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I Lost It at the Movies

If you aren't yet listening to "The Rewatchables," please know that my obsession grows and grows. Even just skimming the list of movies selected is a pleasure:

*Notting Hill
*While You Were Sleeping
*The Dark Knight
*The Sixth Sense
*Remember the Titans
*Training Day
*Election
*Zodiac
*Michael Clayton
*Edge of Tomorrow
*Fatal Attraction
*Silence of the Lambs
*Gone Girl
*The Town
*Contagion
*Scream
*Godfather I and II
*Field of Dreams
*The Social Network
*The Talented Mr. Ripley
*Collateral
*The Insider

....and on and on and on.

Can you really say that you wouldn't enjoy rewatching those films? Literally every title above is a title I'd rewatch without complaint.

I especially admire the group's refusal to kowtow to critics. For example, "Being John Malkovich" comes up. This is a movie adored by newspapers. But the podcast says: Nope. Not really rewatchable. And it's true. When I try to watch BJM a second time, my mind wanders.

Among many great features of this podcast: a passionate, semi-serious worship of movie stars. The praise directed at Denzel Washington is one example. "If you knew your wife had a chance to costar in a Denzel movie, and the script involved a major love scene, what would you do?" "Could you envision Denzel in CAST AWAY?" "Could you envision Jamie Foxx in TRAINING DAY?" And so on.

The series focuses on specific line readings: "Why so serious?" from DARK KNIGHT. "I will not be *ignored* .....Dan....." from FATAL ATTRACTION. Anthony Hopkins mocking Jodie Foster's accent, in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

The series also gives air time to Wesley Morris, the guy who is now making a name for himself at the New York Times. Morris sees mainstream cinema as part of a great timeline. He can write, and speak, persuasively about major changes in movie-making and movie-watching habits, and he can draw connections others might not draw. (Check out his wacky, fun essay on the movies of April 2002--and find yourself recalling the Ben Affleck vehicle CHANGING LANES--in the NYT this weekend.)

"The Rewatchables" could win a Pulitzer for its coverage of Ben Affleck alone. Watch Ben score a major early success with GOOD WILL HUNTING, then appear in all genres, always, with great discomfort, then sink down after GIGLI, then resurface with ARGO, then climb higher with GONE GIRL, then sink yet again with the Batman fiasco. Mesmerizing.

There's also extensive coverage of Matt Damon--and a persuasive argument that his weird triumph in TALENTED MR. RIPLEY doesn't really get the attention it deserves.

I'm not sure if I'm becoming a better person as I listen to these podcasts--but, at the least, the time flies whenever I start an episode. It's a great treat to have these guys on when you're cooking. Years from now, when I remember this unusual interlude, I might think of "The Rewatchables."
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