A&C roundtable

destiny really liked creed
by Warner Bros

by Kristian Ferguson, Hannah Grover, Destiny Kaus, Matt Wincherauk

Four staff enter, I guess four leave but better informed of one another’s tastes

Welcome to the first Arts and Culture roundtable of my tenure here as A&C Editor. It’s minus one billion degrees outside, so it’s movie season inside. Here’s our Oscar-tastic first roundtable of the New Year. -JK

Which movie should win best picture at the Academy Awards?

KF: Mad Max: Fury Road, by far. For a fast paced and what I initially thought was going to be a generic action flick, it kept my attention, provided an interesting plot, spectacular female characters and provided a beautiful, unspoken story about a man and his poor, abused Ford Falcon coupe.

HG: Mad Max: Fury Road because it’s the only one I’ve seen and it was awesome. I feel it takes a tremendous amount of talent as a director and writer to create the compelling storyline that this film did, what with the majority of the on-screen dialogue being Tom Hardy grunting.

DK: Creed!!!!!! This movie was so legit. All the slow motion shots of punches to the face and blood, sweat, and spit spewing out of the boxers’ bodies were pictures of pure perfection. Plus, let’s be honest: Sylvester Stallone looked boss as Rocky Balboa, and Michael B. Jordan rocked the screen as Adonis Johnson, especially with his physique. Seriously, how can this movie not win best picture with those abs?

MW: The Fantastic Four reboot. It takes a special kind effort to come out with something as messy, ill-conceived and unlikeable as Fox’s fourth attempt at Marvel’s First Family. The studio, director Josh Trank, the actors (outside of Michael B. Jordan) all put in a special effort to make this movie this terrible. Congrats guys, Roger Corman’s version is still the best Fantastic Four movie. Mission accomplished.

Do you watch any of the big award shows? Why not? Which ones?

KF: I was always more interested in the results rather than the pomp and circumstance of the actual shows, but I would be a liar if I said I don’t watch at least part of the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

HG: I used to be an avid Golden Globes and Oscars fan because I needed practice for my future Oscar win, but this year has pissed me off due to the lack of women director and POC nominations this year. I’m getting really sick of white dudes.

DK: No. ‘Cause they’re boring as heck and take up far too many valuable hours of my life. I’d rather spend my time watching Netflix, working out, cuddling my foster cat, or even *gasp* doing homework than watching awards shows. Seeing YouTube clips of the awards shows annoy me. Were some people at the awards funny? Yes. But, I do not need to listen to my friends play endless “funny” clips recapping the awards. They’re over. They happened. Time to let it go. *cue Frozen song*

MW: I sometimes watch for the host’s opening monologue, but really only if it’s Ricky Gervais. I enjoy chaos as well, so it’s nice to watch people look like they’ve been kicked square in the nuts. Here’s hoping Leo DiCaprio loses again so we can see him rush like the stage like a complete lunatic, Kanye-style.

If you could give an Oscar for the best movie in human history, which would you hand it to?

KF: The Oscar needs to be snapped in half and shared between the greatest kaiju films of all time being Godzilla vs Destoroyah (1995) and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) because the former has the coolest Godzilla villain of all time and the former has all of the Godzilla characters which is just as spectacular. Please watch these. Please. Someone needs to understand my love for these films.

HG: Showgirls because fuck you.

DK: I would hand it to A League of Their Own. Not only does this movie have sick actors that do a killer job (Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, and Madonna to name a few), but it also has an excellent plot line based on the first female professional baseball league. I’m probably biased ‘cause I’m a softball player. But whatever, in my books this is the best movie in human history.

MW: The Star Wars Christmas Special. I’m a huge supporter of Wookiee Life Day and I don’t think this classic gets the proper recognition that it so richly deserves.

What is your personal favourite movie? Why?

KF: My favourite film of all time is Star Wars: Return of the Jedi because it has Boba Fett, the most undeservingly cool character of all time. Also because it is a spectacular conclusion to one of the greatest trilogies on Earth and it helps me forget about the worst trilogy on Earth, that is Episodes 1 through 3.

HG: It’s a combination of the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the Rings series, and Brave. All three made me bawl like a baby and the stories resonated with me quite a lot, evidently. One of my proudest accomplishments is my on-point Gollum impression.

DK: Definitely A League of Their Own. Yes, I am using this roundtable to talk about how much I love this movie. A League of Their Own is actually really funny, especially Tom Hanks’ character, Jimmy Dugan, and Madonna’s Mae. So many good one-liners, so many unique characters, and so many cool camera shots. The characters’ emotional depth balances all the humour exquisitely. I laugh and cry every time I see this movie. So, yeah. It’s my fav.

MW: Guardians of the Galaxy. This one is entirely serious. Guardians of the Galaxy reminded me how much fun movies could be, and really got me going back to the theatre, something I hadn’t been doing regularly for years. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, completely literal Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper as a talking raccoon and Vin Diesel as a walking, talking tree. What else could you ever ask for?