The Big Picture: ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More

Published 2023-11-10; 1:30:28 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Big Picture (The Ringer)” and the episode “'The Killer' Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More”.

Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins. Guests: Chris Ryan, Adam Nayman.

Subject films: The Killer (2023).

On the transcript: Auto-transcript with no speaker labels; the first minute is a Ringer NFL promo, and Chris Ryan exits at about 0:45:44 while Adam Nayman joins at 0:46:13. Speaker attribution within each segment is often ambiguous between Sean and Amanda.

Films that came up

subject (1)

The Killer

passing (11)

The Iron Claw · Loki · House of Cards · The Rewatchables (podcast) · Top Gun: Maverick · Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning · The Ballad of Buster Scruggs · Marriage Story · Ferrari · The Curse · The Marvels

compared (16)

Fight Club · Killers of the Flower Moon · Gone Girl · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo · Rear Window · John Wick: Chapter 4 · Seven · Mank · The Irishman · Roma · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · Samurai films (Kurosawa) · The Driver · Room 237 · Mindhunter · The Cable Guy

anecdote (4)

Private Benjamin · Alien 3 · The Social Network · 2001: A Space Odyssey

recommended (1)

The Pigeon Tunnel

Claims (36)

  1. people (auteur persona year): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. 2023 was defined by films that force conversation about the filmmakers (Gerwig, Scorsese, Nolan, Fincher) and their pasts.
    “this year has really been defined by these movies with by filmmakers who have such towering personas.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:15:34 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (promo absence): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. Because actors weren't doing press during the strike, audiences were thinking about Marty rather than DiCaprio appearances.
    “we didn't get hit with like 10 Leonardo DiCaprio TV and podcast appearances before Killers of the Flower Moon.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:16:02 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. people (people): David Fincher → Kirk Baxter. Baxter, with Messerschmidt and Walker, is credited as essential to what Fincher's movies are.
    “these movies are not what they are without Kirk Baxter and and Eric Mezerschmidt and Andrew Kevin Walker”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:39 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. people (people): David Fincher → Erik Messerschmidt. Messerschmidt, with Baxter and Walker, is credited as essential to what Fincher's movies are.
    “these movies are not what they are without Kirk Baxter and and Eric Mezerschmidt and Andrew Kevin Walker”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:39 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. lineage (genre lineage): The Killer → Gone Girl. It is the closest Fincher has come to a pure thriller since Gone Girl, maybe Dragon Tattoo.
    “he hasn't made a movie quite like this, I guess, since Gone Girl, but even, I mean, you could maybe even going back further to Dragon Tattoo is maybe a little closer to this kind of a pure thriller.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. lineage (homage): The Killer → Rear Window. The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street.
    “it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:20:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  7. craft (soundtrack irony): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. Longing, emotional Smiths songs soundtrack a movie about closing down; the choice is both deeply felt and a joke.
    “All of those songs that play in this movie, from those Smith's records, are so deeply felt and intense and laid bare in a movie that is about the opposite of that.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:18 · Chris Ryan (0.70 sure it was them)
  8. craft (sound design technique): The Killer → Ren Klyce. The sound designer moves the Smiths song from diegetic to stereo soundtrack as perspective flips, then pulls it back into the killer's ear on the Johnny Marr lick.
    “Ren Kleiss, the sound designer, has chosen to move the music into from diagetic to pure stereo soundtracking as the perspective of the movie shifts.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  9. unmapped (pop-culture decay): The Killer → Private Benjamin. The 70s sitcom aliases riff leads Sean to say nobody under 35 knows even Private Benjamin.
    “We were talking about private Benjamin on the rewatchables the other day and I was like, they're not a single person under 35 knows what Private Benjamin is.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:31:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. people (actor credits): Charles Parnell → Top Gun: Maverick. Parnell is remembered from Top Gun Maverick and Dead Reckoning, a character actor getting his chance as a plucked-by-auteurs turn.
    “Charles Parnell, uh, who people remember from Top Gun Maverick, and, you know, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:33:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. unmapped (action benchmark): The Killer → John Wick: Chapter 4. The dark Miami fight is on par with John Wick 4 but true one-to-one hand-to-hand.
    “it certainly is on par with anything you saw in John Wick 4, um, except it is like true one-to-one hand-to-hand combat.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:38:21 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. unmapped (self-portrait): The Killer → Mank. Mank and The Killer both read as self-allegory about a talented guy and his financiers; both are emotional about art and voice in an industry.
    “speaking of Mank, you know, what if you missed? You know, what if you're a really talented guy and your financiers? So like, hey, that didn't go so well.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:48:34 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  13. craft (music video peers): David Fincher → Mark Romanek. Fincher gave a mercenary jukebox quote about Propaganda Films in an interview alongside Romanek.
    “Fincher likened it to a jukebox. Right? He's like, you put your quarter in one end and something comes out the other.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:53:20 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  14. unmapped (Netflix canon problem): Roma → The Irishman. Roma and The Irishman are year-end conversation films that still don't seem to belong to the real canon, even Criterion-released.
    “these movies don't seem to belong to the real canon, even when some of the Netflix movies get put out on a really physical form of canonization like criterion”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:55:08 · Adam Nayman (0.80 sure it was them)
  15. unmapped (streamer master-work): The Killer → The Irishman. The Killer, Roma, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon are master filmmakers' self-reflective work enabled by streamer power.
    “those are all films from quote unquote master filmmakers who are responding to their own work and life and experience and they're using the outsized corporate power of a streaming service to do so.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:56:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  16. industry (box office): The Killer → Gone Girl. Pitched as a conventional hitman movie it might do commercially though not $500 million like Gone Girl.
    “It might not be a $500 million movie like Gone Girl, but it's pretty commercial.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:57:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  17. career (Netflix career): The Killer → Marriage Story. Baumbach used Netflix to elevate his status, whereas Fincher and Scorsese use it to brand-manage their legacies.
    “he's somebody who used the system to elevate his status in some way, whereas Fincher and Scorsese in a handful of these other people are almost like facilitating and kind of brand managing their legacies”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:59:26 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  18. lineage (origin wound): David Fincher → Alien 3. Alien 3 is the primal scene of Fincher's chip on his shoulder, producers treating him like a shoe salesman.
    “there's the chip on the shoulder and the primal scene of alien 3, right?”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:59:46 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  19. industry (studio constraint vs. blank check): The Killer → Seven. Seven was a miracle that got made through micromanaging against odds, while Netflix gives the whole budget and spends the reward.
    “there's something about a movie like 7 where it's like a miracle that it ever got made, not because he had a blank check in total control”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:00:46 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  20. unmapped (possible last film): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. Both give the feeling they could be a last movie, a fitting conclusion.
    “I had the same feeling at the end of this movie, though, where I was like, this kind of could just be a last movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:02:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  21. theme (theme): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. Soundtracking a film entirely with Morrissey in 2023, when he is out of the mainstream, reads as a snide provocation.
    “There's even a little bit of a snide provocation in soundtracking a movie entirely with Borissey in 2000 and absolutely 23.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:04 · Adam Nayman (0.60 sure it was them)
  22. theme (scene echo): The Killer → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The lonely dinner with Tilda Swinton in a hollow restaurant echoes Benjamin Button's end-of-the-world connection scene, here without sentimental shtick.
    “the stuff with Tilda Swinton is very interestingly evocative of Benjamin Button, like this lonely dinner in this big hollow restaurant that feels like it's at the end of the world”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:56 · Adam Nayman (0.90 sure it was them)
  23. craft (craft): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. The Smiths act as the subliminal voice of the film, carrying its misanthropy and passion.
    “they're kind of like the subliminal voice of the movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:07:42 · Adam Nayman (0.60 sure it was them)
  24. theme (genre ancestry): The Killer → Jean-Pierre Melville. The sparse expressionless killer film riffs on Melville, Kurosawa samurai movies and Walter Hill's The Driver.
    “This is a Melville movie, this is a Curasawa samurai movie. This is all that stuff, right? This is the Walter Hill, the driver movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:08:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  25. unmapped (emotional through-line): The Killer → Seven. Repressed emotion under the surface, as in Seven's gun-aiming shot of Brad Pitt, runs through Fincher's work including The Killer.
    “think of the shot, um, in 7 when, uh, Brad Pitt is aiming the gun at John Doe”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:09:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  26. unmapped (emotional through-line): The Killer → Gone Girl. Amazing Amy's coping with childhood exploitation is another Fincher story of someone never letting the facade break.
    “Gone Girl is the same way, you know, like everything that Amazing Amy is going through is like her coping with”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:09:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  27. theme (Kubrick comparison): David Fincher → Room 237. Fincher, like Kubrick, is a filmmaker whose myth invites assuming every detail is intentional.
    “you look at a movie like Room 237, that movie could only be made about Stanley Kubrick because people assume everything has intention.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:10:18 · Adam Nayman (0.80 sure it was them)
  28. unmapped (semiotic control): The Social Network → David Fincher. A half-second poster in a party montage shows Fincher fusses over every detail, so every sign is assumed meaningful.
    “in the social network, there's like that half 2nd shot during one of the party montages. There's a poster on the wall that's like boobs versus brains”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:10:50 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  29. lineage (influence): David Fincher → Alfred Hitchcock. Fincher loves Hitchcock, who made conventionally entertaining movies carrying deep, confused emotional themes, the dual-entertainment mode Fincher pursues.
    “he also knows that he loves Alfred Hitchcock, and what does Alfred Hitchcock do? He makes conventionally entertaining movies that have deep, confused, emotional themes”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:12:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  30. theme (thematic trio): The Killer → Mindhunter. Mindhunter, Mank and The Killer are three works asking what it was all for, suggesting Fincher is questioning his own devotion.
    “Mindhunter and Mank and this are 3 movies slash series about kind of like, what is it all for?”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:13:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  31. theme (thematic echo): The Killer → The Pigeon Tunnel. John le Carre's remark about reaching the room and finding nothing in it fits Fincher's lockbox characters and this film.
    “The room be on the room, and then when you get there, there's nothing in it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:14:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  32. unmapped (early commercial reference): David Fincher → 2001: A Space Odyssey. At 24 Fincher used a baby smoking, a 2001 reference, in an American Cancer Society ad.
    “a baby smoking a cigarette as a, as a, as a reference to 2001 is incredibly powerful iconography”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:17:15 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  33. programming (paired double feature): The Killer → Fight Club. Both are very funny first-person-narrated films about sociopaths who rationalize brutal violence as a personal mission.
    “This movie would make a neat pairing with Fight Club. Two very funny films about sociopaths whose inner monologues rationalize brutal violence as expressions of a personal mission.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  34. unmapped (narration): The Killer → Fight Club. They are the two Fincher films driven by complicit first-person narration, though Fight Club uses it for a reality-bending twist and The Killer stays objective.
    “They're the 2 Fincher movies that are driven by 1st person narration, and a 1st person narration where the tone is, you're with me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:45 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  35. contrast (contrast): The Killer → Fight Club. Fight Club is about societal and male-psyche breakdown; The Killer is about a functioning guy who messed up at work.
    “Fight Club is about the breakdown of society and the male psyche. The killer is about a guy who's like, shit, I fucked up at work”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  36. lineage (callback joke): The Killer → The Cable Guy. The TV-character aliases gag was already a joke in The Cable Guy (50s characters there, 70s and 80s here).
    “that was a joke of the cable guy just to give credit where it's to.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:52 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)

Fun items (23)

  1. fun, about David Fincher: The Q&A team (Klyce, Messerschmidt, Baxter) answered every question with 'that was David's idea.' Walker said Fincher walked him through the whole movie when pitching it.
    “every time they got asked a question, they would be like, that's David.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:30 · Chris Ryan (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The Killer: Opening hit: the killer needs heart rate below 60, kills a woman instead of the target, then flees by rented scooter to change in a dirty tire-shop bathroom.
    “He fires and he misses.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:21:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about The Killer: The killer's work playlist is only The Smiths, on an iPod nano; others include a yoga playlist. He listens to Girlfriend in a Coma while buying a trash bucket at Home Depot to put a body in.
    “he is listening to girlfriend in a coma when he goes to a Home Depot to buy a trash bucket to put a dead body in.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about The Killer: Each Smiths song title puns on the scene it plays under.
    “Each song title is literally punning on the scene.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:24:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about The Killer: Scene to look for: the first hit scored to How Soon Is Now. Sound design flips between full stereo song and the song in the killer's headphones, pulling it away right at the Johnny Marr crescendo, refusing the viewer the cool-song kill.
    “I was waiting my entire life to see someone get killed to how soon is now.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:24:40 · Chris Ryan (0.70 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about The Killer: The killer's disguise is inspired by a German tourist: bucket hat and khaki jumpsuit, which is basically what Fincher wore to the Q&A.
    “he wears a bucket hat in a kind of khaki jumpsuit, which is basically what David Fincher wore to the Q and A after the film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:27:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about The Killer: Hotel trick to look for: he balances a glass on the door handle with the room-service tray underneath so a jiggled handle smashes it, then sleeps in a chair for three and a half hours.
    “if anybody jiggles the handle, the glass will smash and make a noise and wake him up”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:29:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about The Killer: The killer's aliases are all 70s sitcom character names (Archie Bunker among them), a gag the hosts say lands because nobody checks anything anymore.
    “they are all names of 70s sitcom characters, which is an incredible joke”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:31:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about The Killer: He expects six to seven minutes to interrogate Parnell and the man dies almost instantly; the hosts take it as proof the killer is bad at his job.
    “he kills Charles Parnell and thinks that he's going to have 6 to 7 minutes to interrogate him and he dies almost instantaneously.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:34:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about The Killer: New Orleans: Charles Parnell's secretary zip-ties herself on his orders and begs not to be disappeared so her kids get the life insurance; the killer thinks 'forbid empathy.' Her car scream is the film's one non-subjective moment.
    “please don't disappear me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:34:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about The Killer: The Miami fight in the dark: grabbing for a weapon in the kitchen, he finds a cheese grater, a huge laugh, then uses it as a noise distraction. Also he miscalculates the dose of a dog-drugging treat for the pit bull.
    “and comes up with a cheese grater and you're like, ooh, a cheese grater.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:38:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about The Killer: Tilda Swinton scene in Beacon, NY: she eats solo at the bar, orders a whiskey flight tasting menu and asks for her own bottle, and the hosts debate whether she is the life he could have had.
    “when Tilda Swinton's doing a tasting menu with a whiskey flight.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:40:08 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about The Killer: Chris Ryan's guess: the killer's favorite Smiths record is Hatful of Hollow or compilation 'Louder Than Bombs', not The Queen Is Dead; favorite Sub Pop band Mudhoney, maybe Tad.
    “I think he's a hat full of hollow guy”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:45:14 · Chris Ryan (0.80 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about The Killer: Shot out of a cannon: on Netflix there is no box-office report, Fincher hasn't had a traditional theatrical release since Gone Girl, and Adam saw it at Alamo and Toronto theaters.
    “He hasn't released a movie to the public since Gone Girl in the traditional theatrical style.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:50:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about David Fincher: Early career: Fincher compared Propaganda Films to a jukebox, put a quarter in one end and a product comes out, a mercenary quote underlying an artist.
    “Fincher likened it to a jukebox.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:53:26 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about David Fincher: On Alien 3, a producer reportedly said 'you sell shoes, shut up' on conference calls; the chip on his shoulder never left.
    “one of the producers of alien was like, you sell shoes, like, shut up”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:00:09 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about The Killer: Ironic timing: the film arrived framed by WeWork's collapse and Morrissey being unable to find a label, soundtracking a 2023 movie wholly with Morrissey as a snide provocation.
    “the movie came out framed by these 2 really funny news things, like one being the disillusion of WeWork”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:04:21 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about David Fincher: Rumor: Fincher is considering a movie about cancel culture.
    “there's rumors that Fincher wants to make a movie about cancel culture.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:04:57 · Adam Nayman (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about David Fincher: At the Academy Museum Q&A, an audience member asked how to make iconic movies in the age of TikTok. Fincher sighed and said he never thinks 'how can I make this more iconic' when setting up a shot.
    “when I set up a shot, I don't think, dude, how can I make this more iconic?”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:16:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Fight Club: The Killer is 'a guy who's like, shit, I fucked up at work', 20 years after Fight Club's society collapse.
    “that's amazing to come like 20 years later and land there”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about The Killer: Product placement is deployed so precisely (the Amazon lockers, McDonald's, WeWork) that the hosts laughed at every logo; the film also makes a clinic of consumer-culture satire.
    “every time there was a logo in this movie. I laughed because they were deployed so well.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:23:17 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about The Killer: A visual gag: Arliss Howard, the client, wears a Sub Pop t-shirt, Adam calls it a laugh-out-loud commodification joke.
    “I love Arlus Howard and the subpop t-shirt.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:24:22 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about The Killer: The Green River killer quote at the open echoes the band Green River, who were not on Sub Pop, so 'it all comes back to grunge.'
    “there was a band named Green River that was not signed to subpop.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:24:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

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