The CineFix Top 100

Blade Runner 2049, the long-in-the-works sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic, was a critical hit whose box office never quite lived up to its ambitious budget. But, here in the season 3 premiere of the CineFix Top 100, Clint, Cal, and Alex talk about whether the film ever had a chance to make money, the incredible accident that made the original Blade Runner a classic, how hard Harrison Ford is trying in the film, and whether or not Denis Villenueve is actually the Christopher Nolan we deserve.

Uncut Gems is an Adam Sandler dramatic-turn masterpiece of anxiety, from the Safdie Brothers and A24. The film, about a New York diamond merchant and gambling addict, absolutely drips with stress from the cosmos all the way into the protagonist's colon. Clint, Cal, and Alex talk about how Kevin Garnett could've been an Oscar contender, the use of the steadicam to create chaos, whether or not this rock is actually magic, and where the film ranks on the all-time F-bomb list.

Ikiru, an Akira Kurosawa "gem" from 1952, follows a dying bureaucrat, searching for something of value in his life before succumbing to cancer. At times both tremendously sad and undeniably life-affirming, Ikiru is critical of the system of meaningless admin work and the people who populate it. Clint, Cal, and Alex sift through mountains of paperwork to discuss subtle camera moves in emotional mega-montages, the intricate and invisible blocking that sets Kurosawa apart, and the best Frank Capra movie that he never made.

In 2004, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay revitalized comedy in the aughts with 90 minutes of pure, goofball nonsense behind the desk of ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’. The whatever-is-funniest-wins approach to the story of San Diego's Channel 4 News Team is absurd in all the right ways. Clint and Alex (Cal is still struggling with his case of Fireman's Elbow) talk about improv in close-ups, the importance of buttons in comedic fight scenes, and how Ron Burgundy gave us memes before memes were a thing.

John Carpenter's They Live from 1988 was a stiff middle finger to Reagan-era consumerism, with the swagger of a professional wrestler. The story of a drifter uncovering a vast alien conspiracy to keep humanity subjugated with hypnotic suggestion and subliminal messages, is a schlocky B-movie veneer on maybe the most prescient political film of the '80s. Clint, Cal, and Alex talk about smartly deployed idiocy, the sneaky difficulty of the film's black and white photography, and the Nostradamus-level prediction Carpenter made 40 years ago that has absolutely come true.

The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad! is on the Mount Rushmore of spoofs. The hard-boiled detective parody follows Lt. Frank Drebin as he unravels a plot to assassinate the Queen of England at Dodger Stadium. Clint, Cal, and Alex discuss being floored by the sheer volume of jokes, how the movie ruined anything Leslie Nielsen had done previously, and the tragic death of the spoof as a genre.

Ridley Scott dropped Alien in 1979 and—just 2 years after Star Wars hit the idea that sci-fi wasn't bankable with the Death Star—gave us not only one of the most enduring science fiction classics, but a terrifying haunted house movie to boot. Clint, Cal, and Alex discuss "Newcomer of the Year" nominee Sigourney Weaver, how Ripley isn't the main character of the movie (for most of it), and why the single most ambitious shot in the entire film might not be the one you think it is.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is the story of a French spy bumbling his way through an investigation into a Middle East arms deal in 1950s Egypt. Equal parts James Bond and Inspector Clouseau, as much Sean Connery as Peter Sellers, the team that would go on to a big night at the Oscars for The Artist, first cut their teeth on the aesthetics of mid-century espionage flicks. Clint, Cal, and Alex discuss the brilliant use of old school techniques like rear projection and day-for-night, how to stop short of running a bit into the ground, and how this is the most Clint-ass movie of all time.

Kill Bill, the two part revenge epic from Quentin Tarantino, is a bloody, pulpy, pastiche-fueled homage to martial arts and spaghetti westerns. But is the story of The Bride and her quest to take out the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad original? Or is it just a greatest hits mix tape of borrowed tropes? Or does that even matter? Clint, Cal, and Alex talk about that, plus the proper deployment of bleeps, Samurai honor, and an easy Halloween costume.

Toy Story tells the tale of the sentient toys of Andy's bedroom, who come to life when we're not looking. While an out of context synopsis of the movie sounds like a horror movie, the adventures of Woody and Buzz Lightyear would turn out to be an impossible to understate influence on the entire film industry. Clint, Cal, and Alex talk about believing your toys are real, how film history can be split into the eras of pre- and post-Toy Story, and what's REALLY the most unrealistic part of the movie.

The Dark Knight landed in the middle of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy like an escaped Arkham inmate, with the superpower to create prestige cinema in a world of comic book. The middle act of a three part re-telling of Bruce Wayne's origins as the caped crusader, find him squaring off against the Joker in a battle for nothing less than the soul of Gotham. Clint, Cal, and Alex discuss Heath Ledger (of course), the breathless pace of the editing (that sometimes works against the movie) and whether or not The Dark Knight's legacy has been tarnished by the superhero bubble we're currently in the midst of.

There was not a faster rising star in the mid '90s than Jim Carrey. After an 18-month window that gave us ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’, ‘Dumb and Dumber’, ‘The Mask’, and ‘Batman Forever’, it was a little surprising to see him take a more dramatic role in Peter Weir's ‘The Truman Show’. The story of Truman Burbank slowly discovering that he’s the unwitting star of a lifelong reality TV show marked a real turning point in his career. Clint, Cal, and Alex talk about the overlooked greatness of key grips, how the film was both ahead of its time and very OF its time, and how staggeringly good Laura Linney is.

Planet of the Apes (1968) was a franchise-spawning phenomenon in the late '60s. Living in the center of the sci-fi spectrum, it wore its B-movie camp on its sleeve, right next to relevant social commentary. With Charlton Heston playing opposite some revolutionary makeup effects, off a script by ‘Twilight Zone’ creator Rod Serling and a former HUAC blacklist-er, Planet of the Apes took everyone by surprise. Clint, Alex, and CineFix’s senior "Apes Correspondent" Scott Collura, talk about the impossibility of watching this movie in proper context, the genius and often overlooked score, how The Simpsons lovingly spoils classic film, and creative new ways to pronounce Orangutan.

Die Hard landed in 1988 among a murderer's row of great movies, and came out of it as perhaps the most iconic of them all. It was a coming out party for Bruce Willis the action star and Alan Rickman the villain, and invented a whole new sub-genre of bottle episode action cinema. Clint, Cal, and Alex discuss how John McTiernan learned all the right things from Akira Kurosawa action, why the movie doesn't matter if it isn't about marriage, and how Alex can't keep holding her grudge against the movie.