Episode 002 | Favorite Films of 2022

Creative producer and fellow cinephile, Brian Lemieux, braves the Haunted Basement to discuss the our favorite films of 2022.

As a bonus, we share our favorite “new-to-me” films of 2022 - movies we discovered or watched for the first time. Spoiler alert: Brian is finally getting a taste for musicals!

Bonus-bonus: A.J. and Bubba introduce a new segment entitled “Call Your Mom” in which (you guessed it) they call their mom!

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Episode 002 Transcript

A.J.: Hello and welcome back to Haunted Basement, the podcast. I'm A.J.

Bubba: I’m Bubba.

Ashleigh: I’m Ashleigh.

A.J.: We're siblings and we run a production company called Haunted Basement. And this is our podcast where we talk about the movies, music and pop culture that inspires and influences our video work.

Bubba: Joining us today is a dear friend and colleague, someone who I've learned a lot from in terms of video production, but also just about life in general. He’s a producer with a perfect creative, technical and logistical brain who is able to problem solve on the fly. And we are honored to have him as our first official guest. This is Mr. Brian Lemieux.

Brian: Oh, thanks. That's too nice.

Ashleigh: Lemieux.

A.J.: Welcome to the basement.

Bubba: You have always been someone that can interpret the crazy stuff that I'm saying and know what it means, just like my siblings can do. And you are someone that I love talking about movies with.

Brian: Yeah, totally. I always remember this one project we were working on where you kept describing the shoot as being yellow, but not the color yellow, not literally yellow. And it was really just like trying to discern the creative intent behind that. But most people, I assume, would just take it as a literal, Oh, you want a yellow wall? It's like, no, I just want something bright and lively. Once we were able to click pretty early on, it was honestly like our real working relationship has been one of my favorites of my career.

Bubba: Get out of here. I'm going to have to ask A.J. and Ashleigh to leave so Brian and I can just talk for the rest of this hour. 

Ashleigh: Well, it is really nice to hear you two talk about your relationship, because if life is anything else, it's just trying to find people who you can click with and that you can make sense of what the heck yellow means when someone says that in a work environment. So that's really nice that you guys found each other and have been able to go to cool places.

Bubba: Yeah. And hopefully in 2023 Brian can hop on a few Haunted Basement projects and we can have him on the podcast and have him as a part of this creative family.

Ashleigh: Well he's on the podcast. So click. I mean, check.

Bubba: Click.

A.J.: On today's episode, we're talking about our favorite films from 2022 and also talking about our favorite “New to You” films, meaning it might not have come out in 2022, but it was the first time that you watched it. So Brian, do you want to kick us off for your favorite film from 2022?

Brian: I'd say that this year for me…the big one was like going back to movie theaters after not having gone for a couple of years pretty much. And that definitely shaped my experience. And of course, like the big spectacle films like Nope and Avatar 2 which I did enjoy and Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Those are like some that really, you know, Top Gun, even that were the big movie experience that I missed for two years.

But also what I realized I really missed was movies that had a lot of subtlety and smallness to it that was blown up on the big screen and what that brings. So for me, that's Tár, a movie that really surprised me and stuck with me for so long and yet wasn't a big spectacle of a film. But in my mind, I can't imagine watching that on TV and getting the same experience. 

Cate Blanchett is amazing in it. It seems she will win an Oscar because it's just unbelievable. It's a very big scale art film in many ways. It felt very Kubrickian to me, and I don't know if I'm saying that because I know there is a little connection between Todd Fields, the writer, director and Kubrick.

A.J.: Eyes Wide Shut.

Brian: Yeah, and I think he hung around for a bit and he became friends with his right hand man who helped produce his first film, too, like Kubrick has, like in this little separation that you create, a little separation, you feel like a bit like an observer. But at the same time it has all this subtlety to it, these nuance moments, and it's super confident, and yet it's still extremely vague about what he's trying to say.

And it's kind of like a Rorschach test. Like you watch it and you guess certain times you like this character. I both love her and she's a monster. Statements have been made about it being like, it's all about cancel culture. That's definitely part of it. But really it's just about this person and you're just observing their behavior kind of a bit out at a remove and you're trying to analyze her and your opinions of her change throughout the whole movie.

But I can't say that I know what the filmmakers intended you to have. Like what message at the end of that film. It's not really clear. And I think that's part of the reason why it just stuck with me since it also has these multi layers to it that aren't even clear, like you could watch on a superficial level and really get it and enjoy it.

But I think there's literally a ghost story in there too, subtly placed in there. That's up for debate. But you know, there's all these different kinds of layers to it that are, you know, depending on where you're landing while watching it, totally changes your whole point of view of what you're watching.

Bubba: I'm curious what you took away or what inspired you as a video creative, as a producer, as a storyteller, like what you saw in it that you kind of wanted to lock away and put in your little inspiration box to to take out later in your own projects?

Brian: Well, compositionally, I think this is maybe something he got from Kubrick. A lot of long unshowy takes as one in particular. That in retrospect is extremely impressive, but is so not showy that I had to walk out of there and be like was that an eight minute oner? I couldn't even tell. But to me I think the idea that it was so specific and so, you know, you could just tell everything was really thought through and yet it still had this purposeful vagueness that you don't really see to do that in a way that is still, like, understandable and you can walk away and have a good sense of the movie and not just feel lost because you definitely don't. You follow the plot. It's just like the interpretation of this person fluctuates throughout the whole movie and I'm sure fluctuates per viewer, yet it's just done in a way that is also so cinematic. So again, so confident and so exacting and what it is trying to do and there's something about that that just like I can't say I've ever even seen something like that before, including with Kubrick, where I think his vagueness is on the nose, if you know what I mean.

I'm afraid people watching on TV will say, Oh, it's a story about a conductor, and missing all the little nuances and sound design too, because it's a lot about sound. Her being this conductor. She's kind of haunted by sounds throughout and stuff and seeing that in the theaters. And I think a lot of that's unfortunately going to be lost in a lot of people's experience seeing it on TV. But, you know, it just felt so cinematic in a very surprising way. Opposite of Top Gun in many ways.

A.J.: Well, that's definitely the most enticing pitch for Tár.

Ashleigh: I know. Currently looking up and seeing if it is showing.

A.J.: Ashleigh, do you want to hit us with your top film from 2022?

Ashleigh: My movie for 2022, was Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. So 2022 for me was very much a rollercoaster year. Ended up quitting my job in late August with the pandemic and two young kids and a full time job. And the team that I was managing and trying to do everything, it was just too much for me. Later in that year, I saw this movie and I was just like, what just happened? Like halfway through, I was so happy that I was watching it at home because I was like, I felt like I had to hold onto something. I was like, What is happening here in this movie? I loved it. I was confused by it. I was trying to decipher what was happening with the googly eyes. I was like, what does that mean?

Like, it was crazy and I loved it so much. And I read so much about it afterwards. And I admire the Daniels so much. And before I read that interview, I was like, they must really love their mother or have like really strong female figures in their life, because I just connected with that movie like, so much. And then I read that it was intended for a male character and I was like, well, it would not have been the same movie without Evelyn.

Bubba: That's really surprising, too, because one thing that I've heard about this movie is that a lot of women have come forward and thank the Daniels for making a great film about menopause and the experience of going through that as like one of the, you know, one of the ways to interpret this movie. And yeah, you're not going to get that with a male character.

Ashleigh: So that's why I love it so much, because older women are connecting with it. I'm connecting with it because I'm like, I am everything, everywhere, all at once, all the time, every day. And just as like a working mother, that's exactly how I felt like when Evelyn's at the beginning where she's like going through all her audits and then, you know, her husband comes in trying to get a divorce and like, her father's there and her, her child's there.

I was like, oh, my God, my head is spinning. But I know exactly that feeling. So I loved it because it was something that, you know, you don't see every day. It's not for everyone. But I hope everyone sees it because it's beautiful and such a quirky, crazy, but based in a real emotion. Just these little moments of tenderness.

I also was like, is that Jamie Lee Curtis? That can’t be Jamie Lee Curtis. She was so good. Like, even if she was only in that opening, like in the first scene, I was in awe. You know, she's playing that cranky character at the IRS, like with the big belly and these floppy boobs, like, she's so funny.

And then I was just like, oh my God, I was so happy. And then when she came back, obviously I was just like, wow, this is amazing. And then the woman who plays Joy just looks like she's having the time of her life and everything with all the different costumes in the set. I was like, this girl is like having the time of her life.

It shines through. It's amazing. The everything bagel. I mean, I loved it. There were a lot of movies that I liked in 2022, like Brian, you're talking about going back to the movie theater. I saw Top Gun in the movie theater per A.J.’s recommendation, a whole community experience in the theater in Bend, Oregon, where I saw it.

Bubba: At 11 a.m., right?

Ashleigh: At 11 a.m. You know, it was like my first time away from my kids in a while with my husband. We're like, let's go to the movies. And I also am curious if anyone else has seen this. I really enjoyed Causeway as well. Did anyone else watch that?

Group: No.

Ashleigh: Jennifer Lawrence, first movie with her new production company. And it's beautiful in its simplicity and I highly recommend it. She has PTSD, so she's trying to get back into life after being in the service and basically being blown up. And it takes place in New Orleans. And just like a really nice movie I recommend, but my favorite is definitely Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.

A.J.: I'm just going to say that I'm amazed that Everything sort of broke through to the mainstream because I thought Swiss Army Man would– the Daniel's previous film. But everyone just described that as the Farting Corpse movie. And I was like, it’s so much more than that. But somehow, some way, this movie broke through and it's an insane movie. It's like there's a scene where two rocks have a conversation, and I'm amazed that mainstream audiences love it.

Ashleigh:  I'm curious if, like, Mom and Dad would give the movie a try and what they would think.

A.J.: Mom would watch the butt plug fight scene and say, these are degenerates.

Bubba: It's not even the butt plug scene or the dildo fighting scene. They just would have no idea what was happening. If our parents watched it they would certainly pick up on the lessons on empathy or especially the, you know, the mother-daughter relationship or just call it the parent-child relationship. I think they would definitely pick up on, oh, you know, we're just trying to relate to each other and to be seen and heard by each other, which I think is so wonderful.

But I just think that they would get so lost in the plot, the verse jumping. And why is this guy giving himself paper cuts to like, you know, download some new skill or whatever?

Ashleigh: Oh my God, can we talk about him for a second? I was like, is that the guy from Indiana Jones?

A.J.: Oh yes he is. And The Goonies.

Ashleigh: He was so good. Oh, my gosh.

Bubba: A 20 year hiatus.

Ashleigh: 20 years?

Bubba: He hadn’t made a movie in 20 years. He stole the show.

Ashleigh: Oh wow. He stole it. They all stole it. They were all amazing. So total credit to the Daniels for coming up with that. It was amazing and beautiful and wonderful and weird and quirky and I loved it.

Bubba: I'm going to try and piggyback as quickly as possible, because Everything, Everywhere, All at once is also my favorite film that was released in 2022. 

Brian: I knew it. 

Bubba: Did you know that based on my love for Swiss Army Man or did you just say?

Brian: Yeah.

Bubba: I mean, Swiss Army Man. I feel like maybe a future episode we’lll dissect that film because it is still one of the few movies that I've ever bought, like digitally, you know, instead of just rented. Like I instantly bought it and needed it and yeah, I want it. I want in my library. I just love how the Daniel's for Swiss Army Man–I heard in an interview that part of the inspiration for that movie was they wanted the audience to laugh at the first fart in that film and cry at the final fart. And the fact that you end, or at least I and I know that you feel the same way, A.J. You love it. You end the film with this giant lump in your throat and you feel so much like based on a reaction to a fart is just an incredible feat.

And on top of that, they also pick things that they despise. Like Cotton Eyed Joe, the song. They hate Cotton Eyed Joe. So they were like, we need to put Cotton Eyed Joe in our movie and we need to include it in our movie in a way that makes us love it as viewers. And that is the way that we will measure whether or not we are successful with making this film.

And I love that they are so confident in their craft that they can set those goals for themselves. And so they did something similar with Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, where they're like, how do we make taxes emotional? Like just the, you know, the very simple, mundane experience of doing taxes? How do we make that emotional and cinematic? And I think they nailed it.

Ashleigh: One quick thing just on the Daniels. Daniel Kwan, I'm like, so upset but impressed. He’s 34 and he is from West Borough, Mass and he went to Emerson.

A.J.: Yeah. They've been directing music videos for a while. They directed Turn Down For What the Lil Jon song from like what, ten years ago or whenever that was.

Ashleigh: Oh okay. Because I was going to say, where do they get their confidence from if they're that young?

Brian: A lot of music videos and shorts.

Bubba: So their age and also the way that they got into the business, into the industry, they are definitely role models for me because they got their start doing these shorts and these music videos and a lot of them include these practical and visual effects that are so simple. But there are these magic tricks that are like, they're so impressive in the cut or in the actual final, you know, the final feature, the final piece.

But when you dissect them or when you think about how they were made, they're kind of these cheap tricks that they taught themselves. And I just find that to be so inspiring. Like to use an example from Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. The scene where Jenny Slate's character has her Pomeranian on a leash, and then she kind of slings the Pomeranian around. And clearly it's a stuffed animal. It's just a cut that works so well because it's so fun. But in reality, I think the day of when they were shooting that scene, someone ran to Walmart and bought a $5 stuffed animal. And, you know, they just like they're okay with things not looking real, but looking really good and it just works.

I also think that this is my favorite film because of the simple fact that this was shot in 39 days is the most inspiring thing. There's a million unique shots and they shot it in 39 flippin days. It's like, how in the world?

Brian: Can you imagine just writing that script though? Like how complex it is, let alone throwing in, you know, Oh, wait, this one. Try to figure this thing out.

Bubba: Well, they admit in a few interviews that they couldn't really keep a formal structure for the script because they didn't know, like, is this a scene, this cut because we're cutting to so many different, you know, locations. But if you did that, it'd be like 500 pages. So they just had a great crew that I think they've developed over the past decade of working together on these music videos and that relationship, when you have that relationship where you don't really need to over explain, you don't need to have things perfect on paper, it just works. It's wonderful and they pull it off into..

Brian: I like the idea of, you know, being a little bit more flexible all around with the script and also the VFX just to know, Oh, we can fix this and not get bogged down by that. And in a small movie that can really get in the way if they didn't have that experience, they were just in, you know, daily just post-production meetings on set. How are we doing this? But they knew what they could do. Also, I love the message of the movie. Nothing makes sense. But that's not a good reason not to be a nihilist, but just be nice and good.

A.J.: Swiss Army Man and Everything, are very open hearted and vulnerable in a way that you don't really see in mainstream Hollywood movies that much. I'm going to hit you with two of my top movies that aren't my top movie. I'll talk about them very briefly. First one is Top Gun, Maverick.

Ashleigh: I knew it. The man saw it three times in theaters.

A.J.: Tom Cruise demonstrating what it is to be an actual movie star. Like, guys, can you name a movie star that's under the age of 40? Name one right off the top of your head. You can't because there aren't really that many movie stars anymore. Tom Cruise is a movie star and he just showed it in this movie. I went into that movie being like, I don't really care. And at the end of the movie, I'm like, Oh, I guess I love Tom Cruise and Top Gun Maverick is amazing.

Bubba: We should have Tom Cruise introduce every movie that you go to in a theater, he’d be giant on screen catching us by surprise and he’d say, Welcome, welcome to my movie. I’m the best. Give me a trophy.

A.J.: The other movie that is not my top, but it's up there, is Strawberry Mansion. Have you seen that movie? It's a very low budget indie film, very Michel Gondry-influenced film about this character who plays like a dream tax accountant. He goes into someone's dream and taxes all the things that are in it, and he ends up falling in love with this older woman who he is dream taxing, which sounds crazy, but it's a very romantic, Michel Gondry/Eternal Sunshine sort of movie that feels handcrafted, but it also feels extremely imaginative at the same time.

Ashleigh: And it was released in 2021, so it was–

A.J.: Hold on, hold on. It was released in 2021. Like Sundance, the festivals. But I saw it in February 2022. Usually like January, February, March. Those are the dog days of movie theater watching. So it was a great surprise. But sure, fine. That's not my top movie. 

Top movie of the year for me. It's Barbarian. This movie had its audience, like it just had it in its clutches. And the scary parts were scary and people were vocalizing that. They were scared. The funny parts were funny. It's such a thrill to be part of an audience where you just feel like you're collectively emoting. I haven't seen a movie this scary and funny  which managed to hit these severe tone shifts. I haven't seen something like that since The Evil Dead, to be honest. The casting the way that they used Bill Skarsgard. They typecast him as like, you know, he played Pennywise in the newer IT movies. So you're like, Oh, well, he's obviously going to be the bad guy. The way they sort of play off that. That is fun. And I don't really see that many AJs in movies. So to see Justin Long show up playing a character named AJ, at the beginning I was like, Yes! And then as it goes on, I'm like, okay, I'm going to call him Dark AJ because I don't want to be associated with him. But I love this movie. I saw it twice and I would watch it again.

Brian: It's also a pretty epic haunted basement, huh?

Bubba: Yeah, that's a basement that our mother would say is a reason for us to change the name of the production company.

A.J.: But let's hear it. Let's hear the counter Barbarian arguments. 

Bubba: Well, who is against it? Is it just Ashleigh?

Ashleigh: Well, okay, I'll just say he built it up so much for me. Like, oh my God, this is a great movie. You have to watch it. And he did the same thing with Top Gun and I loved Top Gun. It was totally the experience you were talking about. Top Gun was for me, like I was in the movie theater again. I saw it at 11 a.m. So it was a lot of older people. I thought this one lady was like going to have a heart attack, one of the planes. And I was like, Oh, is everything okay? Like I was holding my breath. Like it was just a workout for me.

So then when I watch Barbarian and A.J. is like, Oh my God. It's like so scary. But like, funny. You just got to watch. And so, like, the whole time, at the beginning I was so scared because I was like, Go, get out, Get out of the house. Yeah.

A.J.: Don't you check your Google maps before you book an Airbnb? Come on.

Ashleigh: Don’t stay with a stranger. Oh, there are just so many things wrong. But then the thing in the basement, I was  just like ick.

A.J.: Love, love, love the thing. Can I just say one more thing about Barbarian? I love behind the scenes stuff. Apparently the top financer of this movie passed away like a few days before they were going to go shoot the film and they're shooting the film in Bulgaria. And I don't know if you guys can tell this, too, but when you watch a movie that is made with like so much love and just like they have to find a way to make this movie, I think it comes across and it came across to me that this filmmaker was desperate to tell the story, no matter like how weird and strange it was.

Bubba: It came across to me. Did the director also write the script?

A.J.: Yes, he did.

Bubba: To be able to have complete command over those moments of, I'm going to have these two characters share a bottle of wine, and I know that it's going to make everybody cringe. And like people yelling at the screen in the theater to know exactly what your audience's reaction is going to be at every beat, that's so impressive.

Brian: And then also subverting everyone's expectations. Skarsgaard, of course, but also Justin Long and the monster. Yeah. It's like constantly subverting what you're expecting. And when they cut to Justin Long on the freeway and I totally forgot he was in this. It was a complete surprise. And this cut changed it to a different movie in a good way in my opinion.

Bubba: No, you're exactly right about casting. So I watched this with my wife. I think at one point when Justin Long came on, I was like, Oh my God, do you know who that is? And she's like, No, who is that? I was like, That's the guy that used to play like, I'm a Mac in the I'm a Mac commercial. You know, he's the good guy. He's like the college guy, you know. He's perfectly cast for you to kind of bring those expectations.

Brian: It’s the perfect movie to go in knowing nothing and they advertised it that way to you like don't know anything.

Ashleigh: I know. I was like an Airbnb movie? What?

Bubba: And now join us for a little segment we like to call “Call your Mom.” 

Mom: Hello?

Bubba: Can you hear me?

Mom: I can hear you. Can you hear me?

A.J.: Hello mom.

Mom: What?!

A.J.: Yeah, there's both of us on the line. Both of your sons.

Mom: Ohhh. How are you both, the boyfriends?

Bubba: Doing well.

A.J.: We're talking about our favorite films of 2022, and we're just wondering if you have any favorites that you can recall right now?

Mom: I think the only movie I saw in 2022 was what's his face there?

A.J.: Tom Cruise? Top Gun Maverick?

Mom: Yeah.

A.J.: How did you feel about it?

Mom: I liked it. I thought it was action packed. I didn’t see anything else.

A.J.: What? That's a lie. We watched When Harry Met Sally. We watched Blow Out together. You've seen at least three movies this year.

Mom: Three movies in 2022. That's right. I liked Harry Met Sally. Blow out was creepy.

A.J.: Can you tell us a little bit about The White Lotus Season two? How are you feeling about it?

Mom: Holy moly.  We just finished the Hawaiian one.

Bub: Oh, you finished season one?

A.J.: You just burned through two seasons.

Mom: The Hawaiian one was interesting. What I think is really interesting about both of them is they use second rate actors and actresses. You notice that?

Bubba: Second rate?

A.J.: This is HBO.

Bubba: They've got very, very big actors in the first season.

Mom: I don't think they're at their top. So in season one, you know, the husband, Jake, what's his face? He's always been in like second rate movies. And then the woman from Remember the Titans, she was kind of second rate.

A.J.: Are you talking about Denzel Washington's wife?

Mom:  Oh, no. Not Remember the Titans. Friday Night Lights.

A.J.: Remember the Friday Night Lights.

Bubba: Oh man.

A.J.: All right. Well, you got to go get ready for your 4:30.

Mom: That’s right. I gotta go.

Brothers: Bye.

A.J.: Okay, Brian, do you want to tell us your favorite new to you movie of this past year?

Brian: Sure. So I've never seen any Bob Fosse movies before this year.

A.J.: Oh, no Cabaret?

Brian: I hadn't seen Cabaret. I'm not a big musical fan. I'm getting there.His primary occupation is choreography. I'm like, it can't be that great. I ended up watching three of them, so I've got Cabaret and Lenny. But what really struck me was All That Jazz. So both like this being introduced, a new filmmaker that I was kind of like, you know, not expecting much from. And I was very surprised by his talent as a filmmaker. Even now, All That Jazz is just like a wild kind of The Fablemans. I'm not sure how well it would work as a movie if you didn't know it was essentially about the filmmaker, the way he put himself out there in both like very self-indulgent way, but also like not hiding any of his–

A.J.: Oh, it's warts and all in this movie.

Brian: Warts and all, for sure. Yeah. And I I heard that when he first wrote the script, like he had his own name in there, his own wife's name in there. Everyone. But it's like literally a moment in his life that just happened that he then, like, repurposed for this movie. And I don't know, I just thought it all in all, I was so surprised at how much I liked that movie.

Ashleigh: Five, six, seven, eight.

A.J.: Is it Roy Scheider? Is that his name? The lead?

Brian: Yeah. Another one too. Like outside of Jaws. I don't really know.

A.J.: Startling to see him in this role, because I just. He's what, Sheriff Brody to me.

Brian: Yeah, to see him dancing.

A.J.: And I can't believe this wasn't Bob Fosse his last movie, because it just has a last movie vibe all over. Like, I don't care anymore. I'm just going to rat everyone out and, like, warts and all. But he made a movie after that. I don't even know how, but he did.

Brian: I mean, I think he probably expected to die. I mean, what's in that movie is like he, you know, he does die in the movies. I think he was expecting to not have a long life.

A.J.: Ash, what's your favorite new to you movie from this year?

Ashleigh: Well, I forgot that it's supposed to be new to you. Yeah, I think I might have just accidentally forgot that. And so we were watching The Goofy Movie the other day, and I really loved it. Obviously I've seen it in the past, but I misunderstood the assignment. So I'm going to say The Goofy Movie. This movie, guys, I recommend you rewatch it.

A.J.: It’s A Goofy Movie, not The Goofy Movie.

Ashleigh: So I got it wrong like The Muppets, you know, the Muppets is in my mind, but like, it's just a coming of age story. Max doesn't want to turn into his dad at the beginning. He's having this dream where he wants this girl, Roxanne. He's talking to her, he's getting close to her, and then all of a sudden he starts to laugh, and then he gets the goofy laugh, you know? And he's, like, so embarrassed. His teeth start to grow, and then he wakes up and Goofy is there, and, oh, it's just the songs are great.

A.J.: Tevin Campbell sounded like Prince in there.

Ashleigh: So yeah, it just gets you right back to high school, middle school, awkward years and imagine if Goofy was your dad and it's a fun little trip and we got some good pop songs in there.

A.J.: Movie ends with what Powerline, who is very much like, just seems like he's supposed to be Prince.

Ashleigh and Bubba: If we listen to each other's heart we'll find we're never too far apart and maybe love is the reason why for the first time ever, we're seeing it eye to eye.

Bubba: Yeah, you're saying?

A.J.: Yeah. Okay. Well, anyway, so I need to piggyback off of your A Goofy Movie pick because I feel like my pick goes hand-in-hand with that because my pick, new to me this year is Sign O’ The Times, Prince. This movie came back to theaters in March 2022, and I was like, Yeah, sure, we'll see it, whatever. And I saw it. I'm like, Oh, I love Prince. I love everything about Prince. He originally shot all this concert footage from a European tour, and he's like, I don't like any of it. So what he did is he went back to Paisley Park, his huge studio compound in Minnesota, and he rebuilt the concert stage on this, like, big soundstage and brought all these people in.

And he just reshot the concert. He was happy with the audio. He lip synched the concert, reshot it, so he had a bunch of coverage to work with. All these, like amazing close up shots of him dancing, his backup singers and dancers dancing. And I think because he's in total control of everything, it's just like the most incredible dancing I've ever seen in my life.

And he also filmed a bunch of these scene transitions between songs. They made this really cool set that has eighties neon lights like hotels, hotels, girls, girls, XXX, and it's like very Prince, very sexy. And for like 90 minutes you just turn off the lights in your apartment, crank the volume and just be at a Prince concert from the eighties. I'm just like, I am a converted Prince fan after this movie.

Ashleigh: For any other Harry Styles fans out there, I gave it a goog. It's Sign O’ The Times, not Sign Of The Times, which is a Harry Styles song.

A.J.: But he also does like the peace sign. Sign peace sign the times.

Bubba: What made you put this movie on? Because I think that you, if I'm remembering correctly, you texted me on like a Sunday night or something.

A.J.: I've always had his music in my life, but I never devoted an hour and a half of my time to watch one of his concerts. I know he's not for everyone, but he is definitely for me. And I learned that this year.

Ashleigh: You've always been very excited that he and I share a birthday.

A.J.: Yeah. Geminis. Gemini King and Queen.

Ashleigh: I think I’m Prince.

Bubba: You’re Princess.

A.J.: Bubs, what do you got?

Bubba: My favorite new to me is The Humans by Stephen Karam. Oh my God. I encourage everyone to watch it. The basic premise is that a young couple moves into a really kind of rundown Manhattan apartment, and they throw this housewarming party that is also a Thanksgiving lunch dinner with their family. It's surface level. It's just a Thanksgiving family drama.

But this film is scary. It has the look and feel of a horror film at times. It even has jump out scares. It's scary. Then in the next moment it is laugh out loud, funny, and then it is so poignant and then it is so joyful. And I feel like the title of this film is perfect because what you're doing is you're just looking at humans and human nature kind of laid bare.

And another way I would describe this is this is a film that if it were up to me, I would put this film in a capsule and launch into space so that aliens, if they ever found that capsule and they would watch this and be like, oh, like Planet Earth, we should skip that one because those people are complicated and crazy and so hard to figure out.

Stephen Karam, I guess I didn't know this, but it's a film adaptation of a 2016 Tony Award winning play that he also wrote. I think that makes me love it even more because the film itself is so medium specific. He does. It clearly thought deeply about how to kind of translate this right, adapt it from a stage production to something that is cinematic with, you know, with super simple devices like what does this close up do that I couldn't do in a stage production?

Thinking about how he went about adapting his own work I think is so impressive. I think it is such a beautiful, wonderful observation of human nature. And the last thing I'll say is I listened to an interview with Stephen Karam, and he said something about how I think you describe The Humans as a comedy of recognition. I think he meant like a comedy of recognition is when you are laughing at things that characters do because you recognize them.

It's like, Oh, I completely relate. Or I have a character, my life, that is so relatable to that. I myself relate so much. The youngest child, Beanie and Bridget, who is played by Beanie Feldstein. I relate 100% to her. I mean, I also just have invited our parents and Ellen's parents over to my crappy apartment with water stains on the ceiling, things falling apart and rusty pipes.

So that alone is relatable. But then Bridget, the character is doing things where I'm like, oh my God, I feel like I'm looking into a mirror. So then I feel like even if you don't have a 1 to 1 kind of relationship or a mirror relationship or mirror image relationship with one of the characters, you would, you would recognize stuff and every one of these characters. So yeah, give it a watch, people.

Ashleigh: Two things. One, amazing cast. I'm just looking at it now. The woman who plays Deirdre, Jane Houydshell.

Bubba: Yeah, she does so in the play as well.

Ashleigh: Oh does she. Yeah. She is also in Causeway and she's got a small part but man she kills it. She's like an amazing actress.

A.J.: I gotta see Causeway.

Bubba: I gotta see Causeway, but I love that there are two Deirdres is in this conversation. We got Deirdre from The Humans. It's a darker performance. Then you got, Deirdre. But Deirdre played by Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Do you know her last name in that? Deirdre Beaubeirdre. This is another example of why the movie is so great. Deirdre Beaubeirdre the tax auditor. 

Ashleigh: That's so funny. But actually, my second point was the way you were initially describing The Humans made me think of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once because just in terms of it being kind of like genre bending.

Bubba: Yeah, I would say The Humans is a little bit more convoluted, a little bit more complicated where it probably is most accurately described as a horror drama, really. 

A.J.: It feels like a stage play too, whereas Everything does not feel like a stage play.

Ashleigh: Oh, of course, of course. But yet you've piqued my interest. I will certainly watch it.

Brian: And that's I mean, in parallel to it. But obviously I need to see a theater guy make this these movies. And it turned out to be extremely cinematic and ended even The Humans. So it's a play, let alone that he was adapting his own play. Because everything I've heard about The Humans was how surprisingly cinematic it is.

Bubba: Yeah. It does so much with so little too it's just like it's one set that I'm guessing that they built and like these beautiful locked off shots that are framing the actors through door frames and there are no special effects. There are no crazy practical effects. It's just, it's just a lovely, amazing family drama.

Yeah, it's incredible. I think 2022 for me and my movie watching experience was just like really reacting to very emotional stuff, really reacting to very human characters and not enjoying at all the kind of escapist Marvel characters.

A.J.: I guess you didn’t like Top Gun Maverick.

Bubba: I did not like Top Gun. I know. That's why I also didn't like The Batman or whatever the hell Batman it was.

A.J.: There you had it. We just talked about a bunch of movies. Maybe some of them you’ve already seen. Maybe some you're interested in seeing. Brian, thank you very much for coming down to the basement to hang with us.

Brian: Thanks for having me. I would just love to go there as a contender, Nope. As another one that stuck with me. 

A.J.: Oh we could go another hour on Nope.

Ashleigh: Who do you guys think is going to take home the top prize? The Academy Award for Best Picture.

A.J.: I originally thought that The Fableman's was going to, but it's doing terrible at the box office, and I don't know, I think Spielberg will win best director, but I have no idea who's going to win Best picture.

Bubba: I'm going to throw out Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.

A.J.: I think a lot of Oscar voters will not want to award a movie with dildos. 

Brian: I think I'd be surprised with whatever wins. I think I'll be surprised by it.

Bubba: I'm going to be surprised because I certainly haven't seen enough movies this year, like just looking at the best of lists. I'm like, Oh, I have no idea what this is. Well, thank you all for coming and listening to us. Take us home, Ashleigh.

Ashleigh: Thank you all for joining us. You've been listening to the Haunted Basement pod. Thank you, Brian. And we hope you like our movie picks and let us know if you have a different one. And we'll talk to you next time. Bye.