The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: 'Warfare' and Looking Back at 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

Apologies: I'm behind on posting last week's podcast. Will was in town! So we recorded in my dining room. We reviewed two new movies, Warfare and The Amateur, and then took our time while revisiting Inside Llewyn Davis. Check out the whole thing down below.

When Movies Change After the Premiere

Sometimes, a film undergoes major alterations after its world premiere at a prestigious festival. Maybe the director realized parts of the story weren't working. Maybe the reception was so toxic that it prompted a massive re-edit. For RogerEbert.com, I wrote about some of the most famous examples.

When Beyonce Brought "Single Ladies" to 'Saturday Night Live'

I haven't seen Beyonce's new concert film yet, but for Cracked I did write about her last appearance on Saturday Night Live, which was 15 years ago. She stole the show, just by being herself. My piece is here.

Venice/Telluride/Toronto 2023: The Wrap-Up and the Rankings

Last week when I was at TIFF, I got an email from a friend back in Los Angeles: "I heard Toronto this year hasn't been stellar, but still hope you are having a good time." News travels fast: Indeed, the consensus was that the 48th edition of the festival was not particularly strong, with people blaming different factors. Was it the double strike? Was it that so many of the high-profile Venice entries didn't screen there? Was it that the Toronto world premieres were fairly lackluster? 

I'd say all three were contributing factors. I've been attending TIFF for about 15 years now, give or take a pandemic, and this was the first time that it didn't feel like one-stop shopping for the fall film festivals. All of Us Strangers, The Bikeriders, The Killer, Maestro, The Mission, Poor Things and Priscilla all either played Venice or Telluride (or both) but skipped Toronto. I was lucky enough to see the Telluride premiere Janet Planet ahead of time, and the Venice premiere Gasoline Rainbow, but much of my week in Toronto was spent hearing people lament what wasn't there -- especially after Yorgos Lanthimos' film won the Golden Lion at Venice. 

Still, you're not going to hear me complain. Going to a festival is a privilege, and I'll eventually get to all of the above-mentioned films, as well as others I couldn't fit into my schedule. Plus, it's not as if there weren't great movies to choose from. The below list reflects my rankings of every film that screened at Venice, Telluride or Toronto that I saw, either during the fall or previously. (As usual, choice Sundance, Berlin and Cannes titles show up as well.) Looking down the list, I'd say roughly 80 percent of these films I would categorize as at least "good" or "good enough." And more than half gave me considerable pleasure. As for the Top 10, well, those are absolute keepers, and so are several after that. However you slice it, plenty of excellent films are on our way soon.

A couple caveats about these rankings. I decided to leave off Reality, which played in Telluride, since that's already opened. I also opted not to rank Stop Making Sense, which I already adore beyond all measure, and whose IMAX restoration screening at TIFF only underlined its brilliance. It occurred to me afterward that I caught the Talking Heads concert film in the same IMAX venue that I saw Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids back in 2016. As if I needed more reason to miss Jonathan Demme.

Links lead to individual reviews:

50. Riddle of Fire
49. The Teacher
48. Reptile
47. Pain Hustlers
46. Quiz Lady
45. Pet Shop Days
44. Mother, Couch
43. The Critic
42. Dear Jassi
41. Dicks: The Musical
40. Perfect Days
39. Les Indésirables
38. El Conde
37. Rustin
36. Seven Veils
35. An Endless Sunday
34. Last Summer
33. Cassandro
32. Dumb Money
31. Fingernails
30. Sleep
29. Fair Play
28. In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon
27. American Fiction
26. La Chimera
25. Monster
24. Fallen Leaves
23. Shayda
22. Hit Man
21. The Pigeon Tunnel
20. The Teachers' Lounge
19. Gasoline Rainbow
18. How to Have Sex
17. The Royal Hotel
16. Robot Dreams
15. Together 99
14. The Holdovers
13. Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros
12. Anatomy of a Fall
11. The Delinquents
10. The Taste of Things
9. The Boy and the Heron
8. The Beast
7. Evil Does Not Exist
6. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
5. Here
4. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
3. His Three Daughters
2. Janet Planet
1. The Zone of Interest

Toronto 2023: 'Reptile' Review

Benicio del Toro brings it in Reptile, in which he plays a veteran detective whose latest murder case finds him questioning things about himself. The rest of the movie isn't nearly as strong as he is, though. My Screen International review is here.

Happy "Motherlover" Day

Every Mother's Day needs a Mother's Night. I wrote about the Lonely Island banger (sorry) for Cracked.

The Lonely Island (featuring Justin Timberlake) - "Dick in a Box"

You know it's Christmas / And my heart is open wide...

"Bye Bye Bye" Is Back

The NSYNC song has an important role in the excellent new Sean Baker film Red Rocket. For MEL, I do a deep dive into "Bye Bye Bye" and explain why it works so well in the movie. Hope you enjoy.

Justin Timberlake at 40 or: A Look Back at "Cry Me a River"

JT hits the big 4-0 today. On this special occasion, I decided to write about the song that defines his post-NSYNC career. Don't it make you sad about it?

'Trolls World Tour' Review

Universal is throwing caution to the wind by forgoing a theatrical release for its would-be blockbuster sequel to Trolls. But forget the industry repercussions for a moment: Is the new movie any good? My feelings about World Tour are over at Screen International.

Review: Justin Timberlake - 'Man of the Woods'

For MEL, I wrote about the new Justin Timberlake album. Has the former NSYNC star gone all mountain man on us? Not exactly.

'Press Play With Madeleine Brand': Saying Goodbye to Jonathan Demme

I was very pleased to be asked to appear on Press Play to talk about Jonathan Demme's legacy. I did my best to talk about such a varied, meaningful career. You can hear the segment here.

Remembering Jonathan Demme, the King of the Concert Film

Jonathan Demme passed away today at the age of 73. For Rolling Stone, I focused on a crucial aspect of his career: his concert films. Of course, that means a lot of love is shown to Stop Making Sense, but I also talk about his Neil Young movies and Justin Timberlake+ the Tennessee Kids. It's an incredible legacy, and I try to do it justice here.

'Press Play With Madeleine Brand': Justin Timberlake and the Modern Concert Film

I was on KCRW today to talk about Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids. Is this a golden age of concert films? I've got some thoughts, and you can hear 'em here.

'Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids' Review

For MEL, I reviewed the new Justin Timberlake concert film. All I know is, Netflix is making a terrible mistake not releasing this movie in theaters. Read all about it here.

Justin Timberlake - "SexyBack"

There were plenty of very good films that played at this year's Toronto Film Festival. But none was more of a high than Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids, the exceptional concert documentary from director Jonathan Demme, who made the greatest of all time. Granted, I only caught the last hour of Justin Timberlake, but it's utterly brilliant. Hopefully, I'll have more to say about it soon enough. For now, here's the song that's the film's highlight. 

'Runner Runner' Review

I like Justin Timberlake. I like Ben Affleck. I like Brad Furman, who last directed The Lincoln Lawyer. But their film together, Runner Runner, is nothing more than a mess. I reviewed the movie for Screen International. I kept the gambling puns to a minimum.

'Trouble With the Curve' Review

My thoughts on Trouble With the Curve? It swings and misses. It fails to clear the fences. It gets some runners on base but fails to score. It doesn't throw enough strikes. OK, alright, enough bad baseball metaphors. My review is up at Screen International.

'friends with benefits' review

I enjoyed Easy A, so I had hopes for director Will Gluck's next film, Friends With Benefits, with Mila Kunis and hey-didn't-you-used-to-be-a-musician? Justin Timberlake. Now that I've seen it, I can say authoritatively it's the best sex-without-attachments movie of the year. But, then again, I hated No Strings Attached. And, to be honest, I was let down by Friends With Benefits as well. I talk about all that over at Yahoo.

justin timberlake and the open road

Hey, Justin Timberlake fans, do you know JT's in a movie that's out this weekend? Probably not -- Anchor Bay is very quietly dumping The Open Road into theaters. It's a father-and-son drama starring Timberlake and Jeff Bridges. It's not terrible, but it's exactly the sort of film Timberlake shouldn't be doing. I explain why in my review at L.A. Weekly.