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Gordon Willis

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial The Rewatchables
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

What’s Aged the Best?

Williams score; cinematography; child performances; physical E.T.; standalone story; lasting popularity and iconic imagery

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:37Read transcript
  • Williams’s score makes viewers emotionally believe in the puppet, restores childhood wonder and gives the ending its force. — Chris Ryan
  • Spielberg reportedly edited the final chase to Williams’s music, reversing the usual film-first scoring process and showing unusual trust. — Sean Fennessey
  • The almost wholly score-driven soundtrack and Williams’s many iconic themes put him at the peak of his profession; Gordon Willis is offered as a comparable technical master.
  • Favorite images include forest flashlights, steam above the kitchen sink as Elliott looks skyward, and the wide shed shot when the ball rolls out. — Chris Ryan
  • The unsettling dolly zoom over the housing development is a favorite, compared with later Goodfellas camera work. — Chris Ryan
  • The ambiguous early 1980 sCalifornia setting works without a precise location, with a near-Tahoe intention recalled. — Bill Simmons
  • Barrymore’s continuing adult success and Spielberg’s chronological shoot, letting the children genuinely say goodbye at the end, have aged well. — Bill Simmons
  • The child-eye-level shots and C. Thomas Howell are enjoyed, with a wish for another recognizable child actor in the group. — Bill Simmons
  • The physical E.T. effects still work despite their age; the living, blinking creature had to meet an audience already familiar with Yoda. — Bill Simmons
  • Keeping the original science-fiction story standalone instead of making its planned sequel preserved its legacy; Spielberg’s existing Indiana Jones franchise may have helped him resist.
  • The yearlong theatrical run and stronger eighth Friday illustrate extraordinary staying power. The moon silhouette and phone-home line are called top-ten icons, with the moon shot proposed as the most iconic ever. — Sean Fennessey
  • Imitating E.T.’s voice has aged both best and worst because impressions vary greatly. — Bill Simmons
Limitless The Rewatchables
Limitless

What’s Aged the Best?

Eddie finding the drugs; writer satire; biohacker relevance; pill color scheme; Carl Van Loon's name; knockoff market; weight of the pill bag; NZT community; the premise and Vern's pitch

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:32Read transcript
  • Eddie finding the drugs is a classic what-would-you-do dilemma, and most people would try one.
  • The film stealthily rips on unsuccessful writers; Eddie resembles late-2000s bloggers, and his sci-fi novel as a personal manifesto is bar talk.
  • The film fits the biohacker era of the last 15 years, now a cottage industry, as the ultimate version of maximizing potential.
  • When Eddie takes the pill the film turns up the contrast and maybe changes the stock, an effective trick similar to little tricks in Fight Club. — Chris Ryan
  • Compared with Gordon Willis's Godfather II, it is way too bright.
  • Carl is short for Carlos, so Van Loon can be imagined as a Mexican businessman, and Mora is a Spanish surname: a win for Latinos. — Shea Serrano
  • De Niro's one great speech about Eddie's unearned powers is played as a clip; he seems on autopilot, maybe with cue cards, but nails it.
  • A Limitless knockoff market of fake supplements and YouTube videos, like cure-all CBD pitches at a flea market, could also count as aged the worst.
  • The weight of the pill bag found in the oven ages well, as do clever small setups like the stove search and Vern's line that the pill works better if you're already smart; taking it would just mean tweeting faster. — Shea Serrano
  • Discovering the NZT community, with other users dead and the realization that Atwood is on NZT, is effective because the film doesn't belabor it. — Chris Ryan
  • The premise ages great every year, and Vern's NZT pitch is the best: no notes. — Chris Ryan
JFK The Rewatchables
JFK

Apex Mountain

Robert Richardson; Oliver Stone; JFK assassination conspiracies; Michael Rooker; Wayne Knight; Zapruder film

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:42:09Read transcript
  • Costner: no; his peak is still Dances With Wolves, which won all the Oscars and made him the new Warren Beatty, with no argument. — Bill Simmons
  • Oliver Stone: it might be this, since he got a studio to fund an assassination movie with his made-up theory and made The Doors and JFK in the same year; called a really good case. — Bill Simmons
  • JFK assassination conspiracies peaked in the early 90s: agreed. — Bill Simmons
  • Michael Rooker: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is his high point, with Henry and JFK in about a two-year span when it was all happening for him. — Bill Simmons
  • Henry is recommended as a realistic, disturbing film; one participant recalls seeing it before a game at a theater near BU with seven other men; tangent: Henry and One False Move as a never-sleep-again home double feature.
  • Rooker being the most normal-seeming character shows how crazy the movie is; his LBJ argument scene is called absurd and possibly cut down.
  • Rooker is praised in Cliffhanger and now in the MCU; one participant has met with him.
  • Wayne Knight, no question: Newman at the same time and Jurassic around then.
  • The Zepruder (as transcribed) film as Apex Mountain: yes, with a reference to the Time-Life building.
  • Also joked about: the Cowboys doing well in '91, and a Zupruder (as transcribed) NFT pushed by Gary Vee. — Brian Koppelman
  • Richardson: a filmography spanning Stone's films from Salvador through Nixon, John Sales (as transcribed), Scorsese and Tarantino; at the top of his game here; a jab that he's no Gordon Willis, but flexible with a distinctive blown-out overhead light.
The Godfather Part II The Rewatchables
The Godfather Part II

Apex Mountain

Coppola; Pacino; Gordon Willis; John Cazale; G.D. Spradlin; horrific Oscar results; movies; mafia movies

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:55:24Read transcript
  • Coppola is a yes: he never had more power, getting the San Francisco opera and the Great Gatsby script. — Bill Simmons
  • De Niro is named without a verdict; Pacino gets a yes because this was his best performance and gave him the power to do anything. — Bill Simmons
  • Gordon Willis gets it for this film, though he did equal work in some Woody Allen films.
  • Cazale is a yes.
  • Lake Tahoe and Merle/Troy Donahue are raised without a clear verdict.
  • Spradlin is given Apex Mountain. — Brian Koppelman
  • Paramount is proposed but questioned by pointing to Top Gun and the Transformers movies.
  • Horrific Oscar results are a yes, and Apex is given to movies and to mafia movies.
The Godfather Part II The Rewatchables
The Godfather Part II

What’s Aged the Best?

Young Pacino and young De Niro together; Merle; drapes shooting sequence; 'In my home' outburst; all things Fredo; Johnny Ola; Michael's IBM stock; Pentangeli's brother; Rocco Lampone; oranges; Gordon Willis photography; bathtub Roman-history scene; Talia Shire

In the discussion (20)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:35Read transcript
  • Young Pacino and young De Niro in the same movie; De Niro spent four months studying Brando, learned Sicilian and speaks about eight words of English. — Bill Simmons
  • De Niro had been cast as Paulie in the original and read for Sonny.
  • Merle asking for a drink in Michael's office and Michael saying "I don't know this Merle" in the third person; the hosts speculate about what Merle does for a living.
  • The drapes-and-gunfire sequence, Michael diving for cover and finding Rocco alive, is great. — Chris Ryan
  • Pacino's "In my home!" outburst shows his volume changes in their pure form.
  • Michael's advice about trying to think like the people around you is great life advice. — Bill Simmons
  • All things Fredo: his outfits, hot drunk wife, hair and fishing; he gets wins left and right unlike Kay. — Bill Simmons
  • Dominic Cheney as Johnny Ola starts a Sopranos lineage of casting from these films. — Bill Simmons
  • The Geary dead-woman scene is praised for Duvall, though one view says the idea has aged worst; Duvall is argued as possibly the best actor of his generation. — Brian Koppelman
  • The scene shows the family is now doing the killing themselves, unlike the horse in Part I.
  • More entries include the daiquiri, Vito and Signor Roberto, and Michael's IBM stock. — Bill Simmons
  • Pentangeli's brother flying in from the old country and staring is the most Italian part of the movie.
  • Tom telling Michael he is staying, met with Michael being mean to him again, and the "anyone can be killed" line three years before JFK. — Bill Simmons
  • Rocco Lampone is underrated for two high-profile mob murders, including Roth. — Bill Simmons
  • The oranges are a literary echo; oranges reportedly represent memory and nostalgia to Sicilians.
  • Gordon Willis's photography, turn-of-the-century New York, the Ellis Island arrival and the recorder. — Chris Ryan
  • The top pick for one participant is the bathtub scene and its Roman history.
  • Another pick is the look of the film with Willis, plus De Niro and Pacino in their prime. — Bill Simmons
  • The 2012 Thunder comparison casts Kendrick Perkins as that team's Kay Corleone. — Bill Simmons
  • Talia Shire is added late: much better than in the first film, with an arc.
The Godfather Part II The Rewatchables
The Godfather Part II

Most Rewatchable Scene

Senator Geary negotiation; Havana sequence; Fredo and Michael scene

In the discussion (38)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:54Read transcript
  • Geary's insult and Michael's reply that his offer is nothing, not even the fee for the gaming license, show Michael has gone to another level; the line is often quoted between the hosts.
  • Hyman Roth starts slowly, watching the real Notre Dame-USC game, before his Mo Greene speech about the man who invented Las Vegas.
  • Michael pulling his chair close to Roth is a lesson in how men of that era learned a code; pulling a chair uncomfortably close to get the truth is called very effective in real life. — Brian Koppelman
  • Strasberg, a legendary acting teacher in his first film performance, is perfectly cast as a Meyer Lansky stand-in; Coppola fills the film with figures from movie history, such as Gazzo and Roger Corman. — Sean Fennessey
  • Roth is Michael's aspirational Vito figure yet lives alone in a small Miami house watching college football and eating sandwiches; a peanut-butter-and-jelly versus tuna fish mix-up is corrected. — Chris Ryan
  • For Roth it is about power, not money; his "wise and considerate young man" really means Michael is a fool, and the scene plays differently on a second viewing. — Brian Koppelman
  • Shirtless Roth came from Coppola meeting Elia Kazan, who declined the role but was not wearing a shirt at their meeting.
  • The banana daiquiri scene shows Michael never saw Fredo as an equal; it is called the most important scene rather than the most rewatchable.
  • Part II scenes grow painful, so the Geary scene is the most rewatchable, with Michael still the Michael of the first film defending his family. — Brian Koppelman
  • Pentangeli drunk at the communion, blending Italian and English with "Cheech, aport," is a favorite rewatch that brings the old ways back into the room.
  • The Havana sequence has Michael realizing Fredo betrayed him at the sex club, intercut with the Roth assassination going sideways. — Bill Simmons
  • Roth's would-be assassin Bessetta wears one turtleneck outfit the whole film, even in Havana heat. — Chris Ryan
  • The book tells how Michael recruited Rocco Lampone and Al Neri, and the Havana assassin is assumed to be a Sicilian executioner, like Furio before Furio. — Brian Koppelman
  • "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart," with the kiss, is called the number one movie acknowledgment of betrayal; Coppola is the master of big noisy set pieces.
  • Vito killing Finucci during the festa is praised for the rooftops, the white suit to track him, the oranges, the light bulb and the towel over the gun.
  • Vito bringing home a single pear after losing his job and sharing it silently with his wife is a wordless moment that brings a viewer to tears every time. — Brian Koppelman
  • Themes of what comes from the earth, including oranges, the pear, olive oil and wine, are purposeful; Gordon Willis fought with Coppola over actors moving within the frame.
  • In the Tahoe confrontation, Fredo could perhaps have saved himself by going straight to his brother the night of the assassination, but not by then.
  • Michael banishing Fredo is almost worse than killing him; another view never felt bad for Fredo, since Johnny Ola's call proves the betrayal.
  • Killing his brother is called the second-worst thing Michael does, behind having the innocent woman killed. — Brian Koppelman
  • The abortion scene is defended as rewatchable and Pacino's greatest scene, rewatched almost daily; his face after "it was an abortion" is called the greatest five seconds in a movie.
  • Hagen must have known about the abortion because he would know the doctor Kay went to, which contributes to Michael's anger at him. — Brian Koppelman
  • A hottest take calls the abortion Kay's only good scene and Kay the worst character, dumber than Fredo; others defend Diane Keaton as a great dramatic actress and cite her other scenes.
  • The abortion was Talia Shire's idea, and Coppola thanked her by adding her plea that Michael forgive Fredo. — Bill Simmons
  • Talia Shire is praised as a smart actress and for looking great in Rocky 3.
  • The Kay argument continues with Trump-style jokes about how many people agree.
  • Vito killing Don Chitio with the 18-inch knife prompts questions about whether a knife could do that.
  • Connie asking Michael to forgive Fredo ends with the hug and the menacing look to Al Neri. — Bill Simmons
  • Tom and Frankie's prison scene with the Roman emperors story is called perhaps the best acting and writing in the two films, shot through the fence until Frankie is left alone.
  • The scene ties to Clemenza talking about history and to Coppola's Patton script about warriors steeped in heritage, the idea that the empire ends. — Brian Koppelman
  • The final three deaths are rewatchable: Roth's high-difficulty murder, Frankie in the bathtub, and Fredo killed on the lake during the Hail Mary. — Bill Simmons
  • The final flashback dinner is praised; the Sonny actor returned for the same pay, while Brando did not show up and the scene was rewritten, which is judged better. — Bill Simmons
  • The rug theft by Clemenza and Vito is another pick, as is the Don Roberto rent scene, with a nail in the door that the actor could not open. — Brian Koppelman
  • The spaghetti scene shows Vito taking over from Clemenza.
  • The Senate hearing, where Pentangeli recants after his brother appears and Hagen yells for an apology, is highly watchable.
  • A final pick is the Senator Geary scene, which can be watched thousands of times. — Sean Fennessey
  • Another final pick is the Havana sequence, specifically the Michael-Fredo cafe scene and the recreation of pre-revolution Havana. — Chris Ryan
  • Two more picks go to a Fredo and Michael scene; whether it is Cuba or Tahoe is left unclear. — Bill Simmons
The Godfather The Rewatchables
The Godfather

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:58:10Read transcript
  • Coppola is selected for turning a trashy novel into landmark American cinema and setting a new course for filmmakers.
  • Al Pacino is the strongest acting alternative.
  • Gordon Willis is briefly considered before the speaker settles on Coppola rather than get “too cute”. — Bill Simmons
  • Robert Evans is nominated for enabling the production. — Bill Simmons
  • Marlon Brando is considered and rejected as the winner. — Sean Fennessey
  • Robert Duvall is nominated during the extended closing discussion.
All the President’s Men The Rewatchables
All the President’s Men

What’s Aged the Best?

Newspaper craft, accountability reporting, political paranoia, Washington, and Gordon Willis

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:27Read transcript
  • The fully reconstructed Washington Post newsroom, period desks, ambient typewriters, phones, and chatter are praised
  • Political suspicion and the role of journalists in challenging power are praised as enduring
  • The story’s patient, stepwise reporting and high cost of error are praised
  • Washington is praised as a character created through locations and Gordon Willis’s shadowed cinematography
  • Gordon Willis’s 1970s work is credited with shaping collective visual memory of the decade — Chris Ryan
Displaying all 9 discussions