The Top 100 Project

Warning: Catholics and Pope-lovers might want to steer clear of the Next 183 Project. S’pretty explosive stuff. We go hard on the church and the cover-up of the sex abuse scandal (a more accurate way to put that would be CHILD RAPE). As for the movie that shows how the intrepid journalists at the Boston Globe went about covering this controversial story, Spotlight is a rock-solid procedural filled with unglamorous research done by a great team of professionals. While the Keaton/Ruffalo/McAdams trifecta got all the press for their performances in this Oscar-winner, director Tom McCarthy finds roles for Stanley Tucci and Liev Schreiber that might be even better than the stars. They quietly steal the movie. So find out if we think this five-year-old Best Picture remains as good as so many people thought in 2015. Well, Actually…: Please forgive some clunkiness during our chat about the Top 5 Best Pictures of the past decade. We talked about Parasite and 1917 without having known at the time which won the top priz

Bonus episode! A terrific year for movies has been wrapped up with a surprise winner (and the right winner) of a slew of gold naked guys. Parasite was the delightful surprise champeen of 2019, taking home trophies for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and International Feature. We talked about how this was the "Diversity & Inclusion" Oscars, even though the nominees themselves were still mostly white dudes. We talked about some "huh?" moments, but also some touching ones. Overall, t'was a memorable (and historic) show, capped off with a record-breaking number of trips to the big stage by a man who most people never knew before a few months ago. So give a legend a standing ovation and yell "UP! UP!" at some trigger-happy TV producers, but then parcel out some time to take in our musings about the last Oscars of the 20-teens.

Are you ready for some grief? Well, the world is a terrible place run by terrible tyrants, so probably. Let’s try this again. Are you ready to hear us yammer on about people who are too stilted to deal with their grief? The Next 182 Project ordinaries up its people and argues that Mary Tyler Moore’s neglectful mom character just has an inability to communicate and show emotion. Those are some bad flaws, but they don’t make her a villain. She—like Donald Sutherland’s Calvin and Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton’s Conrad—is just broken by a family tragedy. Empathy, people! Robert Redford's imperfect, but heartfelt movie is all about that. Anyway, Raging Bull is the classic that most people remember from 1980, but this 40-year-old winner of Best Picture remains very fine in a completely different way. Quiet flick, big impact. Hit it! Well, Actually…: Color Of Night was the only movie Richard Rush directed after The Stunt Man and it did indeed “score” him a Razzie nomination. Also, Bev’s right that Pachelbel’s Canon is

For the 5th year in a row, we present a February gab about the world’s biggest awards show. The Next 181 Project represents the longest episode the Ellises have ever done and that’s because there is A LOT to discuss about this year’s show. Not everyone will agree with our…let’s say uneasy feelings about Joker or Little Women. Many people will also strongly disagree with our resounding boos for The Irishman. Maybe most of you WILL love that we have great things to say about Parasite, Jojo Rabbit, Marriage Story and Knives Out. After a marvelous 2018, 2019 ended up being an outstanding year at the movies too. Perhaps it will end up being highlighted by a truckload of gold for 1917. All these numbers! So pop open a cold beverage and softly guzzle our thoughts about the 92nd Academy Awards. Well, Actually…: Sam Mendes did in fact win the DGA award for Best Director while Jojo Rabbit and Parasite won the WGA’s adapted and original screenplay awards, respectively. Also, Adam Driver was in The Man Who Killed Don Qui

Mrs. Ellis’ final selection in the “Month o’ Bev” did indeed (as she intended) provide fodder for a furious back-and-forth. The movie in question in the Next 180 Project believes in individuality and personal freedom…and also laying it on very thick (thick lipstick especially). Then again, David Lynch was never known for subtlety. His “comedy” isn’t particularly funny, but his love story doesn’t need quotes around it because there’s no doubt this film is very passionate. Kudos to Nic Cage and Laura Dern for selling THAT part of the movie so well. But therein lies the problem: major shifts in tone that just don’t work. As with all Lynch films, this one is complicated and controversial. It’s just not as entertaining or as deliciously horrifying as his best work. So love us tender (or hate us not so tenderly) as we wrap up January with some Wilding & Hearting. Well, Actually… Precious was entered into about half a dozen film festivals outside North America in 2009, so the Precious team did in fact do A LOT o

Darren Aronofsky's cautionary tale is over the top, loud, a bit dated and sometimes hysterical, but it's also heartbreaking. And it was influential, especially on commercials and movie trailers. Might it also be thought of as a horror film? We have thoughts. The Next 179 Project goes down all those avenues and also gets into the film's many technical merits, particularly the editing and the music. The actors (led by a tour-de-forcing Ellen Burstyn) have to play the ugly side of drug addiction, but they also get to play broken people yearning for a dream of a past they want to have back...or maybe never had in the first place. On that cheery note, engage our 'cast about the requieming and the dreaming. For The Record: Jim in The Basketball Diaries is indeed a teenager. Also, it might not sound clear that at the 29:25 mark, Ryan says "she f's WITH him a few times." Sparkplug Coffee is a better thing to be addicted to than pills or the horse. Get a bonafide 20% discount by typing in "top100project" at checkout.

For some, this was the greatest movie of the twenty-tens, but, whether you dig the flick or not, it’s hard to argue that it predicted the future. Now that social media has become a gigantic, world-changing industry (for good and—far too often—for bad), David Fincher’s Facebook Movie has even more relevance than it did 10 years ago. The Next 178 Project digs into “nerd misogyny”, wonders how big is big enough and ponders just how hooked we are on the convenience & ubiquity of liking/sharing/trolling. Jesse Eisenberg is eerily good at playing “Mark Zuckerberg”, although now that we know the real guy better than we did a decade ago, maybe those quotes aren’t even necessary. The real Mark is pretty much a Bond villain now. So lend us some of your time, but in keeping with the situation, don’t forget to like us and subscribe to our stuff! If you’re going to troll your friends on Facebook, a big help to keep you sharp is Sparkplug Coffee. Our 20% discount (using the “top100project” promo code) still very much a

We end 2019 with a show about our favourites of the year and our year in podcasting. The bulk of the episode though highlights our faves of the past decade. In this Next 177 Project, we count from 10 down to 1 about which pictures impressed us the most between 2010 and 2019. No spoilers about what those titles will be....well, except to say that we didn’t even find room on our lists for Inception or 7 of the decade’s winners of the Best Picture Oscar. Happy and safe New Year to you all! Your coffee requirements can and should be filled by going to Sparkplug Coffee’s website. If you use our promo code (“top100project”), you will win yourself a one-time 20% discount. Twittering time? Sure. We’re @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis Our website: www.top100project.com On January 6th, we'll gum-wag about The Social Network

Before you see Greta Gerwig's take on Louisa May Alcott’s classic feminist novel, gobble up our chat about Gillian Armstrong's 25-year-old version. The Next 176 Project throws a big hug around Winona Ryder and her fellow March girls (especially Claire Danes) because your contract as a human pretty much demands you fall in love with lovely people like these. Ryder’s effervescent performance as Jo makes even her romance with a miscast Gabriel Byrne almost believable. So be your independent self and start yuletiding our merry little words. For The Record: Apologies to Florence Pugh for calling her “Frances”. Also, Ryder’s list of impressive pre-1994 credits should have included Edward Scissorhands and The Age Of Innocence. Sparkplug Coffee will give you the boost you need to write your own life story and/or turn a big house into a school. To nab a one-time 20% discount, use our promo code (“top100project”). Merry Twittermas! @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis Our website: www.top100project.com Next week, we'll do

Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid might repel people with their off-screen antics, but they and the rest of this cast do some terrific comic work in National Lampoon's 30-year-old holiday hit. The Next 175 Project has one of us gushing about this nostalgic fave while the other is set on nailing Sparky’s epic anti-boss rant. Writer/producer John Hughes’ decade-long run of beloved comedies was still in full swing at this point and Jeremiah Chechik doesn’t over-direct or get in the way of the Looney Tunes-esque gags. Christmas is only about a week away, so let the Griswolds and your humble narrators put you in the mood for the most wonderful (well, stressful, at least) time of the year. For The Record: In the 1983 Vacation, Eddie & Catherine lived in Kansas, not Nevada. Also, Ellen dodges Eddie’s attempted kiss on the lips in THIS movie. There’s a wonderful way to overcome angst about your in-laws this time of year. It’s drinking plenty of Sparkplug Coffee! A 20% discount is yours to enjoy as long as you plug in o

The Next 174 Project is a dandy of an episode as we rage on about slavery, racism, offensive words…and all of it in what ended up being Quentin Tarantino's biggest hit. He wasn’t at his best in this flick, although that doesn’t mean his direction or Oscar-winning writing are anything close to bad. He certainly always casts well and the performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and especially the fiendish Sam Jackson are about as good as anything you would see in the year 2012. The picture was—and still is—awash in controversy though. We spent 25 minutes having a fiery discussion about racism and even the Holocaust. If you’re not in the mood for any of that SJW stuff, listen to the first 12 minutes, then skip ahead to the 37-minute mark. In any case, shake our hands, lovingly cradle our dead bodies in your arms and let our words pierce your ear cavities. You know you can't resist. Brutally killing brutal racists is best done with a few orders of Sparkplug Coffee. Get yours and also get a o

Puppet your way into our portals for a lot more than 15 minutes as the Next 173 Project does some Malkoviching. This pic is remarkably creative and it's often high-larious. It’s also one of the weirdest, saddest comedies of the past 30 years…or perhaps ever. There’s more than a little darkness and pain, which doesn’t always jibe with those explosive larfs. Director Spike Jonze and one of the world's most talented screenwriters Charlie Kaufman were both making their first movie here (what a opening act!) and they never do QUITE balance the tone. Still, any movie that’s this unique, this openly horny and this gutsy about most of its casting choices is always going to pique our interest. So throw a can at an actor’s head and soothe your traumatized chimps (and also hunch down low and cheat on your spouse and try to score yourself some immortality and…) as we crawl our way through the mind of Malkatraz. An awesome way to survive 8 months inside a someone else's brain is to guzzle Sparkplug Coffee. Get yours today

We’re back after a week off as we chat about the iconic Muppets in their first movie. The Next 172 Project raves about the incredible puppetry and voice-work by Jim Henson, Frank Oz and their cohorts. Those guys are unquestionably amazing, but Bev isn’t thrilled that they are all, in fact, guys. Why weren’t ladies being given at least SOME of the jobs of putting hands up felt bums? And why—other than Piggy and Janice—are there so few lady Muppets? Most of this episode is light-hearted fun though...and it pretty much had to be. After all, we’re talking about a frog riding a bike, a bear flopping at stand-up comedy, a self-absorbed pig beating the tar out of a bunch of bad guys and a comic legend stealing the whole movie in his cameo. So move right along and devour our gab about Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie and their film-making chums. Driving across the country can only be made more pleasant by Sparkplug Coffee. If you groove on 20% discounts, they’ll give you one by plugging in our promo code of “top100project” at c

To honour Veterans/Remembrance Day, the Next 171 Project harkens back to the Gulf War to dig into the rare war comedy that succeeds at both being funny AND shooting stuff up. Writer/director David O. Russell’s moderate success helped firm up the acting cred of his Three Kings: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube, all of whom are huge power-players in the industry now. And let’s not forget the fourth king, Spike Jonze, who was directing Being John Malkovich this same year! Anyway, their film is unfortunately still very relevant and has even more depth & meaning than it did 20 years ago. It’s a movie of contrasts, which is a plus, but a bigger plus is that this picture spends a lot of time with Iraqi civilians (the true victims of this war…or any war). So call your gooney bird from deep inside a bunker and learn some hard lessons about morality, as these characters certainly do. Sparkplug Coffee is a great way to wake up for that early-morning raid in the desert. A discount of 20% will be yours if yo

Gabourey Sidibe's debut and Mo'Nique's outstanding performance (which won her a gold naked guy) are easily the highlights of the character study that is the subject of the Next 170 Project. Neither of those actresses has been cast much since (we discuss some of the reasons why), but they’ll be hard-pressed to ever surpass what they did here anyway. Lee Daniels’ 2nd film is certainly his best work behind the bullhorn and Geoffrey Fletcher took home an Oscar for his rock-solid script. They can all thank thenovelPushbySapphire, although neither of the 2 Oscar-winners actually mentioned Sapphire during their speeches. Huh. Anyway, this movie isn’t easy to watch, but there’s some really meaningful stuff going on as we get a rare glimpse into the rough lives of poor, black women. Sparkplug Coffee is a fine answer to the question of what goes well with pigs feet ‘n’ fried chicken. The Sparkers continue to offer a 20% discount if you are willing to type in “top100project” as your promo code at check-out. For The Reco

The judgmental jerkholes who host the Next 169 Project want to play a game. That's great! Games are fun. Or maybe this game is over-stuffed with often illogical twists and it spawned a gore-filled franchise. Director James Wan and writer/co-star Leigh Whannell teamed up to make a tension-filled, low-budget film, but their product was also an inspiration for Escape Rooms. Hey, we’re fans of those! So, anyway, we did a lot of things in this ep. We ripped on the cheap production values, we used the words “ret-conned” & (believe it or not) “restraint” and we talked a lot about the Saw-quels. Whether you like this influential freakshow or not, the hard-working brain-cancer guy has become a horror icon. Not bad for a villain who’s been dead longer than he was alive throughout the series' convoluted timeline! This concludes our 4th Annual Scary Movie Month, but if you dig horror flicks, we’ve covered 20 or 25 of them in the past 6+ years so look in our back catalogue for some fright-filled classics. Also, for mo

The Next 168 Project spends a lot of time ripping on Brad Pitt’s lackluster performance as a glum vampire, which is a shame because we're normally big fans of his work. But, hey, he’s the whiny plantation owner who chose to become a whiny immortal. Maybe the character—and the actor—not enjoying his role in these chronicles is justice for owning slaves (and for saying yes to playing this drip of a morally dubious character). At least the inarguably villainous Tom Cruise has a ball gnawing on every human in sight. The true standout here though is a pre-teen Kirsten Dunst. She provides a fantastic glimpse of how good she would be in future roles. Anne Rice’s book and Neil Jordan’s uneven direction aren’t as dazzling as the young actress’ performance or the film’s production design, but the movie is certainly watchable…despite how obviously Pitt wishes he was anywhere else. So bite that play button and hear us out! Vampires don’t need caffeine or decaf or any of that stuff, but YOU are remarkably human. At least,

Whatever you do, don’t…fall…asleep. Well, at least stay awake until you've heard the Next 167 Project. Then sleep all you want. We continue our 4th Annual Scary Movie Month and jump to the excellent year of 1984 when Wes Craven wrote & directed one of the landmark horror flicks. Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger is probably the best-known slasher in history and the actor is dynamite in his minimal screen time. Unfortunately, the young actors—including John C. Depp and his leading lady Heather Langenkamp—don’t *ahem* kill it as effectively as their on-screen boogeyman does. Much like Leatherface’s initial foray into teen murder last week, this first in a long-running series isn’t even close to perfect. Still, what a creative idea for how to kill people! So avoid those finger-knives and play our ‘cast about the vicious doings of Fred K. Sparkplug Coffee will be a wonderful aid in keeping you up every second of the day, which is what we all strive for, right? If you would be excited by a 20% discount, you will

Activate your power tools, horror fans, because Scary Movie Month is here! For the Next 166 Project, we drive our van down to the deep south to discuss one creepy and weird fright flick. As influential as Halloween was 4 years later, Tobe Hooper’s “kill the teens” scarefest is just as much of an innovative landmark. We discuss if Leatherface is a villain or a victim and we heap praise on the things that work extremely well (especially the last 20 minutes and Marilyn Burns’ committed performance throughout). The movie as a whole is uneven and it’s not as tingle-inducing as it once was. Still, s’effective stuff. This is a lengthy ep considering how short the movie is (we talked a lot about the sequels and the remake), so get a lot more comfortable than the people who made this movie were. Sparkplug Coffee is still our friendly neighbourhood sponsor. If you like 20% discounts, you can grab one by using our promo code “top100project”. For The Record: The family of cannibals is also listed as “Hewitt” (not just "S

Ten hut, you maggots! Wait, this isn’t a movie about boot camp, although the award-winning performance by J.K. Simmons might make you think it is. It’s not even a sports film, although it certainly does resemble one of those too. Nope, s’a flick about jazz. The Next 165 Project has us wrestling with the “teacher or torturer” dynamic. How much, ahem, motivation is too much? Is the fate of the Miles Teller character a terrible ending…or some kind of twisted HAPPY ending? Is he broken or is he content to be this obsessed with being a great jazz drummer? All of that gets explored thoroughly. Damien Chazzelle wrote & directed the best movie of 2014 and his entertaining opus rewards many viewings. Our podcast? Well, you should probably listen to it multiple times too. To give you the juice to play drums all day & night, buy some Sparkplug Coffee. You can nab a 20% discount by using our code: “top100project”. Twitty time: @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis Our website: www.top100project.com For The Record: Cha