Top 5 Inspirational Movies (w/ Melvin Benson)

Eli (00:01.491)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot podcast where we do deep dives into directors and their filmography. I am your host, Eli Price here with you on episode 79 of the podcast. I have Melvin Benson from the cinematic doctrine podcast joining me again this week. he was on with me, last episode to talk, save and private Ryan. We talked for a long time on that and it was really fun.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (00:30.625)
It was,

Eli (00:31.709)
Yeah. so yeah, I hope, I hope you listened to that episode. it was a ton of fun. Melvin, has his own, movie podcast that I highly recommend checking out. he talked about it a little bit last week, so, you can go back and listen to that, but the, what, what's like the elevator pitch for, for this episode in case someone's just like jumping in and didn't listen last week.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:01.006)
Sure. it's a movie. At its bare bones, it's a movie discussion podcast weekly where we try to get out an episode that kind of is a mix of either popular zeitgeist or as a standard with podcasting the classic, I have a podcast, so I get to choose what to talk about this week kind of thing. And lately I've been doing a lot of guest appearances hosting people and I've been finding that extremely educational because it basically means I get to also be like a listener.

Eli (01:05.503)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:26.25)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:29.03)
But I digress. So yeah, if you're a fan of what Eli does, but perhaps a bit more scattershot because you never know what kind of movie we're going to cover next the following week, you're probably going to enjoy Cinematic Doctrine. And then there's a couple of different formats of episodes that are some more leaning comedy style, some more leaning discussion style, some more topical. So you can check all that out. But I would say that kind of gives that elevator summary. So yeah.

Eli (01:55.197)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and he has like different kinds of episodes that kind of centers the discussion in different ways. So that's real fun too. I think. Yeah, so definitely go check out Cinematic Doctrine. I'll make sure to like link all the ways you can find the podcast and follow Melvin in the show notes. It's always easier to like have a link to click than to try to remember.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (02:04.056)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (02:23.529)
someone's handle or something. I always like, I always hate it when I like listen to a podcast and I'm like, what, what did they say? Where did it follow them? And it's like not in this episode description. I'm like, come on now I'll have to like go back and scrub through and try to find it. so, but yeah, today, obviously we're not doing a Spielberg episode. we are.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (02:25.486)
Yes, absolutely.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (02:42.231)
Yeah

Eli (02:52.393)
going to be doing a top five. I've, I think I've only done one of these before. I can't remember. I'm so all over the place with episode recordings. I don't remember if the top five I did was before this or after this, but anyways, we've, this is either our first top five or second one. I could check my notes and see, but I'm, I don't know.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (03:16.888)
You

Eli (03:22.025)
I'm not going to do that right now. Let's see. I'm going to double check if this is our first top five or not. It, it, it, I don't think it is. I think we did a top five at the end, towards the end of last year. so yeah, I don't know. I can't even see on my like, on my release schedule, what I have planned. Anyways.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (03:47.821)
You

Eli (03:48.681)
So this is wonderful podcasting by the way. I'm sure the listeners are, are loving this. Yeah. We're in the middle of Christmas season while we're recording. So, you know, give me a break. I'm, I'm trying to enjoy the Christmas season and, but, but I thought it would be fun for this episode, since it's towards the beginning. This is not the very beginning of the year. So, but it's like right at the time when like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (03:51.15)
It is the end of the year. It is late on a Friday. It is all good.

Eli (04:16.457)
Maybe you're starting to slack on those resolutions and you need maybe a little bit of inspiration. So I thought it would be fun to choose. it just, it's movies that we find inspirational kind of to help you start your new, new year off right. so we're going to be doing a top five inspirational movies and, yeah, it's going to be fun. but I guess the question.

You have to answer first is what is an inspirational movie? So I'm going to throw it to you. I'm going to throw you the question first, Melvin, and see what you say and then decide if like you gave the final answer on it or if I need to add anything.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (04:59.95)
So this is this I've actually just been trying to figure out like as a because everybody who engages film engages it very differently and different types of movies. And I I'm I kind of have such a just a bizarre mix. like one of my first thoughts when thinking of like inspirational movies, like at the bare minimum, like Hallmark movies would fit the bill because they're just very cookie cutter, easy to consume.

Eli (05:09.138)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (05:24.313)
yeah.

Eli (05:28.744)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (05:29.026)
they make you feel good and you step away thinking like, yeah, marriage is great. so like, like that definitely would fit the bill. But then I was like, but what do I find like inspiring? Like what inspires me to either perhaps think different or change or has like been on my mind enough to have become almost like part of like my vernacular and how I see and relate to things.

Eli (05:38.697)
Huh.

Eli (05:54.687)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (05:54.99)
And so that's kind of how I went ahead and collected my list was it wasn't just like inspirational, but it was like in things that have inspired me to react or think differently. So I think by the end of the episode, when we've gotten through my like five that I've put together at five point five, because I kind of came up with two for one of them. But like I I think it'll be such a weird list.

Eli (06:05.215)
Yeah.

Eli (06:13.684)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (06:18.387)
Yeah, fair.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (06:23.534)
That like if someone sees Melvin's top five inspirational that sees these listed they'll go what are you talking about?

Eli (06:23.721)
Yeah.

Eli (06:31.699)
No, I love it. it'll be, it'll be one of those where like, maybe people will see the list and like, for like a top, I don't know, a top five sports movies list. They would just like see the list and be like wrong or right. And then move on. But this one, hopefully people will see it and be like, I need to see what they say about that one. And that's, that's an interesting choice.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (06:51.31)
I mean, just to like peek behind the curtain and like what to put on the list. I almost put the Texas chainsaw massacre on this list. I almost had that on here and I will not describe why, but.

Eli (06:55.401)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (07:00.745)
that, that would, that would be a hot take for sure. you, you, you definitely at the end have a breath of, relief, guess. But, I think, I think if that were on my list, it would be top five movies that after you finished watching it, you were inspired to try to avoid seeing it again.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (07:07.796)
It moves me, that movie moves me.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (07:17.878)
You

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (07:28.046)
to not watch again. man, I can't get enough of that movie. It's so good. But it did not make it. It did not make it onto the list.

Eli (07:31.765)
yeah, it's, it's yeah. Well, I, I can't say I'm relieved that it didn't make it because it would be interesting. It would made for interesting discussion for sure. yeah. Inspirational movies. I think I agree with you for the, for this. I wasn't necessarily thinking of like heartwarming movies because I think that's kind of a different thing.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (07:48.449)
for sure.

Eli (08:01.301)
in a sense, like there's, there's a lot of movies that have like happy endings that leave you feeling like fulfilled and like happy and, you know, that, warm the heart, obviously since they're heartwarming, but I don't know if that, like, when I was thinking of inspirational movies, that's not necessarily where my mind meant. My mind went to what are movies that like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (08:04.024)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (08:30.569)
move you to think a certain way or to change or to, you that that's kind of the road my mind went down. yeah, yeah. And so when I was putting together my list, in this whole play out, as we kind of go through it, I kind of like thought of different categories, of like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (08:32.27)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (08:42.957)
So it sounds like we're kind of on the same wavelength.

Eli (09:00.549)
inspirational movies and trying to pick like one for each of those categories. so that's kind of like how I, that's how I made it. It sounds very profound, but it's actually like, I was just trying to make it easier for me to like cut out movies that I really wanted to put on, but like, it doesn't fit this category. I'm going to put this one instead in that category, you know, that sort of thing. So it made it easier for me to like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (09:05.25)
Hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (09:26.037)
Alright, yeah yeah.

Eli (09:29.075)
weed down my list and I still have like two categories where I, I'll probably choose on the spot when I get to it. so yeah. but yeah, top five inspirational movies. Let's jump into it. What, what are you going to go with first? And I should say, sorry, I'm, I'm throwing it to you and then I'm taking it back. my list, my list is not like a five through one.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (09:38.766)
Ha

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (09:50.466)
No, go ahead, go ahead.

Eli (09:58.389)
It's not like any particular order and yeah, and Melvin's isn't either, I think. Yeah. So don't, don't see this as this is the fifth best and this is the number one. These are just like our five that we've chosen. So now.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (10:01.048)
As is mine, correct.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (10:12.344)
Yes, they all made they all were picked to be parts of the team. Caught it. OK, so I even though this is a we may have occasional mutual picks here, I still went into it with the mentality of a draft. So I knew I had to put this as the number one. It's a wonderful life. Absolutely had to be the first thing that I think I mentioned. It's also probably the most conventional of the five.

Eli (10:15.475)
Yeah, throwing it back to you.

Eli (10:24.916)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (10:30.087)
Okay.

Eli (10:36.501)
That's great.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (10:41.612)
that would be, I think when someone thinks of inspirational movies, this is one that comes up. and cause frankly it's barely, it's like 0.5, it's like 10 % of Christmas movie. It's barely a Christmas movie. It's more of a drama. but yeah, I mean, it's a movie that like everyone has for time in memoriam, except for, guess the first couple of years it existed has been like, it's one of the best movies ever made.

Eli (10:41.621)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (10:47.402)
Yeah.

Eli (10:54.634)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (11:09.398)
And then you watch it and it's like, actually, that's actually true. Like it is a wonderful work of filmmaking. It's great narrative storytelling. The performances are so modern. it's so good and it's so touching and it's so, intimate and personal and grounded all of that stuff. And it's just really, really wonderful. and it's also just so.

I think people are often shocked at how sad it is. It's a very dark and sad film. And I think that that brings to light all of what makes it so wonderful. And it really earns itself its own title, which I mean, I always think about how the beginning of the film is this young boy consoling or trying to console a man whose son has died in the war and

and the man may kill himself in that moment. That is how like that's start of our movie. And like it is it is crazy. So or he might end up killing somebody else and then probably kill himself. But it's it's just so it's great. It's just a great movie. So I absolutely had to start that one with inspirational. And then I think just as the final thing to that, since we both agree that like it's are these films that inspired us to think different or do differently?

Eli (12:09.63)
Yeah.

Eli (12:33.354)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (12:33.824)
I think it's a film that really garners the importance of big and small things, or at the very least things we believe are insignificant or things we do not remember. I think it's a film that causes us to pause and even if we can't ponder those moments to realize that they have existed and that you were at the center of those. And I think that that's just very meaningful and powerful. And it's all wrapped up in a film that

Eli (12:53.407)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (13:03.062)
is also very entertaining and very funny. So I think It's a Wonderful Life absolutely has to be on this list.

Eli (13:09.471)
Yeah. And making just like making the right choice when it's hard, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I totally agree. It wasn't, it's the, this is not on my list. it's, I feel like it's very appropriate since we're recording in the Christmas season, even though it's, you know, it's kind of a Christmas movie. kind of not. I've always seen this as like.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (13:15.276)
when it's really, really hard. Yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (13:31.298)
Yeah.

Eli (13:37.415)
an extended Twilight Zone episode. which is, yeah. And that's how I've always like, the first time I watched it, I was like, this is kind of like a really long Twilight Zone episode. but you know, a good one. and yeah, I need to watch that again since, it's, it's still Christmas season right now as we record. I'm going to like, I'm going to pop this one on soon.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (13:41.358)
Yeah, that's such a good way of putting it.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (13:53.528)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (14:02.99)
Ha

Eli (14:05.405)
and watch it because it's been a while since I've seen it. and so, yeah, it was definitely like on my extended list. It was one I considered, but didn't ultimately put on my list. I, so since you went like what something people will conventionally think of as, as that I'm going to go with one that maybe people.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (14:14.061)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (14:33.565)
the just kind of like average movie watcher may not have considered or have ever seen or maybe even heard of and I'm gonna go with Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru. Have you ever seen this movie Ikiru?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (14:50.138)
No, but I feel like I'm familiar with it. This is the one where it's an old man who's about to pass, but he wants to finish one more project and it's a playground or something.

Eli (14:54.889)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (14:59.857)
Yes. So it's, so yeah, it's, it's this old man. He gets diagnosed with cancer early in the film. He kind of has this like mundane, like bureaucratic government job where he's basically like stamping rejects on all the requests from people, to, to like fix things in the city that he lives in. like that's what he's done his whole life. And so like, he kind of has this.

emotional, when he gets diagnosed with cancer, he has this like emotional breakdown. He goes kind of like on a drinking binge and then eventually like decides that maybe it's not too late to like do something meaningful with my life. and you know, starts, I don't know, he starts like actually impacting people's lives and making a difference and, kind of the same thing, like making, making a

It's not quite the same as like making a decision to do good when it's hard. Cause it's, it's hard and it is, it's hard in a different way. It's hard because he has to like figure out how to crawl, like get through all the red tape to like make stuff happen. he's kind of doing it all behind the scenes. a lot of people don't even know what he's doing. It's, I don't want to give away too much about the movie.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (16:15.555)
Hmm.

Eli (16:27.977)
but eventually people do know what he did. and, and he, he's recognized for that in a way, but it's, yeah, it's just, to me, it's like, what a, what an incredible, like, inspir, like inspiring movie to those who maybe feel like it's too late to start doing something. because that's, that's kind of like the whole point.

at end of this movie is that it's never too late to like start making a difference. It's never too late to like do something good or to try to, you know, mend wrongs. Yeah. And so, yeah, it's really, really an incredible movie. It is, when was this released? 50s? Yeah. 1952. You can find it on

max or the criterion channel if you have either of those. so highly recommend it. it is just, it's probably one of Curacao was best movies. and that's saying something because Akira Corazal is one of the masters. really, really great movie, really inspiring. you know, has a little, has a little humor in there, with some, some

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (17:38.094)
because he's, yeah.

Eli (17:51.541)
kind of characters he runs into along the, along his drinking binge journey. And it's, it's a really good movie. It's, it's longer. It's like, I want to say it's like an hour, two hours and 20 minutes or so. Yeah. But, I guess that's not too long by today's standards, but in 1952, it was probably a long movie.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (18:12.622)
Yeah, that's almost isn't for. Yes. yes. Yeah. I mean, even seven samurai. It's like super. And alive. Yeah, I had you reminded me of another one. I don't have it on my list. Maybe it'll make a comeback. Like making a mental note here. But my my my second one that I have is a film that gosh, since I saw it.

Eli (18:19.861)
Yeah, it's shorter than Seven Samurai, so...

Eli (18:33.194)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (18:41.358)
I've just been absolutely in love with it. I've probably seen it. I saw it in theaters and then I watched it several times at home. It's a criminally underseen film called Waves from director Trey Edward Schultz. This is the same year that A24 released Uncut Gems. And then that, you know, got completely ignored by the Oscars. Well, Waves ought to have gotten some love. But theater wise, it released

Eli (18:53.535)
Hmm.

Eli (19:00.093)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (19:09.068)
two weeks before Star Wars Episode Nine and Cats. So it was shoved right out the theaters after that. And I'm telling you, this movie would have been if if it was advertised at all, would have absolutely been an event film because the two times I saw it in theaters, people were super engaged in the film. The premise is it's about a two hour, 20 minute film. guess actually probably a lot of these movies we're listing are going to be about that long. And it's.

Eli (19:14.632)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (19:21.29)
Yeah.

Eli (19:27.797)
Mm.

Eli (19:36.223)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (19:38.67)
This is the softest, softest, softest, softest of spoilers. It's basically two movies. And the first half is one character as they basically fall apart. And the second half is the family responding to it. And when I saw this movie in theaters, I almost walked out because

Joker came out that year. So I had already seen a movie where a man fell apart. So I just was like not in the mood of seeing another film of that happening. And then the twist happens where it switches to that perspective for the next hour and 20 minutes. And I like kept waiting, thinking we would go back to the other character and you never do. And it just becomes this exploration of what took place and how it's affected everyone else. And

Eli (20:10.805)
Mmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (20:32.014)
Gosh, I absolutely was moved to tears by the end of the film. I loved it so much. It absolutely helps, too, that it's a very young millennial, late millennial, early Gen Z movie in the sense that it's very poppy, it's very kinetic. All of the songs are like late 2010s Spotify hits that I listen to.

Eli (20:37.267)
Hmm.

Eli (21:01.194)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (21:01.44)
So like I was on board the whole time. so it and it's just impressive. It's such an impressive film. I really did not like Trey R. Ritcholt's previous film. It comes at night. Not many people did. The advertising for that film was just atrocious. And then you go see the film and it's not what it was advertised. And then also the film I just was not on board. Always wanted to go back and rewatch it. So I was middling on how waves would turn out. But when I

Eli (21:18.666)
Mm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (21:29.89)
finish the film, I like walked out, was like, that's the best movie I've seen all year. It still is for that year, my absolute favorite. And still is one of my top four on Letterboxd.

Eli (21:37.107)
Yeah, that's saying something because 2019 was a incredible year.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (21:42.078)
Yeah, it was crazy. mean, it was like movies knew something was going to happen 2020. So they had to get everything out before it was too late. Like it was crazy. man. So, yeah, I love this movie in terms of like how it inspired me. I would say like I I was just moved to like the film is really a lot about like a kind of forgiveness, but also a kind of understanding of how.

Eli (22:03.582)
Hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (22:07.126)
Like the pro, the one, you know, the as movies do either in a in a in a college classroom or in a church, the theme of the film is shared. And in this case, it's a church where someone says, like, you know, to to raise a child, it takes a village to raise a child. And the point being made is that like the actions made by people are ultimately theirs, but they are created.

Eli (22:24.821)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (22:33.422)
and cultivated through their situations and scenarios. So it's a film that really takes into account and challenges the watcher to think like, how have you affected others into like perhaps where they've gone wrong? And then conversely, how can you do the same to bring them into doing right? And yeah, it's just, it's a brutal film. is...

Eli (22:36.959)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (22:46.729)
Hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (23:00.896)
It's a drama movie. It's not a horror movie, but I have described it to people as like an emotionally horrific film because it is so intense. But I implore you, if you are willing to endure a very hard film, this one is so good. And I think you're going to love it. So absolutely check out Waves. I think it's so inspirational.

Eli (23:05.877)
Mm.

Eli (23:15.722)
Mm.

Eli (23:20.627)
Yeah. Yeah. This is one that fell through the cracks for me in 2019. Cause there was so much good stuff to see. and yeah, gotta see those CGI cat anuses. now that's, that's not inspirational. I don't know what it is. You can do anything with CGI. That's the inspirational part of that.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (23:28.096)
yes. You could not wait to see cats. You were like, I got to see cats. I got to save time. I'm charging my energy. I got to see cats.

Yeah!

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (23:42.414)
I it is a

It is such a like a regret of mine that I saw episode nine opening night and not cats. Nobody was in my theater seeing episode nine and I saw it.

Eli (23:57.331)
Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed that cats more than episode.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (24:01.462)
my gosh, my wife fell asleep at episode nine. She's like and the people of the theater were like laughing at the film like it was and not like the good kind that it sounds like Katz was. So like I just I regret that decision so much to this day. Not inspirational. That's anti inspirational. Anyways.

Eli (24:09.781)
Right.

Eli (24:18.463)
Yeah. Well, I'm definitely, I'm going to definitely move this up my watch list. It's, it's like not streaming anywhere, but I bet I can find it at the library or something. but yeah. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah. I mean, this is one that I actually did really want to see and just didn't, you know, how it goes, like the, move on to the next movie here and like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (24:30.382)
They have so many movies. Mine has criterion releases and error releases. It's nuts.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (24:45.546)
yeah.

Eli (24:47.679)
You're like, when am I ever gonna get back to that movie year to catch up with the ones that I wanted to see but didn't, so...

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (24:53.262)
And do you do the thing where like, so 2025 is right around the corner. Day one, you're going to go, what movie released today? I want to watch 2025 movies. OK, because I do that every year. January is brutal.

Eli (24:57.278)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (25:02.259)
Yes. Yes. I say that, but January, January is usually like, so like dry that I'm, I'm mostly like catching up on trying to catch up on all the movies from last year, because like, I live somewhere where I don't get a lot of like the screenings that are like release limited and stuff.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (25:13.723)
yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (25:26.627)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eli (25:26.657)
and so like, have to wait until I can either like rent them or like catch them on streaming. and so I ended up like in January catching a lot of those movies, so that I can kind of like fill in the cracks where I feel like I need to have like the last movie year. but yeah, it's, it is, but my mind does like halfway shift to like, what movies from this movie are coming out now.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (25:44.27)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (25:54.134)
It's like an like an addict like it's the second it happens. I'm I'm moving on

Eli (25:57.173)
Uh-huh. I've already seen like, I'm on track to see more movies this year than I have any other movie year. I've just been like watching a ton of movies this year. But it does help that I got movie pass back. Yeah, it's decent. I've gone and seen a lot more movies in the theaters this year than I have been in the last couple of years.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (26:08.331)
Nice.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (26:15.903)
great, yeah I hear the new version's decent.

Eli (26:26.829)
yeah. So thankful for that, but yeah. So my next pick, I've decided I'm going to do this. I'm going to pick the two foreign language films first, so that I can like end it with ones that maybe people are more familiar with. and so I'm going to put these two at the top of my list where maybe people will see them first and be like, I need to check that out. I'm going to go with one that I actually watched.

for this list, because I knew it was one that I wanted to see, and this was kind of like my excuse to see it, because it's kind of known for being an inspirational movie. And I'm going to go with the movie, The Untouchables. It is a French language film directed by two French directors that, let's see if I can pronounce these last names. Eric.

Taladano and Olivier Nakachi, guess. I don't know. But yeah, so this actually has an American remake with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart called, what was that movie called?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (27:38.21)
Yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (27:45.282)
I'm trying to remember also. I saw it in theaters, the upside.

Eli (27:47.039)
I remember the upside. Is that what it was called? Yeah. So I have not seen that. So I don't, I can't speak to like how good of an American remake that is. Yeah. That's kind of what I figured. this one though is a really good, the premise is basically there's this man who is paralyzed. This old rich, like well-to-do man lives in a fancy house with

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (27:58.016)
Mid. It's mid.

Eli (28:16.499)
servants and, you know, buys tens of thousands of dollars worth of probably hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of art, because he can and he likes it, you know, and expensive taste, but he's paralyzed. needs a caretaker. He's hiring caretakers and this man from kind of a, I guess, like the lesser part of town, would say,

especially class wise, he just shows up so that he can say he applied to a job. I'm assuming to, to get some sort of like government help financially. that's never really like discussed, but that's what you kind of assume. and, but the old man actually hires this guy. It's, so it's like this well-to-do white dude and this black man, from like the

lower class side of town basically. And what's really great about this movie is it doesn't really.

What's the best way to put this? It doesn't like overemphasize those differences, if that makes sense. Like it, lets you see those differences because you know, they have, they come from different places and have different lives. but it doesn't like, there's no like green book, speechy part, if that makes sense, like where it like overemphasizes that, Hey, this is a rich white guy in a

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (29:30.734)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (29:47.938)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eli (29:54.909)
Like in a black guy, like, you know, it doesn't like overemphasize that, which is good. but also like, it's just, it's a great moot. Like if any of the movies on my list are heartwarming, this is definitely one of the ones that you would say are heartwarming because these two guys who have absolutely nothing in common come together. They help each other grow in new ways. They grow each other's perspectives on.

on like what they're capable of and what they like how they should be you know the it's and it's really funny i like there's this scene where he goes to the opera with him and like the opera starts and he just like the the the so the fancy care the white guy's character's name is philip and

played by Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy is, the black character. his name is Driss in the movie and Driss just busts out laughing and he's like, he's a, there's a tree singing in German and he's just like laughing and everyone's shushing him and I'm laughing with him because it is funny that there's a tree singing in German, you know? but like there's a lot of stuff like that. That's like laugh out loud, funny.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (31:03.928)
Ha

Eli (31:21.001)
and then like a lot of just very touching moments and, you know, the film ends, of course, with just like a happy ending, in its own way, but not like a forced, inconceivable situation, sort of happy ending, a very like realistic happy ending, which I appreciate. It's just like, it's one of those movies where you watch and you're like, man,

I need to interact with people that are different within me, you know? and if, if this movie doesn't inspire you in any other way, that's the way that I would hope that you would take away is I need to befriend and talk to and discuss things with people that like have a totally different perspective than me. I just think that's like such an important thing in life to grow.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (31:52.578)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Eli (32:16.073)
just your perspective on life and your empathy for people that are different than you. so, yeah, The Intouchables, great, great movie. I think people will really enjoy it because like I said, it's a very funny movie all throughout.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (32:35.842)
Yeah, I've seen the American one actually not knowing that it was an adaption. and at least contextually broad strokes. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's a really interesting story that kind of exploits those things. I don't know how well the commentary translated, the subtle commentary, so to speak. cause you know,

Eli (33:00.404)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (33:02.52)
Frankly, it was pretty overt in the American one, which would be frustrating, but I guess it makes sense. A lot of American audiences need to be told very bluntly things about race relations, it seems. yeah, it's one that I've seen has been on the top. I mean, IMDb Top 250 has been the same for 25 years, but it's been there for 25 years. So it's one that's always been on my list as well.

Eli (33:04.948)
Yeah.

Eli (33:12.02)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (33:21.78)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's very well regarded and, yeah, it's, yeah, it's just, it's just really good. I think you'll laugh a lot. I thought it was, it was, it surprised me how funny it was, I think more than anything else. Cause I, kind of expected it to be like emotional and inspirational, but I didn't expect it to be that funny. So, yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (33:42.275)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (33:49.816)
to be funny. So this is this section is where I basically put one in because my wife reminded me that sports movies are often very inspirational. And I went, yeah, I have to mention a sports movie. But then it's also the section where like, I wasn't personally inspired by them. So I very easily want to replace them. So I'm going to cheat.

Eli (34:01.461)
Yeah. Yeah.

yeah.

Eli (34:14.985)
Yeah, yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (34:17.004)
And I'm going to say the actual inspirational movie I would put here is Everything Everywhere All at Once. And in short, I would say that that's because I found the film inspiring, similar to It's a Wonderful Life, in that it very much understands the importance of small moments and how and then also the importance of like you being the person in someone's life.

Eli (34:22.258)
Yes.

Eli (34:44.807)
Yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (34:45.281)
I find that film, I mean, that, that was a borderline spiritual experience, seeing it in theaters. and, it was so good. and like, that was one of the times where like, you're hearing the hype, you're excited to check it out and you like, at least for me, I was not let down at all. my shirt was soaked by, I know the sweater I was wearing, it was soaked with tears. I asked my wife, do you have tissues? And she goes, I have one left. So like.

Eli (34:50.823)
It was. It really was. Yes.

Eli (35:00.372)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-mm.

Eli (35:14.229)
you

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (35:14.734)
It was just crazy packed theater, everyone laughing, everyone crying. It was just great. So, but that's, know, that's the cheating side. So the actual thing I wrote down those first, a sports inspirational movie, I had jokingly written The Mighty Ducks, but I think it kind of works after having rewatched that film this year. I found it pretty good. But I think in a more adult angle, I would say the way back. This was a early 2020 movie.

Eli (35:19.603)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (35:43.438)
I saw the Tuesday before lockdown. So lockdown was March 3rd, March 12th. Yeah, I think it was March 12th. I used to remember the day like exactly because the following day was a Friday the 13th, which is also the day we're recording. But that Tuesday was the last movie I saw in theaters before Covid, which was the way back. It's a Ben Affleck film where he is a he's a he had been a coach.

Eli (35:59.231)
Mm.

Eli (36:07.092)
Yeah, okay.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (36:12.738)
Then he started drinking, but now he's been asked to coach again. And I don't think he has shared that he is still drinking. And, there's it's, it's a very simple film. It is not particularly like shooting for the stars, but it is just a very, very, very well-made film. That is the mature version of the mighty ducks or of insert sports movie that you saw as a kid.

Eli (36:19.348)
Mm.

Eli (36:41.609)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (36:42.122)
And I found it really like, ironically, like I remember hearing that Mighty Ducks was supposed to be quote unquote darker in that Emilio Estevez's character whose first and last name are based off of alcohol brands in the movie was supposed to be way more of an alcoholic in the film. And that would be affecting the film. The way back is basically that, but with basketball. But it's an empowering film regarding like the

Eli (36:59.327)
Mmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (37:10.766)
hard battle with addiction, the tying of negative self coping to literally coping. You're coping with something else that has been unresolved and you believe is immovable. so rather than trying to make change, you have begun to believe that you cannot make change. And then rather than suffer the pain, you will numb it. There's this really simple, powerful scene where like,

He's getting ready to make a phone call and he's like, all right, let me just get a beer. I'm going to cool off. I'll prep what I want to say. So he goes to his fridge, he opens it. It's just tons of beers. He grabs one, he starts practicing and then like it keeps going and he keeps drinking more. By the end, there's no more beer in the fridge. And it is just like, and then he's just like, never makes the call. And it's got a lot of scenes like that that aren't like all sad. There's some good stuff there too.

Eli (38:06.655)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (38:08.472)
But it's a very interesting film comparing how as an adult with these unfulfilled things, having to coach high schoolers and or middle school, I can't remember, I think it's high school and how like the things they are experiencing currently would be could in theory become what he is. So he has to be very careful. I found it very effective, very interesting. I don't think it's great, but I do think it's.

Eli (38:33.693)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (38:37.512)
inspirational in that sense. But again, the cheating answer is everything everywhere. So I'll just I'll put that there. Sounds good.

Eli (38:39.144)
Yeah.

Eli (38:43.029)
We'll just I'll just put both of them on your list because like You know, we're making up the rules here. Really aren't we?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (38:55.246)
We're like Calvin Ball. Yeah, we're just going to come up with whatever we want. That's fine.

Eli (38:59.541)
yes. So I'll say this. The way back, I have not seen, I heard, I heard pretty decent things about it back when it came out. just never got around to seeing it. yeah. And it's been a long time. I was a kid when I saw the mighty ducks last, so I don't really remember a ton about it. but I will say everything everywhere all at once is like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (39:21.87)
You

Eli (39:30.079)
has become, I've seen it several times since I saw it in theaters. And it's probably like, I would put it up there in like, just like favorite movies of all time. It's incredible. I walked out of the theater saying, this is gonna be like a movie of this decade. Like this, it's going, I feel like,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (39:36.45)
What a movie.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (39:53.791)
yeah. Yes.

Eli (39:57.629)
I walked out feeling like this movie is like changing the game in a way because of what it's doing with the medium of film. so like it, to me, it was like not just inspiring for the ways you briefly mentioned, but also just like, it made me excited for like, what, what's yeah, what's next? Who's going to take like

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (40:07.938)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (40:19.48)
What's next?

Eli (40:22.985)
what they did here and like expand on that or do something different with it like they did. yeah, definitely like any movie that can make you like cry when rocks are talking with subtitles is like a great inspirational movie.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (40:37.186)
Man alive. Yeah. Like, yeah. And what's interesting, just to add to that, I don't know what your average demographic for your listeners are. So I hopefully I'm not turning anyone off, although I'm not intending that at all. I have not met anyone over the age of like 38 who likes the movie. In fact, they have out of actively either said, I don't get it. I think it's bad or I just don't, I don't like it.

Eli (40:47.604)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (41:01.417)
Yeah.

Eli (41:05.973)
Hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (41:05.986)
Whereas everyone beneath it has been completely on board. And I think it's also just because the film channels so much like modern zeitgeist, both in terms of types of media. It is so weird. It's so kind of hard to keep up with. And in theory, although I think it's very simple, but it's it's and then it's just like bombastic and it's irreverent in a good way. So it's just it's

Eli (41:13.737)
Yeah, it is.

Eli (41:26.726)
Yeah.

Eli (41:33.617)
Mm-hmm. It's a very like internet age movie

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (41:37.09)
Yeah, yeah. And I think it it really yeah, it really turns off boomers. It's not a boomer movie.

Eli (41:45.077)
Yeah. Yeah. I haven't thought about that. I haven't really thought about that, but yeah, I'm, you know, I'm like, kind of, I guess I'm like towards the end of the millennial generation. so like mid nineties kind of instant millennials, I think. So I'm not the tail end. Yeah. So, so I was born in 91. So like tail end of that.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (42:07.15)
95, yeah, 95 or 96 is the cutoff.

Eli (42:13.629)
I really love it. and, and from what I can tell, like, yeah, there probably is a cutoff, like after the millennial generation, maybe of people that like really would go for it. because it is, it is a challenging watch in the sense that like, it, it, there's so much going on. but people that like kind of have grown up with the internet or like, you know, I didn't grow up with the internet.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (42:15.886)
Yeah.

Eli (42:44.061)
in my early childhood or anything, but like starting kind of middle school, high school, it was there and I used it and stuff. you know, I was in the like limewire days of like downloading music on limewire and that sort of thing. you know, it's, I'm used to that enough. And I'm in that world enough where like

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (42:51.992)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (43:07.917)
Yeah.

Eli (43:11.421)
I can process the movie, but I can see like people that just didn't grow up with that, their mind being wired in that way, like being totally like thrown off by the movie. but I think like it'll be, I think it'll be looked back on, you know, in the future as a, like a pretty important movie. yeah, for sure. But the way back I'm sure is good too.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (43:22.488)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (43:35.052)
Most definitely. Yeah, most definitely.

Eli (43:43.541)
okay. okay. Since you went like sort of sports movie, a half sports, a half sports pick, I guess I'll go ahead and two, cause I did think of a sports movie for a category for me. and my, like my initial thought was remember the Titans. Cause that's one I kind of grew up with. I kind of grew up with it and you know,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (44:07.115)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (44:11.665)
It came out when I was probably in like elementary, late elementary, early middle school. I would, I'm pretty sure. it's like early two thousands, right? and so yeah, yeah, I would have been late elementary school, I guess. And yeah, it's always just been one of those movies that's like inspirational sports movie, but that's not what I went with. it's just the first one that came to mind. I wanted to shout it out. but.

This is one where I came down to two and one of them is definitely like more like more of what you would think of as typically inspirational. And I'm going to save that one though for honorable mentions and I'm going to go with one that I think will be more interesting to discuss as to discuss as an inspirational movie. I'm hoping you've seen it and I'm to go with Damien Chazelle's whiplash.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (45:12.238)
I'm going to disappoint you. The only Damien Chazelle movie I haven't seen. Well, I haven't seen Babylon. But before that, the only one I hadn't seen is the only one I hadn't owned or the other way around. I had seen First Man, but I don't own it. But then I owned La La Land and I owned Whiplash. They're still on the shelf, unwatched. But I know I'll love Whiplash in particular.

Eli (45:14.357)
Ha ha ha ha ha.

Eli (45:22.154)
Yeah.

Eli (45:32.713)
man.

whiplash whiplash is a ride of a movie it is like it has like it's one of those movies where you forget that it does have moments where it slows down for a minute because by the end you feel like you've you haven't stopped moving the whole time but it does it does have moments of like like slower levity in there but it's a ride of a movie it's

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (45:41.688)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (45:52.539)
Ha

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (45:56.622)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (46:06.057)
For people that don't know, it is not what you would typically think of as a sports movie because it is about a jazz, an aspiring jazz drummer, played by, Miles Teller, with, JK Simmons playing the, it's like this ensemble, this jazz ensemble at, I can't even think of the name of the school. It's like basically the top jazz ensemble in the country at this.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (46:16.792)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (46:35.921)
university that I can't think of in this moment. But, it, it's not a sports movie in the sense that like, it's about a sport. but it's a sports movie in like its structure and its intensity and it's like drive to be the best, you know, at what you do.

Everything about it is like a sports movie, except that like it's technically not a sport at the center of it. and what I'll say about this movie is. it was hard for me to like figure out, okay, this movie feels cause I rewatched it, before making the list. I was like, this movie feels inspiring, but when you think about it for too long,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (47:10.146)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Eli (47:32.933)
You start to question that, like, is it actually inspiring? Because like he gets like destroyed. so, JK Simmons is character who's the instructor is like a couple of times in the movie goes back to this story of this guy, the like through a chair at, I think it's Charlie Parker or it's some like famous jazz person. and, like he.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (47:57.87)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (48:01.429)
threw a chair at him because like he messed up or something. And like, then he like worked really hard because of that and was pushed to be one of the best ever. And JK Simmons is like, he just like berates his, his students. Like it's, it's, it's definitely like you watch it you're like, this is not okay. You know, this guy deserves to get fired and never see.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (48:26.094)
You

Eli (48:31.091)
you know, a university campus again. like you can't do this to like, students who are, yeah, to human beings, but like, it's weird because at the same time you're like, there's a point later in the movie where he explains why he does that. And he's like, I, I, I've always like stuck on that story of, you know, Charlie Parker, we wouldn't have Charlie Parker if, if

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (48:37.304)
human beings.

Eli (48:59.199)
so-and-so didn't like throw that chair at him, you know, and like, I push, I push like beyond the limits of my students on the, on the like off chance that a Charlie Parker is coming through my program and that needs that push to be one of the greatest ever. And I'm like, this is so like, I'm so conflicted cause I'm like, this is not okay the way he's treating people, but at the same time, it's like, he kind of has a point.

Cause like the great artists kind of come out of situations like this and a lot of the great artists, know, out of these like crazy situations and these wild experiences. And, I don't know, it's, it's, it's a very strange movie, but at the end of the day, it's inspiring because miles Taylor's character is like, he has this drive to be the best.

or at least to be great, and to do something that he loves. He's, he has like, he loves drumming and he wants to be one of the greats and he has this drive and it's kind of like, man, it's just inspiring to, to watch someone and like that has that in them. cause sometimes that's hard to find in yourself and sometimes it takes watching someone else.

that has that to kind of like spark something in yourself. So that's why I went ahead and went with it. Cause I do think it's in there. It's just like amidst all the like crazy JK Simmons. yeah, it's yeah. Anyways.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (50:46.84)
Just a little twisted, just a little crazy.

Eli (50:50.023)
It's yeah, it it leaves me very conflicted but like at the end of the movie you're just like man that was a wild ride and I want to go like become a jazz drummer now.

Maybe just not under JK Simmons.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (51:07.534)
hire JK Simmons.

I'm sure the part of what will add to the confusion of the experience is also when you're going there to learn and grow. It's kind of like in like, OK, I can shoot somebody in a video game, but I'm not going to shoot them in real life. And the same would be true as if I'm playing laser tag or paintball. And so when you're opting into a scenario,

Eli (51:22.506)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (51:31.017)
Right.

Eli (51:36.595)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (51:41.088)
of mutual agreement that permits some kind of like suffering. It is an interesting thing to think like then what can be accessed? I mean, we do it when we exercise. We are literally burning our muscles with acids to then repair them, which makes them stronger. And so, but it requires a comfort in denying the ego to, to do that. And I'm sure like part of the whiplash of the film is.

Eli (51:46.399)
Yeah.

Eli (52:05.29)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (52:09.78)
seeing the tightrope that is going on. And I could see that being inspiring because it's about personal limits too. It's like, what am I not pushing myself to endure? But also what am I perhaps not standing up for that I ought to? So, man.

Eli (52:16.447)
Yeah, yeah it is.

Mm.

Eli (52:26.109)
Yeah. The exercise analogy is great because there is a sense in which everyone knows before they get into his jazz ensemble, what they're getting into. They know they're about to get like, they're about to be called things they've never heard before. You know, yeah, it's, it's. Yeah, it's basically like if you took the, the drill instructor.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (52:37.005)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (52:40.686)
Chute out.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (52:46.904)
They're entering into the Instagram comments section.

Eli (52:54.751)
from Full Metal Jacket, yeah, and put him like in charge, yeah, in charge, the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket and put him in charge of a jazz ensemble. That's what, that's what JK Simmons' character is. so, but they know what they're getting into. So it's almost like they're willingly, they're like willing to suffer that to be great, you know, to be a part of it, or at least like to be a part of something great, you know.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (52:56.002)
from FullmetalAkumas. Or not FullmetalAkumas, what am I saying? Yeah, FullmetalJacket.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (53:17.987)
Yeah.

Eli (53:24.501)
So yeah, I guess that's like the way you can say like But also like you you had me thinking too. It's like That I don't know that I could like say that that's okay in real life, but like in a movie There's a sense in which like you're creating us a fictional space where you can like have a character like that and Like it not be okay in real life. But in the movie like it's an it's an

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (53:24.686)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (53:31.128)
That's all interpret it.

Eli (53:54.303)
He's an important representation of something that we all need. And so maybe that's why you're so conflicted on him because you're like, in real life, this is not OK. But in the movie, you're I'm being really inspired by this guy in a weird way, in a weird sadistic way. Yeah. All right, what you got?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (53:55.886)
Totally.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (54:12.142)
You

So good. My yeah, my next one, I went with what I would consider the the miniseries angle of choosing a quote unquote movie and short run anime is considered miniseries in the States. So that's what I'm going to go with. I'm to go with another one of my top four things is Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Eli (54:27.445)
Mmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (54:44.75)
On its face, people would hear that and think and if they saw like promo art for it, they would think that's bonkers. You are insane, Melvin. Why are you picking a magical girl anime? This is a show that came out in 2012 and it's kind of notorious as being like the show where the first two episodes are very normal and then the third episode is normal until the ending when things get real. And since then, it's really

garnered a trend of shows kind of trying to recreate this, but not quite understanding the material and just being edgy or just being like, my cute characters can't be so gory kind of nonsense. Monica is not gory. but it is a serious story wherein these characters have a little creature say, I'll grant you any wish you want. And then you become a magical girl and you fight these things called witches. now just on

like just to to pitch it to people because I think people should just watch this show. It's expertly animated. And when they fight the witches, they go into these realms that are so oddly animated. It is like some of them are papercraft. Some of them are 3D CG. Some of them are it is so bizarre. And like when I rewatched it a couple of years ago, I had forgotten how wacky.

the visuals get and yet there's always still kind of an awareness of place and setting for these characters when they're doing these combat experiences. Now on top of that though, you start to learn like what you learn about what these wishes cost. You learn about what these witches are. You learn about why there's this mysterious magical girl who keeps killing the creature or trying to kill the creature that is offering wishes.

and by the ending, when I first watched this show, I had no idea where it could go, where it would go and where it would go afterward. There is a follow-up film that is, equally as, inspirational to me, but, and is far more bizarre. It is, it is. It's like, it's like taking every bizarre director you've ever thought of and making them make an animated film.

Eli (57:06.485)
Hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (57:07.478)
It is so lynchy and it's so weird. But this series, the 12 episodes ends in such a way that it's one of the only like secular, almost overtly secular depictions of like a, not a redemptive story, but like a story that makes me, it's one of the only ones that I think captures really nuanced things that are unique to the Christian experience.

which only makes sense if you watch the show, because if you do not finish it, you're going to really be confused by why I even bother saying such a thing. I find this show so beautiful and so wonderful. think the characters are so well written. Every three episodes is like a new act of the story unfolding into like a new thing that creates this.

really complicated and yet very simple machine that has captured these warriors essentially into something that is like so much worse than they think it is. And then the follow-up film, I for until recently pretty much consistently flip-flopped and if I liked it or hated it, liked it or hated it, now I really love it. As is the case for me, if a film makes me think that way, like to the point where I actively dislike it or I very much like it.

That has won me over. And this is a this the sequel film rebellion is one of those. But yes, Modica Magica, one hundred percent, twelve episodes. So we're talking four and a half hours if you were to watch it like in one sitting. This is just such good stuff. I totally recommend it. And then in terms of inspiring stuff, it is a it was definitely something that oddly like. I just found like.

Eli (58:44.127)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (59:01.382)
made me think a lot about Christ in a way that some of these other things do not. It's in a way many things do not. And obviously that's a good thing. That's in its own way inspiring. And I find that it's an encouraging story about understanding sacrifice, cost, but also like the immense power an individual has.

Eli (59:08.789)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (59:12.341)
Sure. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (59:31.47)
to make positive and good change in others life, understanding that it comes with a massive individual costs as in to say like self-sacrifice. and sometimes continuing to labor that self-sacrifice produces far more good fruit. and, yeah, if that doesn't sound Christ-like, I don't know what else we could, but, but yeah, modica magic is so good. I'm sure it's on.

something. It's totally worth watching. I don't know if anime is really your wheelhouse. Is it? it's on Hulu. Perfect. Nice. Yeah, check it out, guys. Watch it, please. It's so good. Y'all need to watch it.

Eli (01:00:03.829)
It's on Hulu. It's on Hulu and Crunchyroll.

Yeah. Yeah. I've never seen this. I don't watch a lot of series and I'm not like, I'm not, I haven't seen a ton of anime. not like shows anyway. And so, yeah, it's definitely like, it gives me sailor moon vibes when I see the poster. for some reason.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:00:32.716)
Yeah, it's very innocuous in every way. And then it really starts to become more. Just to give the final selling on this, it's written by a guy named, again, Urobochi and then a team of other writers that are currently working on the rest of the series. There's like finally another movie coming out after like 10 years. And if you ever endure to get to Rebellion and finish that movie, you'll understand the pain.

Eli (01:00:40.039)
Yeah, more than that. Yeah, that's cool.

Eli (01:00:48.233)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:01:01.954)
that has been endured for 10 years since. But this guy Gen Urobochi has the nickname of The Butcher because he's notorious for writing stories where just happy endings don't happen. And they're often very deep characters, very profound, very human, but often never, they're never happy in the end. The characters never get what they want, but they often learn something or experience something. And I would say half true.

Eli (01:01:13.333)
Mm.

Eli (01:01:22.195)
Mm.

Eli (01:01:27.188)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:01:30.242)
He does that with Modica. It's half true that he does that. yeah, so that's his MO. If that sounds like something people are interested in, be inspired to watch it.

Eli (01:01:32.586)
Mm.

Eli (01:01:40.071)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really like that pick because it's so different than probably like all the other picks that are going to be on our list. Yeah. Get some, let's get some, you know, variety in here. I like it.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:01:48.814)
Yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:01:55.692)
The soft amendment I'll add to it, or not amendment, addition I'll add to it is it's very similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion, the original show, not the Rebuild films. And I would say that the original show and the end of Evangelion are also inspiring, but those are challenging, weird pieces of media. but if someone is a fan of those, they'll definitely be a fan of Monica.

Eli (01:01:59.922)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:02:03.688)
Okay.

Eli (01:02:13.343)
Yeah.

Eli (01:02:18.751)
Cool. Yeah. mean, there's, there's like, anime has like a pretty wide audience, like surprisingly. So, you know, there's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's one of those things that like people probably don't realize like how many people actually like watch anime. it's, it's a wide audience. yeah. Okay. I'm going to go with.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:02:30.84)
feel like it's getting bigger every year.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:02:41.484)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:02:48.245)
My next one, so I've hit some different categories. This category is, I was trying to think of movies that like, where you work past like your circumstances and, and or like your fears, things that like walls that walls that like, yeah, for it or two.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:03:09.454)
Predator 2, where he's scared of heights. And there's specifically a scene where he has to jump from building to building.

Eli (01:03:16.981)
Yes, I'm not picking Predator 2. I'm picking a movie where like to pursue your dreams there you have to like work past everything that's in your way whether it's internal or external and so for that category I had to go with Greta Gerwig's version of Little Women. Loved, loved, loved this movie. Saw it in theaters with my wife. I've watched it once or twice with her since then.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:03:30.315)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:03:46.897)
And I like the like the 90s little woman too, but this one I really, really loved. It's for one, it's just like a classic story of these four sisters who have their own different personalities and different challenges because of, you know, their personalities and their situations and

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:03:53.848)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:04:16.211)
different, they each kind of have their different dreams and their different like aspirations. And so you really are kind of getting like four inspirational movies in one when you watch Little Women. You know, it's centered around Jo March, who in this movie is played by Saoirse Ronan, who I think is just an incredible actress. And so like she kind of like takes center stage. But like the other

know, the other March sisters like have their own, you know, their own like kind of stories in that bigger story that is Joe's as well, that are inspiring in their own rights and they all, you know, they're women in the like aftermath of the Civil War era trying to like pursue what they want to do and who they want to be and

That's not a easy time or place for women to do that. and so. Yeah. It's just, I love the way that this movie is framed. it kind of jumps back and forth in time in this version in a way that I think is like really, really, really like well thought out, and, and profound and the way it does that. And yeah, I don't know. I just.

Every time I watch this movie, I just feel inspired to like I Don't know do what I feel like I'm called and made to do Despite any challenges that might be in the way and then to like, you know, I have a wife that you know, that is a you know a woman in this world that I want to pursue her dreams and I want to support her I have a daughter now that like I want to be

I want to feel like she can pursue and do whatever, you know, she feels like she's meant to do. And so, I don't know, just, there's just so many aspects of this movie that I think are just like so wonderful, so great, so inspirational. And then like to like Laura Dern as the mom, Marmee March in this movie is just so good.

Eli (01:06:45.001)
I'm like, that's, that's like the aspirational like parents, know, that's, that's like the kind of parents like we should all aspire to be to like, be able to see who like each of our very different children need us to be entered, like do our best to be that for them in the different ways they need it. yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:06:51.95)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:07:08.718)
Hmm.

Eli (01:07:13.971)
Man, there's just so many, like I said, there's so many ways this movie is inspirational and it's just an incredible, incredibly made film too. It looks phenomenal. It's just good all around. Love it. Have you seen this little one?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:07:30.312)
I can't even remember the last time I watched a little woman. feel like growing up, I might've watched the nineties one or even an older one. yeah, I think so. it was either that or the secret garden. cause I don't know why I think as a kid, I always mixed the two up probably just cause they're aesthetically kind of similar, but, but no, I hadn't seen it. mean, I,

Eli (01:07:36.885)
with one on a rider and yeah.

Eli (01:07:49.214)
Mm.

Eli (01:07:53.301)
That's fair. Yeah, yeah, it is.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:07:59.232)
obviously loved Barbie, like most people. But I had totally ghosted Lady Bird and then I didn't see Little Women. I, having seen Barbie and then hearing that like some people say the other two are the better of the three, like I want to check those out. I'm, this recommendation definitely makes me more interested in seeing it, that's for sure.

Eli (01:08:00.991)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:08:05.674)
Yeah.

Eli (01:08:11.999)
They are. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:08:20.853)
Yeah, Barbie's like the pop version of of like Greta Gerwig and that's not a bad thing. It's just like these these are just like Lady Bird and and Little Women are I don't know. They're more like intimate stories that aren't like that don't have like the weight of IP on them. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:08:46.835)
Ip yeah yeah it barbie also should have been shot on film I don't know why that movie wasn't shot on film man

Eli (01:08:54.066)
Yeah, you definitely need to see Little Women. It's a Greta Gerr works version. It's really, really incredible. It's my favorite of hers so far.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:09:04.278)
I heard from some people too, like that was their favorite of the year. And that was also a fairly stacked year.

Eli (01:09:07.731)
Yeah, it's, yeah, another 2019 movie. yeah, it was up there for me. I'm trying to see, where it ended up on my 2019 list. number six, I could probably move it up to five, five, four or five, honestly. It's yeah. Am I like three through seven?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:09:29.134)
We're doing it live. Screw it. We're doing it live.

Eli (01:09:37.55)
ish from that year I could probably like move around you know

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:09:43.032)
I've been thinking of doing that exact thing. Maybe I'll make a, maybe that'll be a Patreon intro, exclusive discussion is, switching my ranked disc of the year. There's definitely a couple I think about, the, the last one I had is another odd one as these all have been. this is a, probably the most, this is the most recent one. tar.

Eli (01:09:54.409)
You

Yeah.

Eli (01:10:12.605)
yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:10:14.118)
Love this movie. It was the movie that for me beat out everything everywhere is the best movie of that year. this one absolutely just, it, gosh, it's so good. it hit me in a way that was very different from EAL, but it was not, not in a way that was less by any means. Like I didn't step away from it weeping. didn't step away from it laughing. didn't say.

Eli (01:10:19.881)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:10:27.826)
It is so good.

Eli (01:10:37.749)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:10:42.466)
But it was so profound in itself that I just was just like, yes, everything everywhere absolutely shows you what movies can do and where they can go. But Tar, really, it's just movies. That to me is the word. yeah, it's an amazing, on its face value, it's an amazing

Eli (01:10:58.709)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:11:12.514)
a fall of a character, just, just falling, just the house of cards tumbling. Like that to me is all great stuff. And it's in a way that isn't necessarily theatrical or overly dramatic. It is very grounded in its stupendously slow pace. The events, not so much the film. think the film is expertly paced. But it is a, it's great. I

Eli (01:11:18.965)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:11:30.611)
Yes. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:11:38.752)
I love this movie. absolutely love this movie. I think it's one of the just like everything everywhere. mean, obviously, if it's if it beat it out for that year for me, I think it's also one of the films of the decade because it's just that effective of a performance. It's visually very pleasing. Yeah, Cate Blanchett is such a good performer here. Like it it's crazy. It's so.

Eli (01:11:54.015)
Mm-hmm.

Cate Blanchett.

Eli (01:12:02.047)
She is leading a tar.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:12:06.476)
transformative from the minute the film starts. It's so good. In terms of like what this film inspired for me, like I had never seen a depiction of what I'm about to describe so perfectly. I think the film really showcases the complete like, I will almost say listlessness.

Eli (01:12:09.091)
Mm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:12:36.084)
of human power, that everything we know as Christians, everything that is in our lives has been given to us by God. And one of the aspects of which makes sin so egregious is that we are taking what God has given to us to care for, to look over, to produce, to do good things with, we then do bad things with. Yeah, we anti flourish essentially.

Eli (01:12:37.449)
Mm.

Eli (01:13:00.051)
Make flourish. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:13:05.778)
And I found that this film so perfectly showed how someone at the top essentially looks at the world as something of their making and their creation. The start of the film she's describing, so she's a composer, the start of the film she's describing is like how she essentially takes people's music and creates her own compositions out of them and they become hers. And is her job as the composer to

Eli (01:13:17.877)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:13:34.904)
draw out of people and to make them into something else. So she is very much taking, she's quite literally like as a composer, like composers are undoubtedly important. Yes, correct. Conductors are undoubtedly important to the ensemble, but they are waving their hands around. It is everyone else making the music. It is everyone else constructing the music. It is everyone else actually composing the music. That's the correct use of the word.

Eli (01:13:44.009)
Conductor, conductor.

Eli (01:13:51.188)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:14:04.902)
but what is she doing? She, she ultimately really is subservient to the music. And yet she is throughout the film. She is in control of everything and has understood how to do that, to get what she wants, which is awful. And it is, and then by the end of the film, she essentially has this thing where she, she very clearly says, like, when we play the music, we want to know what is the.

composer's intent, which she would never have said at the start of the film, because she does not care about other people at all. And it is such an amazing depiction of that. There are these moments in the film where she, one of which is she's jogging and there's a scream from the distance. And then she then goes back to where she's conducting and she says, I want to make a sound sound like it's far away.

She acts as though this is inspired and born out of her, but it is actually something that happened in the world around her based on something terrible that may have been taking place. And it's just there's so many things like that throughout the film that are constant points of reference to the fact that like, yeah, everything that she has has been given to her and everything is going to be taken away. I could not stop thinking about God's sovereignty and justice.

and kindness because in the film, God has been very kind to give her the position of power she has. And then she just continues to be awful. And I could not stop thinking about my own life and the kindness God has shown me and like the repentance that poured out for me thinking like what hubris I've had to treat the gifts that God has provided for me, the world he has created.

so much and to just treat these things like they're mine. And then even if they were, I wasn't even treating them rightly. So yeah, I think Tar is absolutely inspirational in a very twisted, bizarre, creepy way, but it totally fits the bill.

Eli (01:16:17.373)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's, it's, it's inspirational in the, in the sense that it's, it's, I guess, like essentially a cautionary tale in a way. which, you know, that is, that's kind of what a cautionary tale is meant to be is to inspire you to not do what the character does in the movie. in the same way that like, you could say, I guess you could say like a lot of

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:16:29.88)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:16:39.97)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (01:16:46.613)
Scorsese movies are cautionary tales like in a way like inspiring in that way like Be inspired to not be like this person, you know Yeah, exactly. Yeah Yeah, the Irishman like a guy at the end of his life Having you know, there's this profound moment with a door at the end of that movie that is closed because

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:16:51.672)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:16:57.802)
Yeah, like the Irishman's a good one for that. It's like perfect for that.

Eli (01:17:16.529)
It's too late, you know, for it to be opened again. you know, if you watch it, you'll know what I mean, but yeah, it's tar is one of the things that I haven't seen it since, since I saw it in theaters, which I feel very lucky to have seen it in theaters. Cause it ran like it ran for like one week here and where I am.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:17:19.138)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:17:33.43)
As do I, yeah.

Yeah, it was short here too. It was like in out and it was, I think it was like January or February. It was like for the Oscars. It wasn't even for like money. It was ridiculous.

Eli (01:17:45.875)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And so it, I was felt lucky. One of the things I remember though, in watching that movie is that it does so well to like really put a punch and emphasize you were talking about the pacing and it will sit in these moments and it, it'll sit in moments in quiet moments where you have to think and think on what's just happened.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:18:12.482)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:18:15.193)
and process it as the character on screen is processing it and thinking through it. So you're simultaneously like just watching them wondering what she's thinking, like what is Lydia Tarr thinking? Is she going to change now? Is she going to be better now? What if like you have to, and then through that you're also processing yourself like what, you know, about yourself and what you would do in that situation. What, you know,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:18:30.176)
Yeah.

Eli (01:18:45.267)
And so, yeah, there's, there's just these moments where it just sits, the camera just sits and watches, that I think are very like essential to like everything you're talking about this movie. yeah, phenomenal movie. Yeah. And definitely like, yeah, it is funny. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:19:00.878)
great film and funny too. There's some good jokes, situational at least. It's good stuff.

Eli (01:19:09.149)
Yeah, this was up there for 2022 for me. It's behind another very inspirational movie that'll be an honorable mention for me probably. In addition to everything everywhere at once, I still had higher than it. you know, my last movie, I saved this for last. I love this movie. It is...

You mentioned this with everything everywhere all at once, but it's a movie that inspires you to, to remember that life is about the, all the small moments that make it up. it's not about the big accomplishments. It's not essentially about like all the, you know, landmark moments of your life, but it's about like the small little moments with people and with the world around you that.

add up to a life. And so everything everywhere at once has that as one of its major themes. And I've strongly considered it for this, but I wanted some variety. I wanted to get an animated movie in there. So I went with my favorite Pixar movie, which is soul. I love soul. I've seen it a few times. It is very funny.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:20:23.714)
Good pick.

Eli (01:20:32.813)
very fun movie, very inventive, in kind of its conception. can see like inspiration from some kind of older movies that deal with, death and the afterlife and. Like humanity wanting to like have a second chance, know, it actually watched one, I watched a Powell and Pressburger movie.

to if I wanted to pick it for this draft called A Matter of Life and Death. That's kind of, you can see like as inspiration for like the concept of the movie Soul for sure. But this movie, I'll say this, it has this moment that I actually like when I was preparing for my list, I was like, let me go watch this scene that I remember from Soul. And so I pulled up that scene.

I didn't rewatch the whole movie, but I pulled up that scene on YouTube and just the few minutes of that scene, like I was crying just from watching it. It's this like beautiful moment where, so the character, our main character in Soul is, man, I lost my list. There we go. His name is Joe Gardner.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:21:39.298)
He he.

Eli (01:21:58.015)
voiced by Jamie Foxx. He basically like he's on his way to play. He's a jazz teacher at like a high school or middle school or something and he's on his way. He's about to get like his big break. He's never been like a successful jazz player, but he's aspired to be. about to get his big break and get to play with this this jazz musician that

you know, is going to really like get him to where he wants to be finally. And he falls. This isn't really a, it's if you've seen the previews, you know, but it's he falls into a manhole and dies on his way there. And so, he ends up in this afterlife and there's like, there's these like, I don't know, like sketched kind of people that are like in charge of like

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:22:36.046)
You

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:22:41.367)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:22:53.198)
Mm hmm. It's cool animation. Yeah.

Eli (01:22:55.133)
Yeah, the afterlife. they all have, don't they all have the same name or something? they are Terry. Is that, yeah, they're all, there's, there's Jerry's too. I Terry's and Jerry's anyway, they're, it's very funny. And in there, in the same like little afterlife world, there's also all these like new souls that are getting ready to like go to earth.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:22:59.95)
The sketch things, yes, they look like, yeah.

Eli (01:23:23.437)
sent to earth and so very imaginative very fun but essentially like he has this like unwanted friendship that buds with this soul that doesn't want that is scared to go to earth to become a human and essentially like through that relationship and the way it's explored just comes to realize that

life... his life is not defined by what he does, his life isn't defined by, you know, what he accomplishes at the end of his life, but his life is made up of those small moments, those small meaningful moments with someone you love, or even just like there's this recurring image of one of those like little... I don't even know what they're called... there's little like whirly things that fall out of a certain kind of tree.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:24:10.83)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:24:23.077)
It's like a seed, like falling into his hand and him watching it fall into his hand. Like that small, beautiful moment of, you know, the world, you know, interacting with the beauty in the world around you. And yeah, there's this moment where that all culminates in the film that I think is just beautiful. It makes you want to just like kiss your spouse or hug your child or, you know,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:24:23.384)
Yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:24:48.151)
It's great.

Eli (01:24:51.337)
have a little dance party with your kids or your nephews or, you know, when the song comes on, makes you want to just like look at a tree and enjoy how beautiful it is and pause and take in those moments. And so, yeah, I love this movie. It's inspiring for all those reasons. It's my favorite Pixar movie. So, yeah, soul.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:25:20.3)
Yeah, that movie is like a great depiction of like how mindfulness, the idea of being in present in the present moment is so overwhelmingly, like just overwhelming. And then it can be good or bad depending on the present moment. But most moments are even the mundane ones when you are then present in it become like immaculate. They're really wonderful.

Eli (01:25:29.864)
Yes.

Eli (01:25:48.851)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:25:50.35)
and so, yeah, I, I, when you were saying soul and you talked about one scene, that was the first scene I thought of was that one too. yeah, I, I, you know, going into honorable mentions, I jumping with Pixar, Wally was one of the first things I thought of. I think Wally's great. I, I think I had difficulty putting it on the list because I would have difficulty narrowing down what is inspiring about it because I think there's several things.

Eli (01:26:15.721)
Yeah. It's hard. Yeah. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:26:20.126)
I think that movie is just like it's so brilliantly made. It is appropriately a part of the Criterion collection now. I do, too. It's one of the best ones, honestly, that they've ever put out. It's so good. That was great. But yeah, that that movie is just stellar. Very good stuff. Really, really them at their at their peak.

Eli (01:26:25.812)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I have it. Yeah.

Eli (01:26:40.223)
Mm-hmm.

A rewatch.

Yeah, I rewatched Ratatouille with my wife recently too and that would that would probably be another one to consider for inspirational movie for sure.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:26:53.358)
want to rewatch all the early Pixars and kind of move forward through them. Probably drop off around cars too, but.

Eli (01:26:55.827)
Yeah, we've been, we watched through, it took us several years, but we watched chronologically through all the Disney animated classics. and so we watched them like in order of release all 60, whatever of them. And took several years and now we're doing that with Pixar. So we're actually, WALL-E is the next one up. So we just watched Ratatouille and we're going to watch WALL-E next on our chronological watch through. So it's a, it's a fun exercise. It's a really.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:27:04.842)
cool.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:27:17.656)
Great.

Eli (01:27:25.203)
You should consider doing that with your wife. It would be a fun little exercise to do.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:27:32.428)
I had done some of the Pixar shorts, the early, early ones. That was a ton of fun. Luxo Jr. is just as good as it is. mean, it is such a brilliant showcase of what you can do with 3D animation at the time. So good. Yeah, that one's fun. Yeah, so those are ton of fun. I think I was doing those because I was doing a movie a day at the time, and I counted short films for a period. So that was a of fun.

Eli (01:27:36.679)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:27:40.403)
Yeah, it is.

Eli (01:27:48.351)
Jerry's game. Jerry's game.

Eli (01:27:54.814)
Yeah.

Eli (01:27:59.529)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:28:01.966)
But yeah, so Wally would be one of my honorable mentions. What's one of your honorable mentions?

Eli (01:28:08.895)
Yeah, so I'm going to like name off a couple of animated ones that I considered along those lines is Moana. I've always felt very inspired by Moana. Just like having this calling coming from outside of you and trying to chase that despite everything around you saying it's not a great idea. The anime, I guess you could say.

If you consider movies, anime, which I do, that I considered was Kiki's delivery service. great, just a great, like fully formed look at like a coming of age movie, like discovering yourself, discovering your place in the world, discovering how to get through the difficult parts of life. yeah. And then the other one that I guess you would say is animated. It is it's.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:28:45.102)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:29:08.181)
stop motion would be Marcel the shell with shoes on. Love them. Yeah. Love, love, love that movie. is, it's another like movie about it would, it would fit into the same category of like soul of like those small moments being profound and meaningful. So those are a few of my like animated.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:29:13.265)
cool. I totally ghosted that one. I hear it was great. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:29:30.67)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:29:35.151)
ones. Do you have any other honorable mentions? I have a few more that I can mention.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:29:39.883)
I totally had one just on the top of my head that I wanted to mention. What were the three you literally just mentioned? Because that'll remind me.

Eli (01:29:48.925)
I said Moana Kiki's delivery service and Marcel the Shell with shoes on.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:29:54.228)
okay. I remember now. Godzilla minus one, obviously. That one, just a brilliant film. Big fan of Godzilla, big fan of Kaiju stuff. I think the concept of the giant monster is inherently cool, as most people do. And I thought Godzilla minus one was not just an amazing theater experience, but also like an amazing like film about social change and social healing.

Eli (01:29:58.014)
yeah.

Eli (01:30:04.915)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:30:08.597)
Yeah.

Eli (01:30:21.587)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:30:23.438)
it is a really, really wonderful film about the importance of like the co-alensance of goodness through different people. it's also a very comforting film to watch, like understanding, having further understanding of some of like jep modern Japanese history. cause it's a very post-war movie, frankly, just like shin Godzilla, but not nearly as cynical nor as, although shin Godzilla is cynical, but hopeful. This one is much more,

Eli (01:30:32.02)
Yeah.

Eli (01:30:41.877)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:30:53.228)
just hopeful. It's a very good looking movie, very good fun movie to watch. It's emotional. It's also scary. Shin Godzilla is freaky because the Shin Godzilla creature is freaky. that's just part of Hideki Anno's penchant for creature design.

Eli (01:31:01.619)
Yes.

Eli (01:31:11.423)
Mm.

Eli (01:31:20.659)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:31:21.026)
But Godzilla minus one is scary because it's just so well directed that Godzilla is a very scary monster in that movie.

Eli (01:31:26.365)
Yes.

It feels very like you, you always feel like, so it would be the American, yeah, the, the, American Godzilla is like almost go too big with it. And this one makes it so intimate with the way that it's shot and the perspective of the characters. And you always feel like you're in danger of just like becoming,

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:31:36.344)
feel like the world's ending if he shows up.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:31:44.674)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:31:59.367)
A victim of what Godzilla is doing. If that makes sense. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:32:02.434)
Yeah, yeah, it totally does. even, you know, spoilers, he gets bigger. Like his size in the beginning of the movie is just as intimidating and frightening to me as his size at the end of the movie. So, yeah, that movie is a banger and absolutely inspirational. mean, it's such a touching film with all those considered. It kind of encapsulates a lot of the stuff we've mentioned throughout this episode. So if you're...

Eli (01:32:18.773)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:32:30.1)
Yep.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:32:31.062)
Wanting something a bit more big and blockbuster-y, Godzilla Minus One is absolutely one of them.

Eli (01:32:34.333)
Yeah. Yes. I'm going to spit fire. Do you have some other ones that you would want to mention to spit fire? Just like blast off some, cause that's what I'm about to do, but I'll let you go first.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:32:47.066)
well, I joked about Texas Chainsaw, but I'll toss that one in for real. cause cause it was for real initially. that movie, that the simplest read is it inspired me to go vegan. That is untrue. that, but the film is very much a like hyperbolized extravagant metaphor of like meat and, and the relationship with meat. because it

Eli (01:33:11.301)
Mm. Sure.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:33:15.042)
I mean, it has, you know, this monologue about how they kill cows and someone's like, no, no, stop. That's awful. It's like, no, it's very humane. They just press a button. This thing goes in their brain. They die. It's amazing. And so it's like, that's awful. It's terrible. And then, you know, the rest of the movie unfolds and we watch as these humans are brutally killed and eaten and not gory by any means, actually just very suggestive. But it also is this really interesting depiction of like

Eli (01:33:29.641)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:33:45.082)
the way then humans treat one another. There's this scene. Oftentimes the film has been misunderstood as being bad by people because they are watching the scene where Franklin, I think that's his name, is in a wheelchair trying to get up steps. But he can't get up the steps because he's in a wheelchair and he's having a lot of difficulty. Meanwhile, his friends and his sister have run inside of this house that's sort of dilapidated because they want to kiss or whatever.

Eli (01:33:47.86)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:33:58.612)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:34:13.464)
and they're just leaving him out there. And so some people will be like, that's a dumb scene. And they would have issues with many other scenes, I'm sure. But then later in the film, you watch as Bubba, who is, you know, Leatherface and his brother gingerly carry their grandfather, who is in a chair down some steps. And it is a massive contrast to the way that the humans who are normal treat each other. And there's very many parallels between sort of the othering and bizarreness of people.

Eli (01:34:24.981)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:34:35.455)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:34:43.136)
and also the inhumane ways in which people treat each other while also having this grounding of the extravagance with, you know, Toby Hooper's bizarre mind. I found that just very inspiring in terms of the just the hyperbolized metaphorical mind games of human treatment, well as, you know, treatment of creatures, basically the treatment of sentient life.

And then I also just think the movie's great. the last few times I've seen the film, the last time I actually saw it in theaters, I have wept at the ending because I just find it so moving in the way it just showcases these things. And the fact that it is also as a Christian, the fact that it is so overtly rejected by fellow Christians to me adds to the sadness that I experienced at the end of the film.

Eli (01:35:38.719)
Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:35:39.446)
Although I do understand it because it is a very hard film to watch.

Eli (01:35:42.695)
It is. It is very hard to watch. It is. Yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:35:46.358)
It's exhausting. It's one of the most exhausting movies to watch.

Eli (01:35:50.311)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible filmmaking. I'll probably watch it again at some point in life, but it'll probably, I'm not, I'm not like itching to watch that movie again, but I think it's one of the best horror movies ever made. So yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:35:56.312)
So good.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:36:08.243)
yeah, it still stands up. It's so freaky and the SQL is good too. It's just very different.

Eli (01:36:12.437)
Yeah. okay. I'm going to, I'm going to spitfire some, with like very short explanations. stop making sense. The concert documentary, about the talking of a talking heads concert. I watched that in for the first time, in the middle of the pandemic and it just left me feeling full of life. because it's a concert doc.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:36:38.744)
That's great

Eli (01:36:40.999)
It's more than just a concert documentary. it was, you can tell that like they planned to film this, if that makes sense. and it is, it's just fun and full of life and community. love, love, love that. It's, it's incredible. Stop watch, stop making sense. Even if you don't know who the talking heads are. it's, it's great.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:37:06.936)
and then start listening to them because why were you not listening to them yet?

Eli (01:37:09.437)
Yes. Rocky was my other sports movie choice that I mentioned. it was hard for me to choose between whiplash and Rocky. Rocky probably would have made more sense in that category, but I went with the harder one. and then, where was the other one I was going to say? Paddington too, just like be kind to one another, you know, I love that movie.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:37:14.552)
Good choice. Yeah, that makes sense.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:37:36.216)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:37:38.209)
and then a couple of documentaries, the documentary, won't you be my neighbor about Mr. Rogers? incredible documentary, super inspiring. and then one that I actually just watched, I was going to mention, give a shout out to, and that's, daughters, on Netflix. It is about this pro this program, this daddy daughter dance program for men in prison.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:37:46.242)
Man, that one's great.

Eli (01:38:05.959)
incarcerated men, just like that. I watched it a few days ago and every time I pick up my daughter, I dance with her now. so, very like incredible movie, incredible documentary. and then I'm going to give my wife a pick. This is an official inspirational movie pick that I think is a really good pick and

I told my wife I would give it a special shout out just for her. Cause it's one of her favorite movies, the secret life of Walter Mitty. She loves that movie. I think it's a really good movie. It's, it's kind of like a, you know, go and go and like be who you want to be kind of movie. and yeah, I think it's a, it's really fun movie too. I think. Have you ever seen that movie secret life of Walter Mitty?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:38:52.717)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:39:00.046)
No, I've I remember seeing the trailer and even the trailer was like moving at the time I and I know it's one of the like I think it was Is that one of the earliest pivots for Ben Stiller to start directing? more less comedies and more serious stuff because I know now isn't yeah, cuz Cuz I think he had pretty consistently just been working on comedies cuz that was after Tropic Thunder Yeah, so

Eli (01:39:02.889)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (01:39:18.581)
May probably.

Eli (01:39:25.063)
Mm-hmm. It was, yeah.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:39:29.292)
So, and I remember it being received fairly decently at the time. So yeah, and I've met a couple of people who that's one of their absolute favorites. So that one has a good pedigree.

Eli (01:39:40.373)
So that's a special shout out for my wife. So do you have to name one that your wife would want you to shout out for her?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:39:47.214)
I don't know. She loves, I think she didn't mention any, but I'll mention she stands peanut butter Falcon. That's a really, really good one that whenever I think she even mentioned it when we were chatting and thinking of ones. She's also a big fan of the farewell. That's also if I think from the same year. It's super good. Yeah, that one.

Eli (01:39:50.165)
you

Eli (01:39:56.091)
great one. Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (01:40:07.593)
The farewell is great. That's another 2019.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:40:14.088)
Just a quick premise for both of those, those listening, cause they might be lost under the lost under, know, just lost the time. Cause gosh, that's six years ago. but, peanut butter Falcon is a, man with Down syndrome breaks out of basically a home that is not even actually made for him. It's made for the elderly, but the town has no care for him. because he wants to go participate in a wrestling like competition.

Eli (01:40:21.332)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:40:42.217)
Yeah. Pro wrestling kind of thing.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:40:43.646)
And, and this one guy, Shia LaBeouf helps him get there, along with, Ooh, forget her name, Madam Webb. What's her name? I don't remember, before the fall with Madam Webb. So, but she helps. No, that's not Kristen Stewart. gosh, I can't remember her name, but she, they all go down and are helping him get there to do that.

Eli (01:40:53.491)
Yes, Stuart.

Yes. Is it Kristen Stewart? that who it is? who am I thinking of?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:41:12.03)
And it's a touching film. It's good. It's elevated by the fact that the man with Down syndrome actually has Down syndrome. So a Down syndrome actor gets to be in it and he's also good. He's good in the film. And then The Farewell. That's right, thank you. The Farewell is, Awkwafina plays the lead character and then I forget the director's name, but.

Eli (01:41:21.201)
Right. Yeah. He's great. Yeah. It's Dakota Johnson, by the way. I looked it up. Yeah.

Eli (01:41:37.775)
I'm gonna beat myself up because...

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:41:40.662)
No, go for it. can get it while I'm describing it. Awkwafina plays the director's, is the director's stand in basically because the director is Lulu Wang. Thank you. Basically Lulu Wang's real grandmother at the time was dying of cancer, but no one in her family told her that because it is customary not to tell your elderly if they are dying in China because they start dying early, so to speak.

Eli (01:41:48.053)
Mm-hmm. Lulu Wang. Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:41:57.481)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:42:05.79)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:42:10.602)
as in their personality changes and everything. It's just so the whole family is going to visit because one of the relatives are getting married, but in reality, everyone's visiting to say their final respects before she will die of cancer. It's an interesting dilemma, morally speaking, but it's an excellent piece of as part of media, as media to consume as consumers.

Eli (01:42:23.827)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:42:31.955)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:42:39.758)
It's and it's, it's great. It's very, very funny, by the way. When I saw it in theaters, I was probably, me and one other person in a PAC theater understood the assignment and we're laughing like every 10 minutes. Cause it's so funny, but it is very, very sad. So, but it's inspiring the two of them, peanut butter Falcon inspires you to recognize that each person has aspirations and we should.

Eli (01:42:44.573)
Yes.

Eli (01:42:54.631)
It's very funny and very emotional. Yeah.

It is.

Eli (01:43:06.921)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:43:07.85)
encourage each other to flourish and pursue them and the farewell being one that, just think often of the mortality of, of your fellow man, not in a bad way, but in a way that can enhance the present moment to be more meaningful. so it's a, yeah, I thought I, those are my semi shout outs. Can't speak for my wife, but I think she would probably mention those.

Eli (01:43:17.086)
Yes.

Eli (01:43:21.641)
Yeah.

Eli (01:43:28.725)
Yeah. Catherine, right? Yes. Yeah. Well, great, great sort of picks by her, you know, through you. Yeah. Yes. Well, yeah, that's all these movies are great. All of our shout outs. Great. Hopefully people take away a few. I would encourage people to like just take

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:43:32.546)
That is correct, yes.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:43:41.238)
I hope she cosigns them. think she will.

Eli (01:43:58.047)
Just take one or two of these movies that we mentioned and put them on your calendar to watch over the next couple of weeks and just find ways to be inspired to, you know, it's a new year. There's new things ahead of us. Let's use film to be inspired toward those things. Maybe even be inspired in a way unexpected. That's always the best when you are inspired.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:44:19.416)
Mm-hmm.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:44:26.817)
yeah.

Eli (01:44:26.869)
by a piece of art and that totally takes you off guard. So I'll read off our lists real quick as we end. Melvin's list included, it's a wonderful life, waves, the way back technically, but really everything everywhere all at once. I'm gonna let you say the name of this one so that I don't.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:44:49.966)
Yeah.

Eli (01:44:55.901)
Is it Puella? Puella.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:44:56.556)
Auella Magi Maduga Magica.

Eli (01:44:59.829)
Okay. Yes. I was going to say Puella, but Puella is probably right. Puella Magi-Modica Magica. and also Tar. That was his list. My list included, Ikiru, The Untouchables, Whiplash, Little Women, the Greta Gerber 2019 version, and Soul. So those are our top five inspirational movies for the new year.

for you, hopefully. And so go watch those movies, pop them on your watch list. yeah, hopefully this is a good year. We know what's coming for 2025. I don't know what to expect from it, but I'm not gonna say anything else about all of that. So.

This is not a politics podcast, thank God.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:46:02.338)
glad our minds went to the same sad dark place.

Eli (01:46:02.869)
you

Eli (01:46:07.677)
but at last, I don't, I don't know what's ahead of us, but hopefully we, we still have our inspirational movies. but yeah, any, any final thoughts before we go Melvin?

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:46:14.542)
Price returning. That's all I know.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:46:23.886)
I think I think if you finished if each month you watch one of these movies we mentioned, you'd probably be in good vibes and you'd have really interesting things to talk about. Maybe even a movie slash book club, whatever movie club. But with the spirit of a book club, not sure. I don't know. But do that. That's what I recommend.

Eli (01:46:31.37)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Eli (01:46:43.379)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. Kind of watch one of the, you've got 10, technically 11 movies to work with. and then you can choose one of the honorable mentions to throw them for that last month. Yeah. Yeah. Good idea. yeah, I might do that too. I'm thinking about it. yeah. So yeah, that's all we have for this week. I hope you feel inspired to watch one of these inspirational movies or all of them.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:46:57.922)
Yeah, that'd be great.

Eli (01:47:15.701)
But yeah, I'll make sure again to put all the places to find Melvin and Cinematic Doctrine in the episode description. So make sure you go click those links and go follow Melvin, keep up with what he's doing, listen to his show. If you want, if you, a good transition point might be to go, I was on for a discussion of Howl's Moving Castle.

And so you can search for that in his podcast feed. you, if you're like, want to hear Eli on his podcast and then listen to all the other episodes. so yeah. but yeah, that's all we have for this week. Next week, we are going to be jumping into our next Spielberg movie, which is AI artificial intelligence. So that, I've already recorded that. It was a great discussion. So.

Melvin (Cinematic Doctrine) (01:47:52.066)
Yeah, do it.

Eli (01:48:10.313)
Look forward to that. And, yeah, that's all we got. I have been Eli Price for Melvin Benson and the Cinematic Doctrine Podcast. You've been listening to The Establishing Shot. We will see you next time.