A24 On The Rocks

The Humans was originally a Tony award winning play written by Stephen Karam about a Catholic family from Pennsylvania that meets for Thanksgiving in a New York City apartment. The buzz around the play was so huge, that eventually, Karam got the film adaptation greenlit. Although it was one of the most well-reviewed movies of 2021, it ran under the radar during the awards season, why was that? The A24 Rocks crew goes character by character, dissecting the aesthetic of the film, and why it may not have succeeded as much in 2021. Caution: movie spoilers. Buy us a coffee- https://buymeacoffee.com/moviemindmelt.Intro- 0:00 to 2:46.Film Discussion- 2:46 to 1:14:38.Film Ratings/Outro- 1:14:38 to End.

In this 2021 Mike Mills film (director of 20th Century Women), Joaquin Phoenix plays a radio journalist named Johnny who is tasked with looking after his nephew Jesse (portrayed by Woody Norman) due to his sister Viv (portrayed by Gabby Hoffman) taking care of her bipolar husband who is having a manic episode. Jesse quickly breaks boundaries with Johnny and tries to get him out of his shell, while also showing him how to see the world through the ears of a child. The A24 Rocks crew loved 20th Century Women, what will they think of C'mon C'mon? Caution: movie spoilers.Buy us a coffee- https://buymeacoffee.com/moviemindmeltIntro- 0:00 to 3:10.Film Discussion- 3:10 to 55:39.Film Ratings/Outro- 55:39 to End.

This week the A24 Rocks crew reviews the first sequel that A24 ever distributed in The Souvenir Part II. Written and directed by Joanna Hogg, The Souvenir Part II picks up where The Souvenir left off, with Julie reeling from the death of her boyfriend Anthony after he overdosed. Julie is still in film school, though, and quickly decides to turn her pain into art. She doesn't exactly have a plan for her film, though, choosing to improvise the project. What will these film reviewers think of this Criterion Collection pick? Caution: movie spoilers.Buy us a coffee- https://buymeacoffee.com/moviemindmelt.Programming note- there are only 5 A24 films left on our docket for A24 on the Rocks, before we do the 2021 A24 Oscars, and then review Movie Mind Melt films full time in the new year.Intro- 0:00 to 2:40.Film Discussion- 2:40 to 1:07:06.Film Ratings- 1:07:06 to End.

From the A24 on the Rocks podcast- in light of A24’s recent AI research partnership with Google Deepmind where they’ll be taking a $75 million investment from Google to develop AI powered filmmaking tools, we have decided that we’re going to finish out reviewing the 2021 year of A24, then we will pivot to a different podcast idea. This podcast idea will keep the same spirit of the podcast, where we will still review indie/low-budget films and/or movies that ask deep interesting questions, but we will change the name of our podcast and theme of it. This doesn’t mean that we will never review an A24 film again, it just means that at the end of this year we will take A24 out of our podcast name and we will no longer be chronologically reviewing all of their films. The fact is, we do this podcast for zero monetary reward. We’ve spent lots of hours watching and reviewing A24 films and then we still have to edit and market the podcast, tasks that essentially amount to a part-time job. We’ve been able to find motivation to do this for zero monetary reward because of our deep love of film. And when A24 makes a decision that we believe will put storyboard artists out of work, because this partnership will be “developing applications for AI-generated storyboards,” we no longer want to be a walking billboard for this company.Some may say we’re overreacting but the fact is Josh Kushner, Jared Kushner’s brother, is already on the board of directors of A24 and A24 has been taking mass amounts of venture capital money. For awhile, we mistakenly believed this money could be used to help support the up and coming filmmakers that A24 likes to showcase, but now we’re reading the tea leaves and we see that this will only further poison the film studio we once loved. We think that this partnership is just the beginning of A24 delving into AI. Which is, ironically, the film studio that distributed Ex Machina. We thought A24 was different and special in the landscape of Hollywood studios but we now see they’re just like every other big Hollywood studio out there.That being said, we are currently in the middle of reviewing the 2021 year of A24 and we want to finish what we started there and support the films and filmmakers from that year that had no say in A24’s decision to do this, but at the end of this year, you will see us change the name and brand of our podcast. If that disappoints you, that’s ok, we’ve accounted for that, you can unfollow us. But to keep doing this podcast, we personally don’t want to be a walking billboard for A24 and we’d rather support a wider array of films and filmmakers. We’re actually pretty excited to broaden our scope of this podcast and we see it as a natural progression of our love of film and film critique. So thank you for listening and stay tuned for an announcement about us pivoting our podcast at the end of this year.

The A24 Rocks crew reviews another "American Dream" story in Minari, a film about a Korean family that moves to rural Arkansas while Jacob (the dad, portrayed by Steven Yeun) tries to make it as a farmer growing Korean vegetables. The family adjusts to this new life in Arkansas while Jacob and his wife Monica struggle with their relationship. When Grandma Soonja moves in, she brings pieces of home with her, that perfectly resembles the old world blending with the new. What will these film reviewers think of one of the most acclaimed films of 2021? Caution: movie spoilers. https://buymeacoffee.com/a24otrIntro- 0:00 to 2:53.Film Discussion- 2:53 to 1:04:42.Film Ratings/Outro- 1:04:42 to End.

Recordings made in November of 1990.

On this A24 vibe discussion: Eric, Ray, and romance authors Tana Jenkins and Beth Gelman blind rank the top 16 romantic comedies of all time. Kevin sadly got hit in the head with a baseball at a Brewers game and spent the night in the emergency room. Sappy, screwball, seductive, serendipitous... what direction will these four take, and how will their own personal experiences effect the overall rom-com list? Happily ever after, or happily for now?Feeling romantic? Buy us a coffee- https://buymeacoffee.com/a24otrIntro- 0:00 to 1:52.Meeting the Authors- 1:52 to 6:59.What is a Rom-Com- 6:59 to 10:56.Blind Ranking Rules- 10:56 to 12:33.Our Top 16-Rom Coms- 12:33 to 1:22:56.Honorable Mentions/Outro- 1:22:56 to End.