Afleveringen
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What makes a list exciting or worth working on? In this episode, Sol takes the host's chair as we dive into exactly what types of film lists we enjoy working on, what makes them great, and, to throw in some negativity, what lists we wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
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No Barbie?! No Oppenheimer?! So, what the hell did we pick? Listen in as Chris, Sol, and Tom reveal their top 10 favourite films of 2023.
Let us know how much you agree/disagree, or if we put you on the path of some hidden gems, on ICMForum.com.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Has Pixar lost the magic they once had? And if so, how did it all go so, so wrong? Can we blame it on Disney? Join us as superfans and nay-sayers clash over the past, present, and future of Pixar Animation.
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Can we name a single original film from the last 10 years? Can you?! Listen in and find out as we somehow end up bickering over whether originality even exists.
We will also try to pinpoint the most original films of all time, and discuss whether or not originality truly matters. That is, if originality exists at all, as Sol doesn't really seem to think so.
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Do we want to oppress you and decide what you can and cannot watch? Listen in to find out!
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Is Hiroshi Teshigahara on the shortlist of the greatest Japanese directors of all-time? Sol certainly thinks so, yet Chris will admit he has none of the master's films in his own top 1,000 - much to Sol's despair.
There's no denying that Teshigahara made one of the biggest Japanese classics in his trippy Woman in the Dunes, but what of his other films?
Why are so many of them struggling with distribution, and are they worth seeking out?
In this episode, we will go through each of his 7 features, as well as his lauded documentary, Antonio Gaudi, and answer that very question.
Timestamps:
Intro: 00:00:00 Why Sol Thinks Teshigahara is an All-Time Great: 02:32 Woman in the Dunes: 00:08:33 Pitfall: 00:20:36 The Face of Another: 00:31:10 Man Without a Map: 00:46:31 Summer Soldiers: 00:53.31 Antonio Gaudi: 01:02:26 Rikyu: 01:11:38 Go-Hime: 01:18:26 -
Who's the biggest cinephile? Find out as we play Cinephile: A Card Game in our Season 4 finale.
We also have the audacity to invent a new rule we think improves the game.
Happy new year!
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Was Sean Connery the best Bond? Apparently not! At least according to our panel.
Join us as we rank the actors who played the iconic superspy, talk about our favourite and least favourite films from the franchise, and give our opinions on who should step into the tuxedo next.
The last question took a bit of a turn as we all seemed to want it to be Pierce Brosnan ... as he is now, in his 70s, and doing an old-Bond film ala Logan. Are we high, or is that a genuinely good idea?
Oh, and would Bond being gay make things interesting? Sol really seems to think so.
Timestamps:
Intro & Secret Panel: 00:00:00 Best Bond: 00:10:00 Worst Bond: 00:25:00 Best Bond Films: 00:38:29 Worst Bond Films: 00:52:19 Best Bond Songs: 01:03:05 No Time to Die: 01:08:34 Where Should The Franchise Go Next: 01:19:30 Should James Bond Be a Gay Black Woman?: 01:23:08 Who Should Play Bond Next: 01:27:49 -
Watching the Moral Tales Cycle is witnessing a great director be born, experiment and find his voice, but how good is Eric Rohmer's most famous cycle? Do the early no-budget films hurt it, and how do we deal with the generally loathsome, holier-than-thou mortalising male leads looking to have little adventures?
We will also address why on earth Rohmer chose to pill a George Lucas before George Lucas by making the 4th film of the cycle before the 3rd, discuss where to start and how well the series actually works as a single entity with a clear progression from story to story.
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The iCMForum's 7th annual film festival is here! For the last year, 8 programmers have worked tirelessly, combing over underseen films to find the true top-of-the-crop most film fans missed.
In this episode, 4 of these 8 programmers present the 10 films on the main slate, ranging from comedies to anime, drama and even what can only be described as a "remix" film.
They will also shout out their favourite films and slates from the rest of the program, which should have something for everyone, including horror and arthouse lovers.
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Join us as we dive into the nightmarish and surreal worlds of Polish master director Wojciech Has.
Our main focus will be on his three arguably most acclaimed films:
The Noose (1958) The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973)We will take them on in chronological order, and with this track his journey from what could still be recognized as the real world, with nightmarish touches, to increasingly surreal fairytales and odysseys.
We'll also try to unpack his symbolism, but most importantly, try to figure out whether he deserves to be in the Guinness World Records for most skulls on screen.
Timestamps:
Intro: 00:00:00 What Makes Has Special: 00:02:39 The Noose: 00:10:35 The Saragossa Manuscript: 00:28:31 The Hourglass Sanatorium: 00:47:51 Has' Other Films: 01:07:35 Is Has an Auteur?: 01:15:23 -
Were Peeping Tom and Psycho the first two slashers? (Or, at least, the ultimate proto-slashers?). Which came closest to the genre we know and perhaps love today? Do both deserve to be called masterpieces? And why was one of them trashed to the point of utter destruction?
Peeping Tom and Psycho were released just two months apart, but their reception could not have been more different. Peeping Tom was trashed across British media and flopped so badly it destroyed the career of its director, the legendary Michael Powell. All goodwill was taken away. How could he have made something so despicable? It took decades before the film was rehabilitated.
Meanwhile, just some weeks later, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho was instantly praised as a masterpiece and became one of the biggest box office hits the year.
More than 60 years later, we measure the films up against each other, look at how similar and different they actually are, and try to decide which was the most groundbreaking, the scariest, the best shot and acted, and, of course, which is actually better.
Could it be true that Peeping Tom was just robbed by prudish British critics and is actually the better film?
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When is a film just too long? Does the ideal runtime exist? Oh, and are films with run-on mainly victims of indulgent directors without good producers and editors to clean up their mess?
Listen in as we talk about the runtimes that make our skin crawl and how open we are to watching films over the 3, 4, and 5-hour mark. We will also reveal the big films we are avoiding due to the runtimes and, in an attempt to redeem ourselves, list our favourite long films.
Are we long film bigots? You tell us!
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How spoiled have we become by Blu-rays and 4k? Are our old VHSs and DVDs trash now? How low can the image quality get before the viewing experience is damaged, and when do we say: Hell no, I'm not watching that!
In this episode, which somehow descends into death threats, Tom will admit that he refuses to watch a long list of Satyajit Ray films in their current condition, while Sol reveals he doesn't mind bad visuals as he watches a ton of films on his iPad.
We will also all admit to watching bad VHS transfers and corroded silent films on YouTube (YES, INCLUDING TOM).
Join us as we dissect just how important crisp visuals actually are, whether we can still stand DVD and VHS quality and reveal the worst-looking films we have ever sat through. We will also discuss whether less than crisp and even damaged visuals can be positive, with a brief look at Dogme 95 and Guy Maddin.
We also invite you to assess just how genuine Lauren's death threats are and if her potential victim has it coming.
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We have gotten an experienced Quiz Master to test just how knowledgeable we actually are. Who will come out on top, who will be left embarrassed, and would you have done better?!
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Is Beau is Afraid a daring surreal masterpiece or a complete mess? Will it usher in a series of auteur-driven art films, or be this generation's Heaven's Gate? Yes, could A24 actually end up reigning in the freedom of Ari Aster and up-and-coming directors because of just how badly Beau is Afraid bombed?!You are divided on this film. We are divided on this film. Let's talk it out.
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We have never disagreed more about what the best films of the year were! Listen in to see which (if any) of us you agree with, as we unleash off-the-hip choices mixing literal toilet humour, big Hollywood prestige project and "challenging" arthouse picks.
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How can it be that we "all" seem to hate beloved Turkish, Russian and Indian comedy classics and mega hits, despite their incredibly IMDb averages and striking vanguard?!
Is it because comedies just don't translate that well? Is it because we just don't have a sense of humour? Or: Is it because we have been brainwashed by the cultural dominance of the US, the UK and to a lesser extent France and Italy?
Yes, how do we actually feel about US and UK comedies? Do they translate everywhere?
And how come the ratings for many of these Turkish, Russian and Indian films are so insane, towering over almost all beloved classics from other countries? Is something deceptive going on, or do they just strike a powerful nerve with the local population?
We will also dive into the controversial decision by IMDb to actively remove the Turkish classic Hababam sinifi (1975) from their top 250, despite having an average rating of 9.2 and more than 40k voters, a decision that stands until this day. Is it pure Anglo-Saxon chauvinism or could there be something else to their decision?
Timestamps:
Intro: 00:00:00
Do Any of Us Believe Comedy is Universal: 00:04:20
Do we laugh easily? 00:07:44
Are US and UK Comedies Universal Due to Cultural Dominance?: 00:18:16
Will Anyone Defend Turkish Comedies: 00:27:48
How Bad Are the Soviet Comedies?: 00:44.24
Indian Comedies: 00:50:35
Was IMDb Right to Remove Hababam Sinifi from Their Top 250?: 01:03:19
Do Comedies Need to be Funny?: 01:10:25
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Is it easy to rank your favourite directors? It can be a daunting task! How can we for instance even begin to compare directors who made 50+ films with directors who made 5? How do we compare studio directors to arthouse auteurs? Oh, and is it just a matter of how great the films are, or do we look for something else, such as personal style and artistic impact?
In this episode, we will look at the 4 most common ways of ranking directors:
Average rating Number of favourites A personal/intuitive connection An assessment of their career and impactLean back as we try to poke holes in each other's systems, or perhaps even attempt to dismiss helpful systems altogether, and ponder the big questions related to what truly makes one director better than another.
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Are any films more visually impressive and pioneering than Kalatozov's golden trio of late-life films, The Cranes Are Flying (1957), Letter Never Sent (1960) and Soy Cuba (1964). Thanks to the innovations of his brilliant cinematographer, Sergey Urusevskiy, the camera is simply ALIVE!
The unbelievable long takes, trailing through all-consuming fires, moving through buildings and generally just feeling truly free, would likely need to be done
with CGI today, but here, they are done as is, on the ground, years before Godard or Truffaut debuted, and with far more prowess.
How was it possible?
Oh, and did Kalotozov invent the disaster movie genre in the process?
Listen in and feel free to leave your comments on ICMForum.com.
Timestamps:
Intro: 00:00
What Makes These 3 Films So Impressive: 00:01:51
The Cranes Are Flying: 00:06:15
Letter Never Sent: 00:35:10
Soy Cuba: 00:52:01
Quick notes on Kalatozov's Other Films: 1:12:34
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