Top Ten Films: 2022

What do you know about art, kid?

Not-Oscars 2023

It’s been fashionable to say that the Oscars are irrelevant for quite some time now. Movies are less central to the cultural conversation than they used to be. Recent Best Picture winners like Nomadland and CODA weren’t exactly entertainment milestones the way Forrest Gump, Titanic, and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The […]

“Don’t Forget To Breathe” (#119)

The Karate Kid features one of the most beloved movie mentors of all time in Mr. Miyagi, who teaches young Daniel valuable lessons about patience (taking time to breathe), efficiency (putting the whole body’s strength into a single punch), and achievement (if you can catch a fly with chopsticks, you can accomplish pretty much anything).

“Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy” (#118)

Following Big from a few episodes back, The Karate Kid is another beloved 80s movie I thought I might’ve seen — until I watched it.

Back In Blue: ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’

James Cameron is one of our foremost purveyors of special effects-driven blockbusters, movies that blend action and another genre — usually science fiction, but sometimes romance or comedy — to appeal to the masculine id for explosions and gunplay. If one element links all of his films together, it’s destruction.

“A Blue Furry Charles Dickens Who Hangs Out With A Rat?” (#117)

Do you feel that chill in the air? This holiday season, When We Were Young’s listeners will be visited by three all-knowing spirits who serve as guides through the past, present, and future of all things Muppet.

“Music To Hug Frogs By” (#116)

It’s When We Were Young’s most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational episode yet! Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Fozzy, and friends may be best known for kid-focused fare these days, but Jim Henson’s world-famous puppets originally had roots in more grownup entertainment, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the first season of Saturday Night Live, and a […]

“I Wish I Were Big” (#114)

Big is one of a handful of 80s movies it felt as if everyone but me had seen. One of those movies you mention having missed out on, and someone’s jaw always drops open.

Persistence Of Vision: ‘Empire Of Light’ & ‘The Fabelmans’

Movies that recreate a filmmaker’s own formative years are practically a genre unto themselves. Most awards seasons of late have had at least one in the conversation. (Lady Bird, Roma, and Belfast are some of the most lauded recent examples.) This year, there’s a whole slate of them. James Gray’s Armageddon Time looked at the […]

“I’m Your Number One Fan” (#113)

Kathy Bates’ portrayal of Annie Wilkes in Misery is one of those rare turns that rolls actor, character, and performance all into one. There’s no Misery without Kathy Bates. It’s inconceivable. That’s not to slight any other aspect of the film — James Caan’s miserable turn as the victim, Rob Reiner’s nimble direction, William Goldman’s […]

It’s ‘Armageddon Time’ — Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

Ronald Reagan is dead. The world is still here. Clearly, our 40th president was wrong when he hypothesized that his generation might be the one to experience Armageddon, which he did in an appearance on Jim Bakker’s show in the leadup to his 1980 election. The 80s were a relatively quiet period in American history, […]

Diminuendo: A Master Descends In ‘Tár’

Greatness isn’t what it used to be. For better and worse, the rules are different now, changing rapidly in the past few years after staying more or less the same for decades… maybe centuries? Cancellation has come to call on so many luminaries. Many, perhaps most, deserve to have their actions interrogated, but it’s rarely […]