Martini Giant Christopher Nichols

These days, Jack Nicholson seems to have settled happily into the role of world's-most-casually-dressed-Lakers-fan, but in the 1970's he was arguably the greatest new actor since Brando.  Even before he perfected his explosive rage act for Kubrick's The Shining, he had come to symbolize America's collective frustration, betrayal, and anger at the collapse of the Hippie dream - and no films capture that sadness more accurately than Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces and Hal Ashby's The Last Detail!

Everything Everywhere All at Once won Best Picture in part because it was a rebuke of Oscar-bait pretension with its non-western story, diverse cast, and fun unpretentious style - whereas in the leadup to the awards, many avoided the frontrunner, Todd Fields' Tar, because it appeared to be old-school Oscar: a ponderous, self-serious reinforcement of the Great Art. But tonight, along with the gentle indie Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould, MG argues that classical doesn't necessarily mean pretentious.

When the Coen Brothers’ comic-noir masterpiece The Big Lebowski hit theaters in 1997, it fizzled with both critics and audiences - but it has since cemented its position in the pantheon of classic sendups of Los Angeles culture to the point that nearly everyone these days knows "the Dude abides."  But Gen-Xers will remember that, for the longest time, the go-to for Los Angeles quotes was a movie that has now completely disappeared from the public consciousness: Steve Martin's LA Story!

Woody Allen's and Diane Keaton's Oscar-winning masterpiece Annie Hall was a major hit in 1977, and laid out the blueprint that rom-coms and relationship comedies have been following ever since, as its self-aware, realistic dialogue, hilarious cast of supporting characters, and postmodern structure have become a sort of international standard. So for tonight's double feature, we decided to pair it with one of the most recent and best examples: Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World!

James Cameron's Avatar films own two of the top slots in box office history (alongside Thron's cherished Titanic), and The Way of Water's success has Disney on track to deliver three more trips to the ever-more-stunning world of Pandora. But tonight MG pairs it with another blue alien film you may not have heard of - and one, we speculate, that might have been an important influence on the filmmakers: René Laloux' visionary animated masterpiece from 1973, Fantastic Planet!

Steven Spielberg told Tom Cruise that he saved Hollywood with his and Joe Kosinski's magnificent sequel to 1986's Top Gun, and it's true that it both revitalized post-pandemic theatergoing - but it also served to remind us of that 80's feeling of much fun movies and movie stars could be, and served as a sort of swan song for one of that decade's unsung greats: Val Kilmer. So tonight MG takes a look at two of his Top films: the breathtaking Top Gun: Maverick, and the waiting-to-be-redicovered slapstick classic Top Secret!