33 Comments
May 6, 2022·edited May 6, 2022

Really enjoyed the show today. I loved some of the picks, Zodiac being my favorite, Momento a close second. I don't know if i remember this correctly but there's a great sense of tension in Zodiac yet there's never a scene where any of the protagonists are face to face with the killer. It's a great film!

Secondly, I absolutely loved Jason Cammisa on the Lucid Air ICONS episode. The best thing I've seen on YouTube. Truly a great piece of automotive storytelling. And I love the special guests, unexpected and truly funny!

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Just watched Zodiac. Not sure I can look at Zodiac watches the same any more. ;-)

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TBH the movie kind of ruined Zodiac watches for me. It is a great movie, and I live near SF so the whole early 70s SF vibe is so cool.

I know it sounds ridiculous but I can't look at a Zodiac watch without thinking of a serial killer. Maybe I just need to buy and try to disassociate.

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Excellent episode gents, lots of stuff to watch since winter will not seem to end. Quick note to James, Director of Photography and Cinematographer are the same thing, just different terms for the same job!

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Apr 18, 2022·edited Apr 18, 2022Liked by The Grey NATO

James, you mentioned wanting to make a list of all of the films you and Jason have covered so far. I just made a list on Letterboxd of every movie featured on the podcast. Check it out here: https://boxd.it/gfnsM

You don't need an account to view the list, so everyone can look at it. But Letterboxd is a fantastic app/website for movie lovers. Great for keeping track of movies you've seen and want to see, leaving ratings, cataloguing movies you own (like Discogs), etc. For example I have seen 43 out of the 70 films featured on the Film Club. Looks like I have my work cut out for me!

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AMAZING. Thanks so much for this – I have added it to the notes. This is so rad.

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Watch help needed:

Hi, everyone. This isn't about this Film Club episode, but I thought I'd try my luck asking a banal–but important–question here: Has anyone found a good place to buy spring bars? I know you can buy them almost anywhere, but if someone has found good quality ones, I'd love to know.

Just bought an older Citizen C460 off of eBay, and the seller sent it on 19mm bars rather than 20mm bars... Let's just say that my first 10 minutes with the watch has made me fully appreciate the watch-saving genius that is baked into the nato strap...

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Ive been buying from Esslinger.com for a few years, always easy and lots of options (JS)

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Thanks, James. I'll check it out.

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I bought an assorted box from them, they're great quality

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I love Discogs. It's a great resource when I'm cataloguing my music collection (CDs, vinyl, & digital) in the cataloguing app that I use. You can also use it as a cataloguing service for your own collection.

I (and part of my collection) can be found at https://www.discogs.com/user/joetron2030/collection. If anyone is interesting in checking it out.

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Apr 16, 2022·edited Apr 16, 2022

A really good crop this episode! I'll definitely have to check out Thief. I'll probably pass on The Reef though. I remember seeing Memento when it came out and really enjoying the experience, I heartily recommend it to people, but two decades later I have yet to feel the urge to rewatch it. JoJo Rabbit is an excellent one: very funny, absurd and silly, but with some real pathos to it as well. Road to Perdition is one that always stuck with me too. I'm not a lover of "gangster" movies either, but this doesn't feel like one to me, similar to The Untouchables or The Sting (both also set in Chicagoland). Like Jason, I find it hard to believe the movie is now 20 years old! Any movie that came out since I formed a fairly stable sense of self in my teen years automatically gets categorized as "Recent" by my brain, and it takes real mental effort to overcome that.

Speaking of gangster movies that don't necessarily feel like gangster movies, one of my favorites I don't think has been featured on Film Club has got to be LA Confidential. A period noir film with wonderful performances from Guy Pearce, Russel Crowe, Kim Basinger, and a great supporting cast including Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Danny Devito, and David Strathairn. I never get tired of watching this movie.

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I don't recall if L.A. Confidential has made film club but i second the motion. I think it definitely belongs on the list! That and Chinatown, another great L.A. noir.

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Yes! Chinatown is another great one.

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Agreed - Great choices! And, I with James about Pig. It may be the best thing Nicholas Cage has done and, he has made some good movies (The Outsiders, Raising Arizona, Face Off, The Rock, Bad Lieutenant …)

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Should say “Memento” in the links not “Momento”. I had to work backwards to verify that but it’s solid 👍🏼

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The Game is a 10 out of 10 for me, perfect example of building tension out of the unknown. No one but Douglas could have played that role. Amazing he can pull of that and the character from "Falling Down" equally as well.

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Raising Arizona is one of the all time best. Also drink every time Jason says “strong”🥃🥃🥃🥃

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Great picks. I haven't seen "Thief" since it came out, and "The Game" is one of those that I will watch whenever it's on. I'm a little surprised, though, that there was no mention of the Zodiac watch in "Zodiac". I thought for sure it would get a mention.

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Agreed - Great choices! And, I with James about Pig. It may be the best thing Nicholas Cage has done and, he has made some good movies (The Outsiders, Raising Arizona, Face Off, The Rock, Bad Lieutenant …)

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Great choices!

Thank for taking the time prior to both of your major trips.

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It’s gotta be Zodiac and Memento for me. I always tell people that Memento is Nolan’s underrated masterpiece. Solid episode! Curious about Clear and Present Danger.

One I recommend would be Val - the Amazon documentary about Val Kilmer. With James as a Michale Mann fan, I think it’d be a solid watch. It was an incredible insight on his life and a lot of the personal things he was going through. Definitely an intense but worthy watch.

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Great call on Zodiac. I think it's one of the most overlooked and re-watchable movie of the last 20 years. Definitely my favorite RDJ performance, too.

I tend to agree with Jason re: Nick Cage. I love Raising Arizona, and I like Lord of War, but beyond those two movies, I feel like he doesn't give convincing performances. Similar to how Tom Cruise and Dwayne Johnson are always themselves more than the characters they are supposedly portraying.

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Agreed about Zodiac being overlooked. It’s a wonderful Fincher period piece and essentially puts several of the Marvel cast together pre-MCU (saying that as someone who doesn’t keep up with the Marvel movies.)

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