#96. A Look Back at the 2012 Oscars
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This bonus episode skips a review of the current year's Oscars and instead has Vic, Sonny, and JVL re-litigate the 94th Academy Awards' actual subject, the films of 2011 — on the premise (per a listener's suggestion) that awards should only be handed out a decade later, once recency bias has faded. Working category by category from screenplay up through best picture, they compare the real nominees and winners (The Artist, Midnight in Paris, The Help, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Hugo, The Tree of Life, and more) against who should have won: Sonny gives supporting actor to Albert Brooks's chilling turn in Drive and ultimately names Drive his best picture of the year, Vic swings between earnest picks (Emma Watson, Moneyball, Brad Bird's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol for director) and jokes (Octavia Spencer snubs, January Jones's X-Men: First Class villainy), and JVL trolls his way through with Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch for best director and then dead-seriously crowns Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol the year's true "basic cable classic" best picture, unseating The Artist. Along the way there's a long, funny detour on Gary Oldman's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy being nearly incomprehensible (Vic pleads total confusion, JVL and Sonny concede it only clicks after reading the Le Carré novel), a debate over whether Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth had the bigger 2011 breakout, and Vic and Sonny riffing on Kirsten Dunst's underrated hotness and the perils of two "wide heads" breeding. The episode opens light on the usual personal-update banter, with just a quick Patreon plug and a St. Patrick's Day check-in before diving straight into the format.
From the show notes
It's impossible to know what's going to stand the test of time, which is why the Oscars are, in their own way, a mild joke. (Has anyone intentionally watched The Artist in the last 10 years?) So why not look at the movies of ten years ago and see what really lasted all these years later?
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00Hello and welcome to another bonus episode of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victor Matus along with Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Just a reminder, the Sub-Beacon is now available through Patreon. Go to Sub-Beacon.com. You'll easily find us. Tell your friends and subscribe. So this coming Sunday, I believe is the 94th Academy Awards. And for that reason, was it last Sunday?
Sonny00:00:39That's this coming up. It's not. It hasn't happened yet. It's going to be because this is Monday. Yes, it is. We're taping this on Monday.
Vic00:00:48So I hope you all enjoyed. I hope you had a lovely St. Patrick's Day. So this is we are going to be discussing Oscar picks, but not just any Oscar. Picks. Sonny, why don't you explain? What do you have cooked up for us here? What was this is your idea?
Sonny00:01:03Was it? I thought this was JBL. It was a it was a it was a writer, a reader wrote in.
JVL00:01:09I forget. And they said, these things are so ridiculous because the truth is, we should make this like Athletic Hall of Fame's where you don't get to vote on them until 10 years after they come out. Right. Because otherwise, the recency bias is just it overpowers everything. And so. It really takes about 10 years to really decide what movies are good, what screenplays are good, what performances are great. And so I forget. Again, I think it was Elliot, my buddy Elliot, but it may have been somebody else said we should we should talk about 10 years ago and just what are the what should be the Oscar winners if we are judging today? Yes. From 10 years ago.
Vic00:01:52So rather than talk about the the 2022 Oscars. Celebrating the films of twenty twenty one, we're going to be handling the twenty twelve Oscars that talk about the movies that came out in twenty eleven, released in twenty eleven. Do they hold up? And I think maybe the best thing we do is we go through the the actual official nominees per category of the main categories and who won and then talk about what we would have liked to have.
JVL00:02:23So if I could just say for my own part, I know I did this exercise. With. Out consulting. Yeah, any. So I don't even remember who any of the nominees or winners. Well, you're going to fall. I did was look through the list of movies from that year and pick the ones that I thought were the best. You're going to find this really fascinating.
Vic00:02:41We'll say I started off by looking at the actual nominees and then I flipped over to just the list of movies in twenty eleven and said, wow, I can't believe these other movies also. So what category should we start with, Sonny? Yeah, why don't we work away from the bottom? Like, let's say from the bottom, like best supporting actors.
Sonny00:02:58I'd say screenplay. Let's do the screenplays, then supporting, then lead, supporting actor, actress, lead actor, actress and then director and then best picture.
Vic00:03:08Perfect.
Sonny00:03:09Does that sound good?
Vic00:03:10Yeah, let's go. Go ahead.
Sonny00:03:14Am I am I reading? Oh, I'm sorry.
Vic00:03:16Yeah. What did you what did you start with best original screenplay, the actual ones and who won and then we'll talk about the screenplay.
Sonny00:03:23I thought you were doing this.
Vic00:03:24Oh, no, you're the host. I have a list of of who won. But I don't have the other nominees.
Sonny00:03:30All right. Hold on one sec. I got to pull up the Oscars.
Vic00:03:32Oscars will have it for you. Oscars dot com ish.
Sonny00:03:35I'm not going to that.
JVL00:03:36I'm Oscar, like a like a normal person.
Sonny00:03:39All right. We'll start with the original screenplay. So the winner was Midnight in Paris. The nominees I'm just going to say the names of the movies and not the person who wrote it. Nominees were The Artist, Bridesmaids, Margin Call and A Separation. Those are the winner. Midnight in Paris. Woody Allen winning Oscar. Here's ten years ago. Can you believe it? That's not allowed anymore. All right. So, Vic, what did you think? What did you think?
Vic00:04:06I think on only two occasions here do I or maybe only this one occasion do I agree with the winner. Was the winner Woody Allen Midnight in Paris, he said? Yeah. I would give it to Midnight in Paris. This is good time travel. I love time travel. And this is time travel to the 1920s, plus the idea of we all because I hear this a lot from people. Older people, shall we say, about it. Older than you. Yes. Which is ancient. So it was every that was when things were better. And then I find myself saying it. We've all said it. And next thing you know, you're in the fin de siècle. And then they're going all the way back in time. That's a great idea. Funny. And well, I mean, but you have to be into it. We would like it as writers. I could see as a writer wanting to live in Paris in the 1920s. That would be wild. So I'm fine with it. What did you guys think?
JVL00:05:01I just picked I did not break it down to original adapted. I just I just the best one screenplay of the year was Moneyball.
Sonny00:05:09Ah, OK. That's what I have for adapted for original screenplay. My pick a little off the wall here. Source code.
Vic00:05:18I never did with Jake Gyllenhaal Jake Gyllenhaal movie.
Sonny00:05:21It was directed by Duncan Jones.
Vic00:05:23Was it based on the book by.
Sonny00:05:27No, because it's an original.
Vic00:05:28Oh, no. Sorry.
Sonny00:05:30I think it was an original. Maybe it was based on a book. Oh, no. I looked it up.
Vic00:05:35I looked it up. I don't think it was based on a book. What is it called? Cryptonomicon or one of those one of those books that, you know, that.
Sonny00:05:39Oh, Snow Crash. Is that what you're thinking?
Vic00:05:41No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But it was a Jake Gyllenhaal movie.
Sonny00:05:43OK. All right. But source code, which I think I'm pretty sure was an original. I don't think it was adapted from a book.
Vic00:05:50That's not the one where he has to repeat himself over and over.
Sonny00:05:52Right. That's why he there's eight minutes. He relives the last. Yes. And it's over and over again. He has to solve the mystery of like who the the bomber is on the train. It's very, very good. It's very.
Vic00:06:03Neil. Neil. Help me out here.
Sonny00:06:06Stevenson. You're thinking of. I don't know why you're thinking of a Neil Stevenson. I don't know what you're thinking of. I don't know what you're thinking of.
Vic00:06:12I'm thinking about it. All right. Listeners are going to help me.
Sonny00:06:15OK. Yeah. But anyway, I really I really like that screenplay. I think it's very clever and original and I quite enjoyed it. OK. Next. All right. Yes. There's no screenplay is money, but you didn't do it. You didn't. Neither of you know.
Vic00:06:30I guess I did original screenplay. I didn't do adapted. I'm sorry. I only did it. I just did.
Sonny00:06:35One screen. Anyway, I picked I picked Moneyball for adapted screenplay, which I thought was very good. All right. Supporting actress, supporting actress. The nominees were Octavia Spencer in The Help, Berenice Bejo in The Artist, Jessica Chastain in The Help, Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids and Janet McTeer. And Albert Nobbs. No idea what Albert Nobbs is. I don't know.
Vic00:07:00That's the name of the movie is.
Sonny00:07:01Albert. The movie is Albert Nobbs. Hold on. This is what Wikipedia says. Wikipedia says it's a 2011 drama film directed by Rodrigo Garcia, starring Glenn Close, based on the 1927 novella Albert Nobbs by George Moore. So wow. Just FYI. FYI. A winner was Octavia Spencer in The Help.
?00:07:20Hmm.
JVL00:07:21All right. I bet a lot of people have watched that since.
Sonny00:07:24You know what?
Vic00:07:25I like Octavia Spencer. I wouldn't pick her. Sonny, who did you pick?
Sonny00:07:29I picked. So that was the year X-Men First Class came out. I picked January Jones for her portrayal of Emma Frost. Her excellent, amazing performance as Emma Frost, one of the great characters in all of comicdom. How dare you. And she was so she put so much emotion. She put so much emotion and spirit into that performance that I just had to give it to her.
JVL00:07:55Good for you. JVL. The best sporting performance of the year was clearly Mila Kunis in Black Swan. I really admired the way she went down. Not. Oh, into the character.
Vic00:08:07No, I was going to say she was also in another great movie that year. Mila Kunis was in two movies that year.
Sonny00:08:13That's not a 2000. I love it. I would have picked that. That movie came out in 2010.
Vic00:08:17No. Yeah. Mila Kunis was in the other movie with Justin Timberlake with Friends with Benefits, and I would have given it to her for that. Yeah. Although that's like really best actress. Okay.
Sonny00:08:28Okay. All right. But again, that movie came out in 2010, so don't pick any more Black Swans.
Vic00:08:32Okay. That's the only Black Swan I have. Okay. My choice, my choice, which I believe is the best one of all, is Emma Watson, Harry
JVL00:08:39Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. She deserves it. Well, that's the one where you get her. How old was she then?
Vic00:08:48She was older. Oh, yeah. That's when she goes in disguise.
JVL00:08:51Disguise? What do you mean in the dream? Disguise was strange. Oh, no. That's where she's like, you get the dream version of her where she's naked.
Vic00:09:00Yeah. It's kind of a drip. Because it's like they're all like glowing. Can't say that.
JVL00:09:04They're glowing. Now, if you see it in 3D, and then you turn and you look up a little bit, you can see a tiny bit of this.
Vic00:09:14Yeah. I need to like apply some sort of a filter to it because maybe it would look more realistic. Okay. So, good. That's who I have. Emma Watson. Okay. Next up is best supporting actor.
Sonny00:09:25Best supporting actor. Okay. The nominees were Christopher Plummer in Beginners. Yeah. Beginners is a 2010... He's the winner, by the way. I love him, but I've never heard of this movie. Beginners is a 2010 American romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Mills. It tells the story of Oliver, a man reflecting on the life and death of his father, Hal, while trying to forge a new romantic relationship with a woman, Anna, dealing with father issues of her own. Mike Mills? Like from R.E.M.? How about that? I never saw that. Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn, Jonah Hill in Moneyball, Nick Nolte in Warrior, and Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Vic00:10:07Oh, people were big on that one. Wasn't that Jonathan Safran Foer? That was...
Sonny00:10:12Yes.
?00:10:13Yes.
Sonny00:10:14Okay.
Vic00:10:15Okay.
JVL00:10:16What did you guys pick? The Best Supporting Actor that year was actually Jeremy Irons in Margin Call. Margin Call is a wildly underrated movie.
Vic00:10:25It is wildly underrated. I find myself fascinated any time I come across a clip of it. It's just really well... It's a great cast, by the way, too.
JVL00:10:33Kevin Spacey. Very solid. Yeah. Solid. It's solid. Visions in that movie, too. Yeah.
Vic00:10:40Paul Bettany. No. It's... Yeah. It's really good. Is it on... I think...
JVL00:10:47Is it better than Big Short? Because did it get overshadowed by Big Short? They're very, very different films. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Very, very different films. Sure.
Vic00:10:54But I like Margin Call a lot. All right. Good. I thought I was the only one. That's good to know. I'll tell you... First of all, my weekend with Marilyn was a big thing at that time. People couldn't stop talking about this movie with Eddie Redmayne. Eddie Redmayne is the photographer and Michelle Williams is Marilyn Monroe. I never saw it, though. I guess I should have.
Sonny00:11:15I don't think many people did.
Vic00:11:17Okay. You know who I really liked that year? Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Ides of March.
Sonny00:11:22Oh, yeah.
Vic00:11:23He plays the campaign manager. Yeah. Oh. If you go there, you could still get a clip. You could see the clip where he fires Ryan Gosling. He's so good.
Sonny00:11:33Yeah. Okay. My pick is Albert Brooks in Drive. You know what? Oh, you like him.
Vic00:11:39You know what? That was my second pick. Great movie.
Sonny00:11:42My second pick was Albert Brooks. Great movie and he's very, very good in it. It's the sort of thing that you would expect him to get a nomination for.
Vic00:11:51Yes. He was not even nominated or he was? Too scary. No, he was not. JVL, do you remember ... I think we've talked about this in the movie Drive, the scene where he kills Bryan Cranston. Yeah. It's too scary.
Sonny00:12:02Just let it out. It's scary. It's also just the sort of scene where ... and I like Bryan Cranston a lot, so take this all with a grain of salt, but this is very much a TV actor versus a movie actor scene, that sequence with Brooks and Bryan Cranston. Bryan Cranston who's good and I like, but it just was like there's a different depth to those two. Yeah.
Vic00:12:24And it's funny. I mean, Albert Brooks is such a likable guy in so many movies and then you see this and
JVL00:12:29you're like, "Ugh." One of my favorite Albert Brooks performances is actually in Out of Sight, which is the Elmore Leonard movie. Oh, wait. He plays the rich guy. Yeah, yeah. He's the rich guy. So it's the Elmore Leonard movie that really made George Clooney a movie star. And Albert Brooks plays this rich guy who was sent to white collar prison, or to ... I guess to like real prison. Yeah, real prison. And it's just ... he's so funny. Yes.
Vic00:12:54And great. Don Cheadle. Don Cheadle. Don Cheadle. A great scene with Don Cheadle. Oh, so good. That's also very uncomfortable. Okay. On to best, best actress.
Sonny00:13:07Best actress. So here are the nominees. Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher, Glenn Close in, again, Albert Nobbs.
Vic00:13:14I've never heard of this movie.
Sonny00:13:17Albert Nobbs. Viola Davis in The Help, Rudi Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn. Okay. Those are the nominees. Okay. Meryl Streep won, of course, for The Iron Lady.
JVL00:13:29Yes. Of course, she always does. The award should have gone to Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia. Didn't see Melancholia. You should visit Daily Lotion. Oh, okay. Okay. I will just say this about Kirsten. Not that I want to objectify her, because I actually do think she's a wonderful actress. She is sneaky hot. Sneaky. Isn't that what you're saying? People make fun of her. No, no, no. I know what you're saying. No, because people, they call her Snaggletooth, and there's a whole ... Before people hated Anne Hathaway, they hated Kirsten Dunst. And I am telling you, not only is Kirsten Dunst not hateable as an actress, maybe as a human being she is, I don't know her, but she's a wonderful actress and a great screen presence. She's from New Jersey. And she is sneaky hot. Don't buy on that Snaggletooth stuff.
Vic00:14:20I'm not a ... I mean, I recognize her hotness, particularly in one of the greatest movies of all time. Bring it on. Bring it on. Thank you. You know there's only one answer with her and Eliza Dushku, but I'm not drawn to her per se, personally, because she has sort of a wide head, and that's my ... As a fellow wide head person, I'm not drawn to people of the same dimensions. Yeah.
Sonny00:14:45Well, it's like you don't want two ... The passenger pigeons, you don't want two divers, because you breed two divers together, they'll just dive right to the death.
Vic00:14:55That's right. You need the opposite.
Sonny00:14:57You get two wide heads, and it's like a black hole.
JVL00:15:00It's real problems for the space-time continuum. Sonny, who did you like?
Sonny00:15:06We're on actress ... I had a couple choices here, but I'm going to go with Rooney Mara in Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, who I liked a lot.
JVL00:15:16She does not look like a monkey, right? No, no.
Sonny00:15:19She's lovely. That's the Mara, apparently, who does not look like a monkey, according to Vic. They're both lovely. Unlike Kate.
Vic00:15:25They're both lovely in their species category.
JVL00:15:28You know, Victorino, I don't know if you realize this, but Rooney Mara was so committed to that role that she appeared nude on the European version of that one-sheet poster.
Vic00:15:42Oh, stop.
JVL00:15:43Oh, yeah. So on the ... whatever the European version of the one-sheet, she has tits out.
Vic00:15:49Good for her. You know who I like? Nudes you can use. I'll tell you who I like. I like Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids. I mean, I know she did her thing in SNL. I know. You're like, "She's really good in that movie." I liked her. And I would have given maybe Rose Byrne a runner-up role for best supporting, but I really thought she was genuinely funny. There's a really cute scene ... The sex scenes with Jon Hamm are very funny, but the scene where she's with the radar gun, I just think it's good. Okay. On to best actor. What do you got? All right. What did we have?
Sonny00:16:25The nominees. John Duharden in The Artist, he won, Damian Bashir in A Better Life, George Clooney in The Descendants, Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Brad Pitt in Moneyball. Thick.
Vic00:16:40Oh. I like Gary Oldman, but that movie has ... The plot was F minus, man. I don't know.
Sonny00:16:48What the hell happened there? There's a 0% chance you understood a single thing that was happening in that film.
Vic00:16:51No, I didn't. I'm not sure. And I tried ... I'll tell you this, though. I tried so hard.
JVL00:16:55Oh, my God. I was slightly lost myself.
Sonny00:16:57Oh. I mean, I know if I got a little bit lost the first time watching it that ... Don't. Forget it. Forget it. Vic is like a wandering through the desert. I don't know.
Vic00:17:05Does it help to see it a ... Empty cut cup. How many times do I have to see this movie to get it?
Sonny00:17:08I'm like, what? Dust rattling around in it, begging for alms. Can someone please explain? This is exciting. I don't ... Why? Why is Tom Hardy in this? Vic. What is he doing?
JVL00:17:19I don't want you to take this the wrong way. Yes, JVL. But there is nothing. There is no format for this story which would be accessible for you. Not the novel.
Vic00:17:31Are you saying the one with Alec Guinness?
JVL00:17:32They'll have an Alec Guinness? Not the BBC version. Not the novel. The BBC version with Alec Guinness, literally, it is not until hour three that you begin to find your footing as a viewer. No. No. No. No. I almost watched it. There's no set up. It just starts in media res with these 50 different names, like with Russians, many of whom never appear on screen. It is not an accessible work.
Vic00:17:59I thank you because I kept on thinking, do I have to watch this to understand, because I want to like this. People love Smiley. People love Smiley's. Now, I love it. It's great. I'm just saying this is not for you. This is not for me. Okay. Best actor? You're asking me best actor?
JVL00:18:14Are you ready for this?
Vic00:18:15Best actor. Chris Evans in Captain America: First Avenger, and I'll tell you why. He came out of nowhere. He came out of nowhere with nobody liking him. What the fuck are you talking about? He was the Human Torch.
Sonny00:18:25That didn't count. He was in movies for like a decade before this.
Vic00:18:27No, I've never seen him, except for the only time I saw him was Human Torch. He was Human Torch, and he comes into this, and this movie was a great movie, and I thought he pulled it off. For somebody who was a no-name, and then he made this, he became a big star.
Sonny00:18:43This movie made him a big star. If that's the criterion, how could you not pick Chris Hemsworth, who was better- In Thor that same year? In Thor, and is in the same year, and was actually unknown. When they hired Chris Hemsworth, people were like, "Who is this? This Australian that no one has ever heard of."
Vic00:18:57That's how I felt about Chris Evans.
Sonny00:18:58And- And he's actually really good in that movie. He's in the diner scene where he's smashing the coffee cups.
Vic00:19:03Yes, but that's the only scene I really think about in that movie, whereas Captain America was a solid movie throughout, with Tommy Lee Jones. Go ahead, Sonny. Who is your favorite best actor?
Sonny00:19:14I'm actually going to pick Gary Oldman and Tinker Taylor.
Vic00:19:16Again, I like him. I like Gary Oldman a lot, just knowing what the fuck's happening in this movie.
JVL00:19:21Me too, actually. Oh my gosh. Same thing, Sonny. I like Sonny. Same thing. So I- the only reason I would ever revisit that version of Tinker Taylor is if I just had an itch, like a le carre itch to scratch, but I only had two hours to do it. You know? Because in every other way, it is inferior, but he's very good in it, and I don't know, every once in a while, every ten years, you might have an itch for two hours of le carre.
Sonny00:19:49Yeah, the movie- again, I'm not 100% the movie works just as a movie. Just as a, like, finite piece of storytelling, because it is- it is insanely complicated. I watched it, and then I read the book, and I understood what was hap- I, like, it's one of those things where, like, watching the movie before reading the book probably helped me understand the book a little bit better as I was reading it. But then, like, once I'd read the book, I was like, "Oh, okay, that's what's happening in the movie." Right.
JVL00:20:19Oh, Ricky Tarr.
Sonny00:20:20That's what Ricky Tarr is doing. That all makes more sense. Yeah. Uh, there's a- I- I really think they should have made a sequel to that. Uh, with the Honorable Schoolboy as the, um, as, uh, uh, like, as, you know, the- the follow-up. But have Ricky- the Ricky Tarr character ins- instead, you have Tom Hardy as the Ricky Tarr character as, like, the lead in the Honorable Schoolboy.
JVL00:20:41The Honorable Schoolboy.
Sonny00:20:42And, like, just have him take over that role as, like, the guy-
JVL00:20:44He would be real, really good. He would have been so good.
Sonny00:20:46Yeah. He would have been so good.
JVL00:20:48That's a tough- that's a tough book. Whatever.
Sonny00:20:50That would be a tough book to adapt. I mean, it would be a three-hour spy, not real story.
JVL00:20:54There's so much- there's so much location work. I mean, it goes all over Asia and- Yeah. Yeah.
Sonny00:21:00Uh, all right. Sorry, Vic's gonna fall asleep. It's all right. We're on director. We're on director. Uh. Best director. All right. Nominees and director. Michael ha- Hazavan- Hazavanisius. Hazavanisius. Hazavanisius. For the- the artist. Alexander Payne for The Descendants. Martin Scorsese for Hugo. Uh, Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris and Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life. Oh. Yeah. Vic, I know- I know you think Tree of Life.
JVL00:21:23This is- this is literally true. Nobody in America has watched any of those movies in 10 years.
Sonny00:21:28Yeah. No non-critic.
Vic00:21:30No. Certainly. People love the artist. Did they think about it that this was the- the- did they think of it as, uh, a modern-day singing-in-the-rain jazz singer kind of a- a thing that this is, you know, because it's- but it, like, in reverse. I don't know. The sound.
Sonny00:21:46The silence. I don't know. I- It's a silent- I mean, it was fine. Talking. I thought it was fine. Thing. But I- I- it certainly never- it's not a movie that I was ever like, "I- I definitely need the artist." That one again. Yes. Exactly.
Vic00:21:57I need more Jean Dujardin in my life. Uh, I- yeah. A lot. He wa- I liked him in that Monuments Man.
?00:22:01Okay.
JVL00:22:02JVL. The Oscar goes to Zack Snyder for his work in Sucker Punch, which may be his- I was afraid- May be his finest, uh- 2011? Yeah. Yeah. 2011.
Sonny00:22:13I didn't see that. I was afraid that nobody would give Sucker Punch any awards. Oh. And really, I mean, I- I think we could- As Beth- look.
JVL00:22:18I'm sorry. Are you gonna tell me any of those- any of those other movies are- are better or more impressive directorial feats than Sucker Punch?
Sonny00:22:26No. Absolutely not. Uh, supporting actor should be, um, uh, what's his name from Silence of the Lambs? Uh.
Vic00:22:34Anthony Hopkins? No.
Sonny00:22:36No. No. Uh, who was in Sucker Punch? The old man.
JVL00:22:40Um.
Sonny00:22:41Ted Levine. No. Goddamn. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Scott Glenn. All right. Uh, Scott Glenn, thank you.
Vic00:22:49Yes. Vic, uh, what is your- what is your, uh- Brad Bird, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. That was a- that was a big movie. Big movie. That's a lot going on there. The cars. This is the one in India. And the car, garage, mobile, ah, some crazy- and of course, that was, uh, Doha or Qatar? No.
JVL00:23:05Where was it? Dubai. Dubai.
Vic00:23:08Dubai.
JVL00:23:09Dubai.
Sonny00:23:10It's the Burj Dubai. Great stuff. Just great. Uh, I went with Steven Soderbergh, uh, who's Contagion. Came out that year.
Vic00:23:15Well, that's timely. Contagion.
Sonny00:23:17Great flick. That's timely. Great flick.
Vic00:23:20You know what? I'm sure it was better than High Flying Bird.
Sonny00:23:22He does a, he does a good job of weaving all the, the different stuff together.
Vic00:23:27I think it's like a, it's like making- JVL, don't watch that movie.
Sonny00:23:30Making a realistic-ish. Yeah.
Vic00:23:32Mm-hmm. Pandemic movie.
Sonny00:23:34Okay. And now? All right. Best picture. The nominees were, and the winner of course was the artist, uh, the, the rest of the nominees were The Descendants, extremely loud and incredible close, incredibly close. Another movie nobody has ever watched since the, uh, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse. That's interesting that War Horse made it in there.
JVL00:23:58Those were your nominees. Okay. The best movie of, of 2011 is Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and it's not even close. No, I'm not kidding, like I have it written down, um, Victorino. It is not even close, and it is the only movie that anybody in, in the world go, from that year goes back to- Back to. And watches. Yes. Uh, and the reason is because it is a moderate. A modern classic. It is a, it is a TNT level movie, and the, I'm sorry, the truth is to reach that status where you are a TNT level movie.
Sonny00:24:34Basic cable classic.
JVL00:24:35A basic cable classic. Yes. That is, I believe, the truest measure of a film's worth. Yeah, I don't know, think about Shawshank. Yeah. Right. That, that's a, you, you, that is what separates. Yeah. The wheat from the chaff and all these other movies that they, they are ephemera and you look at from the distance of 10 years, you look back at this and you think, I'm sorry, we were celebrating that. Yeah.
Vic00:25:05Well, I remember watching all these interviews with George Clooney about the descendants and all these cute, precious scenes and this and that, and funny little nuances of this particular thing when he's running down the path in his, you know, in, in, in his dock side or something. I mean, it's just like. Why, what's happening here? So anyway, did not see and, and, and tree of life. I, I don't think that makes, I don't think that appears on TNT too often. No. Okay. Not really. I like the dinosaurs. I liked, I liked Moneyball. And the reason why I liked it is I'm not a baseball person and, and I got sucked into this movie and I love everybody in the movie. I love Chris Pratt, Scott Hattaberg in this movie and it's just, I find it very touching and the scene where they go through, uh, what do you call it? The streak where it's, it's just very well done where they go for the, uh, how many games that they go, you know, undefeated and I find it very exciting and not normally not really my thing. So.
Sonny00:26:08Yeah. Sonny. Uh, my answer is Drive. Drive is. I knew you were going to say that. I go back and watch. I go back and watch that. I mean, I like Sucker Punch is actually probably the movie I've watched the most times from that, from that year. But Drive is. Is the movie I, uh, I, I go back and rewatch it's the, it's the, it's the only movie that Nicholas Winding Refn has ever made where he had all of his ticks perfectly under control and uh, could, could, could keep it together enough to put together a, um, a tight, I mean, it's only a 90 minute movie, which is a big, big plus, um, uh, and, and I, I love Ryan Gosling. I love Albert Brooks as we discussed in it, uh, a, it is, uh, it is, it is. I, uh, look, I, I know that I'm a weirdo, but it is, it is, you know, uh, the movie that I go back and revisit.
Vic00:26:57It's the first movie I ever saw Oscar Isaac.
Sonny00:27:00Yeah. And also in sucker punch that year, Oscar Isaac had a big 2011.
Vic00:27:05I just remember seeing him that movie and then seeing him in something else later on. And it's like, wow, completely, just completely different.
JVL00:27:11I remember seeing him in X-Men apocalypse and thinking this guy's just got star written all over him.
Sonny00:27:16Well, no, I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't, I'm kidding. He wasn't like January Jones in X-Men first class.
Vic00:27:24I can't believe you went with Jen Jones and I went with Emma Watson. That's amazing.
Sonny00:27:30Okay. I did. I did that solely for JBL's benefit.
JVL00:27:33That was January Jones worked since the end of mad men.
Sonny00:27:37Not regularly. No.
JVL00:27:39Yeah, sure.
Vic00:27:40She has.
Sonny00:27:41I don't think she's all right. I'm sure it's fine.
?00:27:49It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah.
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