16 Good Movies to Watch on Netflix in January 2016

We did it, everyone. We survived another year of movie watching. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels though, because 2016 provides us with a whole new calendar year to pack full of cinematic distraction, and Netflix has a whole slew of new additions to their streaming service. Here’s a list of what’s worth checking out. As always, click on the films’ titles to be taken to their Netflix pages.

Pick of the Month: Phoenix (2014)

German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s Phoenix is a strange kind of hidden identity movie, a sort of post-WWII-set take on Vertigo, and it’s one of the more interesting and best made things that’s come out in the last couple years. It features a very memorable lead performance from Nina Hoss, a tense story about mourning and betrayal, an affecting soundtrack that makes great use of a song by Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash called ‘Get Low,’ and it fits all of these elements together perfectly to build to what’s the best final scene I can remember seeing in any movie in a long time. Seriously, the way this movie comes together in its final moments is magic, and it will have you itching to go back and rewatch the process that got you there immediately. To say much more about it here would be criminal. Next time you fire up the ol’ Netflix machine, make this one your top priority.

American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty has developed a bad reputation between the time when it was released to almost universal praise in 1999 and now, but for good reason—the subplot involving the daughter of the central family (Thora Birch) and her romance with the weirdo next door (Wes Bentley) is just cringe-inducingly awful, particularly any time Bentley’s character opens his mouth and tries to say anything profound. There’s also a death plot that comes to a head in the third act that didn’t need to exist and that felt like one last holdover of the gun-obsessed 90s cinema climate that Quentin Tarantino created.

All of this ignores the fact that Sam Mendes shot a really beautiful movie though, and that both Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening do some of their best work in it while playing characters that get real arcs. There were legitimate reasons why American Beauty resonated with people in a pre-9/11 culture, mostly the performances, so maybe its time to give this one another look and remember a time when white Americans thought the biggest problem in the world was that we already had all the world’s important problems solved. What dummies we were.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

It’s likely that nobody needs to be sold on watching Stanley Kubrick’s last film as a director. The guy was a true master and everything he made was at least interesting to think about and really gorgeous to look at. Eyes Wide Shut isn’t some kind of charity case though. It’s an impactful cinematic experience. This movie is moody, mysterious, and it takes a hard look at the cruelty that’s often present in our closest human relationships—a cruelty that we generally avoid acknowledging, let alone discussing. Plus, it features Tom Cruise at his smarmy best, playing a privileged doctor who flaunts his doctor privilege at every turn, and it’s got that infamous orgy scene that’s full of weird tension and really great boobs. Eyes Wide Shut is dark, it’s biting, and it’s liable to make you depressed about the state of romantic relationships in our current society. It’s perfect for winter.

Hook (1991)

Despite the fact that Hook was received as being a huge disappointment and one of Steven Spielberg’s worst films upon its release, and despite the fact that it still has a strong contingent of naysayers dedicated to shouting down anyone who saw it at a certain age and want to say nice things about it, it’s impossible to deny that there are still a whole slew of people out there who have a lot of affection for it, and they can’t be completely wrong (okay, so I’m one of them). The reasons people like this movie aren’t hard to suss out. It plays in the sandbox of a fantasy world that’s been beloved for over a hundred years, its use of real sets makes it feel like a charming throwback to old studio fantasies like The Wizard of Oz, and Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins have an impossibly potent chemistry while playing Captain Hook and Smee as a sort of old-timey comedy duo. Haters are going to hate, but the rest of us are going to have fun reliving Hook on Netflix, cheering as the fat kid rolls himself into a ball to take out pirates and crying at Rufio’s tear-filled admission that he always wanted a dad. The emotion is real.

How to Survive a Plague (2012)

Lots of footage tends to get shot when protests are going on, so protests naturally tend to make pretty good subjects for documentaries. How to Survive a Plague is a doc from first time director David France that looks at the activism that sprung up around the AIDS epidemic and the government’s slow and callous response to doing anything about it in the early 80s. There’s a lot of great footage here that puts you right into ground zero for the activists, showing what they were doing on both a micro and macro level, how big their movement was, and just how much suffering and death the disease was causing that mainstream society was turning a blind eye to. It’s all damned affecting. The movie works as a decent science lesson too though. You’ll learn a lot about what the different medications available at the time were and exactly how they worked, and seeing as learning is fundamental, this is a pick that nobody should be sleeping on.

Kino Lorber

The Kindergarten Teacher (2014)

If you’re in the mood for a small human drama that isn’t like all of the other small human dramas that come out every year, then The Kindergarten Teacher might be for you. It’s a totally weird story about a kindergarten teacher/wannabe poet (Sarit Larry) who comes to believe that one of her very young pupils (Avi Shnaidman) happens to be a poetry prodigy. She then becomes completely obsessed with him, in a really uniquely creepy fashion. This lady projects so much onto this blank-faced little kid that the movie becomes something of a take on Being There, which can be fun. The Kindergarten Teacher is also a tense kidnapping tale though, and it’s got interesting things to say about the life of artists and how the modern world embraces them, or, more accurately, doesn’t. It’s hard out there for sensitive souls.

A League of Their Own (1992)

Let’s get this out of the way right  now—A League of Their Own is sappy, schmaltzy and any other word you want to throw at it that means soft and gooey. For some reason a little schmaltz always works when you’re telling a story about baseball though, and it really works when you have Tom Hanks playing a miserable drunk in the center of it all, undercutting any of the moments that get out of control sentimental. Hanks is a national treasure.

He’s not the main event here though, the ensemble cast of ladies playing the female ballplayers (Geena Davis, Laurie Petty, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, etc…) are, and everyone here is pretty great on their own, but even better when their unique personalities are put together as a whole. This is before O’Donnell had a talkshow career and everyone learned to hate her. A League of Their Own is a movie that shouldn’t work, that you want to rebel against, but for some reason it always manages to get you right in the emotions. Blame Hanks.

The Mend (2014)

If small stories about broken people struggling to make their way in the civilized world is your cup of tea, then writer/director John Magary’s first feature, The Mend, might be for you. It stars Josh Lucas and Stephen Plunkett as a pair of brothers who very passively end up sharing an apartment as both of their personal lives fall apart. I say passively because neither of them really want to be there, and neither of them particularly like each other, but they’re both too lazy to leave. Boiling over tension and drug-fueled debauchery follows. What makes The Mend worth watching is that the two brothers are amusing and self-aware about how messed up they are and how incapable they are of getting theirselves together, and, unless you’re some kind of square, it’s not hard to see a lot of them in you, which makes it easy to sullenly smile right alongside them as things go bad. Bless indie cinema for keeping it real.

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This Month, We Watched Metropolis with Legion of Leia’s Jenna Busch

I am a film critic, but almost all of the movies I watch are new releases. That is going to change. With Jeff Bayer’s Remedial Film School a notable film critic or personality will assign me (and you) one film per month. Jenna Busch from Legion of Leia is our guest, and she chose Metropolis (currently available on Netflix Instant as Metropolis Restored). Each section begins with a quote from the film.

“There can be no understanding between the hand and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.” (Busch explains): The first time I saw Metropolis was back in the ’80s at a party with some theater friends. (Stop laughing.) They were so excited to show me this incredible silent film. The thing is, the version I saw wasn’t so silent. It was the remastered version with color washes and a new soundtrack that included music from Freddie Mercury, Adam Ant and Pat Benetar. Though this would ultimately not be the version I gush over, it definitely sparked something. (OK, fine. I still love the Adam Ant song.) Heck, the visuals, the performances, the iconic look of the film, not to mention the class struggle and world building blew me away and is largely responsible for my love of film today.

A silent film may not be the way most people get their love of cinema, but Metropolis is different. The film takes a classic sci-fi trope, the glorious city of leisure being powered by slaves underground and gives it a visual impact that was far ahead of its time. Even the attempt to take someone of pure heart and turn her into an uncaring machine is stunning to watch. Even people who haven’t seen the film are familiar with the iconic look of Robot Maria.

Do you like dystopian future films? The country and YA fiction is lousy with them these days. This one started them all in terms of cinema. Jeff, watch this and gush along with me.

“Let’s all watch as the world goes to the devil!” (Bayer watches): With Star Wars: The Force Awakens now out, I wanted to focus on science fiction this month, and I knew what hole needed to be filled. Metropolis was clearly a missing piece in my personal film history, and I begged Busch at a party during Comic Con to help me with this void. There is no one I would rather take advice from about sci and/or fi. I knew nothing about Metropolis besides it was old, silent, and had some sort of female-looking C-3PO robot.

I can’t believe this film is so good-looking. Since this is the restored version, there are previously missing scenes, and those properly show a ton of age, but the rest of the film is polished, and I kept being impressed by the size and scope of the film. We learn the character names before we meet them, and I’m hooked. The Thin Man (Fritz Rasp), Grot Guardian of the Heart Machine (Heinrich George) and 11811 (Erwin Biswanger) are enough to give me hope that I’ll actually like this film instead of just respect it. That’s the thing with most truly old films. Reverence is easy, entertainment is sometimes harder.

There are a pile of extras running around the set, and the look is much closer to 1984 than I expected. It also has a Hunger Games vibe with some outrageous outfits and major class separation. The story is simple. Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) attempts to bridge the have and the have-nots much to the chagrin of his father Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) the master of Metropolis. Maria (Brigitte Helm) is his inspiration and she’s already in the muck fighting for equality. Oh, and there’s a mad scientist named Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), who makes a robot that looks just like Maria.

Robot Maria is insanely sexual and I was not prepared for that from a 1927 film. Plus, she’s now launched herself onto my “All-Time Best Odd Facial Expressions” list. Her one-eyed stare is burned into my brain for eternity.

I actually like that the workers aren’t perfect, they have plenty of flaws, including the fact that they love a good burning. There are many things left unsaid (which is obviously the case for most silent films), but it works well here. I feel like Hel’s past could be a prequel. I want more details about 11811 (also known as Georgy) and him living it up with the rich. A 2+ hour silent film shouldn’t leave me wanting more, but it definitely does.

Here are some rapid fire random questions and thoughts … Because I can’t stop thinking about Star Wars, Joh Fredersen looks exactly like Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), right? Also, it’s impossible to think of anyone but Luke when someone has a fake hand, even if Rotwang did it decades earlier. It feels like Freder gets too much credit compared to Maria. You’ve seen other versions, do they feel incomplete? Do you own the musical score? Do I even want to explore the Benetar version? How smart can Joh actually be if he names his son Freder Fredersen? I’m doing some finger pointing at the workers for completely forgetting about their kids. How many times have you seen this film? Also, humor me. How many times have you watched The Force Awakens?

Finally, because I’m awful and can’t leave a good thing alone, let’s remake Metropolis, even though that means we’ll be burned on the sci-fi stake. I think Maria and Freder need to be younger. Ideally I want to cast Daisy Ridley in everything, but I’ll resist the urge. Elizabeth Olsen as Maria, Logan Lermen as Freder, and Bill Murray as Joh. Disagree? What about the other roles?

Movie Score: 9/10

“Oh, mediator, show them the way to each other” (Busch responses): The quality of the film blew me away when I first saw it as well. It still does, even after about ten viewings. Robot Maria’s sexuality shocked me too. It’s funny; despite what I know about the history of film, I’m always surprised when I see how racy some of these movies actually are. I love that you were happy with the flaws in the workers. That sort of thing always stands out to me. It’s not a one-sided war. No one is a perfect character in Metropolis. I think if they were, this would look like preaching.

Fredersen does look like Grand Moff Tarkin! I’m not sure how I missed that one! Did I read somewhere that the arm thing in Star Wars was based on this? Probably not, but now that’s in my head and I’m going to spend all night researching it. I’m pretty sure Robot Maria was a basis for C3P-0. I’m not surprised that Freder gets the credit over Maria. Doesn’t that always happen with female characters? They’re tough until the male character becomes fully realized and then they’re background or they just ask him what to do. In fact, I’d love to hear what you think about Maria’s role in terms of the time period.

The other versions don’t feel as complete, but you definitely have to watch the Benetar version. The soundtrack is amazing and I’ve owned it since the day after I saw the film the first time, decades ago. I even performed a number of the songs when I was the singer in a band. (I’ve had at least four careers.) I’ve even seen the musical based on this starring Judy Kuhn in London’s West End. I’m so glad you liked it!

I’ve already seen Episode VII three times and I’m assuming it’s going to go into the hundreds in the not-so-distant future. Yes to casting Daisy Ridley in everything. I’ve actually been afraid they’d try to remake Metropolis for years. No remake! Actually curious if you think it could be done. Novelization on the other hand — I’d be totally in for that. HBO series? John Boyega as Freder? Max von Sydow as Joh? “Star Wars Cast Recreates Metropolis?” Yes? Yes!

So, thoughts on an actual remake? On Maria’s role? Which particular set piece blew you away? How many drinks do you owe me for making you watch this? (I know it was your idea, but still, drinks.)

“For her, all seven deadly sins!” (Bayer concludes): Yes, sadly you are correct about Maria. She’s Freder’s gateway to becoming a complete, caring person. For this film, she’s obviously humanity. She’s the good we can all become (with a ton of effort). From the first time we see her, she’s surrounded by children. It’s powerful, but even more so when Robot Maria is the opposite (and created by man). It actually surprised me that Maria was leading a movement at all. And it wasn’t about a woman leading the movement. None of the workers seemed to care about that. That was a little thing that impressed me. The set piece that will sit with me the most are all of those children in the flood. You just don’t see that anymore (safety concerns, CGI).

I wonder how many people know Kuhn without looking her up. I was not one of them. Also, I looked into this soundtrack. Benatar clearly has the best song with “Here’s My Heart” (without connecting it to the movie).

I’ve seen Episode VII twice, and that will be it in the theater for me. I’ll watch it a third time at home with my wife at some point. After that, it will all be a solid focus on when I will start having my son (he’s currently 3.2-years-old) dive into the series. I think I can hold out until he’s five. I’m keeping all toys away until he sees the films.

It’s funny, but you’re right. Any movie getting remade does sound better if it’s going to HBO (or Netflix, Amazon, FX, etc.). Times have changed. The series would work best if the only known actors were in the roles of Joh Fredersen and Rotwang. Hugh Laurie as Joh, and Alan Rickman as the inventor. Done and done.

My hand says I owe you one beer. But my brain says I should make it six. Thankfully, the mediator, my heart, negotiated and they met in the middle. I owe you three and a half beers.

Your Next Assignment: Guest critic Rob Hunter selected Oslo August 31st. It is available to watch on Netflix Instant and elsewhere. Your due date is January 28, 2016.

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Walton Goggins: The Hateful Eight is Like an Incredible Bottle of Wine

“D-jango, you black son of a bitch!” is a line and delivery from Django Unchained I deeply had to resist mentioning my love of to actor Walton Goggins. When time is short in an interview, you tend not to make time for such indulgences, and time was short with Goggins. No matter, as there was plenty to discuss when it came to his latest role in Quentin Tarantino‘s western, The Hateful Eight.

Goggins plays Chris Mannix, a “sheriff” who couldn’t be more gung-ho about the South and their failed war efforts. It’s a juicy role, with Goggins once again expressing tremendous range. To say more about where his performance goes would qualify as spoilers, and The Hateful Eight is not an experienced one should spoil.

The character is very loosely based on William Clarke Quantrill, who’s “probably one of the architects of guerrilla warfare in America,” Goggins says. “He was never an official member of the confederate military, but he operated on the fridges of warfare, to help the South. He killed 72 innocent people in Lawrence, Kansas.

Tarantino told the actor to read up on Quantrill for the film. Goggins was in good spirits at the press day, as he should be, and couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about Tarantino’s newest picture. Here’s what the actor had to say:

How’s your day going?

Fantastic… Fantastic!

It must be easy to promote a movie like this.

It is, it is. It’s very easy to promote a movie like, it’s very easy to promote an experience like this, it’s very easy to promote the friendships and lifelong camaraderies that were formed during the making of this movie.

I have a feeling this movie is going to have great rewatch value. When you replay certain scenes in your head, you start to wonder what you’re not seeing.

How many times have you seen it?

Just once. I’m planning on seeing it again with my family on Christmas.

Me, too! So we’re the same. I have seen it multiple times now, and it is like decanting an incredible bottle of wine, because you stop looking at what you think you’re supposed to be looking at in the 70mm frame, and you start looking at all the details, and the story that is playing out of focus or over there [in the corner]. Everything is happening in that frame for a reason, down to the blizzard in almost every shot. Look at the snow, and look at how the day turns to night how much angrier the snow gets. When you can see it all at once, it’s all informing your experience.

Right. Some people have been asking Quentin Tarantino about how he was going to make a movie set almost entirely in one location cinematic, but that room feels lived-in and really informs the story. 

Yeah, yeah. This isn’t the reason, but it’s one of the many reasons why Quentin Tarantino is a genius: I couldn’t understand how you would forget whenever you were focusing on one or two characters that there were five or six other people in the room. How do you do that in a room that size? How do you do that with a camera that sees so much? You just do. These conversations just flow from everyone in the room. Even though you see one character in the frame sitting down, you just… I’m still blown away by it, man.

And you leave curious about what conversations are happening off-screen.

Yeah, yeah. I can’t wait for you to see it a second time or a third time. To see it on 70mm, you may never see that again. These images haven’t been seen on film in 50 years. You’ve read about it and seen the feature Quentin and the Weinstein Company did — and it’s special, man. It’s a celebration of the medium, and a way for audiences to be given an analogue Christmas present by Quentin Tarantino. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.

That’s well put. Acting in front of those 70mm lenses, how much do they affect or alter your approach to a scene?

What’s daunting is the size of the lenses themselves. More often than not, you have this conversation with the DP — who, in this case, happens to be Bob Richardson — but you ask, in a close-up, “Am I here?” “No.” “Am I here?” “No.” “Am I here?” “Yeah.” “All right. Are you seeing this here?” “No, keep going.” “Are you fucking serious, Bob?” It was understanding the frame for a close-up.

Nothing changes because you’re truthful and authentic, so there’s no adjusting for the camera. I don’t believe that. I believe you play pretend, and that’s it. Children are our best actors, to be quite honest with you. Children and these cast mates and I play [Laughs]. You don’t adjust for the lens, but you do want to understand the room and the parameters of the space you’re playing in. We’re all familiar with those walls, but this is a room we never walked in.

How specific was the blocking? How much did the character and motivation inform where you would be standing?

We would block it. Every chapter we would spend a day blocking moments of it, which would take us to the next thing. He was so detail-oriented. Not only was he editing the movie in his head, he was seeing it visually and six steps ahead of all of us in the sense of, “If I have Walton here, Bruce here, Sam here, and Madsen here — I can tell all these different stories at once.” People will only understand that after they see it a second or third time, to see what’s not in focus. It was extraordinary, because Quentin left no stone unturned. His attention-to-detial and blocking was more focused and precise than any film I’ve ever done, and it was all in his head.

Did this experience make you miss acting on film?

Oh yeah. There’s nothing like the moment you hear “action” when you were shooting on film. Of course you didn’t know that, because you didn’t know digital was coming. I mean, you know how expensive it is and you’re only going to get three or five takes, so then you multiplay how much that costs times, I don’t know, on 70mm film. There was this electricity running through the room when Quentin called action, for all of us. “Here we are. We’re out. We’re in a space not many people have ever given to be in.” It was very exciting and different.

It’s nice to hear you say it was exciting, not that it was pressure.

No pressure. Yeah, I think there’s pressure in your job, isn’t there? The first time you walk into a room you want to ask the right questions and wonder how the article will turnout, right? Once you do it, you have to let all that go, and it’s really an enjoyable experience. Even when the experience isn’t enjoyable, it’s electric. We’re lucky to live the life of storytellers. We’re all storytellers.

One of your big moments in the movie is Chris explaining Major Marquis Warren’s backstory, and it’s exposition that doesn’t feel like exposition. What do you recall from the day you shot that speech?

It was a scene that we had hoped to get in Telluride, but we needed to save for the weather. Whenever we had snow, we needed to be outside to get those shots. Filming in the buck — which is what we called the stagecoach — just wasn’t going to happen in Telluride, for that scene. We were there all on stage, and he said “action,” and if you look at the course of that dialogue and the way he constructed that scene and how Mannix leans in and pulls back, he gets extremely aggressive and extremely passive. Mannix ends it with this vitriolic, defensive posture for his father and the institutions for the South and what the South stands for, and then Marquis pulls out his gun and Mannix says, “[Puts on the character’s voice] Oh, no, no, no, you got me talking politics.”

It’s extraordinary, because not many people can write like that. Not only does he give you exposition that doesn’t feel like exposition, which Quentin is able to do with his eyes closed, but give it in a way that allows every character in the room, even Daisy, who says 5 or 6 things in a 15-minute scene, something to do. It’s unbelievable, man. He gives all the actors an opportunity to be three-dimensional.

When the character pulls back or gets more aggressive, how much is that described on the page?

That’s not charted on the page. When I say Quentin leaves that up to us, I mean Quentin works with actors who bring him 90% of what he has in his imagination. I think all great directors do that. Casting is one of the most crucial elements of making the film. He also hires actors who aren’t result-oriented. Who gives a shit about the result, right? It’s about the experience.

Quentin allows actors to make suggestions. He loves actors. For me, as Chris Mannix, it was a balance of getting this ride, to not freeze to death, and then to ingratiate himself through this story, because he’s there with an African-American. “Who is this guy? Maybe I can alienate him…” Once he realize that’s not working, he tries a different road.

Mannix is constantly shifting. He’s a real interesting guy in an arrested state of development, and you feel that in the stage coach. Everything that comes out of his mouth, at least for me, is regurgitating a worldview he got from his father and the people around him. None of those thoughts are his own, because he’s not a man; he doesn’t have the ability to think for himself until later in the movie. It all starts in that carriage scene, man.

The Hateful Eight is now in theaters.

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"Sweetheart, stay well."

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Happy New Year!

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First Look: Keegan-Michael Key + Jordan Peele + Cute Cat in 'Keanu'

Aw, what a cute little cat, I hope he makes it out okay. With 2016 just around the corner, Entertainment Weekly has debuted their annual first look preview, featuring a gallery of photos from many of the highly anticipated movies coming up next year. One film I'm suddenly very excited about is titled simply Keanu. While it sounds like it could be a reference to the badass actor Keanu Reeves (I still hope it somehow is), it's actually a story about two "blerds" (black nerds) who have to infiltrate a drug cartel to rescue a stolen cat named Keanu. Comics/actors Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key star in the film, which was also written by and directed by "Key & Peele" veterans making the leap into features. See the first photo below.

Full description from EW.com: "Starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key — the Comedy Central sketch sensations behind the recently ended Key & Peele — the film follows two 'blerds' (read: black nerds) who impersonate gangstas and infiltrate a drug cartel to rescue a stolen cat (named Keanu). 'This entire movie was basically the most expensive adorable-kitten video of all time,' jokes Peele, who wrote Keanu with Key & Peele alum Alex Rubens. 'Overall it’s meant to satirize how pop culture paints masculinity and what it means to be African-American — and how many of us don’t fit into the mold expected of us.'" Sounds good to me. Directed by Peter Atencio, Keanu arrives in theaters starting April 22nd, 2016 in the spring.

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“Now, Where Was I?”

In early 2007, my friend Tony called to ask if I could cover one of his shifts at work, so I drove down to a construction site near the Home Depot in Playa Vista to fill out forms with his supervisor and to check out the wooden box where I’d be sitting for 12 hours. That’s how my name ended up in the credits for Iron Man.

Half a day, a hundred bucks and a head nod from Robert Downey, Jr. It was a great opportunity in an IMDB profile-fluffing sense, and I remember telling Tony’s boss to keep me in mind if he ever needed another PA, but it wouldn’t matter because I’d leave Los Angeles the next month.

I’d gotten there in July 2006 after driving a U-haul across Texas and New Mexico and Arizona with my then-girlfriend. The grand idea was that she’d try to make it as an actress, and I would try to make it as a writer. She’d gotten a Bachelor’s degree in Theater, I’d taken one screenwriting course. She got a job as a personal trainer, making good money quickly and avoiding auditions. I worked for free in uncomfortable shoes until snagging paid production jobs that came and went according to the whimsical, cacophonic Gods of Freelance Work. Eventually I PAed for The Oscars, a Comedy Central show, a PBS opera and VH1 award shows, and I became a production coordinator on music videos and commercials (like this artifact).

I often get asked how I ended up working as a film critic, and the answer is the most disappointing one possible: on accident.

I spent my first month in Los Angeles buried under Craigslist postings offering “credit,” “DVD copy” and “What do you think this is, a charity?” as payment for production gigs, but one of those postings was for a movie blog that was looking for writers. There wasn’t any money in it, and the operation was still small, but I thought it would give me a solid external reason to keep my technical writing chops intact, so I responded to the posting at a time when a guy named Neil Miller was literally looking for anyone to add to the site. I fit that bill.

For no particular reason, my first post on Film School Rejects was a review of Ong Bak. I used a pen name (R.I.P. Cole Abaius) because I was (pointlessly) paranoid about losing a production job following a negative review, and I used writing for the site as an excuse to head back to Texas after two dismal L.A. months to cover the Austin Film Festival.

I got a badge with my name on it. It seemed fantastically official. We had about 10 readers.

Shortly after that single day on the Iron Man set (making sure no one sneaked in to take pictures of the cave scene and matte painting exteriors for a movie almost no one cared about), my relationship fizzled, so I went to the other side of the country to put my Political Science degree to better use in D.C. I worked at a foreign policy think tank, lived on Capital Hill, took the metro to work just a few blocks north of the White House, and I couldn’t stop writing about movies.

In the two years I spent wearing a suite and tie to work, Film School Rejects had grown both in its audience (into the millions) and in its dominance of my time (my boss started to notice). Eventually it overtook my real job, and Neil and I decided to move to Austin together to turn the site into the kind of real job where you wake up late and spend a lot of time in darkened rooms with one source of light.

It’s been a little over nine years now, and as of today, I’m stepping down as Managing Editor for the site.

The two very best things about Film School Rejects are the people involved and the freedom it has allowed me to write about whatever bizarre nonsense I found interesting. Because of that impossible combination, I’ve been more fortunate than most to jot down thoughts on random things in my brain and to have them read by tens of thousands on a regular basis. God knows why. All of this because I answered a Craigslist ad.

I’ve gotten to write about silent Buster Keaton films and 4-hour Sion Sono cult epics and Spider-Man. I’ve gotten to interview established filmmakers, legends and up-and-comers. I’ve gotten to host two podcasts fueled by storytelling, a passion for film and whatever shiny object was dancing in front of my eyes at recording time. I’ve gotten to talk with Harrison Ford five feet from cows in a Wyoming field, fly to New York to watch Harry Potter fight Voldemort and revel in raw discovery at countless film fests. I’ve met wonderful film minds and made great friends. All on accident, all never meaning to make a career out of this, all because I answered a Craigslist ad.

It’s been an honor leading a writing team here at FSR and engaging with all of our readers. Y’all are the first I’d like to thank. You’re all very strange and smarter than the average internet denizen, and I couldn’t ask for more.

I’d like to thank Neil for laying the groundwork and crafting a space where “the best film critics you’ve never heard of” could feel safe writing from the heart even as the world of blurry rumors and costume first-look garbage threatened to engulf us all.

I’d like to thank my wife, Caitlin, for her infinite supply of support and her killer Leeloo Dallas Mooltipass impression.

I’d like to thank Rob Hunter for always agreeing with me, Chris Campbell for his hard-nosed realism and Kate Erbland (now rocking it at Indiewire) for her undying enthusiasm and sharp intellect. There’s a reason our editorial calls always went on an hour longer than planned.

Thanks to my podcasting partner Geoff LaTulippe for being nothing if not topical.

The rest of the list is a cast of thousands from all corners, and I’m sure I’ll leave people off. Sorry about that. Thanks to Katey Rich, Matt Patches, David Ehrlich, Dave Gonzales, Aaron Morgan, Eric Vespe, Tim League, Drew McWeeny, Erik Davis, Joanna Robinson, Scott Weinberg, Anne Thompson, Kellvin Chavez, Vic Holtreman, Adam Charles, Landon Palmer, Alexander Huls, Monika Bartyzel, Kevin Carr, Robert Fure, The Fonses, Young Il Kim, Amy Nicholson, Justin Chang, Jason Bailey, Sam Zimmerman, Evan Saathoff, Keith Phipps, Joshua Caldwell, Scott Myers, Brian Koppelman, Jeff Bayer, Eric Snider, Alison Nastasi, Karina Longworth, David Chen, John Gholson, Kris Tapley, Brian Truitt, Brian Kelley, Brian Salisbury, Will Goss, Peter Hall, Paul Gandersman, Roger Ebert, DC Pierson, Keith Calder, Alonso Duralde, John Campea, Daniel Walber, Sam Fragoso, Matt Zoller Seitz, Eric Kohn, Thane Economou, Brian Duffield, James Rocchi, Josh Spiegel, Meredith Woerner, Todd Brown, Russ Fischer, Matt Singer, Adam Bellotto, Alison Willmore, Jacob Hall, Scott Tobias, Germain Lussier, Travis Beacham, Nathan Chase, The Bitter Script Reader, Chris Gore, A.J. Bowen, Brea Grant, Brian Udovich, Allison Loring, Jason Sondhi, Franklin Leonard, Guy Lodge, David Hughes, FILM CRIT HULK, Mike Sampson, Noel Murray, Inkoo Kang, Jack Giroux, Emily Estep, Scott Wampler, Noah Berlatsky, Marya E. Gates, Jacob Knight, Sean Hackett, Kevin Kelly, Louis Plamondon, Luke Mullen, Matthew Monagle, Nathan Adams, Noah Gittell, Samantha Wilson, Shannon Shea, Todd Gilchrist, Charlie Jane Anders, Jason Arnopp, Meredith Borders, Gary Whitta, Will Harris, Alan Smithee, Peter Sciretta, Jeremy Smith, Massawyrm, Jeremy Smith, Jordan Hoffman, Brad McHargue, and, of course, whoever is running Film Click Bait.

It’s insane how many people you meet doing this and how many of them end up shaping your life.

I find it fitting that I got to guard the Iron Man set near the beginning of my inadvertent film criticism career because it changed so much of the film landscape and, along with a dozen other factors, altered the way that we talk about movies across the internet. It’s been fantastic to grip the handles of that roller coaster car for Film School Rejects.

The ride’s not completely over. I’ll be freelancing for a few sites (I’ve already written a few pieces for Vanity Fair and have a few other sites in the works), and I’ll be focusing a lot more on fiction — posting short stories on my own website and hoping to get more work published in cool places like this.

I’ll also pop in at FSR from time to time, and as part owner, my name will still be on the masthead, so this isn’t so much “Goodbye,” as it is “I’ll see you around.”

So, seen any good movies lately?

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40 Movies Directed By Women To Look Forward to In 2016

Even with 52 slots, our annual list of the most anticipated movies of the year is missing a lot of notable upcoming titles (The Girl on the Train, for one). It’s also missing a lot of a certain gender of filmmaker. Of the major releases we highlighted, only one of them has a woman at the helm.

There are a number of movies directed by women set to open in 2016, and plenty of them are titles we’re looking forward to. Most are not studio productions and so don’t have definite US release dates, unfortunately. And of the 10 that do, sadly nine of them aren’t among those we’re super excited about.

We’ve found 40 notable movies expected to be released in 2016, all of them listed below. First, here are the quarter of them with official openings. Unsurprisingly, none are coming out in the heavy blockbuster times of the summer or holiday seasons. Who’d want to trust a girl with a real tentpole?

January

Kung Fu Panda 3 – directed by Jennifer Yuh (Kung Fu Panda 2) and Alessandro Carloni. After earning an Oscar nomination for helming Kung Fu Panda 2 on her own, Yuh has a male co-director for the third installment of the popular animated franchise. Also of note: with a worldwide take of $666m, Kung Fu Panda 2 is the highest-grossing movie directed solely by a woman. Release date: January 29.

 

March

Miracles from Heaven

Me Before You – directed by Thea Sharrock (The Hollow Crown). Game of Thrones stars Emilia Clarke and Charles Dance are among the cast of this adaptation of Jojo Moyes’s romantic novel. Clarke plays a woman in a small town who takes care of a paralyzed man, played by Sam Claflin of the Hunger Games movies. Release date: March 4.

Miracles from Heaven – directed by Patricia Riggen (The 33). Fresh off her movie of the Chilean miner disaster, Riggen already has a follow-up in this adaptation of Christy Beam’s memoir. The author, whose sick daughter was “miraculously” cured, is being played by Jennifer Garner. Release date: March 18.

The Invitation – directed by Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body). The one release helmed by a woman featured in our main preview (we already saw it and can recommend it), this indie horror movie debuted at SXSW last year. Release date: March 25.

 

April

Ratchet & Clank – directed by Jerrica Cleland (cinematographer, Arthur Christmas) and Kevin Munroe (TMNT). The popular video game franchise about the galactic adventures of an alien mechanic and his little robot sidekick get the animated feature treatment. Another with a man and woman directorial team. Release date: April 29.

 

May

Maggie’s Plan

Money Monster – directed by Jodie Foster (The Beaver). Ocean’s Eleven‘s George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite for this thriller from actress-turned-filmmaker Foster. Jack O’Connell also stars as a man who takes Clooney’s character and his stock tips TV show hostage after losing all his money from some bad advice given by the program. Release date: May 13.

Maggie’s Plan – directed by Rebecca Miller (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee). Greta Gerwig stars in this comedy as a woman who falls in love with a married man (Ethan Hawke) but eventually realizes he’s better off with his now ex-wife (Julianne Moore). Release date: May 20.

 

September

Bridget Jones’s Baby – directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary). Maguire returns to the Bridget Jones series for the third installment, which was nearly helmed by Paul Feig. Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth are also back, this time to be joined by a new addition to their family. Release date: September 16.

Besties – directed by Kelly Fremon (writer of Post Grad). Hailee Steinfeld stars in the directorial debut of Fremon, who also wrote the script. The teen comedy is about best friends who become enemies when one dates the other’s older brother. Release date: September 30.

 

October

Underworld 5 – directed by Anna Foerster (cinematographer, White House Down). After working as a second unit director and DP for major blockbusters, mainly those by Roland Emmerich, Foerster is taking over the Underworld franchise for her feature directorial debut. This is the fifth installment (once titled Underworld: Next Generation) and again stars Kate Beckinsale. Release date: October 21.

 

TBD

Elvis & Nixon

American Honey – directed by Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights).

The Bad Batch – directed by Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night).

Black Dog, Red Dog – directed by Adriana Cepeda Espinosa and James Franco (As I Lay Dying).

Elvis & Nixon – directed by Liza Johnson (Return).

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers – directed by Angelina Jolie (By the Sea).

Leavey – directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish).

Loving Vincent – directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman (Oscar winner for the 2006 animated short Peter & the Wolf).

Our Kind of Traitor – directed by Susanna White (Nanny McPhee Returns).

Queen of Katwe – directed by Mira Nair (Amelia).

Replicas – directed by Tanya Wexler (Hysteria).

Stargirl – directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight).

Wakefield – directed by Robin Swicord (The Jane Austen Book Club).

The Whole Truth – directed by Courtney Hunt (Frozen River).

The Zookeeper’s Wife – directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider).

 

Sundance 2016 Narrative Premieres

Agnus Dei – directed by Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel).

Certain Women – directed by Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy).

Equity – directed by Meera Menon (Farah Goes Bang).

The Intervention – directed by Clea DuVall (actress, Argo).

Sophie and the Rising Sun – directed by Maggie Greenwald (Songcatcher).

Tallulah – directed by Sian Heder (writer/producer, Orange is the New Black).

 

Sundance 2016 Documentary Premieres

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise – directed by Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules (Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance).

Newtown – directed by Kim A. Snyder (I Remember Me).

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You – directed by Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp) and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp).

Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper – directed by Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?).

Nuts! – directed by Penny Lane (Our Nixon).

Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny – directed by Karen Bernstein and Louis Black.

Trapped – directed by Dawn Porter (Gideon’s Army).

Under the Gun – directed by Stephanie Soechtig (Fed Up).

Unlocking the Cage – directed by Chris Hegedus (The War Room) and DA Pennebaker (The War Room).

Weiner – directed by Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman.

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The 52 Most Anticipated Movies of 2016

Here at Film School Rejects, we believe that a healthy movie diet is at least one new release per week. We don’t all have time to see every single one of the more than 300 feature films that will be released in the next calendar year. Our critic Rob Hunter might come close, as will an elite few whose time and finances line up perfectly with seeing a bunch of movies. For the rest of us, we’ll have to be on a diet. There will be plenty of great TV to watch, a cornucopia of titles on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and iTunes to stream, and of course, plenty of time spent reading articles on the Internet.

As we’ve done in years past, we’d like to help you navigate the oncoming tidal wave of new movies. We believe that your movie diet is best balanced by seeing one new release for every week of the year. This doesn’t mean that there will be a good new release every week, but you get the idea. It’s with that in mind that we present our list of the 52 Most Anticipated Movies of 2016.

If you’d like, you can catch up on previous years below:

2015   |   2014   |   2013   |   2012   |   2011

52. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Release Date: January 15

The Pitch: It’s been a while since Michael Bay has made an earnest “Rah! Rah!” movie about the military, but it’s a theme that he’s continued, albeit in a minor way, throughout the Transformers franchise. The man loves to make movies that go boom, but he also loves to make movies that are favorable to America’s armed forces. Considering the acclaim that Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper received, this should be a movie that speaks to America’s most gun-toting, flag waiving demographic. Plus, as a bonus for more Conservative viewers, it’s all about Benghazi. The possibility of seeing a Michael Bay movie that unintentionally balloons into a political quagmire is far too interesting to pass up. Plus, Michael Bay does make blowing stuff up look really fun. Harrowing. I meant harrowing. (Neil Miller)

Watch the Trailer

51. I Saw The Light

Release Date: March 25

The Pitch: Earlier this month, Jason Bailey of Flavorwire wrote a great piece on why the biopic – and the “cradle-to-grave” narrative that it implies – was a bubble poised to burst. That’s not exactly great news for Tom Hiddleston, who looks and sounds the part of a young Hank Williams in I Saw the Light and certainly hoped for better than a March release date. Still, it’s not all bad news; movies like Ray and Walk the Line have shown that that audiences and critics alike will let their guard down for a quality movie about famed singer-songwriters, and the musical numbers included in the film will undoubtedly give it some cross-genre appeal. Maybe we’re tired of biopics, but a good ol’ fashioned Country musical? That dog’ll hunt. (Matthew Monagle)

Watch the Trailer

50. The Purge 3

Release Date: July 1

The Pitch: The first film was a home invasion thriller focused on one family’s efforts to resist the Purge, and the sequel followed a small band of survivors trapped outdoors when all hell broke loose. Little is known about the third film’s plot specifics, but there’s really only one detail needed to get our butts in seats opening weekend. Will Frank Grillo be returning to kick ass for the underdogs? The answer is yes. (Rob Hunter)

49. Pete’s Dragon

Release Date: July 1

The Pitch: We wouldn’t normally be excited about a rehash of a beloved Disney family film, especially since the Witch Mountain redo was merely passable. However, the studio has turned this new take on their 1977 sorta-classic live-action and animation hybrid into a kind of prestige pic by hiring visionary indie darlings David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks. They’re the writer/director and producer, respectively, of Ain’t Them Body Saints and have also been involved with such non-mainstream efforts as Upstream Color and Listen Up Philip. And with their acclaimed short Pioneer (watch it), they’ve already kind of tackled children’s story territory. Add to all this Robert Redford cast in the Mickey Rooney role and we see this as the most exciting auteur-helmed kids movie since Robert Altman’s Popeye — and yes, we love Robert Altman’s Popeye. (Christopher Campbell)

48. Synchronicity

Release Date: January 22

The Pitch: Writer/Director Jacob Gentry’s 2007 film The Signal is a film with which we had a lot of fun. We expect a little bit of the same from Synchronicity, his new film about time travel, love and corporate interests. In his review of the film at the Fantasia Film Festival last year, Rob Hunter called it “Gumby sci-fi,” a film that (for better and sometimes worse) is too worried about being bendy and fun. It’s the “bendy and fun” part that has the rest of us interested. It promises to be a little bit of Blade Runner with a twisted sense of humor. In fact, it sounds like a movie that might make a nice reprieve from the doldrums of January. (Neil Miller)

Read Our Review

47. Eddie the Eagle

Release Date: April 29

The Pitch: In a surprise debut at Butt-Numb-a-Thon in Austin this past month, Eddie the Eagle was met with cheers from a weary-eyed crowd of movie marathoning nerds. That is to say that apparently it’s a lot of fun. The story of Britain’s first ever Olympic ski jump competitor, the colorful Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, Eddie brings together a number of fan favorites. Kingsman‘s Taron Egerton stars in the titular role. Hugh Jackman plays his unorthodox coach. Christopher Walken is there, too. According to the vibes from the trailer, it’s going to be a rambunctious feel-good movie. One of those quirky, yet triumphant sports tales. And for those, we have a spot in our collective heart. (Neil Miller)

Watch the Trailer

46. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Release Date: May 20

The Pitch: It’s unlikely that this comedy sequel will be as good as the original, but as long as Rose Byrne is back, we’re on board, as well. We’re actually hopeful that director Nicholas Stoller and his writing collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have recognized that Byrne was the best thing about Neighbors and put her even more front and center in part two. After all, the adversary this time around is a sorority girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), and from a presumable gender-matching standpoint, she’d be the Zac Efron (who is also returning) to Byrne’s Rogen. Even if she’s not its primary lead, though, Byrne will still steal the show anyway. (Christopher Campbell)

45. Demolition

Release Date: April 8

The Pitch: Jean-Marc Vallée has been on an incredible run over the last 3 years. In 2011, he delivered Dallas Buyers Club and earned an Oscar nomination for editing. In 2013, he helmed the Reese Witherspoon soul searching drama Wild. In 2015, he took his new film Demolition to the Toronto Film Festival where it earned some praise from critics. The film tells the story of an investment banker (Jake Gyllenhaal) who struggles to deal with the loss of his wife in a car crash. Any movie that combines the eye of Vallée with talents like Gyllenhaal and his co-star Naomi Watts should be a film that deserves our attention. (Neil Miller)

44. The Accountant

Release Date: October 7

The Pitch: It feels like it’s been a few years since we spent any real time with “Ben Affleck, Actor”. Sure, we’ve spent months with “Ben Affleck, Husband” courtesy of the tabloids and the highly visible dissolution of his marriage. And sure, we’ve had plenty of time to check out “Ben Affleck, Human Action Figure” with the new publicity stills and trailers for the Batman V. Superman movie. Hell, we’ve even gotten used to “Ben Affleck, Prestige Filmmaker” thanks to Argo and the latest season of Project Greenlight. But “Ben Affleck, Actor”? Someone who reads a script, likes the character he is being offered, and does his best to play said character in an engaging and exciting way? We can’t think of a better way to get reacquainted than with a thriller about a professional killer. (Matthew Monagle)

43. Everybody Wants Some

Release Date: April 15

The Pitch: In March, Richard Linklater will bring his spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused back to Austin to kick off the South by Southwest Film Festival. About a month later, audiences around the country will have the opportunity to go back to the 1980s with one of film’s preeminent purveyors of Americana. This time it’s the story of a group of college baseball players who have recently become unburdened of supervision and make their way through the highs and lows of early adulthood. It’s not quite as ambitious as Boyhood, but Linklater’s comfort zone is riding around in cars with the good ole’ boys, so this should be a lot of fun. (Neil Miller)

Watch the Trailer

42. Zootopia

Release Date: March 4

The Pitch: If the rest of this movie is as good as the sloth-scene teaser currently killing it in theaters, we could be getting the best non-Pixar animated feature from Disney in decades. Or at least the funniest, which would make sense coming from the union of directors Byron Howard (Bolt) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph). Set in a metropolis populated by anthropomorphic mammals, the buddy cop comedy looks like the big-screen Richard Scarry movie we’ve never gotten. Zootopia stars the voices of Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin as a con artist fox teamed up with a by-the-books police officer bunny for a missing person — er, missing otter — case. (Christopher Campbell)

Watch the Trailer

41. The Free State of Jones

Release Date: March 11

The Pitch: Matthew McConaughey plays a southern farmer named Newt Knight who, during the Civil War, teams up with a group of slaves to lead a rebellion against the Confederate Army. Aside from the fact that some of the puns just write themselves for this one (“Alright, alright, all Knight” or “Alright, alright, White Knight”), there’s also a great deal of prestige behind this pic. It’s written and directed by Seabiscuit and The Hunger Games director Gary Ross and it will co-star the rising talent of Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Also, Kerri Russell. This isn’t likely to be a charming McConaughey romp, but rather a dark, thoughtful movie about a small area of the deep south that stood up against the ugliness of the slave-owning states that surrounded it. Most importantly, the McConnaisance continues.  (Neil Miller)

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