Sam Sanchez

So...I'm a pretty big movie nerd and I watch a ton of movies. Been doing a top 25 (overkill?) out of boredom every year since like 2005, though the message board I would post on is now dead so I figured I'll just put it on here. Take recommendations from it, shit on it, or ignore it...or maybe recommend stuff I may have missed and list your favorites.

 

A lot of my list does seem to have a lot of the Oscar nominations which isn't usually the case I don't think, not sure if it's my taste changing or the Oscars, but who knows.

 

EDIT: Here's a link to the list in general where you could click on each movie to see more info if wanted: https://letterboxd.com/sam_sanchez/list/25-favorite-films-of-2017/

 

25. I, Tonya [dir. Craig Gillespie]

 

24. Lady Macbeth [dir. William Oldroyd]

 

23. Tragedy Girls [dir. Tyler MacIntyre]

 

22. mother! [dir. Darren Aronofsky]

 

21. The Lost City of Z [dir. James Gray]

 

20. Logan Lucky [dir. Steven Soderbergh]

 

19. The Post [dir. Steven Spielberg]

 

18. Wind River [dir. Taylor Sheridan]

 

17. Dunkirk [dir. Christopher Nolan]

 

16. Lady Bird [dir. Greta Gerwig]

 

15. The Meyerowitz Stories [dir. Noah Baumbach]

 

14. Mudbound [dir. Dee Rees]

 

13. Good Time [dir. Ben & Joshua Safdie]

 

12. Lucky [dir. John Carroll Lynch]

 

11. The Shape of Water [dir. Guillermo Del Toro]

 

10. Call Me By Your Name [dir. Luca Guadagnino]

 

9. Brawl in Cell Block 99 [dir. S. Craig Zahler]

 

8. Logan [dir. James Mangold]

 

7. The Square [dir. Ruben Ostlund]

 

6. Blade Runner 2049 [dir. Denis Villeneuve]

 

5. The Florida Project [dir. Sean Baker]

 

4. Get Out [dir. Jordan Peele]

 

3. The Killing of a Sacred Deer [dir. Yorgos Lanthimos]

 

2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [dir. Martin McDonagh]

 

1. Phantom Thread [dir. Paul Thomas Anderson]

 

 

 

A few of these I wouldn't recommend going into without an open mind. Killing of a Sacred Deer probably most of all, unless you're familiar with Dogtooth or The Lobster then you might know what to expect.

 

 

Looking ahead at this year, here's a few I'm keeping an eye out for:

Annihilation - https://letterboxd.com/film/annihilation/
New movie Alex Garland, who directed Ex Machina a couple years ago and had written previously 28 Days Later and Sunshine for Danny Boyle.

Blessed Virgin - https://letterboxd.com/film/blessed-virgin/genres/
Movie about a disgraced nun and it's directed by Paul Verhoeven. All I need to know.

Bodied - https://letterboxd.com/film/bodied/
New Joseph Kahn which is usually a negative for me. And it's about the battle rap scene, which is also usually a negative. But it's been getting great reviews out of festivals last year. Caught my interest.

The Death of Stalin - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-death-of-stalin/
political satire by the guy who made In the Loop in 2009.

First Man - https://letterboxd.com/film/first-man/
Newest from Damien Chazelle, who did Whiplash and La La Land, about Neil Armstrong.

First Reformed - https://letterboxd.com/film/first-reformed/
Supposedly a "return to form" for Paul Schrader, who is famous for writing Raging Bull & Taxi Driver and also for movies like Blue Collar and Hardcore.

Halloween - https://letterboxd.com/film/halloween-2018/
Yet another Halloween remake, but this time directed by David Gordon Green and written by Danny McBride. I'm curious.

Idol's Eye - https://letterboxd.com/film/idols-eye/
New Olivier Assayass starring Sylvester Stallone. I'm interested.

The Irishman - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-irishman-2018/
Newest Martin Scorsese mob movie about Jimmy Hoffa. Starring De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. Hell yeah.

Isle of Dogs - https://letterboxd.com/film/isle-of-dogs-2018/
Newest Wes Anderson. Another animated one similar to Fantastic Mr. Fox. Love the trailer.

Let the Corpses Tan - https://letterboxd.com/film/let-the-corpses-tan/genres/
Horror movie getting a lot of buzz out of festivals late last year. Love the title.

Mute - https://letterboxd.com/film/mute-2018/
New Duncan Jones sci-fi movie starring Sam Rockwell. Reteaming again after Moon.

Paddington 2 - https://letterboxd.com/film/paddington-2/
Reviews are ridiculously good for this movie. Like enough to catch my attention and take it seriously. I enjoyed the first Paddington.

Roma - https://letterboxd.com/film/roma-2018/genres/
New Alfonso Cuaron, who did Gravity and Children of Men

The Sisters Brothers - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-sisters-brothers/
A Western by French director I enjoy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Rutger Hauer and John C. Riley? Yeah, I'm interested.

The Son - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-son-2018/
New Denis Villeneuve. All I need to know.

Suspiria - https://letterboxd.com/film/suspiria-2018/
Another remake, but done by Luca Guadagnino who did Call Me By Your Name. Love the original, curious about this.

Unsane - https://letterboxd.com/film/unsane/genres/
New Steven Soderbergh horror movie? Very curious what this looks like.

Widows - https://letterboxd.com/film/widows-2018/
A Crime thriller heist film by Steve McQueen, director of Shame, 12 Years a Slave and Hunger.

Wildlife - https://letterboxd.com/film/wildlife-2018/
Directorial debut from actor Paul Dano getting some Sundance buzz.

You Were Never Really Here - https://letterboxd.com/film/you-were-never-really-here/
A thriller from Lynne Ramsay who unfortunately doesn't make movies all that often. Really like We Need to Talk About Kevin and Ratcatcher by her. Starring Joaquin Phoenix.

10 hours ago, red321 said:

yes, years and years ago, especially when you consider the ability of tv to tell a story of multiple episodes/hours a lot of stories that might have ended up on the movie screen are being done on tv where they can be expanded on.

I guess I'm in the minority nowadays that still finds films far above TV. My issue with TV, and it's not a blanket statement as there's shows I enjoy, is it's complete dependency on plot and needing to keep someone hooked on an episode to episode basis. The only shows I get attracted tend to be the ones that tell a contained story in one season like the first season of True Detective. Maybe I don't feel that film is out of stories since I actively seek out the stuff out there and only see something I have a good feeling I'll enjoy. Saw around 60 movies from 2017 this past year, and was pretty happy with the majority of them. I guess it's not as easy as is just flipping on HBO or NetFlix but I still really get a lot of movies.

 

Probably not a coincidence that Twin Peaks: The Return was my favorite thing I watched on TV this past year, and it's probably the least unlike a regular TV show you can get. What other show would allow something like Episode 8 of that series to air? Give a lot of credit to Showtime to just allowing David Lynch do his thing. Filmed the season as an 18-hour movie divided into 18 parts rather than episodes each designed to have a beginning, middle and an end.

Yeah I've been looking forward to it. Same guy did In the Loop almost ten years ago which was another funny political satire

Frank Tanana?

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

That's quite a list of upcoming bombs.  

And Scarface....why?  It's already a perfect remake.

I'm curious about it since apparently the Coen Brothers are writing the script? Though they Rent directing and they tend to keep their better scripts for themselves so who knows.

They recently wrote but didn't direct Suburbicon, Bridge of Spies, and Unbroken. At least Bridge of Spies was good I guess. 

1 hour ago, Tank said:

just saw an article online about remakes that are coming to the silver screen in the near future. Here's a partial list:

Firestarter, Cannonball Run, Starship Troopers, License to Drive, The Fly, Valley Girl, Alien Nation, Papillon, The Great Outdoors, Fantastic Voyage, Scarface, White Men Can't Jump, First Blood, Flash Gordon, Flight of the Navigator, Charlie's Angels, Nosferatu, Little Shop of Horrors, The Thomas Crown Affair, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Overboard, and An American Werewolf in London.

So The Fly, Scarface, Nosferatu, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Thomas Crown Affair all getting remade AGAIN?

 

There are two remakes I'm actually interested in though this year, neither on that list. David Gordon Green is remaking Halloween (yet again) and it's being written by Danny McBride, that combination alone has me intrigued.

 

Also, interested in Luca Guadagnino (just did Call Me By Your Name in 2017) remaking Dario Argento's Suspiria. Very curious what a remake of Suspiria looks like given the original is completely dependent on Argento's style, but also curious since I really like Luca Guadagnino's style and the cast sounds solid with Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Jessica Harper (in the original), and Chloe Grace Moretz. Sounds more than just a run-of-the-mill remake and something that may actually be taken serious.

Does this give any actual real indication of what team he'll go in as:

 

https://baseballhall.org/explorer?name=vladimir&team=All&induction=All&pos=All&state=All&born[value][date]=&bats=All&throws=All

6 minutes ago, ANAHEIMBOB said:

 

Since Vlad retired as an Angel, Arte probably gives Vlad an incentive (money) to go in as an Angel. 

MLB chooses....Vlad doesn't have a choice

I've had this for about 4 months now. No issues at all. Have only used it like twice a month since, but even without taking full advantage of it, I've still saved money at the cheap price they have it at 

 

I've had no issues at all, hopefully it remains as is.

15 hours ago, Tank said:

Downsizing = B

this was a movie that didn't go at all where you expected it to. it was very different than anticipated. it had a couple of funny moments in it but it wasn't a comedy, which might have been the easy way out. there were a lot of symbols about modern life, and i imagine a lot more could be unpacked from this movie is discussion groups for sociology, religion, philosophy, or psychology classes on campuses everywhere.

it wasn't nearly as heavy on the special effects as you might think or standard gag lines/jokes as you might think. overall, my brother and i enjoyed it.

interested in your thoughts on this one, @Sam Sanchez.

I still haven't seen it. I'm still in the process of powering through the 2017 movies I didn't catch up with (a little more than a dozen or so big ones). I usually enjoy Alexander Payne movies, so hope to check it out. Admittedly, the trailer didn't much for me, but I trust Payne to make something more interesting than the trailer appeared to be.

I'm hoping with his spike in OBP (.385 compared to career .305), it may be more of a sign that he figured something out as a new approach goes in 2017 rather than it being just a fluke in a contract year.

I wouldn't expected him to have an .900+ OPS with us, but I would hope he could at give us a .280/.340/.800 if he's able to maintain some of that momentum from 2017.

He really does know nothing and yesterday when interviewing an analyst, I forget who, was jokingly just shouting back at him saying "I'm being louder than you are, I'm right!!" but laughing afterwards to make it look like it was just in fun, but I'm sure he was getting annoyed too

Groundhog Day

Life Aquatic

Kingpin

Rushmore

Ghostbusters

Scrooged

 

Also, liked his role in Ed Wood

 

If anyone has Hulu or wants to test out their free trial, I'd recommend a documentary called How to Build a Time Machine.

 

The director is from a podcast I listen to and it debuted at festivals well over year ago and despite solid reviews was having trouble finding a release. I finally caught it at a one time screening and Q&A in LA a couple months ago and thought it was very good. It finally hit streaming on Hulu at the beginning of the month. Would recommend giving it a shot if you're looking for a documentary and have Hulu.

 

Movie info:

https://letterboxd.com/film/how-to-build-a-time-machine/

MoviePass is what I’ve been using the last few months. From what I’ve read is that theyre selling data from viewing habits and what is being watched and whatever useful data can be acquired from this. I’m fine with that...$9.99 for a movie a day is ridiculous. Granted they know most people can only go like a handful of times a month. I’ve gone like 3 or 4 times a month since I’ve got it. Still a bargain for me, and not draining to them, so I’d imagine they take that into consideration.

Went and saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri over the weekend. Probably my favorite movie of the year so. Great dark comedy by Martin McDonagh who did In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths prior to this. Might be his best so far. 

 

Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Peter Dinklage, etc.. Not sure if it's the McDormand connection, but it had a very Coen Brothers feel to it. And yeah, Frances McDormand should probably get an Oscar for this.

 

 

 

 

Also watched Brawl In Cell Block 99. Very deliberately placed, but solid movie. Vince Vaughn is a big scary dude in this, a role I've never seen him play. Movie gets incredibly brutal after a certain point, fairly similar to the tone change in Bone Tomahawk, the director's other movie.

What's weird is I thought this was all close to common knowledge. Not to this extent and specifics, but there has been tons of talk about Harvey Weinstein "helping" woman's careers for years. Like a very commonly spread rumor/accusation was that Gwenyth Paltrow "slept her way to the top" which I'm assuming all started with Shakespeare in Love which was a Miramax hit. Just weird how all this stuff that seemed to be quietly acknowledged and almost accepted as a "casting couch/it is what is" scenario all just flooding out now. I don't really buy a lot of celebrities saying they had no idea about this going on until now.

 

I don't really recall specifically, but I think there were even some alluding to this in Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind which covers the Weinsteins pretty heavily

Good to hear it won you over by the end and you didn't feel like it wasted your time. At the very least, it's an experience you're not likely to ever have again on TV. To give someone like David Lynch that much creative control over 18 hours doesn't seem like something that will happen again to that level.

For me, I love the sense of humor of this new season and find David Lynch being in no hurry to get where he is going pretty refreshing. I find it hard to recommend the show to anyone without finding out if they are a fan of Lynch in general since this season is feels a lot more like a new project by David Lynch rather than a new season of Twin Peaks.

 

Honestly, if you weren't on board around episode 4ish, it just might not be for you. Episode 8 might just turn you off altogether on the show. If you're not a fan of Dougie at all, you might not want to continue either. Though if you start to warm on Dougie, and can make it past episode 8, it becomes slightly more quicker pace in the back half of the season.

29 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Speaking of Lynch, I got a ton of Eraserhead vibes from Mother! which was a lot of fun.

I've been wanting to go see mother! Been hearing very mixed things but that sounds like a positive for me for that kind of movie.

On 9/20/2017 at 9:20 AM, Homebrewer said:

 

So...I decided to watch the original seasons of Twin Peaks. To call it "campy" is an understatement...but I still have somehow gotten into it. Just started season 2 this week.

Sherlyn Fenn is about as hot a female as was ever created.

Yeah, it's definitely campy. Basically created as somewhat of a riff on soap operas, but with Lynch touches. Season 2 becomes WAYYY more campy, and frankly bad after episode 8 or 9. The new season is a huge shift in tone but still feels in the same universe somehow.

14 hours ago, Homebrewer said:

 

Is it possible to watch the NEW Twin Peaks without having seen the original 2 seasons?

I would say no. Not that watching all of Twin Peaks beforehand helps you fully comperehend everything as you'll still be left with a ton of questions regardless, but it would inform a lot of the understanding of the characters and the lore behind it. I would say, Season 1, and the first 8 episodes (and final episode) or so of Season 2, and Fire Walk With Me is all a must if you want to see Season 3.

 

If you're a fan of David Lynch though, you might get enjoyment of Season 3 just on that level even without being familiar with the series.

On 9/3/2017 at 3:53 PM, GOPSnowflakesHateCezero said:

getting ready for the 2 hour twin peaks finale

 

So how'd you like it?

 

First off, I'll just say that Season 3 of Twin Peaks might be my favorite thing I've seen on TV, though admittedly, I'm not a big TV watcher.

 

The finale definitely raises more questions than it answers but definitely leaves a ton to think over. It felt like Episode 17 was the real finale, and episode 18 was the beginning of something else that we may never get a continuation of. A lot of threads left dangling, but I can't say I'm disappointed at all personally.

Why do the British add an "R" sound to words that have an "aw" sound.

 

"I sawr her drawring"

I saw a stat the other day that Trout hasn't really even had a bad week (Monday-Sunday). His worst week this season was still around like an .850 OPS, which would still make him our best player even at his worst.