Admires Eddie's subtlety in the film and the Detroit-set opening that sets it apart from other 80s blockbusters. Appreciates sly craft details like pop songs turning down for a scene. He is a sucker for the rival-duo moments and the soundtrack.
Stances
The opening feels like Mean Streets rather than an 80s blockbuster
Eddie's performance is quiet and sly, not stuck in a persona
Humor: Understated, pop-culture-reference humor.
In their words
“he's really sly in this movie” (0:06:13)
“Also, a secret trope of the 80s movie making is pop song playing over montage.” (0:35:52)
Loves big-picture film history and awards lore, brings printed research and Roger Ebert quotes, and likes comfort rewatches (Wedding Crashers, Beverly Hills Cop). Bad on moral outrage as a critical starting point. A sucker for pizza as a holy deity and for New York.
Stances
Do the Right Thing is a perfect screenplay and Spike's fiction apex
The Denby, Klein, and Crouch criticism missed the film
Tarantino lifted things from this movie
The worst New York pizza beats California food
Humor: Deadpan and procedural; reads 'half-assed Internet research' with mock apology, and picks fights over pizza.
In their words
“Half-assed internet research.” (1:06:03)
“Pizza is a holy deity to me.” (1:35:53)
“I have thought about this movie every day of my life since 1989, so ask away.” (1:32:24)
Sean is the one who treats Reservoir Dogs as a film education: the Melville and The Killing recommendations, the 10-year-old rewatcher who rented it. He loves the sound-and-image craft of the opening, Buscemi as the ideal Buscemi, and the commode story. Cannot let a bad accent go.
Stances
Reservoir Dogs is the film that shaped how he related to pop culture
Roth's accent is a pet peeve
Madonna's refutation is why the tipping theory wins the Ewing Award
Humor: Dry and unbothered, undercutting Bill's categories.
In their words
“Go rent the killing if you haven't seen it.” (0:47:22)
Cinephile with filmmaker-career knowledge (Todd Phillips' documentaries, Phillips-Cooper partnership). Loves Wayne's World 2 and rewards deep-cut details. Not a fan of The Hangover sequels or the Godfather compound mistake.
Stances
Todd Phillips won the movie
Hangover 2 and 3 are not worth revisiting
Fuck the South Shore, North Shore forever
Never said Frank Sinatra wasn't cool
Humor: Mock-wounded pride about his Godfather misses and hometown loyalty.
In their words
“I am from the northern shore of Long Island, and I'm north shore till I die.” (1:09:30)
“it's Todd Phillips for me because of everything I said.” (1:05:58)
Cares about behind-the-scenes lore and fair historical context; likes Kurt Russell's career arc and Westerns. Dislikes stereotypical bad takes. Provides the lore breakdown.
Stances
Tombstone is better than Wyatt Earp
Russell's apex is 1982-83
Ghost director story is the soul of the film
Kurt Russell wins spiritually
Humor: Dry, knowing asides, calls out cohosts' takes.
In their words
“The miracle of this movie is that so it was basically, let's just say it's directed by 3 people.” (0:09:03)
“He was nominated for best supporting actor, four, Silkwood” (0:48:04)
Obsessed with Brian De Palma and sees this as his last great movie; loves Carlito's Way, The Untouchables, Blow Out, and heist movies like Rififi. Dislikes masks that break the rules. A sucker for Henry Czerny and the Langley vault.
Stances
This is De Palma's last great movie
Langley heist is the most rewatchable scene
Villains' goals in the MI series are always vague
Humor: Enthusiastic, tangents about Usenet confessions and hypothetical senator IP.
In their words
“I love I love Brian De Palma's movie making.” (0:07:34)
“I realized that this is his last great movie” (0:06:56)
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
Humor: Dry, self-deprecating banter and bit-building (mouse in Boston, Dion Waiters riff, cardigan mouse).
Loves slashers and the final-girl canon, and writes about them; holds Miasma up as an A-plus and Obsession as incomplete but provocative. Uses Smile 2 as a reference. Is a sucker for tonal gear-shifts and sincere-yet-silly filmmaking.
Stances
Miasma is sweet and sincere, not scary
Obsession is incomplete but its reaction is unusual
Horror is more mainstream than ever
Final-girl trope has run to the end of the road
Humor: Dry teasing, running gags with Adam about the Blue Jays and podcasting.
In their words
“as a certified slasherologist,” (0:30:16)
“I like camping miasma exponentially more, you know, like much, much more.” (0:39:49)
“Okay, Adam, one thing, one movie that I revisited this week in writing about Final Girls was Smile 2.” (0:44:06)
A lifelong He-Man collector who admits the film has his number even when he thinks it is flawed. He loves Henson fantasy, Excalibur, and unvarnished, handmade movie moments, and prizes sincere emotional entry points. He is allergic to Marvel-style end-credit teases and sequel bait, and is a sucker for Hensonian creature work and toy nostalgia.
Stances
The film is wildly flawed and too long but tonally interesting
Handmade, unpolished horror like Obsession is what the fandom wants
Fantasy canon is mostly the five things everyone says
Tired of sequel-bait end credits
Humor: Self-deprecating about being a broken fan critic, riffing on his own 'film critic or not' persona.
In their words
“I'm a bizarre broken person and this silly thing means a lot to me, right?” (0:42:31)
“I want to watch a movie finish itself.” (1:12:44)
“Yeah, I would I would throw Dark Crystal and Excalibur into that cannon.” (1:18:46)
Likes lean, formally controlled genre movies, prefers Sondheim to Lloyd Webber-era musicals, and respects cult phenomena once he understands them. He doesn't care for modern movie musicals, bad-good irony, or over-psychologized horror. He is a sucker for movie stars and celebrity mystique and for a good Letterboxd rating.
Stances
Mamma Mia is both very good and very bad and he's willing to join the cult
Camera work and direction in Mamma Mia are poor
Dislikes modern musicals like Wicked and over-performative choreography
Not fond of 'so bad it's good'
The Strangers is richer than its 81 minutes suggest
Humor: Dry, digressive and self-deprecating, building long riffs on sports fandom, marriage and Meryl Streep's filmography.
In their words
“I've never seen a film be so good and so bad simultaneously.” (0:52:28)
“I'm actually willing to join the cult, but it is extremely important to talk about the myriad ways in which this movie also kind of stinks.” (0:52:38)
“It's just not a bad idea for a movie and maybe there should be other movies like this.” (1:26:26)
Loves genre craft and auteur signatures: devoted to Sam Raimi, delighted by Send Help as exactly what he wants from any month, and fond of movie stars with range. Detests mean-spirited, incoherent studio product like Mercy, and likes making lists of underused stars. A sucker for Beatles, Chris Pine and scenes that feel like real fights.
Stances
Mercy is ugly, mean, immoral and structurally confused
Send Help is the model fun genre movie, and Rachel McAdams should be in more
Hollywood misuses stars, especially women over 40
Amy Adams is partly responsible for her own bad roles (low confidence in attribution)
Humor: Dry compliment-sandwich deadpan, with dramatic mock hosting and running bits like the list of 22 stars.
Loves ambitious, Hollywood-about-Hollywood spectacle and big-swing auteur messiness: Babylon, Nope, Avatar: The Way of Water, Barbarian, EEAAO. Likes genre mashups with sincere hearts, rewatches Zack Snyder's Justice League, and wants theatrical formats (70mm). Will follow a filmmaker for decades after one great film.
Stances
Babylon is a near masterpiece and he is obsessed with it
Peele's messier movies reward rewatching
Avatar: The Way of Water is a film he loves and was moved by
Awards campaigns should not define a movie's reputation afterward
Humor: Dry, performative magnanimity, grandly generous gestures, and teasing his co-hosts about pants.
In their words
“I love Babylon more than I love tar.” (0:31:21)
“I love, love, love this movie.” (0:43:31)
“I tend to not go back to films aside from Zack Snyder's Justice League, which I've seen 10 times.” (0:32:25)
“I think it's probably his most satisfying film for me since in Bruges.” (0:44:50)
Loves the apotheosis of Scorsese's style and long, ambitious movies, and champions Leo, blues-drenched needle drops and big Hollywood events. He is bothered by audiences who misread excess as celebration and by passion projects that take decades. He is a sucker for personal connections, like Long Island details, and for a rankable list.
Stances
Wolf is the culmination of Scorsese's hyperkinetic 21st-century style
Leo's performance may be his best of the century
Audiences who read Wolf as a celebration are misreading it
Silence is a serious rival pick
Humor: Dry and self-deprecating, deflating moments with a deadpan aside and teasing his co-host.
In their words
“it's like the final boss of a thing he developed in the 21st century as a director.” (0:03:29)
“So we continue to make mistakes throughout this experience.” (0:02:06)
Loves Wes Anderson's Rushmore best and treats Tenenbaums as the calling card. Responds to its imaginative-Texan, literary-pop sensibility, and to sad comedy. Admires showy camera moves and needle drops. (Attribution of individual remarks is low confidence.)
Stances
Tenenbaums is the right Anderson pick as a bridge from indie to institution
Hackman's resistance to the Anderson style makes the film
Humor: Self-deprecating banter about fantasy football punishment and eyeliner.
In their words
“I will wear the Richie Tenbaum headband.” (0:26:06)
Loves Moneyball as one of his favorite movies of the decade, a baseball obsessive, a fan of Pitt's movie-star presence and Sorkin's writing. Drawn to character studies about unfulfilled promise and process movies. Allergic to self-serious later Miller and to Oscar logic.
Stances
Moneyball is the best sports movie of the decade
Pitt's best performance
Bennett Miller is interested in characters, not sports
Oscars miss the right role
Humor: Deadpan, self-deprecating banter, running gags about Chris Ryan and pants.
In their words
“The best sports movie of the decade, one of the, for my money, the best performance by one of the great movie stars of our generation.” (0:02:37)
Loves tilted, genre-mixing movies (Wild at Heart, Gremlins 2) and mainstream crowd-pleasers he grew up with (Home Alone, Ghost, Total Recall). He kept the draft's logic and also took the Spike Lee Mo' Better Blues as a heartfelt late pick. A sucker for sequels with a point of view and for the Rewatchables tie-in.
Stances
Gremlins 2 is among the cleverest movies about the scary future of America
Wild at Heart is great but not top Lynch
Chose to skip five sequels to New Hollywood classics in the sequel slot
Humor: Dry, deadpan teasing, especially of his co-hosts' drafting mistakes and the Braves.
In their words
“I'm taking David Lynch's Wild at Heart.” (1:11:00)
“one of the cleverest, if not the most clever movie about like the scary future of America” (1:15:14)
“I think misery is the best movie of the bunch.” (0:57:28)
Sean is the Minecraft-business optimist who still admits it is a mediocre movie; he loves a theatrical crowd losing its mind, auteur exercises (Soderbergh), music movies, queer European arthouse thrillers and Canadian cinema (Egoyan). He recommends in bulk, with caveats ('mixed on this, but I want to recommend it'). He's a sucker for the macro story: globalization, China, IP, and the studio math.
Stances
A Minecraft Movie is not a good movie but is an important, essential one
Kids deserve their own movies; chicken jockey gave him life
Theatrical revival needs IP and eventization right now
Film critics (incl. himself) share blame for the superhero glut
Optimistic about April and the studio year despite a bad Q1
Humor: Deadpan thesis-mongering and self-mocking melodrama ('movie bleed out'), with a constant needle for Amanda's habits.
In their words
“I'm excited about what's happened over the weekend and I have so many reasons why.” (0:01:58)
“I'm ove indexed on caring about movies.” (0:52:38)
“But you're right that I am kind of paying a penance because my enthusiasm contributed to leading us to this place.” (0:46:09)
Saw Babygirl three months before the episode and again with his wife, and the second viewing made him want a dog. Names The Brutalist his favorite movie of the year and conducts the Halina Reijn interview. Attribution inside the Hall of Fame draft is uncertain, but the draft voice that reads the filmography, champions Dead Calm and wants to hold a listener vote is probably his.
Stances
Babygirl works best as set pieces, a comedy of manners played straight, not Basic Instinct
The Brutalist is the best film of the year
Pushes Dead Calm into the Hall of Fame (low confidence)
Humor: Dry and needling, prone to pretending to be wounded.
In their words
“I think we should get a dog.” (0:12:02)
“I'm very curious about, uh, the big needle drops.” (2:32:14)
Loves spectacle done with craft and the practical heft of the original Gladiator; counts it just under his top tier of Ridley Scott. Can't stand sloppy CGI animals, soft scripts and legacy sequels that merely restate the original. A sucker for actors committing, a big Mad Max: Fury Road partisan.
Stances
Gladiator II is a huge disappointment and also incredibly entertaining
Denzel Washington is the best thing in it, but Macrinus's villainy was telegraphed
CGI baboons and sharks pull him out of the film; real animals would be better
Wants Ridley Scott to finally win Best Director
Humor: Dry, ringleader-style needling of his co-hosts, with absurd escalations (method-acting baboons, Bitcoin vs. cranking it).
In their words
“how do you communicate that this movie is a huge disappointment to me and also incredibly entertaining.” (0:16:31)
A fan of Chazelle's showy, homage-heavy filmmaking and a self-declared proud member of the Babylon hive. Loves Singin' in the Rain, physical media, genre like Suspiria, and the Immaculate theatrical experience. Can't stand long bad blockbusters, though long ambitious films do not bother him. Hunts movie-night rituals and bits.
Stances
Babylon is a maligned masterpiece and the middle and ending montage hold up
Long movies are fine when they are good; the problem is long bad blockbusters
Movies are best with a crowd and a ritual of focus
Humor: Deadpan tangents and mock-solemn setups (snack lists, bridge-dog theory, fake complaints about the golf scandal) that pull the room off the film and back.
In their words
“Now, listen, I am a proud member of the Babylon Hive.” (2:57:53)
“who's going to show this kid? Suspiria, you know, if not me.” (1:52:01)
“Tell you what, I think I'm a pretty normal guy.” (1:09:04)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
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.
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.
Their claims
Showing 901–1,000 of 1,576 claims.
theme (comparison):
Tom Cruise → Denzel Washington.
Denzel is the closest comparison because of Tony Scott movies, but better actor who also does Shakespeare.
“I think Denzel is probably the closer comparison because he does like a lot of Tony Scott movies”
unmapped (sliding doors):
Taps → Sean Penn.
In Taps Cruise has the Sean Penn-style edgy role he never played again, a different career he could have had.
“it's like a sliding doors moment for what kind of a career Tom Cruise could have had.”
unmapped (villain roles):
Interview with the Vampire → Collateral.
Collateral is called his only straight villain performance, with Lestat as a not-recognizable villain.
“Well, Listat is kind of a villain in interview with the vampire.”
people (auteur credit):
War of the Worlds → Steven Spielberg.
War of the Worlds is out because it is truly a Spielberg movie even though Cruise is terrific.
lineage (sequel):
Jack Reacher → Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
The second Reacher film was directed by Edward Zwick, a reunion with Cruise after The Last Samurai.
industry (franchise strategy):
The Mummy → Mission: Impossible.
The Mummy was Cruise's attempt at a new franchise via Universal's Dark Universe, possibly tied to passing off MI to Renner.
“I need a new franchise, and what I need is the monster verse with universal pictures.”
verdict (ranking):
Minority Report → War of the Worlds.
Of the Spielberg-Cruise films, Minority Report stays on the yellow list over War of the Worlds because one Spielberg is enough.
“I think it's reasonable to include one Spielberg.”
verdict (ranking):
Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Edge of Tomorrow.
Fallout is argued in over Edge of Tomorrow because it cemented Cruise's reinvention and made Top Gun: Maverick possible.
“without fallout being what it is and being as successful.”
lineage (remake):
Nightmare Alley → Nightmare Alley.
The 1947 film is a neutered version given 1940s moviemaking; the new one is bigger, bolder and better.
“It's an interesting movie, a neutered version of the story, I would say, given the circumstances of movie making back in the 40s.”
contrast (same filmmaker, tonal opposite):
Nightmare Alley → The Shape of Water.
Both are Del Toro and Kim Morgan scripts, but this one has no way out where the earlier films stay hopeful.
“Yeah, they're often pretty hopeful and they often look on the bright side, ultimately, and they often feature children kind of emerging from traumatic circumstances.”
verdict (underrated by consistency):
Gene Hackman → Guillermo del Toro.
Both are so reliably amazing that nobody is surprised, so they are under-rewarded.
“Gene Hackman didn't get the amount of Oscar nominations that he deserved only because he because he was always amazing.”
lineage (origin of the project):
Ron Perlman → Nightmare Alley.
Perlman reportedly put the Gresham book in Del Toro's hands in the mid 90s, so he is why the film exists.
“he's the person, I believe, who, uh, who put the book in Del Toro's hands, I think in the mid 90s.”
unmapped (decade trend):
The Long Goodbye → Night Moves.
70s films that take on and almost parody the tone of old noir; cynical yet strangely pie-eyed.
“I'm fascinated by the 70s. taking on and almost almost parodying satirizing the tonality of some of these movies.”
unmapped (self-aware modern noir):
Under the Silver Lake → The Long Goodbye.
The modern noir with a real idea about now, self-parodying like The Long Goodbye.
“similar to that longer buy, sort of like highly self-aware, almost self-parodying aspect, but that is really, really successful.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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.”
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”
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”
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”
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.”
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.”
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.”
theme (theme):
Hobbs & Shaw → Fast Five.
Sean expects the franchise to become expansion titles because Statham and Diesel do not want to make movies together.
“clearly Jason Statham and Vin Diesel don't necessarily want to make a lot of movies together”
fun, about
Bohemian Rhapsody:
Queen's opening felt like a Jones Beach concert you'd see with your mom; and there were as many cutaways to Brian May in the show as in the film.
“It was just sort of like a concert you'd see at Jones Beach, like with your mom.”
fun, about
Die Hard / Red Desert:
His list runs from Fellini and Antonioni to Predator and Die Hard; Fennessey sums it up as Die Hard 8 or a Red Desert remake.
fun, about
Close Encounters of the Third Kind:
Chris moved it up the list mid-conversation after realizing how many ideas are in it; the Lucas/Spielberg wager story.
fun, about
Peter Sellers:
Sellers received a best actor nomination for what are effectively three supporting roles; the speakers think it may be the only such nomination.
“It is such a unique nomination to be like, this guy is the lead of the film because he plays 3 supporting characters in an ensemble.”