Top 10 War and Western Films of the Decade

Hey, this is Greg burger and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Hello and welcome

to episode 191 of the cinema geeks I am one of

your cinema geeks optimus solo and joining me

for today's record is none other than movie revolt

Dan hello He has a gun not too shabby and Joining

us as he has for most of these countdowns for

our decade Look is none other than DJ Valentine

from simplistic reviews. Hello DJ a lot of people

are gonna die on this list So high body count

this is this list might have the highest body

count of any movie list we've done ever And now

I feel like I'm not prepared because I don't

have the kill counts for each movie. Oh, one

of me. So people are going to be let down for

here for you guys. Information for today, we

are actually going to interesting list today

because we've done single lists up to this point.

We've done like the top 10 action films of the

last decade, top 10 comedies, you know, sci fi,

comic book, et cetera, et cetera. We're doing

a kind of a combination of two different genres

in one today. So we're going to give you our

top 10 both war. Western films of the last decade.

So one thing that'll be interesting to see is

if there are more war films listed or more Western

films listed I thought you know when we were

tossing this around in I thought that makes sense

You know because it seems like you might get

one or two more films a year at the most You

know, we're lucky if we get like one Decent Western

a year. It seems like I'm like, oh that makes

sense to try to like combine these and then I

went Through the practice of trying to make my

list and I easily had Enough for probably a top

ten of each one on its own It just wouldn't have

been quite as good. But man, it was it was tough

coming up with this stuff for me It was tougher

to come up with the Westerns that were gonna

make my list the war ones were a little bit more

defined But Dan, how was your process of coming

up with this kind of combined list? Yeah, it's

interesting. So I think I'm the opposite I think

I oh Don't know in the sense of in the sense

of I think I have more rest westerns on my list

like I knew those right away and I think also

what's kind of hard to with war films. It's like

there are movies that take place during a war,

you know, or that is that technically a war movie,

right? So there's ones that I originally had

on that I took off. So I really just ones that

are focusing on like military combat in a way,

so I also didn't include documentaries. I feel

like that's something separately because there's

been a lot of great Documentaries that centered

on war or the fallout of war or things like that.

So I didn't include any of those but yeah, I

was actually surprised how many again, it wasn't

you know, not as many comedies or as many comic

book films, but Like movie for movie movie I'm

pretty impressed by this list overall in the

sense of the quality like I really love pretty

much every movie on this list and I you know,

it's Think I'm not saying we're seeing a resurgence

of Western films, but it does seem like we're

seeing a lot of different takes on them And yeah

for more updated versions of them to you know,

you're seeing a lot of we'll probably talk about

a number of like high -profile Directors that

are putting their stamp on it, but I was actually

surprised I kind of went into thinking I'd have

more military movies or that'd be easier but

that one I Didn't have as much or struggled with

a little bit more I guess what I meant when I

said like it was harder for me with the Western

films was because like My Western like if I was

picking like movies that I'm real confident in

and and like feel really good about listing today

I had ten Westerns I could have listed that I

would have felt real good about and for war I

had like maybe five That i would have felt real

good about listings so that was harder for me

because i wanted to include more westerns and

i could. The war films it was a little bit easier

for me to pick and choose i actually didn't realize

i did this but. I have all of the ones that i

was considering was to have a sandwich like i

always do and. I wrote down like what ranking

they had for each year they came out when i did

my year and less and as it turns out i didn't

do this intentionally but the the time that made

my list today we're all in. a top 10 the year

that came out for me overall. The ones that didn't

make my top 10 on those years ended up not making

this list either. So I guess I somewhat stayed

true to my rankings a little bit without even

knowing it. So DJ, how is it for you to come

up with this list? I know you're you are like

the most efficient and like you like definitive

person to come up with a list like you. It's

incredible. You know you know me when you ask

me a list it takes me maybe five minutes Maybe

I'm like you did you want to do this nice? He's

like he's like I'm done I'm like I think about

it because I mean you you asked me luckily and

I'm grateful to be on a lot of shows where it's

stuff that I'm super interested in that I've

already probably walked around or drove around

thinking you know what this is my number one

and this might so when you asked me like yeah

I've already done this like I've been on this

show in my head already this is but no this was

the first time where I had to go back and make

a cut Because I had one I had two that were vying

to be in the spots. I was like, let me watch

these again Right, right. I wasn't sure I was

like, let me watch this again cuz I Don't know

who wins here and then I watch them again. I'm

like, yeah this one wins, but everything else

like my top Out of the ten like none of them

I knew already. It was just essentially Moving

them in the spots that I wanted them to be in

What is not telling you guys is not only did

I like ask him to do the list and then like five

minutes later he said he had finished but then

like he just said he rewatched two movies I'm

pretty sure he rewatch those movies like within

like four hours of when I asked him to do that.

Uh, yeah, so we're just gonna be going around

the table We'll be talking about uh, you know

our 10s and then nines etc as we make our way

towards the the ones Um, if we have some crossover

we'll we might bounce a little bit out of order

But that's kind of how we'll do this and then

towards the end we'll talk about any movies that

just didn't quite Make the cut dj. You are the

guest of honor. So we're going to let you go

first So what is your number 10 war or western

film of the last decade? Uh, i'm this is one

of two, uh I don't want to say they're cheats.

They're not cheats. They're modern day Western.

So my number 10 is Wind River. It's a movie and

Taylor Sheridan does this a lot that reminds

you that even though it is modern day, the West

is still out there. The mindset, the danger,

the ambiguous justice still there. And before

Wanda, Elizabeth plays Elizabeth Olsen. This

is before she... now is one of the biggest stars

in Hollywood at this point. Plays like a young

FBI agent from, ironically, Fort Lauderdale,

which is like five feet from where I live, trying

to discover the killer of a young girl on an

Indian reservation with the help of a hunter

played by Jeremy Renner. There is another actor

in the film who might show back up on my list

named Gil Eringham. Love him. He's in damn near

every Taylor Sheridan project. He's on Yellowstone.

When I was rewatching this film, maybe last week,

it wasn't the same day I was doing my cuts, but

I rewatched it a couple of times. But I was rewatching

it, and prepare, but there's a scene between

him and Renner that is so good. Uh, one father,

uh, uh, this is not really a spoiler. It's in

the trailer. One father who lost a child in the

past, trying to explain to a father who just

lost a child that day, how life is going to be

like for him from now on. And damn, it might

be worth watching the entire movie for that one

scene. It's so good. And this is, uh, people

are here nor there on Jeremy Renner, but I think.

He needs to do more of this stuff because he's

so fricking good in this movie. Everybody's really

good in this movie. But Gilbert Birmingham is

great. The the the the people who show up in

the movie, John Bernthal's in here for maybe

15 minutes. He's John Bernthal. I got like a

man crush on him. He's great in every fricking

thing he does. But yeah, everything about it,

it feels like a Western, though it's got, you

know. Modern it's set in modern day, but just

everything in it is really really good the justice

the stuff I was talking about It's a wind ripper

is my number 10 and I really want to put it higher

But I think I think I found five more westerns

or four more westerns that are better, right?

It's interesting too because this one's According

to Wikipedia. It's listed as a neo -western murder

mystery Which is a weird like thing to But like

yeah, it's like a modern western but it's like

to me. It's like half western half like true

crime type deal i don't know it's like it was.

It's weird to say this about this movie because

this movie is kind of a tough watch in some ways

but it was like for me a breath of fresh air

almost when it came to just something that like.

I haven't seen before like it didn't quite fit

like i don't know what the closest movie is that

i would compare this to but it was it was riveting

for me like i remember really enjoying this film

overall it was my number two film the year came

out which was two thousand seventeen that's how

much i enjoyed it like it all made it all the

way up there for my year and less so i have a

complete agreement. I don't know. Like I don't

know if I classify it as a Western first, but

like it fits in this list So I would rank it

as well. So I think it has the elements. It has

the showdowns. It has the the long Anticipation.

Yeah, and in Jeremy Rizzo in a cowboy hat. So

yeah, there you go and gills in it So he's in

Gilbert that I count as Western. So I love this

pick. So I will go with my number 10 next which

is interesting because I as I do with most of

these lists just for kind of fun and and trivia

bits or whatever I try to like gather top ten

lists from around the the internets and See how

they have people ranked and whatnot and according

to screen rank screen rant This was in war film

of the last decade According to Cinemaholic.

It was number one according to cinema spotlight.

It was number one so I guess I'm off by having

to hear at my number 10 film in this cross -genre

work, but I just had a couple other films that

I feel like were better than it in the war category,

but I think it's still worthy of a mention. So

I might have it too low compared, you know, according

to a lot of people, but this is where I'm slotting

in Dunkirk at my number 10. The reason I think

Dunkirk works so well for me specifically is

it's almost like we have all of these other films

that we've been seeing over the year that, you

know, over that decade that Might be considered

war films but. There are a lot of different types

of war films we got a lot of modern style war

films i feel like it's almost hard to even call

them work is like when we think of war at least

i feel like when our generation thinks about

war films. We think of like big time combat films

and. Obviously modern warfare is a lot different

so you'll hear with a lot of my honorable mentions

more stuff that's you know happened in the last

x number of years and i feel like this was a

return to like that saving private ryan type

type deal that we had gone seems like a while

without seeing i know there's a lot of anticipation

with me in a christopher nolan film as well i

just think it was done done rather well it was.

I have a lot of the elements that were kind of

traditional. war film elements that worked for

me. I don't really have anything negative to

say about it. I guess the only reason it doesn't

quite get as high as the other war films that

I'll be listing today is from an emotional standpoint,

it just didn't. Quite move me as much as some

of the other ones. I'm not saying it's not an

emotional film But it didn't quite tug at my

heartstrings as much as the other films I'll

still mention, but I'm not trying to take away

from it. It was a Just according to kind of looking

at what we just did Wind River was my number

two of 2017 Dunkirk was in was number 33 of 2017

so It wasn't quite as high as the rest of them,

but I still think it's worthy of a mention Dan

any thoughts on Wind River Dunkirk or your number

ten? Actually forgot all about one river so I

was doing my lesson I treated through letterbox

and for some reason they don't qualify that as

a as a Western but I if they did I probably fully

I don't know if I would make it but I do really

love that movie that I all you can think about

is that like Shoot out near the end and just

the brutality of it. It's it's it's intense and

I didn't like what's much like Jeremy what render

that might be outside of maybe the town one of

his better performances and I'll save my thoughts

for Dunkirk for later. For now. But my number

10 again is maybe another one which might be

higher on some other people's list. Again, like

I said, this is just a really strong list overall.

But it's The Revenant from 2015 by Iritu. And

to be honest, Iritu's films are ones that often

don't work for me a great deal. Like I dislike

Babel. Birdman didn't really click for me. 21

Grams. Did not enjoy I find them often to be

a chore to get through but I felt the revenant

It was a chore but put in a good way and I mean

Obviously watching it you can see the leader

Nara DiCaprio just trying everything possible

to get his Oscar like And I know it was notoriously

like the horrible thing to shoot and like how

often awful it was for all the crew But I think

as a movie it is quite Quite good. And it is

like we reach you at his best Like there are

so many phenomena within this and again great

performances of it, of course, if it is bear

attack I guess you can maybe not qualify it as

a western per se because it it doesn't necessarily

have a lot of the the tropes not necessarily

taking place, you know in a western like atmosphere,

but I do think like The idea the frontier is

certainly there, which was a big part of the

west as well So yeah, that's why it's really

my number 10 is just impressive performances

a brutal film like to make and to watch and Probably

the again something I was surprised I enjoyed

as much as I did based upon my experience with

the director Yeah, it's I mean, I feel like it's

a hundred percent western in my book like just

from setting and things of that nature, but I

agree with you it's For me, it's the best entry

to film I've ever seen. I haven't been a big

fan of most of his other stuff, obviously. If

we were doing a top 10 Western film list, strictly

Westerns, then this would have made my list.

But including some of the war films, it just

got bumped out a little bit, but it was definitely

in contention because I think it's it's worthy

of being in the discussion. I guess one thing

that I have that went against it a little bit

is I haven't rewatched it since 2015. Um, so

I was trying to go back on memory. I knew I enjoyed

it more than I thought I was going to, but then,

you know, it wasn't super high ranked for me

that year. So without having to give it a fair

rewatch, I couldn't, I couldn't quite get it

onto this list. Uh, DJ, any thoughts on Revenant?

Uh, for some reason, I just, I mean, I think

that's the movie Tom Hardy should have won an

Oscar for. Um, I mean, other than The movies

that I don't think he was nominated for bronzing

because he's amazing in that. Revenants, one

of those movies where I watch and I was like,

OK, this is good. The bear scene is amazing,

but I never want to watch this movie again. Not

because I don't like it. It's just it's one of

those movies. Yeah, it's just like, OK, I got

it. It's so visceral that I don't think I need

to see it again because it's going to be in that

noggin of mine forever, especially the bear attack.

And I've seen. a lot of messed up movies in my

lifetime, where the horror of it and the, you

know, stuff like that, that kind of leaned more

toward where I was going, not the war element

of it. So I never, that's the only reason they

didn't really make my list. Not because it's

not good, because the direction's amazing. And

Naruto is one of the greatest directors, living

directors we got right now. The performances

are great. I just, I, and I love a revenge film.

But to me, it's almost a Western more than it's

a war film. So yeah, it was hard for me not to

put it on my list, but I understand it being

on anybody else's. All right, and what was your

number nine, DJ? My number nine is Overlord.

This is one that I had to rewatch with another

film that might be on somebody else's list to

see if it made the cut. And it won. I like it

because of the Wolfenstein crazy nature of it.

It kind of reminds me of this video game called

Wolfenstein. I think even with that stuff aside,

it's a solid war film. The airdrop scene in the

beginning is one of the just alone. It's a fantastic

sequence. and it's about these soldiers that

their job is to knock out a satellite array so

the operation on D -Day could happen and It's

the first time I ever seen Kurt Russell's son

a Wyatt Russell who's playing us agent in the

Falcon and Winter Soldier TV show But it's the

first time I ever seen him in anything and he

has his father like you there's scenes in there

I'm like, hey, that's uh Mick what's his name

from the thing? That's a Kurt Russell character.

He's very good and he plays this kind of ambiguous

ambiguous leader of this little platoon trying

to survive to get the mission completed. It's

a really good movie and it's fun. And I'm glad

they were potentially gonna make it a Cloverfield

attachment and they decided not to, thank God.

Because when it's set by itself in a bubble,

it's a really good movie. And the lead of the

movie, I think that's the guy, the kid from Snowfall,

I think that's him. I'm not 100 % sure, I gotta

look it up. But the other lead, if that's the

kid, I think his last name is Idris, I believe

that's him. I could be wrong. But he's very good.

He's very good. And you get a lot of good performances.

The guy from Game of Thrones is in there, the

pirate guy that everybody hated at the end of

the movie. But yeah, it's really fun war film

where you enjoy it and it has a little horror

elements to it. So it's kind of a genre -bending

type of movie. Saw this come up on a couple of

lists that I was looking at a screen right and

had this at like their number Seven war film

of the last decade next best picture had it at

number ten overall. It's a blind spot for me,

though I have not seen this you would like I

think you dig it I think because it's it's got

these horror elements But it's not like is a

scary way. It's in a gruesome way My wife will

be more prone to watch it then so that's good

Yeah, there's gonna be a couple that I know there's

a couple blind spots I have on the Western list

for sure that I saw come up on a lot of lists

So I'll have a little homework after this is

done Dan have you seen Overlord? I have it's

been forever there. Like I do remember actually

remember getting that from the library Okay,

and it like DJ mentioned is it's it is weird.

It's weird and fun which is a weird thing to

say about a were film The special effects are

really impressive like you don't necessarily

think of like cgi that much when you think of

a war movie, but I know there's like the one

word I think about when I think about that movie

is intense And I think it's pretty much intense

from beginning. The the title is very ultimately

Gotcha and I forgot to mention you had mentioned

the Revenant out of the seven lists that I looked

on online the five of them had Revenant in the

top ten So a lot of agreement there with that

one being in the conversation for my number nine

I'm going to go to the world of the Westerns

for the first time here this one was actually

left off of Most of the list I looked at, although

I did land number one for a site called Cultured

Vultures. And for my number nine, I'm going to

go with the Michael Fassbender film Slow West.

Slow West was a slow build for me because I wasn't

huge on it at first. When i first watched it

but then the more the time passed in the more

i thought about it and kinda rewatched a little

bit of definitely built up for me this is a two

thousand fifteen listed as a british new zealand

action western. It's weird that this was listed

i wouldn't think action with this one because

it does fit its title it's a it's just. slow

build the whole time, but watching Michael Fassbender

and Cody Smith McPhee was very entertaining.

And then the kind of the interactions with with

each other. It was it's rare for me to kind of

like the the film that kind of backs away a little

bit from both a pacing standpoint and a storytelling

standpoint and kind of has a little bit more

of the slow, you know, quiet moments and things

like that. I'm not against it, but a lot of times

I feel like. Directors just do it to do it to

for style points and there's not as much substance

there whereas I feel like it's done for a purpose

in this one and I just think this one's The more

you think about it the more you discuss it with

somebody else the more you let it kind of More

dissecting that you do of it. It's just got a

lot of cool elements to it that you can kind

of find so I watch anything with Michael Fassbender.

So, you know that works. It's got Ben Mendelsohn

in here as well and I just feel like they're

made for this type of film and this is genre

I'd like to see fastbender and more westerns

actually. that that that I got me 300. No, that's

all right Here's a hint. It's not a good movie.

Oh, I was like, which movie are we gonna know?

We're gonna call a Western one. I don't believe

it was one of the remakes the match Magnificent

Magnificent seven. No, it's a comic book movie

actually called Jonah Yeah, there we go Then

you said you had this on your list as well hold

on I forgot Jonah hex came out Let me rework

my top 10 real quick Oh my god, put that on there

slide that in there get that Megan Fox action

in there. Come on That's awesome So regarding

so us it's actually my number three. So I guess

I'll just I'll talk about it now I think a reason

maybe why a lot of people don't regard it as

well because I before we're doing this list I'm

like let me go back and check out the trailer

the trailer make it makes it out to be a Completely

different movie makes it seem like it's as fast

paced right action -packed From start to be start

to end and it's like the exact opposite of that.

I wouldn't say it's like ultra slow Like it's

not, you know, once upon a time in the west or

something like that where you have that opening

of like 15 minutes or so where it's just people

just hanging out Ultimately, but it is also in

a beautifully shot movie The action that does

come at the end like that shootout with the tall

grass. It's fantastic. There's also a really

good sense of humor In it as well. So it's great

and it's just like great actors like you mentioned

Fassbender by Mendelsohn who I think is like,

I don't know one of One of the best actors of

last decade like anything and he was and he was

just amazing and and it was it was the case here

so it the thing I think about the most is just

how beautiful it looked and considering it it

did seem like it like a movie that was obviously

in a Smaller budget compared to something like

The Revenant, but it it was able to To me have

a much bigger emotional impact and i was just

more visually uh impressed by what they were

able to do you know they weren't necessarily

doing these long takes or anything like that

but just the design the cinematography what they

got out of that to me was why i loved it so much

i haven't rewatched it in a while i do want to

go back and see it again but it was like you

with some of your top tens it was like number

two or number three the year it came out in 2015

and it's only like grown stronger in my head

since then. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think it's

one that's worth a revisit for a lot of people

because I feel like, you know, people talked

about it the year it came out and then it's kind

of like faded away and I feel like it's worth

staying in the discussion. DJ, what's your number

eight? My number eight is another genre of bending.

Western, this time sort of a genre bending war

film, starring a Russell that's not Wyatt. I'm

going with Kurt Russell's film Bone Tomahawk.

Craig Zayler makes a Western I hadn't ever, and

I'm a big Western guy. I had never seen a Western

like this, because of not just the brutal, violent

nature of it, like, because I've seen, you know,

Wild Bunch and stuff, but the horror elements

of it, I just caught me off guard. And on top

of that, there's this dread of the people that

they're trying to get to that are in the way

that he just handles the violence. That scared

me, but I was like, oh, it makes you feel uneasy

the whole time. And on top of that, you have

really good performing. Kurt Russell can play

this character in his sleep, but I didn't think

Matthew Fox could be good at anything. And he's

really good in this. And Richard Jenkins is all

the prospector character. I thought should have

got nominated because he is almost unrecognizable

as his role. But yeah, again, it is not for the

faint of heart. It is very violent, very, very

violent. But in terms of a West, if you watch

a bunch of Westerns, you want to see one that

you just it's literally one of those things that.

You just gotta see this because you you're not

gonna see something like it before I'm gonna

put bone Tomahawk right there Yeah, when you

were talking about the the other film I believe

is overlord when you made the comment that you

said it's uh Or maybe you had made a comment

about one of them that it was not a film that

you're gonna necessarily want to watch again

I don't know that wasn't over the other one,

but like the same with bone Tomahawk Like it's

something that you watch. I don't know how many

times you rewatch it It just really sticks with

you though, right? And this would have been my

number seven Western of the last decade. It doesn't

make my combine list, but it would have been

number seven for Western. And DJ, a lot of people

are agreeing with you on all the lists I've looked

at. It was on every one of them, but one screen

ran ahead as the number two Western of the last

decade. Taste of Cinema had it as the number

one. So obviously some agreement out there that

Bone Tomahawk. And it came out of nowhere, too.

I like my new box just because I used to be a

big Party of Five fan and I like Loft. So I was

surprised it was like the first time I've seen

him in like a bonafide like movie role and and

that didn't wasn't just cheesy or something like

that. So yeah, I think this one definitely made

an imprint on a lot of people and a lot of people

were talking about it back in 2015. That's for

sure. Dan thoughts on Bontama Hawk or otherwise

I will move on to my number eight. Yeah, it's

not my top ten, but again, it's it is certainly

deserving. It's what movie you're never going

to forget It's you know one you experience more

than and watch for sure and I think that's something

that we're seeing is a kind of the the common

with as Craig's I was always it just brutality

is something he is a very keen on and I don't

know if it all started bone Tomahawk bone Tomahawk

even with some of the other films Nothing is

is near the top. It makes you realize how bad

the West was. It's like this was not a nice place

No, no, not at all at all It's not like the Wild

West from back to the future But for my number

eight this is interesting because I was going

through all these lists and stuff like that because

You know as we do with all the genres It's like

what what movies fit in that genre what movies

are don't fit in that genre, you know What genre

do you think of when you when you hear a movie's

title? You know Do you think of it as this and

I wouldn't necessarily have thought about a couple

movies that would fit into this group because

I just feel like The genre is the director. Um,

and I never think of any of his films as being

in any specific genre because they're just Tarantino

films. Um, so The more I looked at all these

lists though Like they all are listing a couple

of different Tarantino films and I was like,

I guess That's true they would qualify for this

genre and because of that i can't ignore them

so it's number eight and it's eight for late

i didn't do that on purpose it was my number

six film of two thousand fifteen. And i know

a lot of people have been a little bit more down

on like his last few films but i'm not in that

group i think every tarantino film is basically

been wonderful and i just i mean this. You just

talked about Kurt Russell. So, you know, put

Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason

Lee, Walter Goggins, you know, Tim Roth, Michael

Madsen, Bruce Dern. I mean, Channing Tatum finds

a way in there, I guess. But it's such a ridiculously

talented cast. And even for the carriage ride

and everything else like that, like the whole

movie is worth it just for that sequence. And

I don't know, there's just a lot of. Things to

appreciate and enjoy that are very Tarantino

ish in this film You know, i'm not going to put

it at the top of his filmography But I think

if we're looking at westerns and war films that

came out, you know over the last decade I would

put this one in with the westerns. It would probably

be you know my number Probably around five best

western of the last decade if we're qualifying

it as a western So i'm going to give Tarantino

some love here and put hateful eight at eight

damn I do like he fully it wasn't strong enough

to make my number my top ten but i'm gonna go

back to so i pretty much just had One western

and i'm gonna continue that with my next film

with from a number nine With another western

that's very different than that of a revenue,

which is very brutal in your face It's like it

doesn't it doesn't stop to we talked about slow

west earlier, which is my number three I guess

slow westerns or something maybe that just strike

my fancy and that's with my number nine is meeks

cut off by kelly white record which is a movie

that i think is probably not for a lot of people

because it is very. You were revenue is brutal

and in your face meeks cut off is realistic in

a very different sense and how just mundane it

maintains it because it's one of these people

traveling or if you're a big fan of the work

on trail game back in my day. In the nineties,

this is basically Oregon Trail, the movie, but

they just couldn't get the rights. Maybe I'm

not sure, but it's just the group of settlers

going through that journey. And it seems like

it does do its best to stay very true to life.

But similar with Slow West, it is a gorgeous

looking movie. And one of the scenes I think

about the most is just where you see these people

traversing the land, traveling, and it just.

The weight transitions within the landscape and

like it just like your it's like doing a trick

with your eyes how he won't go from one scene

to the next just all these little clever tracks

it does and pretty abruptly which i think could

strike some people and i like i said just the

general pacing may not be for everyone but i

just felt the it felt like you were there i felt

more like a documentary that was able to exist

in nineteen eighteen forty five so that's why

it was my number nine. Excellent. Um, that was

when I mentioned when DJ was talking about Overlord

that I knew I had a couple blind spots This was

the other one that was Big time on my mind because

I saw it on so many different lists and I haven't

seen it yet Screen Rant did two lists of the

top Westerns of last decade and Meeks Cutoff

was number five on one of them and number one

on the other one So made a lot of appearances

and I knew I had a blind spot Just didn't have

a chance to rectify that before we got to our

list DJ any thoughts on Meeks Cutoff? I this

is my blunts, but I have not seen this movie

and I'm angry because I got to look it up now

I've not seen it, but you just told you so all

you have to do is have Dan in the room and say

look Oregon Trail the movie and I'm in you just

got my money So I played Oregon Trail like a

fiend as a kid So I want to see Oregon Trail

the movie. That's all the composers right Oregon

Trail the movie. It's not Oregon Trail But trust

me it's Oregon Trail the movie Alright DJ, what

is your number seven then? My number seven has

been mentioned already, but I'll just say it's

Dunkirk The only thing I really say about it

no one does One thing he does well on every one

of his movies love him or hate him is scale His

you know manipulation of time and all those films

I can take or leave but the way he makes Everything

feel so big just works for a war film especially

a war film like Dunkirk that the real story in

how it happened is almost as good as the circumstances

itself. And I know Dan, so he didn't want to

put documentaries on there. We're not going to

put them on the list, but do yourself a favor

if you really want to see what led to Dunkirk.

It's it's a movie itself. That's how Germany

broke the lines and got the bridge in that situation.

It's amazing. And my only it's been a constantly

year long gripe anytime somebody brings a Dunkirk

to me is the last shot of the movie was almost

perfect. And then they cut away from it because

Dunkirk on its on its thematically, it is a nitpick.

But for me, it's it's a victory through a retreat.

It's a win through a loss. So when you see the

shot of Tom Hardy, maybe I'm biased because I

love Tom Hardy, of looking at a burning plane

that on the surface is like, oh, he lost. No,

that burning plane saved so many people and he

gets captured. That's a win and a loss. But they

cut away to some kid. I'm like, no, no, no, no,

no, no. Go back to the shot of Tom Hardy with

the burning plane. That is the perfect end shot

of that movie. And every time I watch that movie,

I'm like, don't cut to the kid. I just want not

to cut to the kid. It's such a perfect shot.

It's one of the most beautiful shots Christopher

Nolan ever has ever done for me anyway, personally.

I love that shot. And it always soils the movie

that they cut away to the stupid kid that I don't

even know his freaking name. I don't care. Yeah,

I love it. Alright, obviously I'm in agreement

since I had that at my number 10 for my number

7 I'm gonna go to the third straight a Western

film that I've had on my list Might have been

higher if I would have rewatched it again, but

I haven't seen it in a long long long time This

was my number 10 best film of 2010. So I have

not seen it since 2010 but man you put let's

Let's have Roger Deakins be the cinematographer

Let's have Carter Burwell be the music guy the

right But man, I mean it's got a 96 on rotten

tomatoes It was I said meek's cutoff was number

one on one of the screen rant list true crit

was number one on the other one um, I just need

to rewatch it because we're in the year 2021

this came out in 2010 it's been 11 years since

i've seen it so um, I just on memories basis

couldn't rank it higher than I did but I knew

it deserved it because if we're talking westerns

What is more of a true western? Then true grit.

It's pretty much got every Western elements involved.

There's no question whether that fits in this

genre. So I have to put it on my list. I have

a few Westerns higher than it. Maybe a little

recency bias from a one or two of them, but I

think trigger it. Absolutely 100 % deserves to

be discussed during this conversation. So true

grit is my number seven damn. It's also my number

seven, so there you go. Look at that, look at

that, look at that. Like it That's not a Western

that movie This is what actually wanted so one

of the one of the few films that I One of the

few films I saw multiple times with within the

theater because it was one of them would see

now so the time when I went to see all best pictures

back when theaters are open and this was my first

experience with Hailey Steinfeld and Right when

she burst on the scene i'm like okay she has

a career ahead of her because she had a bad presence

to her the way she's like you know going to toe

to toe with with chep bridges and josh broly

she's just you know holding going going full

board and she can hit that colin brother's dialogue

um it was smart it was funny it pretty much had

everything you ultimately would want and i it

I think this is an example of when the remake

is far superior to the actual the original film

and I think You know be sacrilegious. I know

this was the movie that John Wayne won his Oscar

for but I think Jeff Bridges performance is better

I find his his role in this so much stronger,

although on the downside I felt like he ended

up playing this character a lot again like in

that off Yeah, like in that awful or a PD movie

like it's just like all seem like I like that

character Remember that movie. Why do you remember

that movie? I don't know I don't know scrub that

from our memories and we knew we might men in

black that movie out of existence We should we

should but yeah, but it's I do love so much about

this And it I've never I believe it's based on

book. I've never read the book but like I said,

I do think it is far superior to the original

and an example of like Showing why just because

something is remake doesn't necessarily make

me never get absolutely All right, DJ What do

you have at your number six? This is ironic or

coincidental. I'm not sure what irony is my number

six is Another of them and trust me. It's my

last one my last modern -day Western and This

is also probably my last Taylor Sheridan film.

I'm speaking of a hell or high water Taylor Sheridan

I know people who hate him. I don't know why

he speaks to my Western sensibilities for some

reason he knows He knows the beats that to hit

that transcend this film from just a simple heist

flick to an almost once upon a time in the West

desk like people fighting back against the dying

of the West film. I mean, Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges,

and we're just speaking of, and again, Gil Birmingham,

again, are all fantastic. But the person that's

this, I don't know how this person didn't win

for Ben Foster is so freaking good in this movie,

other than stealing every scene he's in with

fun and badass stuff. He has moments of subtlety

that are just equally great, like There's a scene

in maybe people who've seen this movie forget

there's a scene in is right before the climax

of the movie where he's sleeping on a couch and

uh Chris pine goes to wake him up and he like

leaps at Chris pine and like goes to like kill

him and he freezes It just tells you because

Ben Foster's a character that spent time in jail.

They don't mention it They don't talk it is cut

away from it and that just one scene You're like,

you know exactly what his experience in prison

was like it's such a such good acting by that

guy. I mean, Ben Foster's pretty much good in

everything, but this is the performance. You

want to see how good Ben Foster is. I'm gonna

make you watch Hell or High Water. It's so good.

And then the scene at the end, I think makes

it a true Western because of the showdown. And

I debate this with my friends all the time when

we talk about this movie, because we ask, Was

kind of a spoiler. Is Chris Pine going to pull

on Jeff Bridges? Jeff Bridges is going to pull

what's going to happen. What would have happened

if Chris Pine's family never showed up? What

would have happened there? And we debated all

the time that the movie is so good in that in

those little moments, a little character moments.

And that's kind of what Western's I mean, in

a theoretical sense are these showed that these

little showdowns, these little confrontations.

And that one at the very end of the movie is

so good. The movie itself ends in a way where

you can make another movie off the last scene

alone. It's so it's so good. So hell or high

water. That's my number six. I like it so much

that I'm not going to comment for my number six.

Man. I didn't expect to see this on many lists

because I just feel like it didn't quite get

the praise that a lot of other eligible films

that we could discuss today would have but I

was actually pleasantly surprised it was Cinema

Spotlight headed around like the seven mark X

-Files picture headed as number five Cinemaholic

had it at number four as far as war films go

for the last decade the reason this one's gonna

rank higher for me than Dunkirk is because for

me it had That emotional pull that I was talking

about when I talked about I didn't didn't quite

connect as much with Dunkirk I didn't quite get

in the feels like I did with this film and I'm

talking about 2014 film starring Brad Pitt and

that would be fury Oh, number five as well. So

it was my number five film overall of 2014. It

comes in, you know, for number six for me right

here, just because like I said, there was something

about it. I don't know if it was the way that

they were able to get into. the character development

of each person if it was the way that they kind

of played with like The quiet and then the the

sound and different things like that I don't

know what it was about how this movie was made

But it just had more of an emotional impact with

me then then Dunkirk did they're both great movies.

They're both very well done I'm not trying to

take away anything from either film, but just

me on a personal level I just had that slight

bit more connection and the feels I guess for

fury Just really enjoyed this. I thought I wasn't

anticipating. I'm a Brad Pitt fan. I'm not trying

to shy away from that I've like so much of his

work Regardless of what other people may or may

not say about him as far as you know the star

a lot of people don't Give him as much of an

acting credit and just think he's a pretty face

But I think he's a brilliant actor as well But

I wasn't expecting as much from some of the supporting

cast and I thought there were some great performances

You know Logan Lerman Michael Pena John Barenthal

Scott Eastwood Shia LaBeouf um and i'm not saying

i wasn't that some of those people are great

actors so i mean i was anticipating some good

performances i just didn't know how that group

as a as a group as a cast together was gonna

gel and i thought it worked very well i thought

there was i mean i still remember the scenes

where you know they're going into these um How

houses slash whatever you wanna call them you

know almost like an apartment more times but

you know with the people that lived in the areas

that they were at just very like. I don't know

very real something very real and gritty about

it so fury really worked for me and i have it

here at my number six film overall it's a. Uh,

no spoiler alert, I guess, but it was my number

three war film, um, of the last decade. So a

lot of love for fury. DJ, you said you have this

coming up next at your number five. Yeah, this

is, uh, easily, easily in love with him. This

is David Ayers masterpiece. So all of these directors,

you know, every director has a film where this,

you can just watch and go, this is the best thing

this guy's done. And I don't, and I hope he does

something better, but it's. When you watch this

movie and you watch the rest of David Ayer's

movies, you're like, what happened? This is so

good. It shows the good and bad about the camaraderie

soldiers having war. This film showed me that

Shia LaBeouf was really talented, because he's

coming off of Transformers, I think, at the time,

though recent personal events have truly let

me down with him. But he is fantastic in this

film. And I already talked about how I Baranthal

can be in every movie and I will be happy. It

was primarily why I had faith in Suicide Squad,

God help me, but this is his good Suicide Squad

movie. This is literally what, when I watched

this movie and I heard he's doing Suicide Squad,

I was over the moon because I was like, if you

just do that with the Suicide Squad, we have

a good movie. But he didn't, he didn't do that.

I don't know why. I'm gonna give you the stage

for a little while here because I think at some

point along the line that you were bouncing off

of one of our other picks and I treated it like

it was one of your picks So anything that you've

missed so far that you didn't get to talk about

in your ten through six And then you can piggyback

off that, you know with anything left on this

half of the countdown Yeah, the one I skipped

over and I it's actually my number eight, but

the things kind of got messed up So I had Reverend

at 10 mix cutoff at nine true grade at seven,

but at eight I have I mentioned with war movies

i was picking. Things that are focusing more

on the military and that also included children

military with jojo rabbit was eight and to me

i knew this movie was working for me be when

like a pair of shoes had it like a map. So emotional

reaction to me and i feel like a lot of times

when people dismiss humor as in it like. That's

a way of not taking things seriously or no removing

stakes in a situation which i don't necessarily

think that's the case i think the way. What is

the approach this movie was something to be admired

it was funny hilarious at times but also. Deeply

disturbing and i thought that the humor was clearly

there to the kind of heighten what was going

on and i think i was trying to make. make light

or make fun or downplay obviously it was you

know, just a different tactic especially because

you're seeing things through, you know a child's

perspective and Once you see that veneer kind

of removed it, you know, it becomes something

completely different and then the ending of this

I think is again something really phenomenal

I don't want to don't want to waste it, but it

ruin it for people who haven't seen it But surprisingly

a movie about Nazis can kind of have a feel -good

moment here and there as well so that's why it's

So high for me. I guess it's not technically

a military film, but definitely, you know dealing

with Nazis and dealing with like the hitler youth

That's why I included it And war is the whole

setting basically for all intents and purposes

I barely cut it off my list because of the ambiguity

of it because if it was on my list It would be

my number one because I can count on one hand

the movie I rarely I watch a lot of movies. I

usually internalize the feelings i'm having and

I can count on one hand on the movies that making

me openly cry in Jojo Rabbit. I one scene one

little thing, but I'm not going to spoil it,

but there is a look Sam Rockwell gives near the

end of the movie to Jojo. It gets me every fricking

time. I don't know what because practice Sam

Rockwell's a badass and he's awesome, but just

this look he gives him a Jojo doesn't even see.

It's so good. It's other than if the movie is

hilarious. and it's risky, and it's dangerous,

and the message is amazing. It will tug at your

heartstrings in a way where it catches you off

guard. Like, what, wait, wait, am I openly weeping

in front of people? What's going on here? Oh

yeah, Jojo Rao was amazing. I wasn't sure what

to, I've loved all of Tycho ATD's stuff. whether

you know almost his entire career so far and

this was the one that was I was like I don't

know what this is about to be like when we were

talking about like most anticipated films probably

that year or when I was just you know going through

what was coming out that year and I was like

okay this title is films Jojo Rabbit and then

I'm reading the description and I'm like what

where is he going with this like what how is

what I don't know and I was so pleasantly surprised

I mean it was thoroughly entertaining I don't

understand the critique or the criticism, I guess,

that people have. There's no rule that like,

if you're making a movie about World War II or

some other historical event that you can't insert

humor or insert some of the stuff that YTD is

known for and not still make it a serious Movie

that deals with serious events like I just don't

get why some people think those things can't

mix I've heard that argument with a couple different

movies that have come out over the years that

are like oh this is about the Holocaust or this

is about this and You know that they have a joke

in there how dare them like I just I just don't

get that and I think why TD It's like a master

craft here of how he like blends the different

things and like has you in stitches laughing

one minute and then tear tearing up in the next

minute and you know after all is said and done

you're just thinking back to what how impactful

the film was a watch that's called jojo rapid.

It's like he took me for a ride and I don't know

what the ride was, but I enjoyed it type thing.

So if you approach it smart, like like I grew

up on Monty Python. If you use your brains and

you approach difficult subject matter, like the

Spanish Inquisition or Jesus or the Holy Grail

or the Crusades, you do it with brains like Taika

with TD has done in literally every movie. If

it's crass, like, you know. fart jokes on that

I understand that but he's not coming at it at

a place of you know that he's he's actually if

you watch that movie you come out going oh I

see the message here you can't give the the the

the point of this message without pointing at

the absurdity of World War two in Hitler Youth

and all that stuff Right. I got for the same

type of arguments, even though it's not anywhere

near the same type of movie, but like a life

is beautiful. I've heard people like right trash

on that because it has moments that aren't necessarily

what they expect from people that are in a concentration

camp or something like that. It's just like I

look at it in the wider lens. Right. Yeah. Jojo

Revo was real close to making my list. I just

wasn't sure how we were. And then so you should

have one left then at number six, Dan. Yeah,

so my number six is right one. That's unquestionably

a war movie. It's One really giant battle and

it's the last movie I saw in theaters before

everything went crazy And it's 1917 and I know

that like talking about criticism this people

kind of the obvious comparison It's saying it's

it's like a video game and certainly I see that

because it does feel like one Huge cutscene where

you're just going from moment to moment following

this character but Seeing this in the theater

like I I dialed right in and it technically I

think it is like one of the best achievements

of the last decade where it was able to do And

I know it was offered best special effects and

people like what special effects were there then

you go and see like what they were like a lot

of the CGI and things that are used in ways that

you wouldn't even imagine And it's it's also

one where the making of it is almost as interesting

as the movie itself so I just I get that narratively,

there's maybe not much here. It's literally just

one mission, one man going through to stop something.

But I felt I was invested from beginning. Seeing

the difficulty, like the challenges that were

there and just the intensity of it, I dialed

right into it. So that's why it was my number

six. Alright, I'm gonna save my thoughts on that

one for a minute, but those two those are our

ten through six picks of both Western and war

films We're gonna take a quick break Let you

guys hear how you can listen to more of DJ stuff

and we will come back with our five through one

pick So stick with us On the simplistic reviews

podcast we talk movies We talk TV We talk. Hello

Julie, what the heck are you doing? Trying to

make our spot sound more exciting by adding explosions

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have got the

point across with sound effects. Not the real

thing Download the show on iTunes or if simplistic

reviews .blogspot .com I'm sure your insurance

company will cover that. No, they won't. No,

they probably won't Alright, thanks for sticking

with us. We are back to give you our 5 -1 picks

for the best war and western films of the last

decade. DJ you already gave away your number

five for this part here with Joining me with

our fury discussion right before the break So

I will pick up here with a just a real quick

mention of my number five because it has also

been discussed already And that was I believe

your number 10 DJ. I'm going with wind river

as my number five It was actually my number two

film of the 2017 when it came out. I liked it

that much I just thought Performance wise it

was great from a visual standpoint. It was intriguing

and I'm I like the kind of crime mystery elements

of it kind of mixed in with that western ish

Feel so DJ already said much better than I can

say why it deserves to be discussed on this list

So I will just say that it is my number five

and let Dan take over with his number five My

number five has also been talked about before

so I won't go in great detail again by David

Mckenzie with Hell her high water. I was I was

really looking forward to this movie because

I was a huge fan of start it up that was my Favorite

film of the year it came out and if you enjoyed

you get I would highly my advice checking that

out It's nothing like hell high water taking

place in a jail, but it's fantastic again. It

has it's much more Kind of a bare -bones film

but very intense how high water just I was amazed

by how much he upped his game in one movie like

direction and it's like where startup felt I

want a little bit rough around the edges like

hell hot high water felt like maybe that was

like, you know a Hollywood movie through and

through and I can't dated Western taking the

tropes of you know robbing banks and putting

it in a new New setting especially one that was

very apparently against The banks maybe the social

commentary. It was a bit on the nose, but it

was a bit warranted as well and ultimately was

A smart movie that was fun and sometimes like

smart movies can be boring, but they don't have

to be which I thought was a good way approaching

this it's a lot more intelligent and Then you

may seem because you're just focusing on all

the all the antics But I did love Jeff Bridges,

especially his back -and -forth with his with

his partner there they were good comic relief,

but then When things got serious and then I in

ultimately like like TJ mentioned with that show

down at the end A lot was left unsaid, but in

a smart way, so. Yeah, I'll go ahead and. Jump

in here as well. It's my number three overall.

So not too far away from where we're at right

now I just remembered seeing this when it was

coming out again when we look at our like most

anticipated and stuff like that You know the

combination of David Mackenzie and Taylor shared

and had me Very intrigued about this and this

is one of my most anticipated films that year

and it definitely lived up to the hype it ended

up being my number eight film of 2016 but here

it ends up being my top Western of the last decade

is how I have it so I just I think it's great.

I think the performance is like you guys said

with Jeff Bridges You know Chris Pine Ben Foster

we get guild Birmingham in there again it's it's

just a very very entertaining film and it's very

sophisticated way of putting it all together

directing it and you know the whole kit and caboodles

so I think it's a total total package film and

I know it you know it might not have some of

the Western Aspects like you would see with like

a true grid or a You know even slow -west or

bone tomahawk or some of those types of films

But for me, it's the top of the genre for last

year and just shows all the different Styles

or types of Westerns we got over the last decade.

So definitely in agreement with you guys So let's

swing it back to DJ for your number four my number

four has been talked about it already as which

is true grit and You you guys know I I I suckle

at the teeth. I bow to the altar that whatever

disgusting metaphorical statement you can. For

Roger Deakins, I do it. And this movie is like

Roger Deakins. I don't even want to say phoning

it in. He's so good. His phonings are works of

art. It's so good. Because I think the best thing

he's ever done, he got the Oscar for which is

Blade Runner 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20. The Blade

Runner movie. one of those futuristic Blade Runner

singles. But no, this hits, it's such a beautiful

feel. Every frame is a screensaver. And on top

of that, the Coens, I think they've been making

a wake in Westerns their whole life. You can

put raising Arizona up there, certainly no country.

So True Grids kind of like, yeah. This is what

I'm going. We're going to make a whistle. And

I was joking earlier when I say who's Hailey

Steinfeld? I'm a huge Hailey Steinfeld fan from

this movie on. She is the living embodiment of

Kate Bishop. I cannot wait for Hawkeye speaking

to Jeremy Renner earlier, but she's fantastic

in this movie. You got you got Thanos, Obadiah

staying in Kate Bishop in the same movie. But

no, no, it's the true grit is one of those. We're

talking about Dan was talking about taking a

sequel or remake that. Super seeds the original

the code to colonize anything is like a great

I like to see the coins colonize a lot of stuff

and I remember watching true grit when I was

a little kid and I was like And then I watch

it here and like it had the coins this add things

that the original didn't have menace Fear, you

know the danger The original one this felt like

a great, you know action romp with John Wayne

in this one. I'm like, oh shit I don't know if

he's going to make it out of this situation.

So yes, True Grit is a great film. That's why

it's my number four. All right. Obviously we

are both in agreement. So for my number four,

I guess I'm just going to let this flag fly proudly

because I've already mentioned this director

once today. I almost feel cheap like putting

him in here twice on this Western and war film

because I feel like there could be other spots

that I could have talked about. But luckily you

guys have brought most of those films out, but

the Internet's in agreement I mean Cinemaholic

has this as their number three Western of the

last decade charge has it as their number three

Stacker has it as their number like seven cultured

vultures has it as their number four taste of

cinema has it as their number four Screen Rant

didn't Yep, Screen Rant also has it as his number

four. So I guess everybody agrees with me So

I'll put it at my number four too. That's Django

Unchained I mean What else does need to be said

about Tarantino films at this point? I mean you

got Jamie Foxx, you got Christoph Waltz, Leonardo

DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Walter Goggins,

Kerry Washington, et cetera, et cetera. You got

Tarantino directing. It is 100 % set in a Western

setting, et cetera. Like all Tarantino movies,

it just has those moments. It has those iconic

lines of dialogue or sequences and I just think

of the The violence and the just letting out

of rage at different points that we see in this

and it's just classic Tarantino You know, I've

listed the hateful eight and Django and chained

on here third not necessarily the best two Tarantino

films out there, but if we're talking about films

that would be considered westerns in the last

decade, I think you have to talk about both of

them at least somewhere in the discussion. So

it was my number four film of 2012, and it's

my number four war slash western film of the

last decade. So I'm not ashamed. Django Unchained.

Well, I'll join you because mine is also my number

four. So there you go. Everybody has it at number

four. I like that. Yeah, I had no idea. But I

do really love this movie. It is a whole lot

of fun. I know it does get crazy near the end

and it's also been I feel like one of those films

that is just mean. Did that now because obviously,

you know, some of the lines that have been utilized

on the Internet. But one of the things I love

most about this is this is a soundtrack like

the. Especially when you have like a Jenga going

on as the final ride for revenge, right? I guess

technically you could say this is southern, but

I don't know. I just like the juxtaposition of

taking us and working against the tropes of that

time. And there aren't like moments of brutality.

like that it doesn't hide that you know how horrible

it was for for slaves and things like that like

the sequences of them them like walking when

you have that overhead shot and they're like

in chains just it brings a reality to it even

though it thinks it kind of intense and crazy

near the end it clearly it's saying something

with its violence i don't think it's just being

violent for violence sake and performances you

know are fantastic I love crystal falls in this

from the moment he shows up on screen to like

just the sequences in the town Yes, like he makes

things far more elaborate than they need to be

like that's his go -to like it for everything

really like even his plan to you know for candy

is much more elaborate than maybe it needs but

it's just I've this is moving I've seen plenty

times like I saw it again, I saw this a couple

times in theaters and since then and I don't

know where would rank in my in my Tarentino List

right now, but it's near near near the top for

me I just find it very watchable and just a lot

of fun But also like I said clearly saying something

even if it's not, you know, the most nuanced

movie in the world right DJ your thoughts on

Django or your number three pick I'm gonna save

my thoughts for Django till later. Uh my number

three pick is You guys know me better than most

that Mad Max free road is my favorite film of

2015. I've mentioned it a couple times. I've

been on the show maybe once or twice. But I think

what gets lost is my second favorite film of

that year was Beasts of No Nation, which is now

number three. And I talked about earlier movies

that make I rarely cry in a movie. And this was

a weird movie that was that's on that list because

it wasn't like a cry because I was sad. There's

a scene in this movie and this is a movie about

a children from a fictional African nation that

are indoctrinated into this army by Idris Ilba.

And there's a scene where he is amping up the

children to get ready to murder or go to war.

And it's so intense. I just got emotional. The

way the music swells, and this is directed by

Kerry Fukunaga, who's directing the new James

Bond movie. He did Maniac on Netflix, which,

I mean, he is also a brilliant filmmaker in terms

of visuals. But the acting in this movie, in

the little boy who I think is in Spider -Man

Homecoming for like five minutes, is so amazing

where you see him in the beginning as this young,

innocent boy, and at the end of the movie, spoiler,

kind of, he is a completely different person

through the experiences he has. And Idris Ilba's

character, you kind of see... as a viewer, you

kind of get indoctrinated where you're like,

yeah, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. It's so I don't want

to. Good is not the word. It's it is an experience.

That movie. And it came out of nowhere. I just

watch it because I can't whatever I watch this

piece of no name. And at the end of it, I was

changed. It's one of the one of maybe the greatest

war films I think I've ever seen. One of the

best films I would probably put in my top 20

films, because it takes a lot for me to have

a visceral response in that way to a movie and

It might be blind spots for people it is not

for the faint of heart in terms of cinematography

and directing I mean Carrie Fukunaga it does

long takes and Beautiful visuals and stuff like

that, but in the terms of a movie I think it's

a movie that I think everybody should at least

see once So yeah, Beasts of Norwich is my number

three All right, Dan your thoughts on that one

or your number three? Yeah, it was really hard

leaving off piece of donations because it like

DJ mentioned it is a powerful force and again

that movie is Directed like nothing else I think

it was one of the two the one of the big first

movies and I think it was before it was nearly

as accepted as it is now and I think there is

a lot of negative like reaction to this idea

that Netflix doing a movie like this but and

I think that's why it maybe didn't get like The

award recognition it should have because I do

think that like that was deserving of so many

like higher awards and never received much of

anything. Unfortunately, especially Idris Alba,

who, you know, I think arguably his best performing.

There's a lot of good performances, but it's

certainly up there. His most twisted performance

for sure. Yeah. And my number three has already

talked about a slowest, so we can move on to

the next on the list. All right, we're going

on my number three was heller high water. We

already talked about that. So DJ We're right

back at you. You were number two back My number

two was just talked about a couple of spots ago,

which was Django and chained Now we've been kicking

around what Westerns are and I I see Westerns

that are that essentially are and at their core

tension through confrontation the anticipation

of violence that builds up like a hot that's

boiling over on the stove. And it can be argued

that Tarantino is one of the best filmmakers

when it comes through tension, through confrontation.

Just watch any movie he's ever done ever. So

this first real foray into a Western really won

me over. Like you guys were saying, they call

it a Southern, but it has every element of a

Western. Wrong man seeks justice and tries to

save the woman he loves. That's a Western to

its core. with amazing performances by, like

you guys said, damn near every cast member in

this one. Jonah Hill's amazing in this movie.

Don Johnson's amazing in this movie. Bruce Dern's

amazing in this movie. The original Django Unchained,

Django, the original Django, who was in this

movie for five minutes. He's amazing in this

movie. And it makes me laugh because this was

supposed to be a Will Smith vehicle. And Will

Smith got angry because, or he didn't want to

get angry. He wanted to kill the villain. And

I think he missed the point. because the real

villain is not Calvin Candie, it's Stephen. That

is the villain of the movie. And if he wouldn't

realize that, spoiler alert, he would get to

kill the villain of the movie. So yes, I mean,

every, Chris off Waltz, who I had seen in some

stuff, this is where I was like, this guy's amazing.

This guy's amazing. And I mean, my screen saver

on the stream, I do miss cast entertainment sometimes.

is laughing Leo from Calvin Candie. So I love

this movie so much. The scene itself with him

ripping up in his hand and continuing the scene

should have got Leo. I mean, the scene where

he busts his hand open, he's bleeding all over

Kerry Washington. That's not special effects.

That really happened. And he finished the scene

and they shot it. It's such a I mean, the stories

that go with this movie. are great. And I think

it's just I mean, it's the Western. I remember

watching Django, the original Django when I was

very, very young. And when I realized, oh, he's

he's he's he's race banding in a little bit.

Let me see what he does with it. It blew me away.

And it's probably of all the movies on this list

that I watch probably more often than any other.

So, yeah, Django and Jane, my number two. Obviously,

we agree with you for my number two. It's been

spoken of already once. um, I believe just once

and uh This was my number six film of 2019 um

could be higher if I kind of regoed through that

list I think but um Dana you talked about it

and i'm going with 1917. Um, man this I don't

care if it's a gimmick if it's not a gimmick.

I don't care anything about any of those types

of critiques I care about what I felt and what

I experienced while I watched the film and that

was The whole film could have been a one take

for me because i didn't take my eyes off of the

screen so you know there was no takes for me

it was just a wonderful experience to watch and

like i said i'm not taking anything away from

dunkirk i think it's a great film and it's probably

on a lot of people's you know top list and what

not it's just fury in nineteen seventeen for

me just. we're more emotional experiences on

a personal level so that's just on me it's not

anything to do with the movie necessarily but

i think it is crafted very well i'm a huge sam

mendes fan and i think he was phenomenal you

know i didn't know anything about some of the

cast here i mean obviously i know you know benedict

cummerbatch colin firth and you know uh you know

mark strong and some of those guys but i don't

know much about the rest of the cast and i just

think they were mesmerizing with their performances

I think too it's similar to what I felt with

fury I thought on a sound level just the way

that this film is done and edited and things

like that like The quiet moments are just that

much more quiet and the loud moments are just

that much more jarring Like I think these fury

1917 do a really interesting job of playing with

those sound dynamics and really Making it feel

like you're immersed into that world And it's

another interesting thing to do because you know

you take war films and they all have to pick

like what aspect of the war they're going to

talk about or what events on the war they're

going to talk about and I you know a lot of times

it's hard because you're doing a war film and

we all know the outcome you know we we know the

outcome of the war or we know the outcome of

the battle that's being depicted or things of

that nature and. I didn't know a lot about what

was actually being depicted in this one so it

wasn't like you know nothing was spoiled for

me i mean i know you know major beats to this

war and stuff like that but i didn't necessarily

know exactly how this was going to take place

when you kind of narrow it down into the actual

story they're telling and honestly. It's a hard

war to depict i believe in my opinion like. You

know when you think about the best war films

throughout time you know or things of that nature

seems like. You get a lot of world war two films

you know i mean you get a lot of civil war films

you know things like that one is a tough one

and i think it's never. Possibly been done better

i have to go through and see all the different

world war one films i guess that have ever existed

didn't have that prepared but it's gotta be up

there like one of the best depictions or movies

that take place in world war one for me so i

can't. Give this film enough praise. Um, i've

only seen it once so I mean I know it just came

out a little while back, you know years wise

But it could be even higher. But for me, this

is easily one of the best war films of the last

decade So 1917 is my number two dan. What is

yours? Uh for my number two i'm going to go back

to the genre of westerns and again another More

modern take on westerns, but a very slower More

methodical not necessarily meek's cutoff. But

again more of maybe this is just saying something

Being about me very this also feels very much

like a documentary from 20 From 2017 and it's

the writer directed by Chloe's Zao when put pronouncing

that incorrectly, but who will be soon to Directing.

Well, she is directing I guess currently eternals.

So going from the the rider, which is this very

extremely low budget movie about people who are

on the rodeo circuit and It's just so compelling

in And it's methodical and it's pacing. What

strikes me, too, is just there's a lot of use

of non -actors in this. In one sequence, in particular,

where there's an individual who had a past accident

being on a horse. And you see. See like the actor

kind of just interacting with him and you see

just the facade of all that kind of just fall

fall down He's kind of pretending being on a

horse again. It's just just a moving moment of

just humanity in a way and I think that's what

what this gets out just the relationship between

this individual who is you know clearly Lost

within life in a way, you know, like he's not

having a lot of options and trying to just find

his way and The rodeo is kind of one of those

elements and I think it's so much like where

the West has gone in a lot of ways where You

know the West is not what it once was and it

seems and that a drift because it's not that

no wild wild land anymore and it has to be Tamed,

but it's necessarily maybe doesn't want to be

I think that's kind of where this conflict comes

from and I think that's a big reason it appealed

to me just because of this Realism to it and

seeing kind of a life The ability to see perspective

that i've never really experienced and just thought

what chloe director did was. Got in there and

kind of remove the camera you just feeling like

you're watching a general life. Right on the

screen and like i said even utilizing real real

actors. Any case one of my favorite documentaries

from last decade was buck which is. Falls is

a very similar story It's the movie that the

main character of that through the person that

that documentary focuses on is the guy that was

Based the horse whisper on and it's similar to

you. Just see this relationship with horses I've

never I've rode a horse like a couple times in

my life I'm not like someone who would have any

desire to go to a rodeo but that didn't necessarily

matter because just the movie was was that good

and some movie that just I've enjoyed more and

more more I think about it was like number two

the year it came out and I think more as I kind

of we evaluate and seen it again. It might be

my favorite film from that year I know I know

in the back me up. I know Barack Obama also really

loved it, too It was in his you know movies to

watch the year it came out. So some pretty high

praise from you know, a very powerful person

so but it's a very small film and like I am curious

to see how the director goes from this to like

the turtles because I could have I mean I talked

about like how with mckenzie went from uh start

up to hell of a hawaii water i think that's even

a bigger jump but maybe she can do it i think

she she's really good at least capturing people

and you know so i don't know i don't know why

they why they picked her but she certainly has

some perspective that they thought you know clearly

saw something in the rider like i did and that's

why it's my number two Yes, Cinemaholics had

this on their list and actually Stacker had this

as their number one Western of last decade as

well. A lot of the other ones headed off maybe

didn't live left out off their list maybe because

it was a little bit of a smaller film that people

hadn't seen as much. I haven't seen it either.

So it is another blind spot for me. So I'll add

Meeks cutoff in the writer to my list of to do

list as far as film watching goes. DJ, have you

seen the writer? I have not, but I know Dan is

correct. In about a year's time, everybody's

going to know who Chloe is, because I think she's

going to probably win the Oscar or probably win

multiple Oscars this year for Nomadland with

Francis McDormand, a Coen brother wife. But yeah,

I want to see. Yeah. So yeah, she she's going

to be a household name, I think, in about a year's

time. So her her filmography, it's like you're

saying, she's good with people. So I want to

check this out because I kind of want to get

a taste of what I. could be in store for that

movie, Eternals, because I have no idea what

the heck it's gonna be about. All right, so it

is time for the reveal of our number of films.

I'm guessing they're all stuff that has already

been talked about, but we will see. DJ, what

is your number one war or western film of the

last decade? If you have been paying attention

to my weird machinations on my list, you've been

noticing that I go... Western war Western war

all the way up my last movie was Django and chain

if you know what's going on here I have mentioned

one war movie, but it has been mentioned before

it is 1917 it is a Master class of filmmaking

not since saving power Ryan. Have I seen a war

movie that literally had me this? Breathing heavy

like oh my oh my god, and yes I've said multiple

times it's not a movie it's a magic trick this

movie it's it's it's like they're doing something

but the purpose of it is to make you feel what

they are feeling in the movie and the the the

trench runs the explosions i hear people like

demean oh it's a video game it's like man this

actually happened this is this i mean i know

people think call of duty is the center of universe

but guys this is real this actually happened

And the way Sam Mendes brings it to life is amazing.

And I just, I don't know how he did it. I mean,

I've seen the behind the scenes movies, but there

had to be a meeting before they started doing

the movie. Like, okay, look, I want to make it

look like all one shot. And then somebody looked

at him. It's like, it's a war movie, bro. You

can't, what are you talking about? He goes, no,

I'm Sam Mendes. I'm going to do it. And they

did it. I remember, I mean, I work at a theater

and it's one of the few movies that when people

are coming out, they're asking me, hey, how did

they do that? And I had to literally explain,

yeah, yeah, it's all one shot. They hide some

of the cut, like different people, different

walks of life, walking out of that movie, asking

me questions about how that movie's made. That

rarely happens other than a comic book movie,

because I don't know who the hell the characters

are. But for a war movie, they're walking up

to me saying, I just realized 40 minutes in that

they haven't cut the camera like yeah, yeah,

they're doing a whole bunch of crazy secret so

I would say watch 1917 because it is a marvel

in filmmaking and that's all these movies are

marvels and filmmaking but that to me I The the

scale not the scale but just the Herculean effort

It must have took to bring this movie to the

screen which you're supposed to watch it in I

can only I cannot fathom it. It's amazing to

me. So yeah, 1917. Yeah, obviously I'm in agreement

since it was my number two. My list was interesting

because I had more westerns than six westerns

and only four war films, but war films made up

my top two. So I might have more westerns, but

I have two war films sitting at the top of my

list. My number one is also the only film that

was also number one the year it came out. So

if there's any loyal listeners out there, you

might be able to predict this one, but DJ talked

very eloquently about Beasts of No Nation and

that is my number one film of 2015 and my number

one film of this list. This is number one on

this list for the same reason Schindler's List

makes a lot of number ones, you know, other types

of movie lists I make. It's like do a lot of

people want to watch it? Maybe not. Do a lot

of people want to watch it a second time or a

third time? Probably not. But I agree with what

DJ said. I feel like it's something that should

be watched once at least. And that doesn't take

away, you know, just because it might not have

that rewatchability or might not be the most

feel good movie for me. Almost gives it more

credit credit because it's like something that

can be that powerful, that can be that disturbing,

that can be that impactful. And. you know, maybe

hard to watch, but just that worth of a watch.

Like it's so important of a movie for me, for

people to see. It blew me away that year. Hands

down, like it was easily my number one film of

that year without question. A huge Idris Elba

fan. I think he's amazing, even though I don't

necessarily want to see him play a character

like this, but it was just powerful. It's like

regardless of the fiction, nonfiction of it or

whatever, like this typist. Nonsense happens

like all the time this happens way more and i

feel like it's such a american thing to turn

a blind eye to it it's such a. First world problems

to to act like this doesn't happen or to be like

oh this is too disturbing for me to acknowledge

or digest it's like we know we need to acknowledge

and i just more of the horrors that go on around

the world and tackle them and. strict nonsense

to it. But I just I feel like if this would have

came out on the big screen and got like the normal

cycle of how movies are treated, like it would

have gotten more attention and more people would

have watched it. But Like I will never shy away

from saying that Schindler's List is one of the

best movies or the most important movies that's

ever been made and I feel like this is in that

same class. It's just like it's something that

deserves to be watched, deserves to be talked

about, deserves to be, you know, known and it's

easily my number one film on this genre list

as well. Dan, what's your number one? My number

one is another movie that's been talked about

a great deal. I believe it was your number 10,

Kevin. It was on your list DJ someplace it might

be obvious, but I know it's very close putting

the writer number one but ultimately when I thought

the film that I was in a blown away by the right

terminology but I just engrossed with from beginning

and Excuse me. It was it was Dunkirk and you

know, the first time I watched it was as Christopher

Nolan intended on my phone He just spit on the

ground when you said but I was able to see it

in theaters actually after that and sparsely

both both experiences were enjoyable, but I Know

like the use of time can get somewhat kind of

I don't call it a gimmick but it just sees something

that he fixates on a lot and I get that and I

understand like the where the Criticism of it's

maybe not the most warming film emotionally,

you know if I compare this something like Band

of brothers right where like it really the emotions

are from beginning to end you get to know who

these individuals are you see them as people

where this was more the movie about the effort

movie about the the mission that they're going

on and although maybe i didn't have enough i

was it in gross emotionally i was in gross in

the sense of just seeing something play out in

such a remarkable scale and important scale with

this. Ever present taking time bomb occurring

where just this cavalcade of bad things happening

from time and time again and one of the most

important. Achievements really in the war and

i think dj made a. Great point regarding how

this was a victory and defeat and being able

to retreat in order to you know fight another

day And just just seeing what what it would encountered

and how you know it it took an entire army and

it took an entire people to get this done and

it surprised it took this long to get a movie

like this because Honestly, I know what I've

read a lot and watched a lot about World War

two dunkirk at least on the American side We

don't talk about it nearly as much as we do D

-day and other other Pieces of world war two

history, but you realize like this was just as

important. Uh, maybe It is technically a retreat

that we don't focus on on it as much and americans

weren't involved But I I just thought just the

in from the fantastic battles in the air Just

how it would move from moment to moment. I I

thought it was just a craftsmanship with a capital

c so again, it's probably a bit obvious and But

I would be lying if I didn't put it my number

one. So that's why I put it my number one Absolutely

screen rant cinema spotlight and cinemaholics.

I'll have this also as their number one film

from the last decade So a lot of agreement there

real quick guys I'm gonna have you guys go through

your ten through one just because I know there's

a lot of jumping around So we'll get the whole

list in one chunk from each of us And then we'll

talk a little bit more about some honorable mentions

and things like that. So DJ What were your ten

through one? My number ten was Wind River. My

number nine was Overlord. My number eight, Bone

Tomahawk. My number seven was Dunkirk. My number

six was Hell or High Water. My number five was

Fury. My number four was True Grit. My number

three was Beast of No Nation. Two Django, one

1917. All right, for me it was number ten, Dunkirk,

followed by Slow West, then Hateful Eight, True

Grit. Six was Fury, Wind River. Number four was

Django Unchained, three was Heller High Water,

two was 1917, and my number one was Beast of

No Nation. Dan? Number ten was The Revenant,

number nine Meeks Cutoff, number eight Jojo Rabbit,

True Grit, 1917, number five was Heller Hot Water,

then Django Unchained, Southwest, number three,

number two The Rider, and number one Dunkirk.

Interesting too, when you look at some of the

years and stuff like that, it seems like 2050

has crossed the genre because we had Beasts of

No Nation, Hateful Eight, Bone Tomahawk, Slow

West, and Revenant all 2015. I think that was

the most - Good year. Good year for movies. At

least for this genre. I think like the middle

of the decade, we got a lot more of the war and

the Western films on either end. It seemed like

it kind of petered out at both times, but real

quick, we're going to go around and just give

any films that were close to making your list,

might have made your list if it was Strictly

War or Strictly Western, but didn't quite make

the combined list. DJ, anything you'd like to

mention? Dan brought up Jojo rabbit. We talked

on and off air about how if it was on this list

of you and I'm my number one, but I again I was

I was trying to stay as close to the I Guess

the the topics I could not saying it's not it's

just I I wanted to get as clear as I could and

those are I was amazing so Being on any list.

I'm happy. I really really wanted to put sicario

on here again It was kind of like the same thing

where it's like Maybe it's it feels like a Western,

but it's not really but I mean it's got Roger

Deakins And again, I told you I bow to the man

and I almost put also Logan on here as a Western

But again, it's all that listed by quite a few

sites, right? I again I I guess Logan's amazing

and it's it is a Western. I think it's more of

a Comic book movie than a Western to me. So I

again if it was on a list I don't mind it if

it is on if it isn't it's fine The Westerns that

I was considering some of them already got talked

bone Tomahawk would have been probably my next

one and that would have been my number 11 on

this list I like the remake of Magnificent Seven.

I know a lot of people don't, but I just think

it's a great cast and a great, just a fun romp.

If you're watching it with a group of friends,

you can have fun with it. I'm not saying you

have to take it serious. Hostels, I actually

enjoyed Hostels. The Kid with, what's his name?

Ethan Hawke? No, I have the right actor? Yeah,

yeah, that's Ethan Hawke, yeah. The Kid, I enjoyed

a lot. Just to the last year there two thousand

nineteen of the decade i thought that's a Vincent

D 'Onofrio. Film and i thought that was really

good i considered the revenue as well that got

mentioned for war films it was tricky for me

because i feel like you know nineteen seventeen

fury dunkirk. You know, obviously if I throw

Beasts of No Nation in there, even though it's

a little bit different because of the perspective

I think those are just like heads and tails above

everything or head and shoulders I guess that's

the analogy above everything heads and tails

But there was like a lot of modern war films

that I just didn't quite throw in there that

I know got a lot of buzz and a lot of talk That

came out in the last decade stuff like Zero Dark

Thirty American Sniper and Lone Survivor those

types of things. I just I just didn't quite know

where I landed on them I actually really enjoyed

Eye in the Sky from kind of a little bit of a

different perspective, maybe not as much as a

war as it is more into the intelligence sector

of how that plays into war. But I still think

you could make an argument for that. The one

I was probably considering most was Hacksaw Ridge.

It was real close to making it. It was that and

then Zero Dark Thirty that I had just on the

outside, outside looking in. The other Western

I forgot. Actually to author out there that didn't

quite make my final you know i will mention cut

but a woman walks ahead and ballad of buster

scruggs at least thought about so dan any other

things you want to mention. I actually completely

forgot about your doctor because i was looking

again use letterbox and for some reason they

don't count it as a war film so i'm not sure

but i'd love to read it and probably would have

been my top ten and so ultimately other films

i did think about i originally had in sun on

sunday's. In my top 10, but I took it off because

although like it takes place in the background

of a war Ultimately, the war element is not kind

of the major focus of the film. It's a one -identifiable

new way was say his name director of movies like

prisoners and Blade Runner I think it's some

I think his best movie might release my favorite

movie. He's done But like I said, it's it a lot

of it takes place within a war going on But the

war isn't necessarily the major focus Another

movie I thought about was first They killed my

father which was directed by Angelina Jolie,

which a movie I thought was so much better than

I ever anticipated it being that's dealing with

the war in Cambodia But it didn't quite make

it but that is I was actually impressed because

the other films that Angelina Jolie did I think

that she had unbroken which didn't quite work

out And that kind of got all the all the kind

of buzz going into it anticipation where? The

first thing to my father just kind of went under

the radar which was I thought a much much better

movie I thought about Rango the animated movie

a lot of people And I did also think about about

the bout of us for strokes I really do like that

although though there are a couple of sorts that

aren't as strong Which is why it completely make

my list But yeah so those are other ones i thought

about and i'm low survivor which is a movie like

i do like it and it's pretty like the the sequences

of them like falling down the hill is still something

that is it hurts to watch and there are a few

films i didn't see yet like son of sol which

i've heard really great things about. And you

mentioned fury and we haven't talked about it

but i feel like we should mention the american

sniper cuz i'm really made like a trillion dollars

i didn't. um, but it was certainly like I I think

it's certainly one of the more like the well

-known Owned films and then the last one I had

was um, the the one the one what rises but again

That was more like tangentially dealing with

war rather than actually focusing on itself.

So yeah, american sniper and lone survivor kind

of solidified that that early calendar release,

you know, like in the whatever it was like Right

at the end of the year, right at the beginning

of the year that just had a lot of like staying

power. They definitely made an impact. If I'm

looking around at all the lists that I looked

at, we've hit most of everybody's top five. As

far as war movies, I think the only one we didn't

mention that was in one of the top five was somebody

had War Horse at number five. that the What do

you think as far as each genre independently

you know the war genre the western genre as far

as the presence of the hat on the last decade

you know the. The direction that's gone as far

as how directors you know kind of tackle that

or you know what do you anticipate for this next

decade will westerns or war have a. You know

a decent impact in the decade over all of you

know we saw a lot more modern stuff too like

we said with the westerns you know stuff like

wind river heller high water um things of that

nature does it go more that route dj what do

you think you know looking back at the last decade

looking forward to the next decade how do you

think these genres fair i think i think westerns

in terms of the time frame are going to still

be few and far between i think the way to get

to the westerns now is to make them like a wind

river or a hell or high water, make a modern

day away the gun, a modern day Western, because

then you can say Hollywood doesn't like investing

in something that's not going to make a billion

dollars. If they do, they're going to give you

like nothing. So if you make it a modern day

Western, you can say the penny, but still hit

the feel of a Western because we talked about

these two hell or high water, one river. They

hit every Western trope for me. And I mean, I

grew up on Sergio Leone and, you know, Peckinpah

and all that stuff. So you can do it that way.

I don't I see war movies are gonna probably do

more than a Western because the sisters brothers,

which I saw in the theater by myself So it's

not it's that it's a genre that I think has been

replaced kind of by Superhero genre, you know,

we're back in the day Westerns were kind of like

the biggest thing ever Now you kind of have to

do you're gonna get the few and far between you're

gonna get the slowest You got that straight that

really good TV series godless on Netflix, which

is with Jack O 'Connor or whatever and Jeff Daniels

you're gonna get a lot of Fringy stuff, but the

be in the studio to invest. I think the only

way you're gonna do it is to modern -day Western

Yeah, I'd love Western. So I'd love to see more

but it feels like the other it's it's few and

far between that you get them a lot of them that

we get I like but then there's Diamond doesn't

as far as the ones that are just like These low

-budget trash westerns almost right that's come

out so often that you don't even want to think

about war it's interesting Dan like do you see

us getting more in the line of stuff like a you

know zero dark 30 American sniper lone survivor

more of these like modern takes or at least based

on modern events type thing because Obviously

when we're dealing with war It can get harder

To find new angles new ways to talk about wars

or battles or events that have already been,

you know Done a lot and a lot. I mean obviously

we saw 1917 prove that you know, there's there's

more stuff that's untapped out there But what

do you think the future is for war films and

westerns in general? I think there there will

always be there because I feel like there's always

something different to approach but I do it's

interesting when you think about like american

semper was one of the few War films centered

on like the war that's going on, you know, the

afghanistan iraq combat that was Both it was

generally critic. It wasn't like a critic loved

it, but it was pretty much praise, you know positively

Received and then it was hugely popular where

we haven't really seen that before like even

something like heart locker Which one best picture

like it made nothing at the box office And I

do wonder are we gonna start ever really seeing

like you go back when there's so many great Vietnam

movies or so many great words Two films, but

the number of films that kind of take place in

that way when the more modern setting are, you

know Probably, you know handful if that so maybe

I don't know what we'll get more in that that

we're you know further and further What about

from that and then what about films from sorry

to interject because you're talking about like

modern stuff I'll let you continue your thought

but what about war films based on more Non -american

war films or even films that predate America

like we think back to like stuff that came out

I'm not you know, not necessarily like like a

braveheart or a gladiator or things like that

But like wars of the past or just wars that are

from other parts of the globe Perhaps I wonder

if we're ever getting especially not a lot of

in not a long time like those movies that have

those massive kind of sets and those massive

Productions where we don't you know, everything

is See CGI now, so I I'm not sure I mean It's

possible, you know Game of Thrones and obviously

not real but it has a similar similar Approach

like with like old -time the middle -aged type

of war. I I don't like it It's interesting because

you you do wonder like how will co -ed effect

filmmakers moving forward where they approach

things differently, you know, well will we see

People are just like there's been so much existential

dread over the last 12 months or so Thinking

like no, I don't want to add to that. Let me

try to make films that are focused on something

else, right? Or will we get people trying to

do contagion again? I don't know It's hard just

it's hard to say like I think the mean the question

is like how much do we get focused on like the

right now and Thinking we're 20 years So since

September 11th that we're gonna get now, you

know think about where a lot of the great Vietnam

movies from Came out in the 80s or so. So is

that when we're gonna see a slew of them come

out now I That they're a little bit more separated

So people feel like they can say something differently

or if they have more perspective more greater

perspective We know more information or even

though we're kind of still in it. It's good question.

I don't know. Yeah it also seemed like we were

The war films of the last decade you know we

had the world war one so world war two is the

you know obviously be some donations tackling

a completely different fictional setting but

you know akin to what's happening in another

country. and we got some of the few of the more

modern ones with, you know, stuff Afghanistan

and in the Middle East and stuff like that. Not

only did we not get stuff that was, you know,

predating, you know, American times, but we also

didn't get much as far as like the strict American

wars, like, you know, like the American Revolution,

Civil War, things of that nature. It seemed like

that was kind of a forgotten aspect of, or, you

know, that nobody was really interested in doing

that. I mean, I guess we had like the Free State

of Jones, kind of, I guess, but like, it seemed

like there wasn't much attention to some of those

things that we've seen done a lot more. Like,

you know, in the eighties and nineties, we got

a lot of those, it seemed like. So I'd just be

interested to see what kind of topics they tackle.

But Daniel, you could be onto something where

we're going to get a little bit more of the feel

good or positive, or, you know, maybe people

are going to be a little bit scared to go to

the dread of some of these war films. But I still

think there's enough to to kind of find. I mean,

if we found more topics to cover in. both world

war one and world war two in this last decade

there's obviously more stuff on on some of these

other wars so dj why don't you go ahead and give

us uh final thoughts reactions anything you've

heard over the last few minutes or also give

us a chance here to uh pimp out how people can

listen to more of your stuff who pimp out uh

no i i'm a huge fan of westerns i i i have a

skeptical view on if hollywood's gonna invest

in them but i hope they do because they're fantastic

i mean I think I watch Unforgiven once a year.

I'm pretty sure that's on my list. Good, the

bad, the ugly is on constant rotation. I really

wish because they're so good. But I know it's

not a four quadrant type of genre, but I still

love them. If you want to hear my ramblings in

my co -host, you can find me at simplistic .reviews

or search simplistic reviews on iTunes, Stitcher,

TuneIn, all that other good stuff. Spotify, we're

all over the place. Our St. Patrick's Day episode

will probably be a relief route right now when

the show gets released so yeah check that out

in our movie commentary for a certain film that

I wish was taken in a war taken away called Justice

League the Snyder that will be doing a commentary

for that Check out some post -it reviews and

everything they do and follow DJ on Twitter as

well. It's a good follow Dan any last thoughts

that you didn't get out about the war or the

Western genre or Give people not only how they

can stay in more touch with what you're doing

But they don't even they can not only just hear

you on our podcast, but now they can see you

as well So talk about that a little bit Yeah,

unfortunately, you can see my face if you want

to do that I started because the world needs

more comic book YouTube channels I started my

own comic book YouTube channel instead of doing

something within the key cash radio network Just

because it can get lost with all the podcasts.

That's the comic con seers channel We're kind

of just focusing on comics and I've got a few

things planned But right now you'll see some

videos of reviews of books. I read I'm gonna

try to do all types of books not just like your

weekly releases But graphic novels and manga

and things like that and there are a lot of comic

book channels that focus on things like speculation

I don't care about speculation. I'm just more

I care more about the content and so I have that

going on and if you want to See more of my stuff.

You can check it out there. They're also being

Put on the key cast radio a website as well and

you can find myself Mike myself on Twitter. I'm

at Carsey Andrews comics and on instagram at

comic underscore concierge so there you go absolutely

you can follow the show at cinema geek cast you

can follow my twitter at optimus solo i don't

have anything to pimp out because i'm trying

to spend most of this year doing things behind

the scenes so that i can release some content

uh en masse later on so it's my all my dirty

plan here to uh be absent but still working so

um you gotta do what you gotta do when you have

a baby So stay tuned for that and stay tuned

for more episodes of the cinema geeks We will

have a couple more episodes talking about the

last decade before we're finished with that completely

And then hey who knows maybe by that point will

have gone to a theater because it's been a long

time for me So definitely stay tuned for that

DJ. Thank you so much for joining us as always

we appreciate it So that is it for this episode

of Cinema Geeks. Stay tuned for another one coming

your way, hopefully very soon.