President Cinephile
Monday, December 30, 2019 at 10:04AM It's hard not to miss President Obama on a public daily basis these past few years given the current hellscape but it's especially hard to not miss him on a personal level when he reminds us that he is genuinely into cinema. I mean how many US Presidents would even see movies that don't even crack a million at the box office like Transit and Diane, and movies from other countries and all genres. And the rest of his list: Atlantics, Parasite, Booksmart... The good taste!
Next up are my favorite movies and TV shows of 2019. Of course, there’s also American Factory, a film from our own production company, Higher Ground, that was recently shortlisted for an Oscar. Here’s the full list: pic.twitter.com/PEcgwotcxm
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2019
We also had to draw attention to a few official responses from those included...
The feeling is mutual. #Fleabag pic.twitter.com/iniY8oxJh9
— Fleabag (@fleabag) December 29, 2019
How you feel when your show makes your favorite President's "list of favorites" https://t.co/HsuHdJ4gr7 pic.twitter.com/FzpadYGwXW
— Regina King (@ReginaKing) December 29, 2019
Sjdsfupwxysisoafsjdedxf https://t.co/yZCVIy1VgV
— Lulu Wang (@thumbelulu) December 30, 2019
HOLY MOLY https://t.co/aOkhgLl5gv pic.twitter.com/0MxuF6a9Qu
— Beanie Feldstein (@BeanieFeldstein) December 29, 2019
Reader Comments (13)
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This has brought tears to my eyes. I miss President Obama so much.
Gawd, I miss Obama. His list is great with the exception of The Irishman and the heading "...List of TV Shows That I Considered as Powerful as Movies". TV is fucking great right now and no longer the poor relative of "cinema". Television is its own thing, longer form storytelling, and can coexist with movies. Some individual episodes have amazing arcs; just watch the first episode of Watchmen or Chernobyl or This Way Up or Fosse/Vernon or Happy Valley, or even The Expanse.
Props to Obama for tooting his own production. I quite liked American Factory, a decent doc.
I'm so obsessed with the fact that he snubbed When They See Us that I can't full enjoy the inclusion of Diane.
Am I the only reader who noticed that Obama l
omitted Us, Clemency, Harriet, Dolemite is My Name, Luce, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, and When They See Us?
Peggy, dear, When They See Us is way too political for Obama.
Just saw The Report on Amazon Prime....wonder what Obama thinks of that damning look at his politicized response to dealing with the Bush/Cheney torture program....
I love Obama, but this list is just too suspicious. It feels like a list of what he "should" like. Where's the quirk? Where's the individuality? Every " best of" list should contain at least one questionable entry.
Obama is awesome. Can we get a list from George W. Bush? I know he wasn't well-liked during his presidency but I would rather have 8 more years of him than the cum-fucker we have right now.
Including your own production company's documentary in your list of favourites for the year is a little too...something. Otherwise, it's a decent list.
It's a very respectable, but safe, list. I'd like it better if it had something harrowing on it like THE NIGHTINGALE, or something ballsy/controversial like SYNONYMS or CLIMAX. But Obama always did embody respectability politics.
It's not surprising to me that When They See Us is not on the list. If you didn't know the story of the Central Park Five, you probably thought it was a great miniseries. But I think much of its power came from revelation. If you knew the story, as I'm sure President Obama did, the series' pacing seemed off. Unbelievable is a better miniseries, but unfortunately, it has not received nearly as much attention.
To paraphrase Guy Lodge, hopefully this list will encourage a few people to watch Transit or Birds of Passage or even The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
Some of you are so obnoxious