I remember when Harmontown existed, they invited Neumann over and most of the interview was just drunk Dan Harmon saying “ok so you wrote two of the best screenplays in history, what the fuck bro”. (Second one was Starship Troopers obviously). On a podcast that was obsessed with dissecting storytelling, this must have been the most cited movie, along with die hard.

Personally my go to is Mad Max Fury Road, as a kind of filter similar to what you have going on. It’s a movie you need to engage with on its own terms, otherwise it is completely meaningless and you will miss the whole entire point.

It seems a lot of people have a problem with clear and radical artistic choices, and will mistake them for defects. This kind of media “literacy” is utterly boring to me as they just train themselves to detect and detest any deviation from Hollywood norms.