50th Episode!! & Best Films of 2024 So Far

Eli Price (00:06.225)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot, a podcast where we do deep dives into directors and their filmography fees. I am your host Eli Price and I am doing a solo episode today because it is episode 50. We are celebrating 50 episodes into the podcast. I am really super excited to.

to be, on episode 50. but yeah, I, I just can't, thank you enough, for listening for, all my guests, and all the people that have listened, and giving me motivation to keep going. I am so grateful, for, for your support. just both being willing.

to come on my show, being willing to download these long form podcasts and listen to me and my guests ramble on and on about these movies. But yeah, I am super excited. We will not be continuing in our, currently we're in the middle of a early Spielberg series covering his films of the 70s and 80s. We are not going to be talking about that specifically this week.

taking a little break from that. and, yeah, we'll be picking back up with that next week to, cover a couple of his kind of, Anthology films that he directed part of in the Twilight zone and amazing stories. so yeah, we'll be getting to that next week, but this week I just wanted to, take a moment to both celebrate.

being 50 episodes in, and then, I'm going to go ahead and share, it's, you know, halfway through the year. So I'm going to go ahead and share the, my favorite films of 2024 so far. And so we'll get into that later in the episode. I did want to encourage you to, do a couple of things for me, that would help the podcast keep going. Maybe eventually make it to 100 episodes. That would be amazing.

Eli Price (02:28.113)
the first thing is really easy. Anyone and everyone that's listening can do this. take a moment. You can even pause right here in a second, the podcast and go do this. Just go to Apple or Spotify or both would be great. and leave a rating and review. I would greatly appreciate it. It helps the visibility of the podcast. It helps new people, find the podcast. yeah, I'd love for you to.

To leave that on Apple, you can leave the rating up to five stars and you can even leave a little review, give a few thoughts of what you like about the podcast so that people can see that. On Spotify, if you don't regularly listen on Spotify, you do have to kind of subscribe and then scrub through an episode before it'll let you leave a rating, but it only takes a second and I would greatly appreciate it.

Again, it just helps the visibility of the podcast in it. It just helps more people find it. And, you know, I want to share, this, this love for film and, these, these discussions of films with more and more people. So please do that. Go leave a rating and review on Apple and Spotify. And, you know, if you're on a, those are the two main ones. If you're on a platform, that's not those that lets you leave ratings and reviews.

You know, feel free. I would love for you to do that there too. but yeah, I would so, so greatly appreciate it. Another thing you can do for the podcast is you can join the establishing shot family. If you want to give financially to the podcast, be a supporter and that way I would greatly appreciate that. you know, it, it does cost to do this. It costs for.

the, the studio to be able to record in, to keep the website going to, buy my research materials, get the Blu -ray discs so that I can, you know, watch the movies in good quality and get all the special features. so yeah, keeping, you know, upkeeping any equipment, it does cost to, to keep this thing going. and, and I'm doing all of this myself. It's completely independent.

Eli Price (04:47.761)
so I'm hosting and producing and researching. And so, yeah, anything that you give would be great. I think I have tiers starting at $5 a month. So not much, just like a cup of, latte a month. I don't know, maybe with inflation, it's like a latte plus a little bit, but a little less than a latte, I guess. I mean, but yeah, it's, it's not much. I think I have tears at.

$5, $10 and $15. And not only do you support the podcast and help me to keep, keep this thing going. but I also have things for you. if you support the podcast, I do have a little discord server where you can, we can chat about movies. I'd love to get to know you, the, the, our, my listener and supporter more there. and, yeah, there's a lot of things we can do on there as far as just chatting about movies and maybe in jump.

jumping on voice calls periodically. But yeah, so I would love for you to do that. I even usually let people that support the podcast choose a movie that I review in an abundance episode of some sort. So, and I am hoping to at some point get some current film reviews going for, for family members, for people that support the podcast, you know, short form.

reviews going in those special supporter feeds. So, so yeah, that's something that if that's a little incentive, you know, if more people are supporting, it'll give me more incentive to do those for the supporters. So, yeah, I'll try to find the time to do that. If you, if I get some more supporters, that would be great. but yeah, so yeah, lever rating review, Apple and Spotify, go to, you can go to the establishing shot.

pod .com and click donate in the menu to find out more about how to become a family member and support the podcast financially. and all of this will be in the show notes and the episode description. So you can just click the links there. That is out of the way. And so, it's the 50th episode. It's incredible. I'm so excited to be 50 episodes in.

Eli Price (07:14.961)
I've actually already recorded, through 57, I think, just really, really incredible. I have, according to my analytics on, Spotify for podcasters, I think I have over 1600 plays, as of, you know, I've released 48 episodes at the time of the recording. So, I'm sure I'll hit 1700 by the time this comes out.

And, I'm just so, so thankful. I can't believe that many people, you know, have listened, to, to my shows. And, you know, I feel like I'm getting them more refined. you know, I, I hope that people haven't been enjoying the split between, you know, the main episodes, discussing the, discussing the films in this series.

And also the kind of bonus episodes with either movie drafts or interviews. I've really been enjoying, I've always loved the movie drafts that's been a part of the podcast from the beginning. They're just so fun to do and to listen to and to vote on. But I've also been enjoying doing a few interviews here and there with people that work in film, whether it's in criticism or acting.

screenwriting or whatever. I've really been enjoying doing those too. So I hope the listeners enjoy those episodes as well. I would love to hear your feedback on that. Do you like having those episodes release in between, in the weeks in between the main episodes? Are you enjoying those? Would you just rather me release bi -weekly and smush it all together? You know, if you have feedback about that, feel free.

You can always email me at establishing shot pod at gmail .com for any feedback or you can even leave a voicemail on the website. but yeah, I have just really loved doing this. I have three thoughts that I want to share, from being 50 episodes in. so here goes nothing. thought number one, I,

Eli Price (09:38.673)
Like I said, I never imagined I'd make it this far. or, you know, I, I, when I started this, I was like, I'm going to do this. If it gets to be too much, you know, I can always just stop. I don't have anything, you know, it's whatever I want to invest into this is what it's going to be. And so, I just, I don't know. I never, I didn't think this far into the future. you know, I'm.

over a year into making these, and putting them out, 50 episodes. And I just, I don't know, I never thought about going this far. And so, and not only that, but I've, I've got to connect with new people, reconnect with old friends or acquaintances. I've got to talk with some really, really cool and incredible guests on the show. that, you know,

When I started off, I was just kind of like roping my friends in and, and, and, you know, that my friends still, pop on the podcast. I love recording episodes with, with them, but, you know, I just never really thought, I'm going to be getting people in from all over. you know, the nation and, people that actually work in the industry in some way, so to be guests, to discuss these films. And so.

It's just been really, really cool, to, to do this and to connect with people and talk about movies with people. those connections are just invaluable. and, I guess my main thought out of this is just, if you want to do something, just, just do it. That's kind of where I was. I was at a point in my life where I was like, I have,

I just, I've wanted to do this for a long time. I think now is the time to finally take that step. And, you know, I announced it and once you announce it, it's like, okay, I've got, I've got to do something now. And so, you know, if you have a drive to do something, to make something, to start something, to create something, just do it. you know, the, the biggest regret you'll have is just, well, I tried and it didn't work for me or.

Eli Price (12:02.257)
I couldn't keep it going and you know, so what, you know, you, you tried something, you, you did something, or you could find yourself 50 episodes into, a small little podcast. so yeah, that's thought number one. You just embrace the journey of creating something new, that you're passionate about. you'll never know what it's going to lead you, what connections it's going to give you.

and so yeah, just, just make it, just do it, just create it, just take that, whatever the next step is for that. Go ahead and, and, and take it. my second thought, thought number two, is just more specific to, to my content. This has just made me fall so much more in love with the art form that is film. that is.

movies, and so I just, I don't know the, the sites and sounds, the textures, and it all just like reaches into the depths of who we are. sometimes it's shallow and just pure fun. and sometimes it teaches us how to find who we are, how to discover something about ourselves. Sometimes it shows us how someone else may feel.

it builds our empathy. It, it teaches us about an experience that we may not be familiar with. and not only that, it uses everything it's sound, it's motion, it's action, it's music. I've even seen films, more recently that you can feel you can, there's like texture to it, which is strange, but, it's just, such a rich.

art form. and I've just fallen in love with it. And I think it's just because this has driven me to, you know, once you take a step into, like I said, and take that first step into creating something, into putting something out into the world, you know, you want to do the best you can to, you want to put your best foot forward.

Eli Price (14:27.921)
put the best product, I guess you could say out there. And because of that, I've, I've watched so many more films. I've watched a variety of films. I've done a lot more reading and digging into and listening to other people, you know, talk about films on other podcasts or books or, you know, YouTube channels or whatever. And it just makes you fall in more in love with something that you already loved. And, it's just been.

really cool to discover that and to dig into that. And yeah, I would encourage you to do the same, to find new ways to enjoy the things you enjoy, to enrich your experience of those things that you're passionate about because the well could...

could be really deep for these things. And that's what I found with film is just the well is so deep. It's a fairly young art form. It's just slightly over 100 years old, but I don't know, it's such a rich, incredible form of art. And that leads me to my third thought.

thought number three, and that is in particular my director series format, the way that I, you know, if this happens to be your first episode, you know, I dig into films by going through the filmographies of directors. And so, you know, I've done, I started, I kind of have my, some resource books back behind me to, you know, to show the first three series that I've done. I've done,

a series on Wes Anderson. I've done the series on Christopher Nolan, and which by the way, I'll be doing an Oppenheimer episode because I still have yet to cover that. I'll be doing that, later in the year, but, after the early Spielberg series ends, and yeah, I've also done, I'm in the middle of nearing close, getting closer to the end of an early Spielberg series. And so, yeah, it's just.

Eli Price (16:51.697)
It really, really is a really cool format. it's something that, like I said, I've said before on the podcast, I was doing this, I was watching through movies in this way before I ever thought about doing a podcast. And then when I did think about doing a podcast, this was, a way that I thought would be really fun to do it. And it has really has been, but yeah, so, you know, this way of.

The format of the way I do this podcast, these director series has taught me that the vision of a film is a bit paradoxical. You know, let me, and I guess I should explain that obviously. It's paradoxical in the sense that the vision of a film is often largely singular, but also

at the same time, extremely communal and not singular at all. It's really, really, yeah, so in that way, it's paradoxical. It's a singular vision of a filmmaker, but also a very communal vision. And here's what I can break that down for everyone. It's often there are one, two, three people that really, really drive the vision of a film.

Oftentimes it's the director or the director and the writers or maybe even sometimes the producer or the cinematographer has a strong influence on the vision of the film. And by vision, I guess I should say what I mean by the vision of the film is kind of the direction of the film. What is that film trying to do? What is it trying to look like? What is it trying to convey? What is...

the goal, I guess. And that doesn't mean like, by that I don't mean that a director always like is like, here's the theme I want to display. Like, oftentimes filmmakers don't think in that way. It's more just about what is it trying to do? So, in the Temple of Doom episode, for example, Elijah Davidson said, or actually not in the Temple of Doom, in the interview that

Eli Price (19:16.305)
came out last week with Elijah Davidson. He said when he's thinking about a film, he's thinking, what is it about? Not in the sense of like, what is it trying to tell me? But what is it up to? What is, you know, what is it? What's it about? What's it around? What is it up to? What are the things that are happening that raise questions that, that

connect with you that are interesting or strange or are a decision. Why did they make that decision? You know, what is a movie up to? so that's what I kind of mean when I talk about vision. So, you know, the singular part of that would be the director or the writer or sometimes, you know, a small, a smaller group of people, I guess you could still say,

You could say that's communal, but I'm still thinking of that in a more singular way. You know, just a couple of people trying to drive the vision of a film. and, and, and, you know, in, in that way, it is a very largely singular vision. and you can really see that in the directors I've covered so far, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg. they as directors are all over their films. You know, they're.

their sentiment, their philosophies, their ways of seeing the world, their ways of manipulating the art form to explore how they see the world. It's just kind of the themes that are implanted in their movies that run through their filmographies.

And so you can see Wes Anderson all over his films. You see a Wes Anderson film, you're like, this is a Wes Anderson film. you can see the, the, you know, the strong philosophy, philosophizing thoughts that are ingrained in Christopher Nolan's brain that he can't get out all through his movies. You know, you can see the themes of, of broken families all throughout Steven Spielberg films.

Eli Price (21:38.481)
in different ways through different lenses. And so, you know, those are just kind of some little small examples, but they are all over their films. There is a singular vision when they're making these films. but at the same time, there are so many people that put their creative effort into making a film and to putting it together and to making it happen that it can't simply be a singular vision. It's also communal in very many ways.

You have actors, you have sound guys, you have art directors and production designers, you have composers, you have special effects and visual effects artists, you have stunt coordinators and stunt men and women, you have costumes and makeup, you have lighting. There are so many things that go into making a movie.

you know, along with the writers and producers and directors, there's so many people that get together to make a film happen. And, you know, you can have a film that's made by a few people. sure. But when we, when we're talking about film in general, it's most films, it takes a lot of people, editors, you know, we've talked a lot about editing in this podcast, but.

man, it's, it's, it's such a big group of people and the result you get is it, you know, it makes sense for, unless it's a bad movie, which those exist out there, but it makes sense. It's, it's a vision. It's an experience that is singular. It's, it's, it's full. It's whole. it's intelligible. It.

means something, it does something to you as the viewer and it's made by all of these vast group of creative minds that are coming together to make it happen. And so yeah, you have the singular vision of the director, writer, producer, that sort of thing that is kind of driving it. But also there are so many influences on, you know, how this

Eli Price (24:01.137)
visual effects artists works, how this cinematographer works, what this actor brings to the character, the way that something that the editor can see in post that kind of changes the movie a little bit, but, you know, makes it better. There are so many elements that make filmmaking a communal effort just as a...

in a communal vision just as much as it is a singular effort and a singular vision. And in all of this, I just really can't, you know, this is just my opinion, but I just think that film is just the apex of art. The multifaceted use of our senses and the communal nature of making it happen.

is just humanity at its finest. It's, it's uniquely and just fully a human effort to, to put a film out there and to, to make it and to get it out there. and then it's, it's also an art form that's experienced communally, you know, whether it's, you know, watching it on the couch with other people or going to a theater and watching it in a theater. you know, there's,

You have concerts with music and stuff like that. But I, you know, I think when people think of music, they, they don't necessarily go straight to concerts, but when people think of film, they go straight to a theater, you know, that's where your thought probably goes. And so even the experience of the art is communal. And I just think that, you know, this art form that is just slightly over a hundred years old is just.

the apex of human art. It's, it uses all of our senses in different ways. maybe not taste or touch as much, but sometimes the movies can bring those things and smell. It can bring those things, just by the way that the visuals and the sound can affect you, and your mind as you're watching. and like I said, that, that communal effort, I think is a big part of this.

Eli Price (26:22.193)
because there's so many people coming together to make it happen. it's just, it's such a human, that's such a big part of what it means to be human. And so, yeah, it's just such a human art form. and I just love it. And these are some things that just a few thoughts that I've had, with reaching 50 episodes.

again, thank you so much for listening. thank you to all my guests so far. and all the guests that are to come, for, for being a part of this, show with me. I just can't thank you all enough and I can't, I don't know. I'm excited and proud and, just honored to be doing this and to be 50 episodes in, but.

Here's to 50 episodes more. I am going to shift gears now. And I want to talk about some 2024 films. I'm not going to go terribly long. I'll kind of, I will say I've watched 20 films that are 2024 US releases. Some of these in here, you know, if you go on letterbox or IMDB, it might say 2023.

and, you know, that's just because of the nature of how films are dated and, you know, whatnot, but, it, I usually go by films that were released in the U S like in a limited release or a wide release in that, that year. so sometimes a film will have a festival run the year before, but actually released the next year. sometimes it'll get like,

A release maybe just in New York or just in LA or maybe in LA and New York at the very end of the year so that I can make an Oscar run. But it wasn't actually like get, it didn't actually get like a limited release or a wide release, until the next year. And so I usually count those films for the next year in my rankings, not for the year that they may be listed under. So that's just,

Eli Price (28:49.841)
A quick exponent. If you, if you hear a movie and you're like, I thought that was last year. It's like, well, yeah, you know, technically that's what it'll say, but it actually didn't get a U S release until this year. And so, that's just a quick thing at the beginning. I'm not going to go through all 20 films I've seen so far. usually, usually I'll end up seeing, I would say,

at least the past like five years or so since I've been really like into film, I'll end up seeing probably anywhere from usually it's around 60 films that I see year to year. So I'm really like only a third. We're halfway through the year and I'm only a third to the amount of movies I usually end up seeing from a given year.

but that's because my watching of movies in a particular year really ramps up at the end of the year. And on top of that, it's been a slow year so far. I don't know if anyone else has felt that, but I felt like by this time last year, I had a handful of movies that are really, really liked. and I guess that's sort of the case this year, but it doesn't feel the same. I think the, the,

You know, the strikes had a lot to do with that this, this year getting these weird releases. And I, I don't know, I think maybe it's just going to be a. Dollar a year, maybe not as many great movies this year is that's what it feels like so far anyway. you know, cause I don't know, it just feels like there's a lot of movies that I just so far that I just.

I don't know. I'm like, I could watch that, but do I really want to? Couldn't I just watch an older movie that I haven't seen that I know is probably really good. And so that's kind of how I've been so far. I did do, a lot of watches here recently trying to catch up with stuff. and so, yeah, I don't know, maybe it'll ramp up, in the second half of the year and there'll be a lot of great movies. I hope so. and then.

Eli Price (31:12.753)
If not, maybe 2025 will just be a phenomenal year and that would be great. I would love that. yeah. So here's what I'll do. I was going to do my top, 10, I was going to run through my top, like 10 down to six really quickly, and then maybe spend a little bit more time on my top five, not a ton of time. but maybe a little bit more. but I also really want to.

Shout out my number 11 as well. So I will start off there because it is one that I was hoping was going to be in my top 10, but I watched enough that it got knocked out. And so, yeah, at my number, 11 is late night with the devil. it is, directed by, brothers, Cameron Cairns and Colin Cairns. they are.

I think I'm pronouncing that right. C -A -I -R -N -E -S. There are brothers. Late Night with the Devil is, it did get a theatrical release. I didn't get to see it in theaters, but it is on Shutter. So you can get a subscription to the Shutter or a free trial and watch this. I just really like it. It's starring David Desmouchand who he's been in some Nolan films. So, you know, he, he,

He was definitely in some of the dark night trilogy for sure. Made some appearances there, but this is a film. It's kind of like posing as a found footage film. It doesn't, it kind of breaks some of the rules there where it doesn't really feel like a found footage film, but it's, it's this guy that Dasmalshian plays. His name is Jack Delroy. He is a rising late night.

talk show host, star in, the seventies and, he's, you know, he's kind of in a rut and he's looking to do something on a show to get his ratings back up. And, he does this kind of like Halloween horror kind of show where he brings on these various people that maybe, are mediums or.

Eli Price (33:41.169)
maybe a girl that's possessed. and just kind of thing, everything gets weird. Obviously. it's, it's a horse movie. So, you know, things go wrong. but I don't know. I just thought this movie was really inventive and fun. It's not the best horror movie ever. and a lot of people didn't, didn't care for the way it ended. I thought it was fine. but.

Yeah, I just had a lot of fun with it. It does some interesting things. it's different. it's a new idea and I just love that. and yeah, it did make my skin crawl at certain points, which is kind of what you want with a horror movie. So there you go. but yeah, that was my sneaking in the 11th. So I could shout that movie out at number 10. I have Alex Garland, Civil War. Alex Garland is a writer and director that I really, really love.

His movies, Annihilation and Ex Machina are just incredible. I love those movies. Yeah, they're like peak sci -fi. They're just phenomenal. Civil War is kind of a mixed bag. I'm positive on it. I think it looks incredible. I think he's doing some interesting things. I think the, the, the acting is really great. The characters are kind of...

I don't know. I'm kind of mixed on my feelings about the characters. I think the problem is that's kind of this movie is sold on the political nature of the movie, but it's, I don't know at the end of the day, that's kind of those elements are kind of the least interesting things about the movie. what's more interesting is these, these characters and what they're going to do. and.

the kind of like political messages are kind of weak or like, okay, you know, like, is the point of this movie don't have a civil war? Cause I think everyone kind of knows that deep down, you know, that it wouldn't be good. We don't need this movie to show us how much war sucks. we kind of already know that. but I don't know. It's, it is a good, good movie. I am positive on it. I think my,

Eli Price (36:09.553)
thoughts are more just because I have high hopes for Alex Garland and this just isn't like peak Alex Garland. I didn't like it more than men his last movie. but yeah, Alex Garland movies are always going to look really good. The performances you get from, Kirsten Dunst and Kayleigh Spaney are really good. as well. So yeah, it's, it's definitely worth a watch. I went and saw it in, theaters and.

was glad I got to do that. So, yeah. So at number nine, I have the fall guy, the David Leach movie starring at Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. and yeah, it's, it is exactly what you think it is. It's, it's got a lot of action and stunts and, it's got a bit of a rom -com element to it. it's a lot of fun.

There's a lot of things that explode, a lot of cool action, some really like fun and inventive romcom stuff. you know, being on a movie set. and so, yeah, I just thought this was really fun. I wouldn't saw it without my wife, which I regret. I wasn't sure if she would like it or not, but after watching it, I was like, man, I should have saw this with my wife. And so whenever it comes to start streaming or.

or whatever, I'll probably watch it with her too. but yeah, just, I don't really have a lot to say about it. It was just really a lot of fun. There's some plot stuff that's just kind of like, man. but yeah, it's like, I always like to say there's nothing wrong with just a really fun three and a half star movie. That's not really trying to say a whole lot. It's just really fun. I love those kinds of movies. actually his last movie bullet train was like that for me with, with Brad Pitt.

and, and some other great actors there. it's just kind of a fun movie. It's not necessarily trying to be say anything or be profound. It's just kind of fun. so yeah, yeah. The fall guy is at number nine. At number eight, I have Richard Linklater's Hitman, that released on Netflix. and here in this month of June, it is a Richard, Richard Linklater film, of

Eli Price (38:36.657)
You know, school of rock and boyhood and the before trilogy and days confused fame. really I've, I've watched, I watched several, link later films in the past, like a couple months and also in the past year, he's becoming a director that I really think is really great. Hitman is, is good. It's another one of those, like three and a half, just kind of fun movies. I think it's saying a little, trying to say a little bit more.

then the David Leach movie and fall guy, Richard Link later is a bit of a thinker. So his movies are usually trying to do a little bit more than a movie like a David Leach movie, but, he wrote this with Glenn Powell who stars in it. He's Powell's kind of an up and coming star. yeah. And I think it's really fun. It didn't reach the heights that some of his movies do for me.

I don't know if it was, it's maybe the plotting or, you know, it's, it's similar to his movie, Bernie with Jack Black and that it's kind of like based on a, like an article about a real person from a Texas, paper or something like that. and so, you know, it's kind of in that vein, it's a bit ridiculous. but also like,

written in a way where you know, it's like really doing some philosophizing and thinking. And so, I don't know, this might be a movie that I might would watch again and like it even more. It kind of has that feel. I pick up on some different things, but yeah, I do think that, you know, Powell is joined by, Adriana and they have some good chemistry. You have some good comedy. I think some of the comedy is just kind of like,

more sitcom -y and maybe that kind of didn't work for me a ton. you know, I thought it was, it was like, made me chuckle, but it's not really what I was looking for. in this movie. But yeah, it is, you know, he's Glenn Powell's, character, Gary is posing as a hit man to kind of catch people in the act of hiring a hit man ends up falling in love with one of the, the, girls that he goes to.

Eli Price (41:02.929)
to meet, to, to pose as a hit bandwidth and, you know, kind of, I guess you could say hijinks ensue or drama ensues or, you know, whatnot. It gets a bit of like neo -Nuari, at the end, which is kind of fun. But yeah, you know, plot, plot wise, I think it's, not, you know, not the most like, I don't know, well thought out or.

Whatever. I don't know that it's trying to be that it's just, I think it's just a solid three and a half movie for me. It's like, yeah, I enjoyed that. That was fun. so that's a hit man. It's again, it's on Netflix. at number seven, I have a movie that, may not be on as many people's radar. It's called, do not expect too much from the end of the world by Rado Jude. it is a Romanian film. So it is,

And, let me see the, yeah, the primary language is Romanian. There is a little bit of English in it. not a ton, but, yeah, the primary language of Romanian and it is starring Elinka Manalache. So I pronounced that wrong and I'm very sorry. you know, if you would like to voicemail in and tell me the correct pronunciation, I would appreciate it actually.

But yeah, it is currently streaming on MUBI. -U -B -I, if you've never heard of that service. It's a pretty good one. I would recommend it if you're looking for a new streaming service. They kind of curate the films that are on there. They have some different stuff that you can watch there. But yeah, do not expect too much of that from the end of the world. It's super interesting. It's long. It's...

Not quite three hours, but it's like two hours and 45 minutes. I want to say a bit of a slow burn film, a bit of kind of a slice of life in a way. I think it's a very modern film, in the way that it is using a lot of different filmmaking formats. it.

Eli Price (43:25.873)
You know, the main story is in black and white, and then you kind of have these flashbacks to another character. And I'm not even sure it might even be like clips from another Romanian movie that they're using for that. and those are in color and at times it kind of like slows down to this jumpy pace or even like stop still frame. the main character, her name is, Angela, she.

does this like character on TikTok where it's like a, you know, a filter that gives her like a bald head and a goatee and she's like really vulgar and like kind of, it's like a satire of like macho dude kind of thing. You know, even like macho dude bigot kind of thing, satire that she does. But she's working for a little

Romanian production crew, I guess that that kind of does consulting work for for people to make little films of various sorts. She is going around the tap going around. I guess it's Bucharest kind of meeting people that have been injured from this company. They're trying to make a promo video for the company to encourage workers to wear their helmets and they're kind of.

It's very like, it's a very like, I guess you would say view into the exploitative nature of corporatism in a way. But yeah, I was kind of in the middle of this movie. It's, it does all kinds of things. And so it, it, unfortunately with my, the way my mind works, my head is jumping all over the place too, as I'm thinking about it. But yeah, she does these TikToks. So you get some clips of her little TikTok.

main stuff is in black and white, you get this really interesting like five minutes of these kind of still image film pictures of a certain thing that I don't really want to give away in the middle of the movie. The way it ends is really incredible. It's kind of the culmination of the film and it's a still frame. The camera doesn't move.

Eli Price (45:52.785)
people will kind of move in and out of the frame. The main people are kind of like center frame the whole time. You know, it'll make this will make sense if you watch the movie. It's doing a lot of stuff and I just really love the swing of this movie. I think it's, it looks really incredible. if you can do slow burn cinema, then I would recommend it. if you can take,

jumping around into different formats than, you know, I'd recommend it. I think it's really inventive and interesting. So that's do not expect too much from the end of the world. Again, you can stream that on Mubi right now. So go do that. and then at number six, I have Furiosa, a Mad Max saga. I thought this was going to end up at number five, but I finally moved another film in front of it, which I'll get to in a second.

This is starring Anya Taylor -Joy and Chris Hemsworth as our two main characters of Furiosa and Dementus.

This is.

This movie, I think would be higher for me if it wasn't inevitable to compare it to Mad Max Fury Road. When you make a prequel to a movie, it's inevitable that that's going to happen. And just the pace and incredible nature of Mad Max Fury Road makes anything you're trying to compare to it kind of pale in comparison.

Eli Price (47:32.753)
This does have some sequences that are on par, but again, they're just sequences that are on par. This is a slower movie. It's longer. It's 149 minutes. so that's, you know, two and a half hours basically. and it's, it's in chapters. It's got five chapters with title cards. it is, it has slower.

hearts of the movie where there's not as much going on. There's a lot more talking the Dementus character that Chris Hemsworth plays does these like Shakespearean almost monologues. and, yeah, it's, it's essentially a revenge movie at its heart. And I don't know. I think it's, it's, it's inevitable that it's going to be compared to Mad Max Fury Road.

I can't help it. and because of that, it just like feels like it's not living quite up to that. I also have this as a four star movie. It's really good. It's the action stuff is incredible. I really liked the Dementia's character. He's really an interesting part of this kind of franchise. and that he's probably, he might talk more than any other character talks in any other Mad Max movie all put together.

he says a lot of stuff. and so, yeah, I just, I did really, really enjoy this. I got to see it in, we, we have a GPX theater. It's, it's basically like poor man's IMAX, here at our theater and, got to see it in that, elevated format. So that was fun. The sound is better and the screen is a little bigger. So, it was fun. It's, it still is in theaters as of.

the time of this recording. And so if you can still go see it, I would recommend it. It's really, really good. I think Anya Taylor joy is great. I think Chris Hemsworth is great. You have some other characters, they're really fun. and yeah, it's, it's different. It's if you can go in and kind of separate your separate yourself from Mad Max Fury Road, you know, props to you. there are some SQL, I mean, prequel things that it has to do kind of because.

Eli Price (49:56.561)
You know that this character is going to do this. It's kind of like, okay, yeah, yeah, I get it. But yeah, that's my number six. I said I was going to spend less time on those more time on these top five. That's probably not the case. I'm probably just going to keep rolling through at the same pace. but yeah, at number five, this is a movie that's kind of growing on me. The more I think of it, it's one of those, when after I watched it, I was like, that was really good.

And now I'm starting to think, is it great? Is it even better than I thought it was? Do I need to watch this film again? It's one of those kinds of movies. and that is, this is a movie that, that has the, the 2023 label, but didn't release until this year in the U S and that is La Camara, La Quimera by Aliche Rollwalker. and if you're looking for Aliche, it's Alice. It's

That's what I thought it was until I listened to some interviews and heard it pronounced correctly. It's Aliche. A -L -I -C -E. We would have said, I would have said Alice, but I did not. I said it correctly. Aliche Roarwalker is the director. She's done some other movies that I have not seen. and now I want to, because this was a really, really interesting film. the lead characters played by Josh O 'Connor, who might.

again later in this rankings list. Josh O 'Connor as the character Arthur, Carol Duarte as Atalia, and you even have Isabella Rossellini show up as a kind of grumpy older lady character that's really really really fun. But basically this movie follows this band of Tomb Raiders sort of. They...

Etruscans, the Etruscan tunes in Italy, in this area of Italy, which are pre -Roman people that really spent a long time on their tunes and putting special things and, and those tunes to be buried with, and art and all that. So there's like really valuable stuff in these. He's basically the, the, this Arthur character that's played by Josh O 'Connor and his little band of grave robbers. are that's how they make their money.

Eli Price (52:24.593)
it's not legal. So there's a bit of danger. In fact, the movie opens with the Arthur character being released from prison. He's done some time. And all that said, this movie is very slow. The Arthur character is very reserved and internal. and it's, I listened to some interviews on, on nextbex.

Just a shout out, I listened to some interviews that Next Best Picture podcast did with Aliche and Josh O 'Connor and Isabella Rossellini. And this film is, it kind of exists in this weird in between of like the real world and kind of the otherworldly or maybe, I think it was either Rossellini or...

or Rorwalk or described it as the beyond kind of like maybe the next life. and it kind of exists in this dreamlike states, that you kind of get from the Arthur Arthur characters perspective. He is a character that kind of lives in the in between. He's not really fully in this world or fully in that world, but somewhere in between. And because of that, he's very,

reserved he's very like internal he's kind of unpredictable in a way but not in like a wild way just kind of like you're not really sure what to do with him and that kind of keeps you interested i guess the whole time you're not really sure what he might do next and yeah the camera work is really interesting they use some different

film stocks and aspect ratios to convey different kind of time periods or modes of thought. The camera does these flips to where like the frame is upside down and it'll flip back to right side up and it's really interesting editing to convey what the movie's trying to do. And yeah, it's really kind of hard to explain this movie other than it's just kind of...

Eli Price (54:50.321)
ethereal nature. And he's, you know, he's trying to connect with this lost love that that died as well. And I don't know, it's it's really hard to describe. You just kind of have to go watch it. And so, yeah, I would do that. It is available to rent. That's what I did. You can rent it on Amazon or any of the.

the renting formats really. But that's La Quimera by Aliche Roarwalker. So yeah, look that one up. That was my number five. My number four. man, man man. My number four. Hundreds of Beavers by Mike Cheslik starring Rylan Brickson -Coltues who also wrote, co -wrote it with Cheslik.

What to say about this movie? Let me read the letterbox description. It says, in the 19th century, a drunken Applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers. And this movie is basically a silent movie. It's a black and white movie.

There's only like maybe three lines of dialogue and I don't even know if you could call it lines of dialogue. you could very, you could just as easily put a title card up to say it just like a silent movie. but yeah, so a silent movie, it's a live action. It's black and white and it's basically looney tunes. but like, like the best of looney tunes. It's really funny. lots of, lots of great gags.

I mean, just, I was laughing all throughout this movie. I don't know that I've ever seen any movie like this. And you, I just love that when you see a movie and you're like, I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie like this before. you gotta love it. It's just hilarious. you've got just a bunch of people in mascot costume beavers and bunnies and dogs and wolves, raccoons. It's just.

Eli Price (57:14.705)
It's just really funny, really fun, really inventive. I'm done on a really low budget. they, I listened to some interviews, they, they filmed this over two winters in Wisconsin, I think. So they were like actually in the snow. They had to figure out how to keep the people in mascots feet warm. it just really, really incredible. you know, you have them like climbing up trees, but they're just like,

moving their legs. You can tell it's totally done like in post. and there's just, there's just a ton of great, great gags that are just hilarious. And so I highly recommend this. I think you can get a, free trial of Fandor maybe through Amazon and watch it that way. Or I think it's on, it's like discounted to rent on Amazon, like 2 .99 to rent it. So,

Yeah, I just rented it and I highly recommend this. I thought about putting this over my number three and didn't, but I really wanted to, but I didn't. And yeah, it's, man, I might, if I watch this again, it might bump up from a four star to four and a half. I just, it's just so good. But yeah, so.

The movie that I could not put it over at number three, it was Dune part two, Denis Villeneuve sequel to his Dune movie. and, apparently the second of three that he's planning on doing the next one being Dune Messiah, obviously starring Timothy Chalamet and Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin.

Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seduce, Stalin Skarsgard, Charlotte Ramping. I mean, you know, it's a huge, huge cast of incredible actors. This movie?

Eli Price (59:24.785)
My big problem with this movie, the reason that I have this movie as a four star movie and not a four and a half or five star like many people did is there's just too much yada yada yadaing for me. I don't like the way they yada yadaed through plot points, through character building and just expected you to go along with it. I feel like they skip over some things that they could have spent some more time in.

I, I know it's a long movie already, but man, if you're going to make a long movie, then like spend some time building the characters a little bit better. In my opinion. don't yada yada over plot points that seem like they would be great opportunities for you to really see how this character is getting from this to this. and so I don't want to go into it and spoil anything, but, yeah, I just.

I don't know, that was my big problem with this movie. But the acting is great. It's incredible. And just really like on a cinematic level, it's a masterpiece. The visuals, the sound, the production design, the effects, I mean, top level, like incredible.

There's the scene where he's riding on the shy Hulu to the big worm. and I saw this again in a GPX theater. It's like a, like I said, a poor man's IMAX and just one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a movie theater. It was loud. It was, you know, people use the word visceral a lot, but it was, it was visceral. It was,

It was just really, really incredible to watch and experience. And so because of that, I still have it up here at number three. I might by the end of the year, move hundreds of beavers ahead of it. But for now I can't get over that, you know, that theater experience of how incredible it was to, to, to watch on the big screen. yeah, I wish they would have spent some more time.

Eli Price (01:01:46.161)
Actually like showing you how characters get from this to this how they get from in love to not in love how a character might get from Not wanting to do something to wanting to do something if you've seen it, you know kind of probably what I'm talking about But yeah, I could have done with some more of that but all in all still a really really good film Really really incredible. It's currently at my number three

I don't know where this will be at the end of the year. I don't know if it'll still be in the top 10. I don't know. It's, it's hard to say. but right now it's at number three. This will be my first four and a half star movie I have at number two. It is a movie that I was surprised. I loved as much as I did. Did not expect to. and that is a Luca Guadagnino's challengers starring Zendaya. Zendaya.

brother, Mike Feist and Josh O 'Connor. So we're getting Josh O 'Connor two in the top five so far. wow. Great. You know, great job, Josh. you know, that's such a high accolade getting to movies in my time, my humble little podcast, top five of the year so far. but yeah, challengers by Luca Guadagnino.

It is follows, and it kind of is Zendaya's characters movie in a lot of ways. Tashi, who is a young tennis star who, it's not really a spoiler, but she gets injured, early on and has to become a coach instead of a player. And then you have these two friends from childhood, art and Patrick played by Mike Fice and Josh O 'Connor respectively, who are.

best friends but kind of end up in this kind of love triangle with Zendaya they both are interested in her one has a one has a relationship with her and then the other marries her and then the but then the movie like it's cutting back and forth between all these different time periods in their lives and it all centers around and then eventually culminates in this challengers level match.

Eli Price (01:04:06.641)
Which this is a lot of, you know, it's a sports movie in a lot of ways. and, and a lot of the framing and, and the, you know, the drama of it all. and it's centered around tennis. I don't know a ton about tennis. I've, I've learned a little bit listening to stuff about this movie on other other podcasts, but, it's a talent centered around this challenger's match that helps you qualify for the U S open basically. And.

art is a successful winner champion. Patrick, the one who did not end up marrying and Diaz Tashi, is kind of down on his luck, not as consistently successful, kind of guy. And they are in a feud. This movie. I thought it was going to be a lot more raunchy than it was. It really wasn't all that.

raunchy, like you have some kind of like definitely some, you know, sexy scenes going on, but it's not really like that's not as, as interested in that as like these, the dynamics of this relationship and the, how it is tennis, you know, early on the Tashi character says, you know, to the Patrick character, you don't understand tennis. Tennis is a relationship.

It's when I'm, when I, when I'm like playing someone else, we know about each other and we know things about each other and we are in tune with what the other person is doing. And it's this relationship. and so, you know, that plays out in the movie. you know, it's, so it's the drama of it all and the characters are incredible.

Joshua Conner is playing a very different character than he does in La Quimera, where he is reserved and hard to read there. He is charismatic and charming. I mean, he's just like complete opposite here. So that shows his acting chops. Mike Fiske is also really good. He's doing something a little bit more soul with that, with his character of art. Zendaya of course is really good as Tashi.

Eli Price (01:06:29.841)
very controlling and, you know, in control of, of, of the, the, every scene she's in really. but yeah, so it's, it's an incredible movie. It's also doing a lot of really interesting stuff. Visually you get some slow mo sweatiness going on at certain points. That's really fun. You get some interesting perspective shots of like the perspective of the racket or even at one point, the perspective of the ball.

so those were really interesting and fun to experience. The sound is really incredible. You've got a, a score, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. That is incredible. It's this like pulsing electronic, dance like house music score will pump in at certain points in the movie. And you're just like, yes.

I just loved the energy of this movie. I loved the drama of it all was enticing and had me interested in what was going to happen, where it was going to end up. I thought where it ended up was really incredible and interesting and it doesn't like answer all the questions, which I don't think it should. So I highly recommend this. I did not think I was going to like this as much as I did. I thought it was incredible.

So I was challengers by Luca Guadagnino. You can rent it at home VOD for like 1999. Currently, I don't know when it'll be rentable for cheaper or streaming. And I think it is probably still playing in some theaters. But yeah, that's challengers. My number one. This is another movie that you'll see has 2023 on it because I had a New York release at the end of last year.

but I don't really count that it actually had a limited and wider release this year in the U S and that is them vendors perfect days. then vendors is a German director. This is a Japanese language film set in Japan. yeah, crazy. I know, but, vendors has always loved Japan. And so he, co -wrote this movie with, where's the name? Takuma talk.

Eli Price (01:08:51.889)
Takasaki. so he had a Japanese writer co -write with him. and it is starring Koji Yakusho who I don't believe I've seen in anything else. but he was incredible. I thought his, his character doesn't say a whole lot, so he has to convey a lot with his facial expressions. And I thought he did.

incredible job. It's kind of a slice of life film. It follows this character, Haruyama, played by Yakusho, who is a janitor basically. He's a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. He goes around every day and every one of his days is he has a routine. So you kind of get into the rhythm of his routine with him. He wakes up to the sound of the street sweeper sweeping the sidewalks.

he, he does his morning routine. He goes out, he looks at the sun and smiles at it. gets his drink, gets in his van, goes and starts his shift cleaning toilets. He has a process and, his tools that he uses, to clean the toilets. These, these public toilets are really all interesting. Apparently there were these, there was this,

thing in Japan where they had all these famous architects each build a public toilet area, in different parts of the city at one point in time. And so they all look really different and all kind of have that artistic touch to them. So that's really cool to just see. It's like seeing Tokyo through the toilet architecture, which is public toilet architecture, which is really actually kind of interesting. but yeah, it's really this kind of.

character study of this guy. And, you know, obviously to have a good movie, you have some, some things happen where, you know, something throws him out of his rhythm. You know, his coworker does something or asks them to do something. a family member shows up at one point that throws him out of his, the rhythm of his routine. and you end up in this place in the movie where he,

Eli Price (01:11:17.489)
You kind of put context to clues together about who he is, who he might have used to be. it never really gives you those answers, but you kind of have to piece things together and, you know, you end up in a place that's simultaneously happy and sad, you know, which is just so human and so real to how life kind of is, you know,

Cause you carry your past with you, you can't go too much into the future and you're kind of stuck in the present with the things you've been through, the things that are sad and happy that you carry with you, the moments that make you feel terrible, but also the moments that bring you joy and the small things that can do that for you in both directions.

And, and yeah, it, it's, it's just such a human movie, with such a human character, that it doesn't really give you like a ton of answers, but just helps you connect with this guy that cleans toilets, but is so human and, and a film that shows you just kind of like how life just is what it is. at one point,

The character says to a family member, I don't want to give away too much of who this is and how it ends up playing out to spoil that. Not that it would be a huge spoiler, honestly, for this movie, but I like to spoil the least amount possible for these sort of discussions. But he says to her, now is now, next time is next time. And they kind of sing that together as they...

They write off, but, that's just so that is what this movie is now is now next time is next time. And you don't really know what next time is going to bring. You might have ideas, but now is now, and you carry with you the choices that you've made and you have to live with those and you have to build a routine and you have to have a rhythm to your life and you have to, you know, live with the choices you've made.

Eli Price (01:13:46.385)
try to do the best with where you are. And yeah, that's kind of what this movie meant to me. I have it as a five star movie. I thought it was incredible. I laughed, I cried. And what more do you want out of a movie? And so this is kind of one that I don't know that'll be up everyone's alley, but I loved it. It is Perfect Days by Vim Vendors. I don't know.

You know, if you don't know of him vendors, he's directed movies, like wings of desire, Paris, Texas, or a couple of his popular ones. yeah, highly recommend this it's streaming on Hulu. So you can see it there or rent it. That is my number one film of 2024 so far. And yeah, that is it. I am. There's a bunch of movies I'm looking forward to seeing in 2024. There's some that I didn't get a chance to catch up with.

wanted to, but didn't have time. And so, yeah, I really think it's been an interesting year so far, not the best. but, there have been some really good ones as I just said, so go check those out. If you have any movies that you think I missed that you'd like to give a shout out to, you can leave a voicemail on the website, by clicking the link in the episode description. that is establishing shot pod.

at establishingshotpod .com. You can also leave an email at, send me an email at establishingshotpod .gmail .com. I'd love to hear what your favorite films of 2024 so far are. And you can even, I'll probably put out some questions on the social media so you can reply to those too. Love to interact with you there. But that is all I have for this week.

like I said earlier in the show next week, we will be jumping back into our early Spielberg series, covering his movies of the seventies and eighties. We're going to be doing a kind of like, it'll be a little bit different because, it'll kind of be, not his full movies because these anthology movies that he directed just a part of and produced, but, we're going to be covering mostly the Twilight zone movie.

Eli Price (01:16:11.441)
But we'll also talk a little bit about his directing of a couple of amazing stories, episodes. And so yeah, that'll be a fun discussion next week. But until then, I've been Eli Price. You've been listening to The Establishing Shot. We will see you next time.