Friday, November 16, 2018

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 100

by Patrick Bromley
Celebrate 100 I Stream, You Streams with a very special super-sized selection of some favorites.

King Kong (2005, dir. Peter Jackson) I know I don't talk about Peter Jackson's remake very much on here, so I should come clean now and admit that it was my favorite movie of 2005. I'm sure "better" movies came out that year, but this is the one that, for me, had the most heart. It's the ultimate blank check movie: the one Peter Jackson got to make because LotR made all the money. Sure, it's bloated and long and overly busy. I don't really care about any of that. This is the movie Peter Jackson wanted to make his entire life and his joy and enthusiasm comes through in every single second of its 3+ hour runtime. It's also the last movie he made that I really love. I miss you, PJ. (Watch on Netflix)
Blow Out (1981, dir. Brian De Palma) One of my favorite movies from one of my favorite filmmakers. Sure, Phantom of the Paradise is one of my five "handshake" movies and the De Palma film that means the most to me, but I'll argue any day of the week that Blow Out is his best work as a director. It's a perfect thriller. This was the movie I had in my head the whole time I was cringing at Gotti recently, because I still think it's John Travolta's best performance. Goddammmit, everything about it is so good. Blow Out, I mean. Not Gotti. (Watch on Hulu)
The Hateful Eight (2015, dir. Quentin Tarantino) The first few movies I picked for my 100th column were all going to be my #1 favorite movies from years past. I got as far as King Kong and this one and bailed on that idea. There are so many complaints about this film that I just can't wrap my head around, because I genuinely believe it to be an American masterpiece. I hope its reputation someday catches up with my feelings about it. (Watch on Netflix)
Pleasantville (1998, dir. Gary Ross) Because it was sandwiched between two truly incredible years for film (1997 and 1999), 1998 doesn't get a ton of love in movie history. It was very uneven. One of my favorites of that year is Pleasantville, writer/director Gary Ross' dramatic fantasy about nostalgia and social change. I know the metaphor is heavy handed, but there's so much beauty and honesty in the film that I can't help but love it. There's a shot of Toby Maguire opening a bag of chips and pouring a Coke that made me cry in 1998 and still makes me cry to this day. I don't have the space or energy to explain why. (Watch on Hulu)
Bound (1996, dir. The Wachowskis) Not my favorite movie of 1996 (that would be Fargo), but this was definitely in the Top 3. There's not much I can say about it that I didn't recently say in my review of Olive's new Blu-ray; it's maybe the best neo-noir of the last 25 years and the film that bought the Wachowskis their career, for which we should always be grateful. (Watch free on TubiTV)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988, dir. Dwight H. Little) There's no way anyone who reads this site is surprised by this at all. Dwight H. Little, you my boy. (Watch on Shudder)
Southland Tales (2007, dir. Richard Kelly) I've talked about this sublime mess since seeing it during its five-day theatrical run back in 2007, and have been talking it up on the site since we first started. I know people have requested a podcast on it every time it comes up, and that might happen some day. I wear my love for this movie as a badge of honor, as it is the film that singlehandedly represents/defines the "ambitious failure" I'm forever talking up. Pimps don't commit suicide. (Watch on Crackle)
Oblivion (1994, dir. Sam Irvin) Ok, so it's not one of my all-time favorite movies. I do love it, though, and want to include it here because it will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first movie I ever wrote about in my Full Moon Fever column. That recurring feature was never anyone's favorite and never did much in the way of site traffic, but it was a turning point for me as a writer because I felt free to totally indulge my own obsessions and write about exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to write about, whether it made a ton of sense or not in terms of clicks. Those early Full Moon Streaming days are ones I look back on very, very fondly. (Watch on Shout! Factory TV)
Miami Vice (2006, dir. Michael Mann) Again, no surprise. My love of this movie is very, very well-documented on the site. I won't claim to be its biggest champion, but I'm for sure somewhere on the sidelines. (Watch on Amazon Prime)
I Declare War (2012, dir. Robert Wilson, Jason Lapeyre) This wonderful coming-of-age movie is another one that's special to me for a lot of reasons. First, it's terrific -- a movie that says a lot about a lot and very honestly reflects a type of kid and a type of play I recognize from my youth. Second, it was a movie I discovered at the very first Chicago Critics Film Festival, which would eventually become a huge part of my life when I became a member a few years later. It all started here. If you were to ask me what my favorite underrated discoveries I've made since the site started in 2010, this would for sure be on the list. (Watch free on Vudu)
The Living Daylights (1987, dir. John Glen) At some point, I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that The Living Daylights just might be my favorite Bond movie. The semi-regular Bondcasts I record with Mike are among my very favorite shows to do, and this was the first one we did together. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the birth of Gentleman T. Dalts, one of my favorite F This Movie! characters. This is the Bond movie I suspect people most often associate with me, and I'm more than ok with that. (Watch on Amazon Prime)
The Blob (1988, dir. Chuck Russell) Blub. #blub (Watch on Crackle)

9 comments:

  1. Miami vice, is it the theatrical cut or the extended cut?

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  2. Now that you've seen Gotti, are you going to watch his new movie...Speed Kills?

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  3. Blub blub blub blub
    Glug glug
    Gurgle gurgle blurp
    Blurble blarble blurble
    Glug glug… blurp blurp blurp blurp…

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  4. Congratulations on the 100th ISYS column!

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  5. I agree with you about Hateful 8, and I'm not sure either why many people refuse to reassess they're first reactions. Personally I didn't care for some of what it did but I knew there was more to it than what I could process in one viewing.

    Four viewings later I really admire it as a whole piece, it's really a masterwork, and the things that bothered me before are now integral to the whole point of the movie.

    But the one thing I can't get over is some of the Tarantino cartoonishness of the violence. In the 70mm show I saw it caused laughter, and I feel it still undercuts the points the movie is making.

    Also Dead Wax on Shudder is fun. Ted Raimi is the bomb.

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  6. It's the first time I've ever had something for the weekend open thread and the first time I haven't seen it up by now. So thanks to the Unspooled podcast mentioning when Billy Jack went to Washington, I've learned the existence of the Billy Jack movies and I knew it was something I've been missing my whole life. Billy Jack is basically the character I would create to write some 'sploitation films and yet he already exists.

    Question #1: Does that make me a bad person?

    Question #2: Is Billy Jack cultural appropriation?

    Question #3: Do I care?

    Spoiler: yes, yes, no

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