patrickhwillems

The Broken Formula of Music Biopics

This ended up being way bigger than I expected and I'm going to go sleep forever now.

Enjoy!

The Best Movies Within Movies

This one has been kicking around in my head since last fall so I figured it was finally time to do something about it.

It's kind of like "The Art of the PG-13 F-Bomb" from a year ago: a really deep dive into a really tiny aspect of cinema that I've devoted way too much thought to.

These first two videos of the year have been pretty low key, since I've been easing myself back into work after a nice vacation, but after this one, we're getting big and ambitious with a lot of stuff I'...

MY TOP 50 OF 2018

We're back, babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

The long break is over. I've relaxed in the Bahamas for the past week (some footage included in the video), and finally rebooted/recharged/reset. Basically, I'm ready for a big year.

But first, I've gotta give my final thoughts on LAST year. And that's what this video is. There IS a list of my 50 favorite things (not limited to just movies), but most of it is a reflection on my own experience and work in 2018.

Also I fire a confetti cannon i...

A New Year's Q&A

The past 2 years I've done a Christmas Q&A video. This year...I got lazy and waited too long and so it turned into a New Year's Q&A.

This is 49 minutes of me answering as many questions as possible. So...check it out if you're interested in that kind of thing.

ALSO: it's the second video on the second channel! Subscribe if you haven't already!

The 2018 Christmas Video

Merry Christmas! As always, we made a little Christmas movie for you. This one is very much on brand for me, as you'll see. And it has all the regular crew in it. We had a lot of fun with it, and also busted our asses over the past few weeks to get it done on time.

Enjoy! Hope you're having a great holiday. Thanks for all the support, and here's to a truly excellent 2019!

What Do Christmas Movies Mean?

Look, I like Christmas a lot, so I dedicated this entire month to Christmas-related videos.

This one is a smaller, more personal video essay. Over the years I've spent wayyyy too much time thinking about Christmas movies and TV episodes, how they engage with the holiday in different ways, what they mean, and what they mean to us. So I sat down by the Christmas tree and chatted about it.

If you haven't already, go subscribe to the second channel, 2018-12-22 19:58:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Patrick Explains HOME ALONE (And Why It's Great)

It's the Patrick Explains Christmas Special!

Don't quote me on this but I think it might be the most thorough critical analysis of Home Alone on the internet...since there is basically no competition there.

Also: watch to the end.

Help Me Name the Second Channel

I kind of buried an announcement in the title of this post. We're launching a second channel soon. This month, actually. But only patrons know about it for now, so don't go sharing this news on Twitter.

The second channel will be home to narrative shorts, behind the scenes stuff, and basically everything that isn't a video essay. And it needs a name. I'm not great at names, so I'd like your help.

The only ideas I've had are Patrick Willems II (the H could turn into a rom...

The Original Cinematic Universes

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a new video about accidental historical cinematic universes! And a very silly framing device that Matt, Jake, and I put together right after recording the final episode  of We Heart Hartnett.

The Big Emotional Final Episode of We Heart Hartnett

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-11-20 13:45:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Josh's Short Films, TV Appearances, & Commercials (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-11-13 15:17:40 +0000 UTC View Post

MICHAEL BAY PART 2

OKAY THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A BIGGER PROJECT THAN EXPECTED

6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-11-06 16:37:03 +0000 UTC View Post

MICHAEL BAY - Understanding A True American Auteur (PART 1)

The giant Michael Bay video got so giant that I had to split it into two parts.

Part 2 drops in one week.

Happy Halloween.

Oh Lucy! (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-10-30 18:00:58 +0000 UTC View Post

The Ottoman Lieutenant (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-10-23 14:42:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Introducing THE INFINITY PODCAST

Listen to The Infinity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify 2018-10-18 17:23:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Wild Horses (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-10-16 18:07:11 +0000 UTC View Post

How Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Redefines Parody

I think I might need to revamp the thumbnail for this later today so it's a bit more clickbaity. But anyway...

These last two videos have been surprisingly difficult to make, since they've come up during oddly busy times. This one coming up the same time as New York Comic Con did not help at all.

We originally had an extremely complex plan for this one, with the framing device involving a whole separate narrative running through the video and commenting on the essay itself.

But the...

Notes On Our Josh Journey So Far (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, 2018-10-09 15:09:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Penny Dreadful Season 3 (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-10-02 13:37:23 +0000 UTC View Post

James Cameron: The Very Best At What He Does (Blue Flame Special Episode 4)

The new video! Finally! Delayed for over a week because first I decided to add several new sections and THEN I got sick!

And today is my birthday but I STILL stayed up until 4 last night finishing this!

I'm so relieved it's done!

Enjoy!

Penny Dreadful Season 2 (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-09-25 15:09:49 +0000 UTC View Post

Penny Dreadful Season 1 (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-09-18 14:00:34 +0000 UTC View Post

What's Coming Up

Hey everyone, just wanted to check in with a few updates about the channel.

It's been an intense past few months. We've been cranking out a lot of videos, which have, on average, gotten longer. Like, last week alone there were TWO twenty-minute videos. That is nuts.

Things are going to slow down a tiny bit, because if they didn't, I would completely burn out in the very near future.

Basically, from here on out, there will be 2 video essays per month. This really isn't much...

Parts Per Billion (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-09-11 14:39:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Patrick Explains STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (And Why It's Great)

Okay.

I made it.

R.I.P. my mentions.

And now...no more Star Wars stuff for the rest of the year.

The Storytelling Language of Star Wars

They said it couldn't be done, but we did it. We made a non-controversial video about Star Wars!

The spark of this idea came when I was watching The Last Jedi and realized it was the first Star Wars movie to ever use slow motion. Which is crazy for a series that's been around for 40 years.

And since I'm a big weird nerd who likes sitting around analyzing the cinematic language in my favorite movies, I thought it would be fun to go through THE ENTIRE SERIES (only the movies, doing the TV ...

The Lovers (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-09-04 15:02:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Stuck Between Stations (We Heart Hartnett)

Listen to We Heart Hartnett on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 2018-08-28 12:14:58 +0000 UTC View Post