The Big Picture: ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies

Published 2021-11-22; 1:31:47 by the feed.

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

The extraction calls the show “The Big Picture (The Ringer)” and the episode “'Ghostbusters: Afterlife,' 'Tick, Tick … Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies”.

Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins. Guests: Mike Mills.

Subject films: Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; the Sean/Amanda split on top-five picks is inferred from context and is uncertain. Ad reads (Propel, Botox, Vyori, Jagermeister) are in the transcript and ignored. The final Mills interview section is after 1:00:00.

Films that came up

passing (24)

Beginners · 20th Century Women · Godzilla vs. Kong · Thank You for Smoking · Young Adult · The Front Runner · Juno · Silence · Marvel's Avengers · Under the Silver Lake · The Eyes of Tammy Faye · Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk · Hacksaw Ridge · Joker · The Master · Licorice Pizza · Gregory's Girl · In the Loop · His Girl Friday · Big Top Pee-wee · Pee-wee's Big Holiday · Austin Powers (second film) · House of Gucci · The Beatles: Get Back

recommended (13)

Come On, Come On · Dave · Twins · Big · That Thing You Do! · Local Hero · Bringing Up Baby · My Neighbor Totoro · Frances Ha · Singin' in the Rain · Pee-wee's Big Adventure · A Hero · Bob's Burgers (TV series)

subject (2)

Ghostbusters: Afterlife · Tick, Tick... Boom!

compared (7)

Ghostbusters (2016) · Ghostbusters · Ghostbusters II · Star Wars · Star Wars: The Force Awakens · Tully · Casablanca

dismissed (6)

Labor Day · Men, Women & Children · Up in the Air · You've Got Mail · Apollo 13 · Working Girl

Claims (91)

  1. lineage (lineage): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. Afterlife is a revival of the original series by Ivan Reitman's son, loaded with its mythology.
    “This is Jason Reitman's revivification of his father, Ivan Reitman's famed film series.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:02:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. The Feig reboot came five years earlier and became a lightning rod.
    “This comes 5 years after Paul Figs, also revivification or attempted revivification of this franchise, with a largely female cast”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:02:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (lineage): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Amblin-era Spielberg films. The kids-and-mom coming-of-age setup reads as Amblin or Ron Howard, though speaker says that is too generous.
    “a bit of an amblin, like Ron Howardy, early Spielberg kind of a movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:04:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. contrast (contrast): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. The original aspired upward for kids; Afterlife makes grown-ups into kids.
    “it made young kids want to be older and cool.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:05:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  5. craft (craft): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Afterlife does what Force Awakens did, saving the old franchise's greatest hits for the back half.
    “It's basically trying to do the same thing that the Force Awakens did”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:06:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  6. industry (industry): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. Walmart product placement for marshmallow men sells toys to children.
    “that scene was the real low point because that is definitely takes place in a product placement Walmart ad”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:06:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  7. verdict (verdict): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. Afterlife strips out the art and humor of the original.
    “all of the art and the humor that you and I associate with the original Ghostbusters is like totally missing.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:07:31 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  8. verdict (verdict): Ghostbusters → Ghostbusters. The first movie is a perfect piece of 80s pop entertainment, and smart: the villains are bureaucrats.
    “the 1st movie is a diamond.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:08:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  9. craft (craft): Laszlo Kovacs → Ghostbusters. The first film had top-class craftspeople: Kovacs shot it, Bernstein scored it.
    “It's also a movie that was shot by Laslo Kovacs and scored by Elmer Bernstein.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:08:35 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. people (people): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. Speaker liked the 2016 film defensively and because Hemsworth was funny.
    “I thought the Chris Hemsworth character was just like very funny and they should let Chris Hemsworth just be a comedian more often.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:09:55 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. industry (industry): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Marvel's Avengers. Afterlife and the 2016 film both chase the Marvel model of serialized connected stories to succeed at the box office.
    “trying to recreate what Marvel has done and just that's the only way you have success at the box office now is by latching onto that serialized story.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:10:08 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  12. theme (theme): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Godzilla vs. Kong. Podcasters are becoming storytelling vectors, as in a character named Podcast.
    “There is a character named podcast in a movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:14:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  13. career (career): Bill Murray → Ghostbusters. Murray refused a third Ghostbusters for 25 years and then came back for Afterlife.
    “Bill Murray for 25 years has declined to participate in a 3rd Ghostbusters film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:16:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  14. people (people): Jason Reitman → Ghostbusters. Reitman has said he wants to honor his father's franchise; Jason was on set of some of the originals.
    “Jason Reitman was on the set of some of these movies”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:16:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. verdict (verdict): Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Ghostbusters. Original Ghostbusters showing up at 70 feel flat and unexcited, a bummer.
    “they showed up and it was just very flat and they don't seem excited to be there.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:17:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  16. verdict (verdict): Jason Reitman → Tully. Speaker loved Tully except the last five minutes, which push a family moral.
    “I loved everything but the last 5 minutes of Tali.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:19:31 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  17. verdict (verdict): Jason Reitman → Tully. Reitman's sharper-elbowed work (Young Adult, Tully, Front Runner) is the work that speaker likes best.
    “those are really his films that I really, really like.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:20:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  18. verdict (verdict): Jason Reitman → Labor Day. Labor Day and Men, Women & Children are his weak ones.
    “you look at like Labor Day or men, women, and children, which is really just not a very good film at all.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:20:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  19. career (career): Jason Reitman → Coppola. Reitman's uneven filmography is compared to his 70s and 80s heroes, few of whom have eight great films in a row.
    “Not very few people are Coppola, right?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:21:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. career (career): Jason Reitman → Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Reitman's ghostbusters decision looks like capitulating to Hollywood and may make him a franchise filmmaker.
    “he has kind of minted a future as a franchise filmmaker.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:21:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  21. craft (craft): Andrew Garfield → Tick, Tick... Boom!. Garfield's performance is described as Gene Kelly on Adderall, constantly bopping.
    “it feels like Gene Kelly on Adderall, his performance in this movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:24:08 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. lineage (lineage): Tick, Tick... Boom! → Rent. Tick, Tick... Boom! is an early unfinished musical by Larson that workshops guitar riffs and ideas that end up in Rent.
    “it's workshopping a lot of like the actual like guitar riffs and music ideas that end up and rent itself.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:25:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  23. contrast (contrast): Andrew Garfield → Silence. Speaker sometimes prefers restrained, tortured Garfield (Silence) to the all-in version.
    “sometimes you get Andrew Garfield on 11 and sometimes you get like restrained sort of tortured Andrew Garfield.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:26:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  24. industry (industry): Tick, Tick... Boom! → Marvel's Avengers. The movie is full of Broadway cameos, like Avengers but for Broadway.
    “this movie is kind of secretly like Marvel's Avengers, but for Broadway.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:28:02 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. career (career): Andrew Garfield → Under the Silver Lake. Speaker will follow Garfield wherever he goes, citing Silence, Under the Silver Lake, Tammy Faye.
    “I'll go there with under the silver lake.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:28:39 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. career (career): Andrew Garfield → Hacksaw Ridge. Garfield has been nominated once, for Hacksaw Ridge, after a mistaken guess of Billy Lynn.
    “It was Hacksaw Ridge.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:29:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. craft (craft): Lin-Manuel Miranda → Tick, Tick... Boom!. Miranda's direction is busier and more antic than needed, trying to fit all his ideas in.
    “I found the camera work to be a little bit busier than it needed to be.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:29:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  28. people (people): Steven Levenson → Tick, Tick... Boom!. The screenwriter also wrote the book for Dear Evan Hansen, which was a struggle for the speaker.
    “written by Stephen Levinson, this screenplay, who also wrote the book for Dear Evan Hansen”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:29:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  29. contrast (contrast): Come On, Come On → Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Both are about families; Come On, Come On is self-aware where Afterlife is not.
    “This is self-aware, even if Ghostbusters Afterlife is not.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:32:05 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  30. theme (theme): Come On, Come On → Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Come On, Come On depicts a non-traditional family, in contrast with the Reitman point.
    “In a family that, to the Reitman point, is not a traditional family”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:33:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  31. contrast (contrast): Joaquin Phoenix → Come On, Come On. Phoenix plays a nice, imperfect guy, the inverse of his damaged-masculinity roles in Joker and The Master.
    “what Phoenix brings to it is almost the exact inverse of what we know him for, from the Joker and from the master”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:33:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  32. people (people): Woody Norman → Come On, Come On. Woody Norman is an incredible child-actor find.
    “Woody Norman, incredible find.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:33:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  33. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Come On, Come On is the most stripped down of Mills's movies versus the busyness of Beginners and 20th Century Women.
    “this was the most stripped down of his movies relative to kind of some of the like busyness, the kind of intentional busyness of beginners and 20th century women”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:34:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  34. theme (theme): Come On, Come On → Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Both put a podcast/radio figure on screen.
    “which is, um, a podcast character of its own”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:34:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  35. lineage (lineage): Come On, Come On → Ira Glass's This American Life. The radio-producer device is in the Ira Glass tradition, not the conspiracy podcaster.
    “I think it's a little bit more in the tradition of Ira Glass than it is necessarily in the tradition of the conspiracy theory podcaster”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:34:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  36. people (people): Dave → Ghostbusters. Dave and Ghostbusters share director Ivan Reitman.
    “Speaking of Ivan Reitman.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:38:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  37. theme (theme): Dave → Dave. Dave is a feel-good pick about one good guy bringing out good in everyone.
    “One guy being good can make a difference and can bring the good in everybody else”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:38:49 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  38. people (people): Dave → Twins. Both films are by Ivan Reitman.
    “I thought of another Ivan Reitman movie when I saw you, Dave on your list”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:39:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  39. people (people): Tom Hanks → Big. Hanks is the lord of the feel-good field.
    “He is really truly the lord of the feel-good fan.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:40:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  40. verdict (verdict): Big → Big. Speaker says the premise with Noah Centineo today would not work for them.
    “if a movie with this premise starring Noah Santineo came out today, I would not enjoy it”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:40:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  41. verdict (verdict): Big → Big. Speaker calls Big perfect and cannot articulate why; feel-good depends on when you saw it.
    “it's, it's perfect.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:41:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  42. people (people): Tom Hanks → That Thing You Do!. Hanks wrote, directed and supporting-acts in That Thing You Do!
    “written and directed by Tom Hanks, and he plays a supporting role”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:43:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  43. craft (craft): That Thing You Do! → Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Like Ghostbusters, That Thing You Do! is built from top-tier component parts.
    “One thing about this movie is very similar to say something I was pointing out about Ghostbusters.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:44:39 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  44. craft (craft): Jonathan Demme → That Thing You Do!. Producer-pair Demme and Goetzman, cinematography by Fujimoto, score by Howard Shore make it a high-class studio picture.
    “produced by Jonathan Demi and Gary Getzman”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:44:45 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  45. people (people): Licorice Pizza → That Thing You Do!. Gary Goetzman was an inspiration for Licorice Pizza and will come up on the show.
    “he was an inspiration for the film Licorice Pizza”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:44:45 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  46. career (career): Tak Fujimoto → Jonathan Demme. Fujimoto is Jonathan Demme's longtime cinematographer, and shot That Thing You Do!
    “also shot by Tak Fujimoto, Jonathan Demi's longtime cinematographer”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:44:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  47. lineage (lineage): Local Hero → Danny DeVito/Michael Keaton comedies. The oil-company setup sounds like a classic 80s DeVito or Keaton comedy.
    “It sounds like it could be like a Danny DeVito movie or a Michael Keaton movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:46:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  48. craft (craft): Bill Forsyth → Local Hero. Forsyth gives a classic 80s comedy setup sweetness and specificity about the Highlands people.
    “Forsyth has this sweetness to him.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:46:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  49. career (career): Burt Lancaster → Local Hero. Lancaster's batty oil billionaire is a great late-career performance.
    “Also doing one of like the great late stage performances of his career.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:47:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  50. people (people): Peter Capaldi → Local Hero. Capaldi is in Local Hero; speaker also notes In the Loop.
    “including Peter Capaldi, of in the loop fame.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:47:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  51. programming (programming): Local Hero → Dave. They propose a Dave and Local Hero double feature for the apocalypse.
    “So when the apocalypse comes, we can do a Dave and local hero double feature.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:48:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  52. theme (theme): Bringing Up Baby → Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The screwball energy of Bringing Up Baby is the gleeful-but-smart quality they loved in Ghostbusters, which others dumb down.
    “is the same thing that you and I responded to in Ghostbusters that so many people dumb down.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:48:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  53. career (career): Cary Grant → Bringing Up Baby. Screwball is probably the favorite Cary Grant mode, with His Girl Friday.
    “This and his girl Friday”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:49:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  54. contrast (contrast): My Neighbor Totoro → Pixar films. Speaker picked Ghibli over one of 20 Pixar films or a Disney classic.
    “I probably could have picked one of 20 Pixar films.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:49:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  55. craft (craft): Hayao Miyazaki → My Neighbor Totoro. Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki mix absurdist creativity with grounded portrayals.
    “the kind of like absurdest, but also deeply grounded kind of portrayals.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:50:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  56. theme (theme): Frances Ha → Singin' in the Rain. Both are listed as feel-good picks about movement and joy: the pirouette to Modern Love versus dancing.
    “the scene of Greta Gerwig pirouetting down to modern love”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:52:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  57. craft (craft): Greta Gerwig → Frances Ha. Gerwig collaborated with Baumbach to put the ambition and yearning of New York in your 20s on film.
    “you can feel Greta Gerwig collaborating with Noah Baumback and finding that sensation”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:53:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  58. verdict (verdict): Singin' in the Rain → Frances Ha. Speaker judges these movies by whether they involuntarily smile at the screen.
    “At some point, I judge these movies by like, do I just involuntarily smile at the screen.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:54:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  59. people (people): Paul Reubens → Pee-wee's Big Adventure. The film grew out of the Pee-wee Herman Show and co-written with Phil Hartman.
    “co-written with Phil Hartman”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:55:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  60. theme (theme): Pee-wee's Big Adventure → Come On, Come On. All the feel-good picks are about when you see them, like Come On, Come On and Afterlife.
    “all of these movies for me are about when you see them, just like, come on, come on, is about when you see them.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:56:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  61. career (career): Tim Burton → Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Pee-wee set Burton up as a significant filmmaker, though his last five or six films baffle the speaker.
    “Incredibly strange film obviously sets up Tim Burton as one of the more significant filmmakers of the 80s and 90s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:57:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  62. lineage (lineage): Pee-wee's Big Adventure → Big Top Pee-wee. The 1985 film has a sequel, Big Top Pee-wee, and a 2016 Netflix follow-up less successful for speaker.
    “Pee-wee's big holiday in 2016, a little bit less successful for me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:57:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  63. lineage (lineage): Pee-wee's Big Adventure → Austin Powers (second film). The movie-within-a-movie finale predates the Tom Cruise-plays-Austin Powers gag by ten years.
    “this is 10 years before the Tom Cruise playing Austin Powers joke in the 2nd Austin Powers movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:58:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  64. theme (theme): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Mills says Come On, Come On, 20th Century Women and Beginners are about primary family relationships (dad, mom, child).
    “you have a dad film and a mom film and now in come on, come on.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:02:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  65. people (people): Come On, Come On → Mike Mills's son. The project began with Mills being his kid's dad; the uncle idea distances it.
    “the whole project is just my kid and me being my kid's dad”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:02:30 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  66. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Buster Keaton's films. Mills made Johnny an uncle so every scene plays like a Buster Keaton movie of not knowing what to do.
    “So it's like a it's like a Buster Keaton movie all of a sudden, you know?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:04:45 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  67. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Buster Keaton. An uncle who does not know how to parent makes every scene like a Keaton movie.
    “it's like a Buster Keaton movie all of a sudden, you know?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:04:45 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  68. people (people): Nancy Gale → Come On, Come On. Nancy Gale, who ran his kid's preschool, taught him about children's power and breadth of feeling.
    “Nancy Gale comes in mind who ran my kids, preschool, is a very deep person about children”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:08:52 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  69. career (career): Come On, Come On → Mills's SFMOMA kids-interview video piece. The film grew from his video piece interviewing Silicon Valley kids about the future, which he did not feel done with.
    “I really didn't feel like I was done with asking kids about the future.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:00 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  70. lineage (lineage): Joaquin Phoenix → Studs Terkel. Mills introduced Phoenix to Studs Terkel to build the radio-journalist character.
    “introducing Joaquin to Studs Triple.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:58 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  71. lineage (lineage): Come On, Come On → Ira Glass. Johnny is a WNYC-style old-school radio journalist; Ira Glass is a big influence on Mills.
    “Ira Glass has been like a big influence, big hero to me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:14:04 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  72. craft (craft): Joaquin Phoenix → Come On, Come On. Phoenix surprised Mills with how good he was at doing the interviews.
    “I was surprised at how deeply Joaquin got into it and how good he was at it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:17:03 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  73. people (people): Molly Webster → Come On, Come On. Webster, a real radio journalist, is cast as an actor, blurring documentary and fiction.
    “Molly Webster is from Radar Lab and his radio journalist is not an actor and she's an actor in my movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:17:13 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  74. people (people): Jaboukie Young-White → Come On, Come On. Comedian Young-White is in the film as an actor, mixing smart minds.
    “Jabuki Young White is, yeah, a comedian and I think he's really an actor”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:17:18 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  75. people (people): Sunni Patterson → Come On, Come On. The New Orleans woman is played by a non-actress.
    “The Sonny Patterson who plays the woman whose house they go to in New Orleans, she's not an actress either.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:17:36 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  76. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Jacqueline Rose. The film includes texts by authors like Jacqueline Rose.
    “different texts by like Jacqueline Rose or Kristen Johnson”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:19:56 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  77. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Satie. He thinks of the simple look as Satie music or a drawing, not a painting.
    “I did sort of see this as simpler or like satee music, you know, or like a drawing.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:20:05 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  78. contrast (contrast): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Earlier films were like paintings with a wider palette; this one is a drawing.
    “maybe my other films are more like a painting, you know, or there's a wider palette deployed to tell the story.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:20:14 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  79. craft (craft): Mike Mills → Come On, Come On. Mills compares the black-and-white look to a Hockney portrait and a drawing versus a painting.
    “I want to be like a David Hockney portrait of a friend”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:20:23 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  80. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Casablanca. The framing in clean single shots is like Casablanca.
    “It's like, it's like out of Casablanca or something.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:21:59 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  81. lineage (lineage): Mike Mills → Fellini and Godard. Mills says he is home somewhere between Fellini and Godard, a French new wave person.
    “usually I'm much more of like a French new wave person.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:22:03 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  82. lineage (lineage): Mike Mills → Federico Fellini. Mills learned filmmaking somewhere between Fellini and Godard, his usual French new wave language.
    “somewhere between Italian, like Fellini and and Goddard is like where I learned how to get interested in filmmaking.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:22:07 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  83. craft (craft): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Mills says he used text and archival-like material in earlier films and found a different way here, via included texts.
    “I love archival stuff and real, but I feel like I just did that with the text.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:22:28 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  84. people (people): 20th Century Women → Mills's sister. The Greta character in 20th Century Women is based on one of his sisters.
    “the Greta character is really based on one of my sisters”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:25:36 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  85. people (people): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Mills says he kept his sisters largely out of his films besides 20th Century Women.
    “I've kept my sisters largely out of my films, except for 20th”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:25:36 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  86. people (people): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Mills says Beginners resonates with people coping with a parent's death.
    “you should see this movie called Beginners with Christopher Plummer.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:25:54 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  87. people (people): Come On, Come On → Beginners. Beginners was about Mills and his dad.
    “That's sort of me and my dad.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:26:08 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  88. career (career): Mike Mills → Beginners. He says he got away with murder by making these three personal, uncommercial movies.
    “I got away with murder, you know, by making these 3 movies.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:28:43 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  89. contrast (contrast): Hero → Bob's Burgers (TV series). Mills offers two recommendations at opposite ends of the spectrum.
    “2 sides of the spectrum.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:30:37 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  90. verdict (verdict): Hero → Come On, Come On. Mills's last great thing he saw: A Hero, praised for patient layering and ambiguity.
    “I thought that was so masterfully built up, like such a micro layering of a story”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:30:43 · Mike Mills (0.80 sure it was them)
  91. craft (craft): Bob's Burgers (TV series) → Anton Chekhov. Mills calls Bob's Burgers Chekhovian and like Russian short stories.
    “I think Bob's Burgers is totally Chekovian awesomeness.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:31:39 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Fun items (42)

  1. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: The movie pencil-sketch-over-a-Xerox feel.
    “the movie does often feel like a pencil sketch over a Xerox.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:04:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Stay Puft marshmallow men are shown across a Walmart product placement scene with Paul Rudd.
    “there is just a lot of time spent of Paul Rudd showing you the various deals available at Walmart”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:06:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Muncher the blue blob humping a fire hydrant is the one moment of joy; speaker was the only one laughing in the theater.
    “So when like muncher, the blue blob shows up and is humping a fire hydrant.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:11:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: The Ghostbusters theme only plays in the end credits.
    “Why did I have to wait until the end credits for the Ghostbusters theme song?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:11:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Muncher is a photocopy of Slimer, but with glue.
    “it was just a basically also a photocopy of Slimer, but with glue.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:12:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Nine-year-olds not knowing ghosts terrorized New York is a nit: it would be the biggest thing since the Crusades.
    “This would be the biggest thing since like the Crusades.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:12:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: A character is named Podcast, with a joke about the podcast finding its voice in episode 46.
    “There is a character named podcast in a movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:14:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Bill Murray declined a third Ghostbusters for 25 years; speaker found the cameos pathetic.
    “Why he came back for this movie, I have no idea.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:16:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Jason Reitman filmed a plea before the movie not to spoil the end.
    “Jason Reitman filmed a little thing to go in front of the movie being like, please don't spoil the end of the movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:17:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Andrew Garfield: Pundits call an Oscar nomination a lock; speaker finds it a divisive, litmus-test performance.
    “it is now a lock that Andrew Garfield will be nominated for an Oscar for this performance”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:24:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Tick, Tick... Boom!: The tick, tick... Boom! musical was unfinished and completed after Jonathan Larson's death; it workshops Rent riffs.
    “I believe it was finished after Jonathan Larson's untimely death”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:25:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Tick, Tick... Boom!: Broadway cameo roll call: Andre De Shields, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, Phylicia Rashad, Bernadette Peters, Judith Light.
    “all these people who have all of this experience on Broadway, crop up in this movie”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:28:08 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Dave: Speaker laughs at Kevin Kline at the auto factory: the fish this big joke from age 8; Sean has it on Blu-ray.
    “I once had a fish this big with like the giant arms also going this big”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:38:49 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Big: Speaker's mall memory of FAO Schwartz giant piano, referencing the movie's piano scene.
    “There was like a FAO Schwartz at the mall.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:42:13 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about That Thing You Do!: Speaker has seen it at least 75 times, has the soundtrack, and calls it the greatest pop song written for a movie.
    “I've seen this one, at least 75 times, had the soundtrack.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:43:32 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about That Thing You Do!: Joke: the band is literally called the Wonders because they are one-hit wonders.
    “They are literally called the Wonders.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:44:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Local Hero: Burt Lancaster plays a Bezos/Musk type batty oil billionaire.
    “Burt Lancaster plays like a kind of like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk before they were Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk type type character.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:47:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Local Hero: Speaker watched it in month three or four of quarantine and felt better when hard to feel good.
    “I just felt better at a time when it was hard to feel good about very much.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:47:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Bringing Up Baby: Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn screaming at each other in impeccable costumes while a real leopard runs around.
    “Carrie Grant and Catherine Hepburn like kindly screaming at each other in impeccable costumes while a real leopard just runs around for no reason.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:48:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about My Neighbor Totoro: Gemma Gracewood (Letterbox) told the speaker to start a kid with Ghibli, starting with Totoro.
    “just start with Ghibli, just start with Totoro and she will be a creative and open-minded soul.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:50:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Frances Ha: Speaker was the same age as Frances in New York; the movie made by two people falling in love.
    “this is a movie made by 2 people who were very clearly falling in love as it was being made”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:52:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Singin' in the Rain: Speaker saved it for the night before surgery as medicine.
    “I had surgery last year.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:54:35 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Pee-wee's Big Adventure: A man goes across hell on earth to get his bike back; it taught speaker you can do anything in a movie.
    “And he goes across hell on earth to get his bike back.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:57:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Pee-wee's Big Adventure: The finale features a Hollywood version of Pee-wee with James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild.
    “James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild portray Pee Wee and Dottie”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:58:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Mike Mills: Mills's earlier video piece for SFMOMA interviewed children of Silicon Valley workers about the future; Apple NDAs blocked many.
    “all the people that worked at Apple mostly, um, couldn't do it because they signed these crazy NDAs.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:12:07 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Come On, Come On: SFMOMA kids-interview piece: children of Apple employees often could not take part because of NDAs, after earlier trouble over a kid's social media post.
    “some people have run into trouble where their children said something on social media”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:12:15 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Come On, Come On: Johnny is modeled as a WNYC old-school radio journalist who loves Studs Terkel.
    “he's like a very WNYC, slightly old school Scott Currier radio journalist”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:50 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Come On, Come On: Mills introduced Joaquin Phoenix to Studs Terkel for the role.
    “introducing Joaquin to Studs Triple.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:58 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about Come On, Come On: Mills admits "grass is always greener" about wanting Ira Glass's job.
    “So I guess I want that job a little bit or I like that.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:14:10 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Come On, Come On: Mills's interviews of real kids: kid interviews in the film are with non-actors, with Joaquin and Molly Webster following the flow.
    “They're non-actor kids have never been in the film ministry or anything”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:16:42 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Come On, Come On: Mills says the film is "like filled with really smart people", with a mix of actors and non-actors.
    “This movie, I feel like, is, like filled with like really smart people.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:17:32 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  32. fun, about Come On, Come On: He told himself a mantra: a drawing, not a painting.
    “I kept referring to a drawing, not a painting.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:20:11 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  33. fun, about Come On, Come On: Mills wants the film to be like a David Hockney portrait of a friend.
    “I want to be like a David Hockney portrait of a friend”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:20:23 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  34. fun, about Come On, Come On: Mills calls the child-adult fable image deliciously illegal for his usual space.
    “I was like, ooh, that's sort of like deliciously illegal.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:21:15 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  35. fun, about 20th Century Women: The Greta character was based on one of his sisters.
    “the Greta character is really based on one of my sisters”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:25:36 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  36. fun, about Beginners: Strangers tell Mills to see Beginners about a dying father, not knowing he made it.
    “oh, you should see this movie called Beginners with Christopher Plummer. And I'm like, oh, I made that movie, you know?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:25:54 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  37. fun, about Mike Mills: He says he got away with murder, Robin Hood style, with three personal movies.
    “Robin Hood, like I got away with murder”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:28:43 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  38. fun, about Mike Mills: He doesn't think it hurts to be slightly underexploited.
    “I don't think it hurts to be slightly underexploited.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:28:52 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  39. fun, about Mike Mills: Sean says Mills's 20th Century Women conversation in January 2017 was the first ever for the show.
    “We talked about 20th century women.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:29:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  40. fun, about Mike Mills: He jokes about calling his therapist during the interview.
    “I'm going to call my therapist again to talk to you.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:30:14 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  41. fun, about Hero: Mills praises the patient micro-layering and positive ambiguity of A Hero.
    “I thought that was so masterfully built up, like such a micro layering of a story with such patience and control”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:30:43 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  42. fun, about Bob's Burgers (TV series): Mills and his kid love it; he calls it Chekhovian.
    “I think Bob's Burgers is totally Chekovian awesomeness.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:31:39 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong