The Formative Films Project

Lillian Weber returns to the show to discuss Jane Schoenbrun's directorial debut, We're All Going to the World's Fair.

Featured in this episode:

- Jane Schoenbrun interview with Filmmaker Magazine (2022)

- Nicole Flattery's review for BFI/Sight and Sound

- 2022 Sight and Sound poll

- "Fix their hearts or die" in Twin Peaks: The Return

Tulsa-based filmmaker Kameron McQueen Jr. returns to the pod to discuss one of the films that made him want to direct — Martin Scorsese's 1990 film, GoodFellas.

Featured in this episode:

- Martin Scorsese's "Companion Films" list on Letterboxd

- Roger Ebert's 1990 review

- Scorsese with AFI

- Scorsese with GQ (2023)

Los Angeles-based filmmaker Justin Chadima joins the show for the first time to discuss Christopher Nolan's 2023 film, Oppenheimer.

Check out the GoFundMe for Justin's short film: https://tinyurl.com/3hfvnvpp

Returning guest Corey Minkoff brings another Steven Spielberg title to the table — longtime favorite Jurassic Park from 1993.

Featured in this episode:

- Making of Jurassic Park documentary

- Roger Ebert review from 1993

- Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

- Go watch Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Manniac and Wisemanite Lukas Fryer returns to the pod to discuss Frederick Wiseman's 1999 documentary, Belfast, Maine.

Featured in this episode:

- Kenny Nixon on Belfast, Maine in BW/DR

-Richard Brody's tribute to Wiseman in the New Yorker

- Stephen Mamber's Wiseman Journal at UCLA

- Wiseman's interview with the Film West Irish Journal

- CBS Sunday Morning tribute to Wiseman

One half of the Bozeman Film Club brain trust Lincoln Sevier joins the pod to discuss his admiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey and how the film differs from and complements the novelization.

Featured in this episode:

- Follow the Bozeman Film Club on IG

- Bozeman Film Festival (Oct. 8-11)

- Roger Ebert's review of 2001 from 1968

- Scorsese/DiCaprio talkback for TIME

- James Lipton/Spielberg on Close Encounters

It's a Montana State beat reunion! First-time guest Victor Flores joins the pod to talk about long-time favorite, Galaxy Quest, as well as a galaxy far, far away.

Featured in this week's episode:

- David Mamet's Galaxy Quest shoutout

- Galaxy Quest Oral History (2014)

- Roger Ebert's review from 1999

- New York Times review from 1999

Born-again cinephile Antonette Gichohu brings some chaotic good energy back to the pod as we revisit one of her all-time favorites — The Sound of Music from 1965.

Featured in this episode:

- Joan Didion and Pauline Kael vs. The Sound of Music

- The New York Times' Bosley Crowther's review

- Julie Andrews winning the Oscar for Mary Poppins

- Andrews shading Jack Warner at the Golden Globes

Returning to the pod this week is Oscar Pavlove, who wanted to discuss his all-time favorite film, Mirror, directed by Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky.

Returning to the pod this week is my movie theatergoing partner-in-crime Graham Cannon, who selected Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jaws from 1975.

Featured in this episode:

Bilge Ebiri's oral history of Spielberg

U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue

The Jaws Log

Jaws exhibit at Academy Museum

Two-time opening interviewee Marco Marquez returns to the pod to discuss the 1988 film, Coming to America.

Featured in this episode:

Will Smith Oscar speech

⁠You've Got Mail/The Godfather⁠

Siskel & Ebert on Coming to America

Jason Bailey on Coming to America in 2018

First-time guest Jillian Leiby joins the show to discuss Autumn de Wilde's debut feature, Emma., from 2020.

Featured in this episode:

LA Times feature on Autumn de Wilde

⁠Chicago International Film Festival⁠

JagWire movie reviews from 2015

Sheila O'Malley's review

Persuasion (2022) trailer

This week I welcome longtime friend Terrell Henderson back on the pod to talk about Ryan Coogler's 2025 film, Sinners.

Featured in this episode:

Guy in the Chair Reacts on TikTok

⁠Ryan Coogler breaking down film formats with Kodak⁠

Coogler/Christopher Nolan post-screening Q&A

Michael B. Jordan's Oscar speech

Ryan Coogler's Oscar speech

Autumn Durald Arkapaw Oscar speech

The Formative Films Project is BACK for season two, starting with Mike Mills' 2021 film, C'mon C'mon, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann and Woody Norman.

Featured in this episode:

NYFF Q&A with Joaquin Phoenix, Mollie Webster and Mike Mills

I Am Easy to Find by The National

Ethan Hawke TED Talk

Angelica Jade Bastien's review from 2021

Angelica on Disclosure Day

After all this buildup — months of interviews, editing, a trailer, and 19 previous episodes — we’ve made it to the season finale of The Formative Films Project. And what better way to cap it off than with a celebration of five of the best filmmakers working today?

We’ll look at the iconoclastic Paul Schrader, who’s built not only a successful career as a gun-for-hire screenwriter, but also an accomplished director in his own right. There’s also Paul Thomas Anderson, a Robert Altman disciple who’s leaned heavily into his influences while still crafting his own wholly original stories, whether it be in the San Fernando Valley or 1950s London.

Alfonso Cuarón — a third of the Academy Awards' beloved "Three Amigos" — has perfected the balance between mainstream and arthouse, from the Harry Potter franchise and big-budget science fiction, to poignant, authentically Mexican stories you might find in the Criterion Collection. And finally, there’s Bong Joon-ho, the South Korean auteur who’s mastered police procedurals, monster movies, family dramas, and high-concept sci-fi, all featuring commentary on class inequality. He even has three Oscars and a Palme d’Or to show for it.

While the work speaks for itself, this episode is truly a celebration of some of the best films — and filmmakers — of the past decade.

3:14 - 35:02: First Reformed (Liam Quinn)

35:04 - 1:04:29: The Master (Ishan Parikh)

1:04:30 - 1:35:23: Phantom Thread (Oscar Pavlove)

1:35:44 - 2:07:02: Roma (Stephanie Morales Macedo)

2:07:03 - 2:36:34: Parasite (Jay Tapaoan)

A name that kept popping up throughout my conversations was David Lynch, the enigmatic, reclusive auteur whose films have been known to confuse and captivate. Because of that, it was no surprise his 2001 film Mulholland Drive was highly sought after as a “favorite film” worthy of dissection. We’ll finally talk about it later in this episode, but the reason two of his films are topics of discussion here are that he’s such a singular storyteller; for better or worse, a David Lynch film is a DAVID LYNCH film. The rich color palette, the Angelo Badalamenti score, the surrealism, his unique sense of humor — it all makes for great conversation after the fact.

The same could be said for Darren Aronofsky, another writer/director with a sparse film resume, yet one that’s made noise at both the Academy Awards and in cult fandoms alike. His intense films delve into some rather dark and/or serious subject matter — artistic struggle, biblical allegories, climate change — but again, still very much thought provoking, if not somewhat controversial.

2:30 - 33:47: Blue Velvet (Taylor Weber)

33:48 - 1:05:53: Mulholland Drive (Nat Hoopes)

1:06:15 - 1:35:07: Black Swan (Margarita Madu)

1:35:08 - 2:08:02: mother! (Faith Maddox)

As we’ve discussed throughout this series, filmmaking is a collaborative medium. We all tend to look toward the director as the captain of the ship and a key reason why a movie succeeds or fails, but it is a “team sport” at the end of day.

Having said that, fully realizing your vision as a writer/director is admirable and, ultimately, should be a main goal when making any film. There’s something to be said for having a distinct visual storytelling style that’s recognizable from film to film — as much a trademark of a director’s legacy and talent as it is a formalistic choice to best tell the story.

For our final three episodes, we’ll look at a group of writer/directors — better known as auteurs — that have reached this creative peak over the course of their respective careers.

To start, we’ll look at two favorites of Film Bros and #FilmTwitter alike: Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. Both lean into their influences proudly — Éric Rohmer, Jacques Tati, and Michael Mann films for Anderson, and everything from Kung Fu to French New Wave to Blaxploitation for Tarantino — yet both have paved their own way to distinctive directorial signatures of their own. From the 90s Sundance boom, to the grand stages at Cannes and the Oscars, these two filmmakers have captivated audiences for nearly 30 years and are still two of the best working today.

3:07 - 23:52: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Sophia Belshe)

23:53 - 50:09: Moonrise Kingdom (Ryan Njenga)

50:10 - 1:14:15: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Noah Mercer)

1:14:37 - 1:43:09: Reservoir Dogs (Sam Kingma)

1:43:10 - 2:08:14: Pulp Fiction (Jack Dodd)

2:08:15 - 2:36:15: Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood (Mitch Osterlund)

Last episode we talked about some (at least mostly) heroic figures in this “Dudes Rock Cinema” sub-genre, featuring leading men executing their jobs to save the town, those they love, and themselves. We also touched on the blurred lines between “good” and “evil” with Miami Vice, and we’ll further blur those lines this episode.

Some of these men are well-intentioned; there’s an argument to be made that Ryan Gosling’s Driver is a hero of some sorts even if he is brutally violent with an icy demeanor. And the McManus Brothers have an oath to rid the streets of evil, even if they commit several murders while doing so. As for Lou Bloom and Henry Hill, I wouldn’t exactly consider them role models.

Either way, each of these films depict moral dilemmas, and how each of these men react when they’re pushed to their limits and forced to make the choice to either stay where they are, or get ahead.

2:14 - 32:34: Drive (Gus Hunninghake)

32:35 - 1:03:11: Nightcrawler (Adam Cole)

1:03:33 - 1:27:48: The Boondock Saints (Andrew Lee)

1:27:49 - 1:57:06: GoodFellas (Joey Mulinaro)

I somewhat recently discovered the existence of a sub-genre of films called “Dudes Rock Cinema,” which basically equates to '80s, '90s, and '00s action and crime films, leading men executing their jobs at a high level, and/or anything your dad might watch on a Sunday afternoon.

Over the next two episodes, we'll look at a group of male-centric films that operate in this lane. Some portray heroic figures who, even if they bend the rules of heroism and/or the law, we still root for them — think Wyatt Earp, John McClane, and The Dude. On the flip side, we have some nefarious folks who choose a slightly darker path, oftentimes getting involved in criminal activity — think Lou Bloom, The MacManus Brothers, and Henry Hill. Either way, they're each unique portraits of masculinity on the big screen.

2:55 - 28:51: The Big Lebowski (Gavin Miller-Broomfield)

28:52 - 54:45: Tombstone (Ryan Arey)

55:09 - 1:21:31: Die Hard (Robert Mays)

1:21:32 - 1:56:26: Miami Vice (Lukas Fryer)

There’s an interesting prism through which we view comedians and/or comedic actors. At times, it feels like they aren’t viewed as “real actors” with range or that comedy is somehow easy, when that’s certainly not the case. And while some still can’t make the transition, there are many notable examples of comedians giving astounding “serious” performances.

And that’s where we’ll go next for this episode. It’s easy to think of Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, and Sandler as goofballs, yet they found it within themselves to give melancholic, contemplative and nuanced performances throughout their career. In Sandler’s case, he uses his anger as a weapon, unleashing it in key spots in his work with the Safdie Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson.

There’s also Will Smith, who has made a name in the comedy and action lanes, yet every few years makes an Oscar play in a “serious” drama. Chris Evans is best known as Captain America, yet he's also gone heel on occasion. And Daniel Craig has effortlessly gone from the debonair James Bond to a detective version of Colonel Sanders, setting up a whole franchise in the process.

Basically, there's a pretty good track record of actors "playing against type."

2:55 - 28:08: Good Will Hunting (Spencer Butterfield)

28:09 - 52:27: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Trey Brillhart)

52:28 - 1:18:00: The Pursuit of Happyness (Marco Marquez)

1:18:22 - 1:38:22: Stranger Than Fiction (Carlos Peterson)

1:38:23 - 2:07:27: Uncut Gems (Tatum Goetting)

2:07:28 - 2:36:21: Knives Out (Rachel Gaylor)