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After all this buildup — months of interviews, editing, a trailer, and 19 previous episodes — we’ve made it to the season finale of The Formative Films Project. And what better way to cap it off than with a celebration of five of the best filmmakers working today?
We’ll look at the iconoclastic Paul Schrader, who’s built not only a successful career as a gun-for-hire screenwriter, but also an accomplished director in his own right. There’s also Paul Thomas Anderson, a Robert Altman disciple who’s leaned heavily into his influences while still crafting his own wholly original stories, whether it be in the San Fernando Valley or 1950s London.
Alfonso Cuarón — a third of the Academy Awards' beloved "Three Amigos" — has perfected the balance between mainstream and arthouse, from the Harry Potter franchise and big-budget science fiction, to poignant, authentically Mexican stories you might find in the Criterion Collection. And finally, there’s Bong Joon-ho, the South Korean auteur who’s mastered police procedurals, monster movies, family dramas, and high-concept sci-fi, all featuring commentary on class inequality. He even has three Oscars and a Palme d’Or to show for it.
While the work speaks for itself, this episode is truly a celebration of some of the best films — and filmmakers — of the past decade.
3:14 - 35:02: First Reformed (Liam Quinn)
35:04 - 1:04:29: The Master (Ishan Parikh)
1:04:30 - 1:35:23: Phantom Thread (Oscar Pavlove)
1:35:44 - 2:07:02: Roma (Stephanie Morales Macedo)
2:07:03 - 2:36:34: Parasite (Jay Tapaoan)
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A name that kept popping up throughout my conversations was David Lynch, the enigmatic, reclusive auteur whose films have been known to confuse and captivate. Because of that, it was no surprise his 2001 film Mulholland Drive was highly sought after as a “favorite film” worthy of dissection. We’ll finally talk about it later in this episode, but the reason two of his films are topics of discussion here are that he’s such a singular storyteller; for better or worse, a David Lynch film is a DAVID LYNCH film. The rich color palette, the Angelo Badalamenti score, the surrealism, his unique sense of humor — it all makes for great conversation after the fact.
The same could be said for Darren Aronofsky, another writer/director with a sparse film resume, yet one that’s made noise at both the Academy Awards and in cult fandoms alike. His intense films delve into some rather dark and/or serious subject matter — artistic struggle, biblical allegories, climate change — but again, still very much thought provoking, if not somewhat controversial.
2:30 - 33:47: Blue Velvet (Taylor Weber)
33:48 - 1:05:53: Mulholland Drive (Nat Hoopes)
1:06:15 - 1:35:07: Black Swan (Margarita Madu)
1:35:08 - 2:08:02: mother! (Faith Maddox)
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As we’ve discussed throughout this series, filmmaking is a collaborative medium. We all tend to look toward the director as the captain of the ship and a key reason why a movie succeeds or fails, but it is a “team sport” at the end of day.
Having said that, fully realizing your vision as a writer/director is admirable and, ultimately, should be a main goal when making any film. There’s something to be said for having a distinct visual storytelling style that’s recognizable from film to film — as much a trademark of a director’s legacy and talent as it is a formalistic choice to best tell the story.
For our final three episodes, we’ll look at a group of writer/directors — better known as auteurs — that have reached this creative peak over the course of their respective careers.
To start, we’ll look at two favorites of Film Bros and #FilmTwitter alike: Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. Both lean into their influences proudly — Éric Rohmer, Jacques Tati, and Michael Mann films for Anderson, and everything from Kung Fu to French New Wave to Blaxploitation for Tarantino — yet both have paved their own way to distinctive directorial signatures of their own. From the 90s Sundance boom, to the grand stages at Cannes and the Oscars, these two filmmakers have captivated audiences for nearly 30 years and are still two of the best working today.
3:07 - 23:52: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Sophia Belshe)
23:53 - 50:09: Moonrise Kingdom (Ryan Njenga)
50:10 - 1:14:15: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Noah Mercer)
1:14:37 - 1:43:09: Reservoir Dogs (Sam Kingma)
1:43:10 - 2:08:14: Pulp Fiction (Jack Dodd)
2:08:15 - 2:36:15: Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood (Mitch Osterlund)
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Last episode we talked about some (at least mostly) heroic figures in this “Dudes Rock Cinema” sub-genre, featuring leading men executing their jobs to save the town, those they love, and themselves. We also touched on the blurred lines between “good” and “evil” with Miami Vice, and we’ll further blur those lines this episode.
Some of these men are well-intentioned; there’s an argument to be made that Ryan Gosling’s Driver is a hero of some sorts even if he is brutally violent with an icy demeanor. And the McManus Brothers have an oath to rid the streets of evil, even if they commit several murders while doing so. As for Lou Bloom and Henry Hill, I wouldn’t exactly consider them role models.
Either way, each of these films depict moral dilemmas, and how each of these men react when they’re pushed to their limits and forced to make the choice to either stay where they are, or get ahead.
2:14 - 32:34: Drive (Gus Hunninghake)
32:35 - 1:03:11: Nightcrawler (Adam Cole)
1:03:33 - 1:27:48: The Boondock Saints (Andrew Lee)
1:27:49 - 1:57:06: GoodFellas (Joey Mulinaro)
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I somewhat recently discovered the existence of a sub-genre of films called “Dudes Rock Cinema,” which basically equates to '80s, '90s, and '00s action and crime films, leading men executing their jobs at a high level, and/or anything your dad might watch on a Sunday afternoon.
Over the next two episodes, we'll look at a group of male-centric films that operate in this lane. Some portray heroic figures who, even if they bend the rules of heroism and/or the law, we still root for them — think Wyatt Earp, John McClane, and The Dude. On the flip side, we have some nefarious folks who choose a slightly darker path, oftentimes getting involved in criminal activity — think Lou Bloom, The MacManus Brothers, and Henry Hill. Either way, they're each unique portraits of masculinity on the big screen.
2:55 - 28:51: The Big Lebowski (Gavin Miller-Broomfield)
28:52 - 54:45: Tombstone (Ryan Arey)
55:09 - 1:21:31: Die Hard (Robert Mays)
1:21:32 - 1:56:26: Miami Vice (Lukas Fryer)
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There’s an interesting prism through which we view comedians and/or comedic actors. At times, it feels like they aren’t viewed as “real actors” with range or that comedy is somehow easy, when that’s certainly not the case. And while some still can’t make the transition, there are many notable examples of comedians giving astounding “serious” performances.
And that’s where we’ll go next for this episode. It’s easy to think of Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, and Sandler as goofballs, yet they found it within themselves to give melancholic, contemplative and nuanced performances throughout their career. In Sandler’s case, he uses his anger as a weapon, unleashing it in key spots in his work with the Safdie Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson.
There’s also Will Smith, who has made a name in the comedy and action lanes, yet every few years makes an Oscar play in a “serious” drama. Chris Evans is best known as Captain America, yet he's also gone heel on occasion. And Daniel Craig has effortlessly gone from the debonair James Bond to a detective version of Colonel Sanders, setting up a whole franchise in the process.
Basically, there's a pretty good track record of actors "playing against type."
2:55 - 28:08: Good Will Hunting (Spencer Butterfield)
28:09 - 52:27: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Trey Brillhart)
52:28 - 1:18:00: The Pursuit of Happyness (Marco Marquez)
1:18:22 - 1:38:22: Stranger Than Fiction (Carlos Peterson)
1:38:23 - 2:07:27: Uncut Gems (Tatum Goetting)
2:07:28 - 2:36:21: Knives Out (Rachel Gaylor)
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Sticking with last episode’s theme, we’ll continue looking at period pieces and films that utilize and examine history. Three of the films in this episode detail historic events — the inception of a social media platform, innovation on the baseball diamond and investigative journalists uncovering a scandal involving the Catholic Church.
But the fourth film — which is the one we’ll be leading off this episode with — deals more with historical fiction.
1:42 - 20:27: National Treasure (Lucy Peterson)
20:28 - 42:41: The Social Network (Wyatt Hall)
43:04 - 1:14:11: Moneyball (Elmer Guardado)
1:14:12 - 1:46:02: Spotlight (Scott Chasen)
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One of the benefits of filmmaking is that directors are able to reconstruct and re-examine history through biopics and period pieces. That’s why we’ll next look back to the past, with eight movies that either deal with real historic events or entertaining historical fiction. And since weighing historical accuracy vs. dramatic licensing is up to the individual viewer, we won’t deal with that too directly here.
We’ll examine masterworks from directors Akira Kurosawa, Spike Lee and Francis Ford Coppola. We’ll look at a pair of Best Picture winners, and at least one more that probably should’ve won Best Picture. Spanning from 1954 to 2015, each film makes a point to utilize history in entertaining and informative ways.
2:17 - 31:12: Seven Samurai (Parker Hoyt)
31:13 - 58:22: Apocalypse Now (Mark Loftus)
58:45 - 1:23:13: Malcolm X (Graham Cannon)
1:23:14 - 1:51:25: Forrest Gump (Tyler Jones)
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Building off last episode's exploration of genre filmmaking — specifically in the thriller/horror realm — we'll next examine beloved science fiction classics from the likes of Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg, and newer entries from Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan. We’ll look at aliens, spaceships, groundbreaking visual effects, Harrison Ford in various stages of discontent, Leonardo DiCaprio’s obsession with spinning tops, and more.
2:29 - 26:06: Alien (Caleb Mercer)
26:07 - 51:15: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Corey Minkoff)
51:16 - 1:15:37: Blade Runner (Tiernon Riesenmy)
1:16:01 - 1:31:05: Blade Runner 2049 (Jase Owens)
1:31:06 - 1:57:08: Inception (Greg Woods)
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One of the biggest disappointments about not watching movies in theaters during the pandemic was missing out on that communal experience — a chance to laugh, cry, and/or be scared together.
That last part — the rush that comes from “being scared” and the odd sense of comfort that comes from that — is where we’ll go next. Like I mentioned at the end of the last episode, we’ll stay in the genre lane, delving into the thriller, horror and sci-fi films we can’t get enough of.
In this episode, that means looking at the work of Paul Verhoeven, George A. Romero and Jonathan Demme, as well as a couple under the radar picks you might have missed from within the past 15 years or so.
2:18 - 28:48: Elle (Patricia Gaston)
28:49 - 51:18: Pee Mak (Katie Counts)
51:20 - 1:19:35: The Silence of the Lambs (Courtney Bierman)
1:19:48 - 1:46:11: The Descent (Connor Sandheinrich)
1:46:12 - 2:11:09: Dawn of the Dead (1978) (Emily Intravia)
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Welcome back to The Formative Films Project as we reach the halfway point of this journey.
Building off last episode’s discussion on high fantasy and escapist films, we’ll shift to a heightened version of reality that resembles our own. Whether that be a corrupt corporate ladder in alternate present-day Oakland, a supervillain coming to terms with unexpected victory, or three superheroes coming to terms with their identities, these are ultimately stories about people’s inner struggles. There’s also plenty of explosions, action set pieces, and costumes, though, so we still get that escapist fare.
1:57 - 24:45: Sorry to Bother You (Dawson Hughes)
24:46 - 47:35: Megamind (Antonette Gichohu)
47:36 - 1:12:34: Spider-Man 2 (Terrell Henderson)
1:12:55 - 1:37:17: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Meet Kapadia)
1:37:18 - 2:03:53: The Dark Knight (Kameron McQueen)
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A common thread throughout these conversations — and moviegoing as a whole — is looking to the movies as an escape, a portal to another world to either find the best or worst in humanity. For our next two episodes, we’ll look at 10 films that do just that, such as Peter Falk reading a fairy tale to Fred Savage, two different takes on Alice in Wonderland, Miles Morales being brought to the big screen, or Armie Hammer trying to make an equisapien MLK Jr. Each of these films represent either a world entirely different from our own, or at least a heightened version of our reality.
2:01 - 17:42: The NeverEnding Story (Jane' Franklin)
17:43 - 44:12: The Princess Bride (Fulton Caster)
44:13 - 1:07:09: Alice in Wonderland (1951) (Alicia Marksberry)
1:07:28 - 1:28:56: Pan's Labyrinth (Josh McQuade)
1:28:57 - 1:56:14: Life of Pi (Adam Lang)
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Welcome back to The Formative Films Project for part 2 of our miniseries on musicals and music-driven movies. From Bing Crosby to Ryan Gosling, Christopher Plummer to Jack Black, the Monkees to Stillwater, or Jean ValJean to Elton John — here are our favorite movies about the music, and how these two mediums can coalesce into something special.
1:40 - 27:04: Rocketman (Brooke Audano)
27:05 - 54:19: School of Rock (Emma Starks)
54:21 - 1:19:31: ¡Three Amigos! (Kyle Tyler)
1:19:51 - 1:43:11: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Jaya Chakka)
1:43:12 - 2:07:00: Almost Famous (Rylie Koester)
2:07:01 - 2:34:32: Nashville (Richard Chandler)
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As Julie Andrews once belted out on the rolling hillside of Salzburg, Austria, “The hills are alive with the sound of music,” and so is this podcast. For our next 12 films, we’ll be looking at some classic musicals (including The Sound of Music), musicians dealing with the vices that come with fame, the power of rock music, and more. From Bing Crosby to Ryan Gosling, Christopher Plummer to Jack Black, the Monkees to Stillwater, or Jean ValJean to Elton John — here are our favorite movies about the music, and how these two mediums can coalesce into something special.
1:59 - 21:03: White Christmas (Claire Biles)
21:04 - 41:50: The Sound of Music (Caroline Johnson)
41:51 - 1:09:16: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aroog Khaliq)
1:09:35 - 1:31:55: Les Misérables (Darby VanHoutan)
1:31:56 - 2:01:10: La La Land (Arman Alhosseini)
2:01:11 - 2:24:37: Head (Kevin Maher)
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Welcome back to The Formative Films Project and part 2 of our miniseries looking at depictions of romance in movies. Last time we talked about some relationships hindered by bad timing and miscommunications. This time around, we’ll look at five relationships with abrupt expiration dates, whether it's a brief encounter, star-crossed lovers, or just a bad fit.
1:33 - 27:56: Roman Holiday (Ian Brownell)
27:57 - 54:17: Brokeback Mountain (Lara Korte)
54:18 - 1:18:43: Modern Romance (Jacob Douglas)
1:19:05 - 1:42:13: Her (Jake Alda Coffey)
1:42:14 - 2:03:43: Marriage Story (Dru Jones)
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Welcome back to The Formative Films Project. We’ll next look at depictions of romance in film, whether that be young love in the modern era, brief encounters, or even when a long-term relationship isn’t meant to be.
Most of these are love stories. Some of them are stories about love. Either way, these 10 movies deal with how we connect and communicate with each other, simultaneously a welcome catharsis during a pandemic and a reminder of our desire to, well, get back out there.
1:53 - 25:16: Love & Basketball (JJ Corbier)
25:17 - 53:15: (500) Days of Summer (Nicole Asbury)
53:16 - 1:17:20: Love, Rosie (Nicole Dolan)
1:17:40 - 1:42:39: About Time (Sean Collins)
1:42:40 - 2:07:46: Weekend (Willy Evans)
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Welcome back to The Formative Films Project, for the fourth and final chapter in this opening Coming of Age miniseries. The first three episodes delved into specific moments of growing up during childhood, teen and young adult years. Finally, we’ll look at different depictions of family — both the one you choose and the one you’re born with — and how that shapes Coming of Age stories.
1:43 - 27:33: Little Women (2019) (Katherine White)
27:35 - 45:46: La Ciénaga (Colton Trowbridge)
45:48 - 1:08:49: The Color Purple (Erika Lobati)
1:08:50 - 1:40:04: Harold and Maude (Sarah Baker)
1:40:32 - 1:56:23: Up (Jack McGarr)
1:56:24 - 2:21:22: Auntie Mame (Ivy Moylan)
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Welcome back to The Formative Films Project for part 3 of this opening Coming of Age miniseries. We’re reaching the end of exploring tales of adolescence and into some of the most exhilarating and terrifying moments of growing up — the college and post-grad years.
1:32 - 11:55: Everybody Wants Some!! (Chance Parker)
11:56 - 24:30: Animal House (Paul Samberg)
24:31 - 52:02: Spring Breakers (Nathan Shapiro)
52:22 - 1:16:40: The Graduate (EJ Paras)
1:16:41 - 1:39:12: Frances Ha (Taylor Worden)
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Welcome back to another episode of The Formative Films Project! This is part two of our opening Coming of Age miniseries, with this episode looking at the dog days of high school and the oft-maligned teen years of growing up.
1:32 - 19:22: Menace II Society (Sam Valdez)
19:23 - 44:58: Moonlight (Lourdes Kalusha-Aguirre)
44:59 - 1:10:42: Lady Bird (Grace Fawcett)
1:11:02 - 1:34:08: The Breakfast Club (Logan Fricks)
1:34:09 - 1:59:40: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Emily Durkin)
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After months-worth of Zoom calls and way too many late nights on Adobe Premiere and Audition, the first episode of The Formative Films Project is finally here! To kick things off, we'll start with a four-part miniseries on Coming of Age films, with this first episode focusing on tales of those (at least somewhat nostalgic) childhood years and into the preteen/teen years.
2:59 - 21:29: My Neighbor Totoro (Sam Mosher)
21:33 - 38:55: Spirited Away (Brianna Lamb)
38:56 - 1:05:53: Inside Out (Chris Heady)
1:05:56 - 1:33:30: What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Asif Haque)
1:33:30 - 1:59:48: Mid90s (Cami Koons)
