What the corpus says about Mean Girls (2024)

What was said about it (9)

1. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming. · "they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke."
2. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ Transformers · lineage · Since the host does not give Transformers and Spider-Man grief for echoing earlier versions, he will not give it to Mean Girls. · "I guess if I'm not going to give Transformers and Spider-Man shit about that."
3. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Mean Girls ↔ A Star Is Born · lineage · The speaker is fine with a new auteur remaking a beloved thing every 20 years, as with Star Is Born / Star Wars-style retellings, here giving the social-media generation its own Mean Girls. · "every 20 years another Otour comes along and is like, I've got a take on this."
4. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · craft · The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy. · "the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite."
5. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:50:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] Mean Girls ↔ Barbie · moviegoing experience · Seeing Mean Girls alone in an IMAX theater surrounded by young women in bright colors felt just like seeing Barbie. · "It was very similar to Barbie."
6. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:51:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ The Lord of the Rings · IP recreation · The verbatim echoing of the original is compared to how a future remake of Lord of the Rings would recycle its shtick. · "when we see a Lord of the Rings movie, you know, 10 years from now, when they're just like doing the same shtick, like it's kind of like IP recreation in a way."
7. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · meta-joke · The new film turns the original's October 3rd meme into a meta bit by having a choir sing it. · "they have like the choir go, it's October 3rd, you know, which like, that's at least like making a meta joke of it"
8. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 1:02:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ The Sex Lives of College Girls · backstory · Rapp's earlier show is where her feud with millennial women allegedly started, per the hosts' gossip. · "I think those are the millennial women in question, who she doesn't like."
9. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:49:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] Tina Fey ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · authorship · Sean frames the film as a Tina Fey adaptation of her own screenplay of her own musical. · "directed this adaptation by Tina Fey of a screenplay by Tina Fey of a musical by Tina Fey?"

Films put beside it more than once (1)

1. [pairs] Mean Girls ↔ Mean Girls · said 3 times in 1 episode

Fun items about it (6)

1. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:50:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Sean saw it alone on opening-ish run in IMAX, a lone 41-year-old man among young women in pink and teal, just like Barbie. · "one weird 41-year-old man sitting alone in an IMAX theater surrounded by young women who were just like wearing pink and yellow and teal"
2. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:56:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Renee Rapp's numbers stop the movie so she can do a full pop-star vamp, because the movie knows what it has. · "it's kind of like the movie stops and she does a number and then it keeps going. because the movie knows what it has."
3. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:58:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Auli'i Cravalho playing Janice turns out to be Moana, which Sean only discovered after going home. · "I did not know until I went home that she's like literally Moana."
4. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:59:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · A new bit in the talent show: Damian performs the iCarly theme song in French, with a slow reveal from tight on his face. · "his performance at the talent show is, um, the theme song to iCarly in French, which is one of the funniest jokes."
5. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:59:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Damian recaps the Regina/Janice drama using plushies, a new joke the hosts loved. · "when he recaps the Regina Janice drama, he uses Plushies, and I also thought that was really funny."
6. [The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 1:00:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · The Mathletes MC is Lindsay Lohan in a cameo near the end of the film. · "She plays the MC during the famous Mathletes moment near the end of the film."

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (21)

1. [The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ · 0:03:48 · Bill Simmons (0.90)] Knocked Up ↔ Mean Girls · programming · Bill groups Knocked Up with Mean Girls, 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Sarah Marshall and Bridesmaids as the 'com-rom' cycle. · "Mean girls, 40 year old virgin, wedding crashers, knocked up, Sarah Marshall, EZA bridesmaids."
2. [The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:25:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] The Irishman ↔ A Star Is Born · programming · Producer Bobby suggests The Irishman is this year's A Star Is Born for the hosts' Oscar obsession. · "perhaps the Irishman is this year's a star is born for us."
3. [The Rewatchables · ‘The Truman Show’ · 1:17:27 · unknown (0.40)] The Truman Show ↔ Barbie · lineage · Linney studied 1950s Sears catalogs for her poses, as Gerwig consulted for Barbie. · "Greta Irwig consulted where for Barbie because she wanted to create that world"
4. [Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:17:10 · David Sims (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · lineage · The Dark Elf war prologue and design is Lord of the Rings style ancient-story fantasy. · "This is some sort of like Lord of the Rings stuff where it's sort of like, you know, this is an ancient story."
5. [The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ · 0:03:37 · Bill Simmons (0.85)] Mean Girls ⇒ Knocked Up (the host's read) · lineage · Bill thinks Mean Girls may have been the first to figure out 'more funny than romantic, but also having the romance'. · "I feel like mean girls might have been the 1st one that figured out."
6. [The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting · 0:27:47 · Stephen Merchant (0.95)] A Star Is Born ⇒ Fighting with My Family (the maker said so: Merchant in this interview) · lineage · Merchant says he thought about A Star Is Born, the rags to riches story, as much as the sports side. · "I was thinking as much about films like, you know, like a Star is Born"
7. [The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:33:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] Poor Things ↔ Barbie · theme · Both arrived as feminist coming-of-age stories about a created girl learning about the world, six weeks apart. · "it was about 6 weeks after the Barbie wave and there are some really obvious comparisons to be made here."
8. [Blank Check — Patreon · Eclipse · 1:27:57 · unknown (0.40)] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ↔ The Lord of the Rings · theme · Cullens don't sleep, like elves in Lord of the Rings. · "They are, they are like elves in Lord of the Rings or whatever."
9. [The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:02:07 · Bill Simmons (0.85)] Fast Times at Ridgemont High ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · Simmons proposes a championship-belt lineage of smart teen movies starting with Fast Times and running through Mean Girls. · "I feel like Fast Times at Ridgemont High was the 1st one."
10. [The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 0:47:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80)] A Star Is Born ↔ Full Metal Jacket · theme · Offered as a second answer to best half-movie: everything up to the first time she sings Shallow is dynamite. · "everything leading up to the 1st time she sings shallow on stage, which is like, I think an hour, maybe a little bit less."
11. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:38:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · New Zealand locations can't replicate what Peter Jackson did with it in Lord of the Rings, but still look like a newer earth. · "you can never replicate the total stunning magic trick of Peter Jackson, like deploying it in Lord of the Rings"
12. [The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:07:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] Clueless ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · Clueless brought the teen genre back and made it female; Mean Girls inherits that more female guiding hand. · "Clueless brought the genre back and I think people missed it."
13. [The Big Picture · Instant Reactions to a Truly Ludicrous Golden Globes | The Oscars Show · 0:30:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] A Star Is Born ↔ Bohemian Rhapsody · theme · Star's schmaltz and old-fashionedness were expected to lift it, but that is what the night rewarded in Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book. · "it's the schmaltiness and old-fashionedness of Bohemian Rhapsody and Green book that we're really discussing tonight."
14. [Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:09:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · The ether lodging in Jane and slowly corrupting her is like the One Ring and Frodo. · "It's sort of almost the like the ring for Frodo-esque."
15. [The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 1:16:45 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40)] Mean Girls ↔ Election · lineage · A hypothetical 'Mean Girls 2020' would have an election vibe like Tracy Flick. · "I feel like that has like an election vibe, like the Tracy Flick."
16. [The Big Picture · Instant Reactions to a Truly Ludicrous Golden Globes | The Oscars Show · 0:30:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45)] A Star Is Born ↔ Green Book · theme · All three films share a polished, studio, historically Hollywood approach; Star has more grit and anxiety. · "There's something like very polished and studio and historically Hollywood in the approach of all 3 of those movies."
17. [The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:13:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70)] Easy A ↔ Mean Girls · theme · Both are self-aware teen comedies that know the tropes, though Easy A is far less vicious. · "You know, like in a way that mean girls does, though it's far less vicious than mean girls."
18. [The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show · 0:28:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.45)] Bradley Cooper ↔ A Star Is Born · craft · Says Cooper performed as himself rather than as Jackson Maine, which is a mistake because the character's voice is indelible. · "Bradley Cooper, very notably, did not perform as Jackson Maine."
19. [The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:04:15 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] Mean Girls ↔ Cruel Intentions · theme · Cruel Intentions is argued to be a smart teen movie because it comments on the genre; Simmons says it is an adult movie using teens, coming on Rewatchables 99. · "That's actually an adult movie that's using teens, which is what makes it so weird and uncomfortable."
20. [The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show · 0:53:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Matthew Libatique ↔ A Star Is Born · craft · Argues Libatique's cinematography on A Star Is Born deserved more conversation. · "I really think it's weird how little conversation there was from Matthew Liboutique for a Star is Born."
21. [The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:20:17 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] Secret Admirer ↔ Mean Girls · theme · The trope that the guy does not notice his hot friend until late recurs in Secret Admirer and Dawson's Creek. · "Secret admirer has Lori Laughlin, C. Thomas Howes, in love with Kelly Preston"

Who said it, by their latest sketch (2)

1. [speaker] Sean Fennessey · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma. · stances: Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year; Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed; Short running times are a virtue; Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
2. [speaker] Amanda Dobbins · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · Loves The Strangers' withholding craft and a good tense horror film without gore, but likes fun, communal movies like Mamma Mia. She dislikes supernatural or gory horror, which irritates her more than it scares her. She is a sucker for stars and for Googling a movie mid-recording. · stances: The Strangers is scary because of what it doesn't show or explain; Ending explanation weakens it; no answer would be better; Prefers 'withholding' filmmaking; Defends Mamma Mia as joyful and intentional

The shows' running bits (2)

1. [bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
2. [bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

The whole prompt

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished Mean Girls (2024) and wants to know what to watch next.

Below is what people who love movies said on three podcasts (Blank Check, The Rewatchables, The Big Picture) about Mean Girls (2024) and the films around it, one line each. Every line starts with where it came from, in brackets: [show · episode · time · speaker (how sure we are it was them)]. A [pairs] line says how often two films were put side by side. A [speaker] line says what that person likes. A [bits] line lists a show's running bits: a format, not an opinion.

[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming. · "they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ Transformers · lineage · Since the host does not give Transformers and Spider-Man grief for echoing earlier versions, he will not give it to Mean Girls. · "I guess if I'm not going to give Transformers and Spider-Man shit about that."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Mean Girls ↔ A Star Is Born · lineage · The speaker is fine with a new auteur remaking a beloved thing every 20 years, as with Star Is Born / Star Wars-style retellings, here giving the social-media generation its own Mean Girls. · "every 20 years another Otour comes along and is like, I've got a take on this."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · craft · The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy. · "the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:50:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] Mean Girls ↔ Barbie · moviegoing experience · Seeing Mean Girls alone in an IMAX theater surrounded by young women in bright colors felt just like seeing Barbie. · "It was very similar to Barbie."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:51:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ The Lord of the Rings · IP recreation · The verbatim echoing of the original is compared to how a future remake of Lord of the Rings would recycle its shtick. · "when we see a Lord of the Rings movie, you know, 10 years from now, when they're just like doing the same shtick, like it's kind of like IP recreation in a way."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · meta-joke · The new film turns the original's October 3rd meme into a meta bit by having a choir sing it. · "they have like the choir go, it's October 3rd, you know, which like, that's at least like making a meta joke of it"
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 1:02:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ The Sex Lives of College Girls · backstory · Rapp's earlier show is where her feud with millennial women allegedly started, per the hosts' gossip. · "I think those are the millennial women in question, who she doesn't like."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:49:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] Tina Fey ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · authorship · Sean frames the film as a Tina Fey adaptation of her own screenplay of her own musical. · "directed this adaptation by Tina Fey of a screenplay by Tina Fey of a musical by Tina Fey?"
[pairs] Mean Girls ↔ Mean Girls · said 3 times in 1 episode
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:50:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Sean saw it alone on opening-ish run in IMAX, a lone 41-year-old man among young women in pink and teal, just like Barbie. · "one weird 41-year-old man sitting alone in an IMAX theater surrounded by young women who were just like wearing pink and yellow and teal"
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:56:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Renee Rapp's numbers stop the movie so she can do a full pop-star vamp, because the movie knows what it has. · "it's kind of like the movie stops and she does a number and then it keeps going. because the movie knows what it has."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:58:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Auli'i Cravalho playing Janice turns out to be Moana, which Sean only discovered after going home. · "I did not know until I went home that she's like literally Moana."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:59:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · A new bit in the talent show: Damian performs the iCarly theme song in French, with a slow reveal from tight on his face. · "his performance at the talent show is, um, the theme song to iCarly in French, which is one of the funniest jokes."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:59:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · Damian recaps the Regina/Janice drama using plushies, a new joke the hosts loved. · "when he recaps the Regina Janice drama, he uses Plushies, and I also thought that was really funny."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 1:00:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls (2024) · fun · The Mathletes MC is Lindsay Lohan in a cameo near the end of the film. · "She plays the MC during the famous Mathletes moment near the end of the film."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ · 0:03:48 · Bill Simmons (0.90)] Knocked Up ↔ Mean Girls · programming · Bill groups Knocked Up with Mean Girls, 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Sarah Marshall and Bridesmaids as the 'com-rom' cycle. · "Mean girls, 40 year old virgin, wedding crashers, knocked up, Sarah Marshall, EZA bridesmaids."
[The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:25:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] The Irishman ↔ A Star Is Born · programming · Producer Bobby suggests The Irishman is this year's A Star Is Born for the hosts' Oscar obsession. · "perhaps the Irishman is this year's a star is born for us."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Truman Show’ · 1:17:27 · unknown (0.40)] The Truman Show ↔ Barbie · lineage · Linney studied 1950s Sears catalogs for her poses, as Gerwig consulted for Barbie. · "Greta Irwig consulted where for Barbie because she wanted to create that world"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:17:10 · David Sims (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · lineage · The Dark Elf war prologue and design is Lord of the Rings style ancient-story fantasy. · "This is some sort of like Lord of the Rings stuff where it's sort of like, you know, this is an ancient story."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ · 0:03:37 · Bill Simmons (0.85)] Mean Girls ⇒ Knocked Up (the host's read) · lineage · Bill thinks Mean Girls may have been the first to figure out 'more funny than romantic, but also having the romance'. · "I feel like mean girls might have been the 1st one that figured out."
[The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting · 0:27:47 · Stephen Merchant (0.95)] A Star Is Born ⇒ Fighting with My Family (the maker said so: Merchant in this interview) · lineage · Merchant says he thought about A Star Is Born, the rags to riches story, as much as the sports side. · "I was thinking as much about films like, you know, like a Star is Born"
[The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:33:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] Poor Things ↔ Barbie · theme · Both arrived as feminist coming-of-age stories about a created girl learning about the world, six weeks apart. · "it was about 6 weeks after the Barbie wave and there are some really obvious comparisons to be made here."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eclipse · 1:27:57 · unknown (0.40)] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ↔ The Lord of the Rings · theme · Cullens don't sleep, like elves in Lord of the Rings. · "They are, they are like elves in Lord of the Rings or whatever."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:02:07 · Bill Simmons (0.85)] Fast Times at Ridgemont High ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · Simmons proposes a championship-belt lineage of smart teen movies starting with Fast Times and running through Mean Girls. · "I feel like Fast Times at Ridgemont High was the 1st one."
[The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 0:47:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80)] A Star Is Born ↔ Full Metal Jacket · theme · Offered as a second answer to best half-movie: everything up to the first time she sings Shallow is dynamite. · "everything leading up to the 1st time she sings shallow on stage, which is like, I think an hour, maybe a little bit less."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:38:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · New Zealand locations can't replicate what Peter Jackson did with it in Lord of the Rings, but still look like a newer earth. · "you can never replicate the total stunning magic trick of Peter Jackson, like deploying it in Lord of the Rings"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:07:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] Clueless ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · Clueless brought the teen genre back and made it female; Mean Girls inherits that more female guiding hand. · "Clueless brought the genre back and I think people missed it."
[The Big Picture · Instant Reactions to a Truly Ludicrous Golden Globes | The Oscars Show · 0:30:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] A Star Is Born ↔ Bohemian Rhapsody · theme · Star's schmaltz and old-fashionedness were expected to lift it, but that is what the night rewarded in Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book. · "it's the schmaltiness and old-fashionedness of Bohemian Rhapsody and Green book that we're really discussing tonight."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:09:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · The ether lodging in Jane and slowly corrupting her is like the One Ring and Frodo. · "It's sort of almost the like the ring for Frodo-esque."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 1:16:45 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40)] Mean Girls ↔ Election · lineage · A hypothetical 'Mean Girls 2020' would have an election vibe like Tracy Flick. · "I feel like that has like an election vibe, like the Tracy Flick."
[The Big Picture · Instant Reactions to a Truly Ludicrous Golden Globes | The Oscars Show · 0:30:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45)] A Star Is Born ↔ Green Book · theme · All three films share a polished, studio, historically Hollywood approach; Star has more grit and anxiety. · "There's something like very polished and studio and historically Hollywood in the approach of all 3 of those movies."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:13:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70)] Easy A ↔ Mean Girls · theme · Both are self-aware teen comedies that know the tropes, though Easy A is far less vicious. · "You know, like in a way that mean girls does, though it's far less vicious than mean girls."
[The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show · 0:28:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.45)] Bradley Cooper ↔ A Star Is Born · craft · Says Cooper performed as himself rather than as Jackson Maine, which is a mistake because the character's voice is indelible. · "Bradley Cooper, very notably, did not perform as Jackson Maine."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:04:15 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] Mean Girls ↔ Cruel Intentions · theme · Cruel Intentions is argued to be a smart teen movie because it comments on the genre; Simmons says it is an adult movie using teens, coming on Rewatchables 99. · "That's actually an adult movie that's using teens, which is what makes it so weird and uncomfortable."
[The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show · 0:53:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Matthew Libatique ↔ A Star Is Born · craft · Argues Libatique's cinematography on A Star Is Born deserved more conversation. · "I really think it's weird how little conversation there was from Matthew Liboutique for a Star is Born."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ · 0:20:17 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] Secret Admirer ↔ Mean Girls · theme · The trope that the guy does not notice his hot friend until late recurs in Secret Admirer and Dawson's Creek. · "Secret admirer has Lori Laughlin, C. Thomas Howes, in love with Kelly Preston"
[speaker] Sean Fennessey · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma. · stances: Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year; Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed; Short running times are a virtue; Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
[speaker] Amanda Dobbins · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · Loves The Strangers' withholding craft and a good tense horror film without gore, but likes fun, communal movies like Mamma Mia. She dislikes supernatural or gory horror, which irritates her more than it scares her. She is a sucker for stars and for Googling a movie mid-recording. · stances: The Strangers is scary because of what it doesn't show or explain; Ending explanation weakens it; no answer would be better; Prefers 'withholding' filmmaking; Defends Mamma Mia as joyful and intentional
[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

Recommend three to six films, and only films that appear in these lines. A series, a TV film, or a franchise counts too when a line recommends it or pairs it with Mean Girls (2024); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Mean Girls (2024) itself. For each one, give one short reason in your own words and say whose reason it is: the show, named exactly as the brackets name it, and the speaker when the line names one (an "unknown" speaker is just the show). If the lines are thin, say so plainly rather than stretching them.

Keep a contrast a contrast. When a line sets two films apart, the reason is how they differ; never turn it into a way they're alike. A line with ⇒ puts the source first and what drew on it second, and one marked "the maker said so" is still the host reporting it: say who said it, and never state an influence as fact.

You know only what's on these lines. Add no fact they don't state: not who directed a film, not what kind of film it is, not when it came out, unless a line says so. Say nothing about the store or how anything rents here.

Talk the way a clerk talks to a customer at the counter: plain text, titles written plainly with no asterisks or other markup, no headings, no lists of more than six, no JSON.