Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s installment of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays, where I highlight three pieces of content (Podcasts/Shows/Songs/Articles/etc.) that I found interesting or noteworthy from the prior week.
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[Movie] Warner Bros. - One Battle After Another
An instant classic. Possibly my favorite movie of the year (though everyone knows I love Sinners). Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, this movie is a cornucopia of incredible acting performances: Leo, Penn, Benicio, Teyana Taylor, and a budding star in Chase Infinity.
I’m not the biggest PTA fan that you’ll ever meet, but I thought this film combined the best parts of my two favorites of his: the scale and impact ofThere Will Be Blood and the pacing and humor of Boogie Nights.
I highly suggest you check it out. I’ve already seen it twice, and it was even better the second time.
[Podcast] The Big Picture - ‘One Battle After Another’ Is a Modern Masterpiece, With Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson
After you see the movie, check out this podcast to debrief what exactly you just witnessed and learn more about its creation from the filmmakers.
I found the interview with Leo and PTA to be particularly interesting—feel free to skip to 1:47:30 mark to get straight to the discussion.
Here are the parts of the interview that were most interesting to me:
Leo compares the story to Star Wars (which interestingly was also shot on VistaVision)
One of the best scenes with Benicio was shaped on the spot once they had the actors on set and discussed the characters
Leo and PTA watched a number of other movies in preparation for filming:
Running on Empty - 1988
The Battle of Algiers - 1966
Dog Day Afternoon - 1975
The Lion in Winter - 1968 (not related to the movie but PTA said has the best acting ever in a movie)
PTA shot One Battle After Another on VistaVision, a format which was lost to time but has recently made a resurgence (most recently on The Brutalist). This article describes the history and impact of filming on VistaVision.
Created in 1954 to entice customers to the theater after the advent of TV, VistaVision film runs horizontally through the camera, resulting in a higher resolution image. Today, there are only four theaters in the world that can project VistaVision, and I was fortunate enough to visit one of them (the Vista in Los Angeles).
I’ll be honest, I don’t think I have a refined-enough eye to notice the advantages of VistaVision versus other formats. I later saw the movie again in IMAX, and I had just as good of an experience. My take: don’t worry about the theater—the movie matters more than the format.
That wraps up this edition of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays. If you made it to this point, please drop a 1️⃣, 2️⃣, or 3️⃣ in the comments to let me know what you found most interesting/useful. And as always, please like and consider sharing with a friend who you think would enjoy! I’ll be back next week. ✌️
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