The CineFix Top 100

The CineFix Top 100 is back… Kinda! It's not quite season 4, but Clint and Cal couldn't wait. We wanted to spend a few episodes with the extended CineFix family before diving back into a regular season, and to start, we've got ‘My Best Shots’ pioneer, IGN UK's Simon Cardy. In addition to having a RIDICULOUS Top 250 of his own on Letterboxd, he's bringing one of his all time favorites to the Top 100 this week, David Fincher's true crime masterpiece ‘Zodiac’. Clint, Cal, and Cardy talk about the film's incredible wide shots, how hairy Jake Gyllenhaal's knuckles may or may not be, and why Cardy refuses to say who the real Zodiac killer is.

We've got one more special episode of the CineFix Top 100 before we dive into season 4 proper, and this week we know the password and we've got our mask on tight. ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ is the last entry by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in a film with a truly unique legacy. Clint and Cal welcome special guest and CineFix behind-the-scenes all-star Tanner Smith, to talk about why it's one of his favorite movies of all time, the unique photochemical process Kubrick and "Lighting Cameraman" Larry Smith used to achieve the dreamlike look of the film, and why the movie might only work with a real-life married couple on the brink of divorce in the lead roles.

Welcome to season 4 of the CineFix Top 100! We're starting with a fun one, and everybody's favorite globetrotting archeologist's dad. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade capped the original trilogy of Indy films by producing a cold open origin story that's worth studying in grad school, and getting back to what made the fedora and whip so instantly iconic. Clint and Cal welcome their new co-host, Nick Limon to the show, by chatting about long lenses on smooth roads, being a mirror image of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and how the sheer momentum of the film makes you look right past the simplicity of the plot.

The Empire Strikes Back was the sequel to a movie that helped change the way the film business worked. The continuing adventures of Luke, Leia, Han and the rebellion picked up where Star Wars left off, and left it in a much darker place. Clint, Cal, and Nick continue "the season of family", by talking about the one-man-financing approach to following up the biggest movie of all time, the technical wizardry of optical printing, and how ILM's new office building was included in the VFX budget.

1990's Goodfellas set a new high watermark for the gangster movie. The Martin Scorsese classic starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta (along with, like, half the cast of The Sopranos) portrayed a world in which the mafia life itself was the main character. Clint, Cal, and Nick talk about the origins of the famous Copacabana shot, the most brilliant insert shots in the history of film, and how, over Christmas that year, you could see Joe Pesci in both Home Alone and Goodfellas in theaters.

1986's Aliens blasted its way into theaters and began its quick ascent to the top of everybody's "best sequels ever" lists. But the wild thing is, Aliens almost didn't happen thanks to Hollywood's famous accounting skills. Clint, Cal, and Nick talk about Sigourney Weaver's legacy on the cutting edge of mid-80s action stardom, the Pinewood Studios crew's daily tea time walk-outs, and James Cameron's superpower for knowing the limits of what to show on screen and for how long.

2016's Hell or High Water followed the story of two brothers robbing from the bank that's foreclosing on the family farm, all the way to a Best Picture nomination. From director David Mackenzie and a soon-to-be Yellowstone empire architect Taylor Sheridan, the straightforward film deals with legacy, class, and the universal relatability to a very specific place and time. Clint, Cal, and Nick talk about westerns as a genre that looks good with "neo" in front of it, Chris Pine as a mustache influencer, and how Ben Foster is the most interesting thing on screen in whatever movie he's in (even when he plays a wizard)!