What the corpus says about Cruella (2021)

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished Cruella (2021) 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 Cruella (2021) 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 Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 1:28:52 · Shea Serrano (0.50)] 101 Dalmatians ⇒ Cruella (the host's read) · lineage · Cruella is the origin story of the evil lady from 101 Dalmatians who wants coats from dog fur. · "Cruella is the origin story of this lady."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 1:29:46 · Juliet Litman (0.45)] Cruella ↔ Easy A · theme · If Easy A's unlikely premise worked, maybe a Cruella movie for kids can too. · "And they made it work."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 1:29:24 · Juliet Litman (0.40)] Cruella ↔ Matilda · contrast · Another child-movie villain, Ms. Trunchbull, still terrifies as an adult. · "Still terrifying as an adult."
[The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · 1:05:12 · Jason Concepcion (0.80)] Cruella ↔ The Rocky Horror Picture Show · contrast · Jason gets Rocky Horror camp vibes from the Cruella publicity photos. · "I'm getting some very strong rocky horror vibes from it."
[The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · 1:05:33 · Jason Concepcion (0.70)] Cruella ↔ The Silence of the Lambs · contrast · Jason jokes Cruella is a Silence of the Lambs prequel about skin. · "It's kind of like, it's like a silence of the Lambs prequel as well, you know?"
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:02:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] Black Widow ↔ Cruella · industry · Cruella gets the same Disney+ premiere access treatment as Black Widow. · "Cruella is additionally arriving on May 28th on Disney+ in this same premiere access approach"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 1:29:06 · Shea Serrano (0.60)] Emma Stone ↔ Cruella · programming · Stone's next move after the La La Land Oscar was Cruella, as in an evil Stone origin story from 101 Dalmatians. · "Hey, do you want to see a movie where Emma Stone is evil?"
[The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · 1:04:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80)] Emma Stone ↔ Cruella · career · Sean and Amanda both love Emma Stone and wish for more for her than a dogskin-obsessed villain origin story. · "I want more for Emma Stone."
[The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · 1:03:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.90)] Tony McNamara ↔ Cruella · people · Sean cites McNamara, creator of The Favourite and The Great, among Cruella's six screenwriters. · "The other is Tony McNamara, creator of the favorite and the great."
[The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · 1:03:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.90)] Craig Gillespie ↔ Cruella · people · Sean notes Cruella is directed by Gillespie, who most recently made I, Tonya. · "Movies directed by Craig Gillespie, who most recently made I Tanya."
[The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · 1:04:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.90)] Cruella · fun · Sean reads the logline: a 1970s London fashion designer obsessed with dogskins, especially Dalmatians; Amanda and Jason react with horror. · "young fashion designer Cruella DeVille becomes obsessed with dogs skins, especially Dalmatians, until she eventually becomes a ruthless and terrifying legend."
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:03:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70)] Black Widow ↔ WandaVision · programming · Disney has the MCU TV shows going and could not wait any longer to release the film. · "they have something going with WandaVision and now Falcon and Winter Soldier"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 1:46:09 · Juliet Litman (0.50)] Easy A ↔ Marvin's Room · programming · Juliet's first coed theater outing was Marvin's Room, in contrast to seeing teen movies with friends. · "The 1st movie I saw with like boys and girls, like it was like a co-ed group outing was Marvin's room, which is so depressing."
[The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:22:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mamma Mia! ↔ The Rocky Horror Picture Show · theme · The older characters' drag-like performances make Mamma Mia like Rocky Horror for people who go to full-service resorts. · "it's like rocky horror picture show for people who like to go to, like, Cabo to all, like, to, you know, um, full service resorts"
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:05:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Black Widow ↔ Spider-Man (Sony MCU film) · programming · The previous MCU film was Sony's Spider-Man about two years earlier, so the franchise had waited a long time. · "That wasn't even a Disney film."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:12:38 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70)] Ferris Bueller's Day Off ⇒ Easy A (the maker said so) · lineage · Director Will Gluck has said Ferris Bueller is his favorite movie, and Olive's Mohawk and guitar bits echo it. · "I think the director, Will Gluck, has like talked about how Ferris Bueller is, I think, his favorite movie."
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:08:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] Black Widow ↔ Top Gun · programming · Studios are reluctant to put Fast 9, Bond, Top Gun and Black Widow straight into theaters. · "And movies like Fast 9 or the new James Bond film or Top Gun or, you know, Black Widow."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:12:55 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70)] John Hughes ⇒ Easy A (the host's read) · lineage · Easy A is in open dialogue with Hughes: Olive says her life is not a John Hughes movie and the finale has a Hughes montage. · "But also she, like, literally says in the dialogue, my life isn't a John Hughes movie."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:52:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70)] The Scarlet Letter (Demi Moore version) ⇒ Easy A (the host's read) · lineage · The movie nods to the Scarlet Letter and its puritanical heritage; Olive jokes about watching the Demi Moore version. · "does its best or at least at times nods to the Scarlet letter and kind of like, you know, the puritanical heritage"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:56:33 · Juliet Litman (0.50)] Election ⇒ Easy A (the host's read) · lineage · Olive's unbothered, stronger-than-the-bully stance continues the Tracy Flick character through Book Smart's Beanie Feldstein. · "the Tracy Flick character that we have seen just grow and grow all the way up to like the most recently book smart with Beanie Felsian's character."
[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 Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:31:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45)] Easy A ↔ Book Smart · theme · Book Smart (like Easy A) has supportive parents who show up, played by Will Forte and Lisa Kudrow. · "Like we saw this in book and book smart."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ · 0:49:20 · Juliet Litman (0.60)] Easy A ↔ One Tree Hill · theme · Mary Ann's clean-teen Christianity recalls the virgin-professing 'clean teens' of One Tree Hill. · "And that also reminded me of one Tree Hill, where they had the clean teens"
[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] Jason Concepcion · latest sketch, The Big Picture · Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation · Loves a musical, Donnie Yen action, and the 1998 Mulan with its Eddie Murphy humor. Finds the remake kind of boring and wants a grounded, historical version. Sucker for political and economic framing of film controversy. · stances: The remake is fine in a vacuum, a disappointment as a Mulan; Wants a more historical, less magical take; Sees the Mulan controversy as a symptom of the West-China economic experiment; Missing music means missing storytelling
[speaker] Juliet Litman · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ · Deeply versed in rom-coms (Nora Ephron is 'my personal god'), TV, and celebrity careers. Loves a good meal scene and a believable detail. Cannot stand a female lead with no friends or ambition. · stances: Alison has no friends and no inner life, the movie's biggest pitfall; Heigl torpedoed her own career with the Vanity Fair interview; Rom-coms of 89-05 are women-driven; Apatow flipped it; Double feature should be Adventureland
[speaker] Shea Serrano · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · The franchise's biggest fan, loves family, Dom, Letty and stunts, and the first film as the centerpiece. Shrugs at villains and wants smaller street-racing again. · stances: The Fast and the Furious is number one; Tokyo Drift is the keystone; Worst moments are still really fun
[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 Cruella (2021); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Cruella (2021) 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.