David Spade is somebody I dig. For me it’s an intense nostalgia thing. Watching his movies with Chris Farley in the 90’s was something I did countless times. Tommy Boy is one of my most watched films. I can definitely see why some don’t like him but I have a love for Spade. This is not including stand up however. I View Stand Up Comedy as one of the worst things in the world and I have for a long time.

I think it’s obvious that Frank isn’t really interested in foreign language movies. That’s just his personal preference and I’m not knocking it, but I was kind of expecting that to be brought up in the discussion. It offers a simple explanation for why he probably isn’t interested in stuff like Shoplifters, Burning, Cold War or The Guilty, even though they’re among the most critically acclaimed films of the year and are often getting mentioned by awards and critics groups (usually only relegated to the foreign language category, of course)

I’m looking forward to any chance to watch Long Day’s Journey into Night and An Elephant Sitting Still. I know Long Day’s has wider distribution locked down, but I’m sure I’ll miss out on seeing it in 3D theatrically.

I’m glad Jay checked out Shoplifters and liked it. I think Kore-eda is one of the best writer-directors working right now and has already cemented himself as one of the all-time great Japanese filmmakers. Even during their most sentimental or saddest moments, there’s a gentleness and restraint in his films, which is why I believe that despite the critical adulation, he still isn’t as well-known as he should be. Whenever I hear people talking about great child performances and how rare they are, I instantly think of Kore-eda; his work should automatically be mentioned when discussing the subject.

So why is it always that people who prefer arthouse or foreign films over Hollywood productions are labeled as snobs? I for one really did not enjoy Aquaman, I thought it looked like a washed out video game and found it pretty boring and unimaginative story-wise as it was pretty much just a rehash of Thor/Black Panther (both of which I didn’t enjoy either). I just don’t understand why people like you (and Frank when he attacks Sean for liking a criterion film) just can’t accept that other people might genuinely enjoy more difficult and demanding films. Why is it so hard to imagine that some people have different artistic preferences and sensibilities? That doesn’t make you a snob or elitist…

I also don’t know where “a lot of what gets trotted out as art filmmaking is just middlebrow garbage masquerading as important cinema anyway” comes from. All three of the films you named are way more interesting movies to me (even though I didn’t really like Cold War) than Aquaman or the average comic book movie: there is more thematic richness there, they are more ambitious in terms of filmmaking and the characters have way more depth to them.

It comes from finding a lot of challenging films not worth the challenge, and also not especially ambitious. Like, The Lobster is challenging, in that it’s off-putting and dull, but also very obvious and kind of juvenile. Not all art filmmaking is like that, to be sure. And it’s usually a matter of taste. I’ll sit down with any modern Terrence Malick if I’m in the right mood and have a very different experience than I would have from a blockbuster. And that’s great. Besides, I’m not begrudging any given movie’s right to exist. But my interests don’t necessarily align with European slow cinema (despite, e.g., The Death of Louis XIV being an extraordinary meditation on mortality), or Alfonso Cuaron burnishing his brand off the back of his family’s slave, or whatever. I’m totally willing to believe I may love all three, but I’m pessimistic, because I’ve been burned tons and tons of times.

The “snob” part comes from folks who enjoy, e.g., The Lobster or Under the Skin, who imply and sometimes make explicit that this is a superior strain of art, which must always be respected even if it is not enjoyed. And this is not a very objective way to approach cinema. Simply calling something “challenging” is already a value judgment. It’s like when critics call The Favourite Lanthimos’ “most accessible” film: it means that some idiot who likes Aquaman might actually like it. (Well, they were right.) On the other hand, I appreciate that people who are snobs of this sort are at least out there finding stuff that I might not have noticed (I’d have never seen Louis XIV without being nudged); and sometimes our interests align. I also appreciate that snobs help keep populists honest, and we do sometimes just like stupid bullshit because it’s comforting.

There’s also the issue of narrative versus form: what qualifies as ambition? There’s a lot of stuff in big movies that small cinema doesn’t even have access to. This is an especially huge gap in animation, and while there are really great small, personal cartoons (Hertzfeld, whoever that guy was that did The Red Turtle), these are pushing the art form at the margin, and in weird and idiosyncratic ways, and I would never trade World of Tomorrow or maybe even It’s Such a Beautiful Day for Moana or Your Name, which are impossibly splendid and in their way formally radical (and, in their own respective idiom, very, very expensive). On the other hand, Mandy can do crazy things that no $200 million tentpole would ever dare to do.

And none of it is to say that populist cinema doesn’t have big problems. I think the Frank Approach acknowledges those problems (the bloated runtimes, the narrative messiness, the four-quadrant safeness), but the Jay Approach just shuts down on them, as if they were beneath contempt. The Sean Approach, of course, is passive and rides the critical wave wherever it may take him.

Jay and Frank are two of the funniest guys I’ve encountered in general. Sean is not only a solid straight man, I agree, but his humorous dry asides are a solid addition to the show, and his surprised “what?” when someone says something baffling to him is hilarious. It’s like his catchphrase, although I don’t think I’ve heard him say it in a long time now. Maybe he only pulls it out for premiums. You never know what the Kasman–aka Sean–is going to do.

Hereditary haunts me unlike any other film. Can barely remember most of the other 2018 movies. It is my number one of the past year.

Newtaurus –

Congratulations on listening to hundreds of FJ episodes!
(It’s a shame the faithful flock have not received badges over the years.)

The “Jay bashing Frank” bits are done with love & humor. Jay loves calling out the FJ crew on minutiae and Frank is usually able to withstand the heat.

zenintrude but

So is Our Little Sister and After the Storm.

Let’s face it. All of his films are awesome. Kore-eda rules.

I would definitely be on board for some kind of marathon Filmjunk Telethon (gotta get those new microphones). Perhaps a few movie reviews with some extended AMA sessions (donation = getting to ask any question you like). It would be worth doing just to see how many Monsters can be consumed by the lads in one sitting. Please make this happen…my wallet is open and ready to be exploited.

Don’t worry, I wasn’t offended or anything. I just find it to be pretty common that, wenever one mentions that he prefers arthouse or foreign cinema or didn’t like the newest blockbuster, he is instantly labeled as a snob or elitist and that can be quite tiring sometimes because it prevents any real discussion.
I obviously can’t know Jay’s true reasoning but I don’t think you really need to draw the distinctions you suggest to prefer Spider-Man over Aquaman. Spider-Man seemed way more unique to me as well (even though I didn’t like it as much as Jay, especially the ending) and I still believe that a good movie will be successful even if the theatric experience is bad. If I remember correctly, Dunkirk was such an example for Jay. He also did point out some specific criticisms about the look of the move, the actors and the storytelling most of which I shared, so I don’t think he disliked it solely because he didn’t feel like watching it.
Regarding Ready Player One: I have frankly not thought to deeply about the film and mostly wrote it off as 80s nostalgia porn. If I was able to read as much into those kind of blockbusters as you, I might enjoy them more actually

My dry sensibilities align the closest with Sean in real-life as well, though I wish I was as entertaining as Jay when he’s on.

i can’t imagine Frank only trying 90% of any buffet.

The problem is Film Junk is going through a sort-of midlife crisis. Dax touched on this point during the show, but the question here is: is the show a personal, curated program where the hosts only watch what interests them, or is it a general film podcast with a commitment to covering big releases. It seems like Jay argues strongly for the former while Frank and Sean are not sure. While Aquaman is not the most interesting film around, having it reviewed on the show is potentially more interesting to listeners than hearing a 1 hour group review of Shoplifters simply because more people saw Aquaman and more people heard about Aquaman. It’s the age-old question whether you care about the “ratings”. Perhaps FJ does not care about it anymore so deep into its existence. Anyway, I think both approaches are valid, I’m not saying FJ needs to review comic book movies to stay relevant. But it probably will need to decide at some point what it wants to be.

I don’t think Sean minds some constructive criticism, after all, FJ is not made in a vacuum, it’s made for listeners to listen. So feedback is a natural process. The conflict arises from the fact it is an entertainment show on the one hand, but on the other it’s just a bunch of friends talking among themselves about what interests them, including bowel movements and pronunciation issues. The fact they managed to make this show interesting for so many years and ride this thin line is quite impressive to say the least.

So I don’t mind at all listening to Jay destroy Aquaman. I actually find his analysis of these kinds of movies quite interesting. And no one can argue the conflict between the hosts is entertaining. I mean, I didn’t listen to see if Aquaman is good or not, I listened because I knew Jay is gonna hate it and there will be conflict with at least some of the others. Conflict is drama. (the conflict in FJ is never “serious”). But I do think Jay resents having to see movies he’s not interested in and so he’s resenting the process and that reflects on the show to a degree.

‘Frank: Jonah Hill has talked about skating and how it saved him’.
Saved him from what exactly? Hill is the epitome of Hollywood nepotism.
Google it.