Boer War are being scapegoated for a massacre,

[1:00:21] I think.

[1:00:22] And they're on court martial.

[1:00:23] And it's the guy, they're lawyers trying to prove why they're not, why they didn't, couldn't

[1:00:27] have done it when it was possible.

[1:00:28] It's really good.

[1:00:30] We don't do recommendations on the minis, but I guess my recommendation today is Breaker

[1:00:33] Morant.

[1:00:34] Yeah.

[1:00:35] If you're a dad, you're going to love Breaker Morant.

[1:00:37] It's a good dad movie.

[1:00:38] Historical.

[1:00:39] It's kind of a war movie.

[1:00:40] Kind of not a war movie.

[1:00:41] Awesome.

[1:00:42] All Australian.

[1:00:43] Okay.

[1:00:44] Finally.

[1:00:45] Oh, this is it, guys.

[1:00:46] We're up to the, this is the final category of the night.

[1:00:47] This is the biggest one.

[1:00:48] The one all of Hollywood is waiting for.

[1:00:49] Okay.

[1:00:50] Holding their breath.

[1:00:51] We're all like kind of tired and a little loopy and like the band's just ready to play

[1:00:55] them off.

[1:00:56] This is best, best picture.

[1:00:58] All the movies named best picture are the best movie of the year chosen by the Academy

[1:01:01] of Arts.

[1:01:02] So by definition, the winner of best, best picture would be the greatest movie of all

[1:01:06] time.

[1:01:07] And your nominees are Argo, Crash, The Artist, Green Book, Coda, and Birdman.

[1:01:16] What is the best, best picture?

[1:01:18] These are all best picture winners.

[1:01:19] Which one of them is the greatest movie?

[1:01:21] I'm going to go with Coda because it's the one of those that doesn't like just actively

[1:01:25] make me kind of angry in some way.

[1:01:28] It's not the best picture that was put out that year, I guarantee you, but it's a sweet

[1:01:33] little movie.

[1:01:34] You know, it made me feel good.

[1:01:37] So I'll say Coda.

[1:01:38] I mean, I feel like Argo at least is like kind of a tense, like thriller.

[1:01:43] Disqualified for me for like how many times they say Argo, fuck yourself as if it's the

[1:01:48] funniest joke.

[1:01:49] As if it's a hilarious catchphrase.

[1:01:50] And if you say it more and more, it'll only get funnier.

[1:01:54] But yeah, I think I have to pick that because yeah, that's the one I don't actively hate.

[1:01:59] Yeah.

[1:02:00] Okay.

[1:02:01] Well, I think I am going, I think I would also pick Argo, a movie I thought was fine

[1:02:05] compared to the other ones.

[1:02:06] I think Coda is fine.

[1:02:07] I think it's a good, like you're saying, it's a good little movie.

[1:02:09] The Artist is not a bad movie.

[1:02:11] The Artist is a fun little movie.

[1:02:13] What movie?

[1:02:14] What's it called?

[1:02:15] It's called The Artist.

[1:02:16] It's a mostly silent film starring a French actor.

[1:02:18] There's a dog in it.

[1:02:19] It's a movie, right?

[1:02:20] It is a movie.

[1:02:21] A lot of people forget it exists.

[1:02:24] I can like, it was nominated for an Academy Award.

[1:02:27] Yeah.

[1:02:28] You can watch it on all major platforms probably.

[1:02:30] It was not only nominated for an Academy Award, it won Best Picture, Best Picture of the Year.

[1:02:34] It's called The Artist?

[1:02:35] It's called The Artist.

[1:02:36] Yeah.

[1:02:37] Okay.

[1:02:38] If you say so.

[1:02:39] So I think, yeah, I think I also, I didn't, originally I wasn't planning to vote in any

[1:02:42] of these.

[1:02:43] So like, I was like, hey, hey, hey, I'm going to make Dan and Stuart vote for one of these

[1:02:46] movies.

[1:02:47] This category sucks.

[1:02:48] It reminds me of things that are bad and I hate.

[1:02:51] Yep.

[1:02:52] Yep.

[1:02:54] I think we're going to, I'll throw my weight behind Argo too, I guess.

[1:02:57] What did, what did, can you pull up real quick what Argo beat out?

[1:03:01] Yes.

[1:03:02] So I'll tell you what Argo beat out.

[1:03:04] Let's see.

[1:03:05] It was, let me look at it real quick.

[1:03:09] And that was just a five movie year, right?

[1:03:11] It wasn't a big ten movie year?

[1:03:12] No, that was a ten movie year.

[1:03:13] Oh shit, okay.

[1:03:14] 2012.

[1:03:15] Argo was up against Amour.

[1:03:16] I haven't seen that.

[1:03:17] Uh huh.

[1:03:18] Beasts of the Southern Wild.

[1:03:19] Okay.

[1:03:20] Django Unchained.

[1:03:21] Okay.

[1:03:22] Life of Pi.

[1:03:23] Okay.

[1:03:24] Lincoln.

[1:03:25] Okay.

[1:03:26] Les Mis.

[1:03:27] Okay.

[1:03:28] Silver Linings Playbook.

[1:03:29] Yep.

[1:03:30] And Zero Dark Thirty.

[1:03:31] Okay.

[1:03:32] It's not a strong year.

[1:03:33] Yeah, I've seen very few of those movies.

[1:03:34] I would go with Lincoln from those.

[1:03:36] I honestly would probably go with Silver Linings Playbook.

[1:03:38] Yeah.

[1:03:39] Yeah.

[1:03:40] That's another one I like.

[1:03:41] Yeah.

[1:03:42] Two really strong movies.

[1:03:43] Oh man.

[1:03:44] Fucking Coda won over Power of the Dog.

[1:03:45] That's some bullshit.

[1:03:46] That's fucking crazy.

[1:03:47] Well yeah, looking at the Coda year.

[1:03:48] So it's Coda won, Coda was up against Belfast, which is great.

[1:03:52] Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Jim, King Richard, Liquorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power

[1:03:57] of the Dog, and West Side Story.

[1:04:00] And I would probably give it to either Belfast or Power of the Dog.

[1:04:02] I really like Belfast a lot.

[1:04:03] P of the D fucking rocks.

[1:04:04] Yeah.

[1:04:05] I mean, I also, I mean, I know that you have fun.

[1:04:08] Dude, it's good.

[1:04:09] I like West Side Story a lot.

[1:04:10] I still haven't seen Drive My Car, but uh.

[1:04:12] Drive My Car is awesome.

[1:04:13] Drive My Car is really good.

[1:04:15] I should see it.

[1:04:16] Yeah.

[1:04:17] Again, no spoilers, but they do drop the fucking credits 45 minutes into the movie.

[1:04:23] It's fucking crazy.

[1:04:24] Just like RRR.

[1:04:25] And I genuinely despised Liquorice Pizza, so I'm glad that didn't win, because I didn't

[1:04:30] like it that much.

[1:04:31] But yeah.

[1:04:32] And you know what?

[1:04:33] Like, there's some really good stuff in West Side Story.

[1:04:36] Yeah, there is.

[1:04:37] There's some great stuff in West Side Story.

[1:04:38] I think it was hurt by the fact that.

[1:04:39] You gotta swap in someone that's not Ansel Elgort for it.

[1:04:43] I think West Side Story is hurt a little by the fact that West Side Story already won

[1:04:46] Best Picture in the 1960s.

[1:04:48] There's already a West Side Story.

[1:04:49] But again, there's two Godfather wins, so who knows?

[1:04:51] Well, anyway, so we've established Argo is the greatest movie of all time.

[1:04:55] Best Best Picture winner.

[1:04:56] That's the end of our show.

[1:04:57] I want to thank so many people.

[1:04:59] I want to thank my co-hosts, Dan and Stu, for giving us their unvarnished opinions on

[1:05:03] some movies they've seen and some movies they haven't seen.

[1:05:06] I want to thank our producer, Alex Smith, who has hopefully added in some music and

[1:05:09] applause and things like that.

[1:05:10] So this sounds real professional.

[1:05:12] I want to thank everyone over at Maximum Fun.

[1:05:14] That's our network.

[1:05:15] Maximum Fun.

[1:05:16] There's a lot of great other podcasts.

[1:05:17] Check them out.

[1:05:18] And I want to thank.

[1:05:19] Oh, there's so many people.

[1:05:20] Thank you, the listeners.

[1:05:21] I want to thank.

[1:05:22] Oh, they're starting to play.

[1:05:23] I want to thank my agent, Chris, my managers, Tucker and Evan.

[1:05:24] Of course, my beautiful wife and my son's boys.

[1:05:26] I love you.

[1:05:27] You can go to bed now, OK?

[1:05:28] You don't have to stay up any longer.

[1:05:30] That's it for us.

[1:05:31] This has been a Flophouse Mini.

[1:05:32] And join us next week when we'll be talking about a different bad movie.

[1:05:35] Goodbye, everybody.

[1:05:48] Maximum Fun.

[1:05:49] A worker-owned network.

[1:05:51] Of artists' own shows.

[1:05:53] Supported directly by you.

FH Mini 146 – Best of the Best (Pictures)

Transcript

Description