Sean loves collecting boutique Blu-rays, a Michael Mann completist, drawn to cult and exploitation titles, and a heavy supporter of Criterion and Arrow. He worries about space and cost, buys sale titles, and hates streaming's impermanence. He is a sucker for beautiful box sets and for completism by director.
Stances
Physical media matters as streaming becomes unreliable
Buy only what carries emotional weight
Be completist about core directors
Humor: Self-mocking addict bits about plastic, black tar heroin, and an ethical non-monogamy riff.
In their words
“I'm a little bit like teetering on the brink of like black tar heroin” (0:07:25)
“Really focus in on things that have emotional weight” (1:11:06)
Loves author-driven art cinema and international films (Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days, Taste of Things) and is moved by sincere, vulnerable movies like All of Us Strangers, though he stops short of calling it a five-star masterpiece. Respects Andrew Haigh's directness. Can be a sucker for the Rewatchables and Ringer in-jokes. Disdains flat, obviously written films like Rustin and the Oscars' short-term thinking about moments and speeches.
Stances
Predicts via chalk plus a few contrarian bets (Glazer over Payne)
Argues the director, not the producer-spouse, should give the final acceptance speech
Believes All of Us Strangers works only if you stay with the feeling and do not dissect it
Reluctant remake critic: gives IP echoing a pass for a new generation
Humor: Dry, deadpan banter with Amanda, running bits (7 AM garage pod, Yasi Salix promise) and mock-promos.
In their words
“It's not, it's not a sunbeam.” (1:04:29)
“I think if you, if you, like see the movie and respect the movie in its totality, I find it to be very effective.” (1:10:17)
“I have a dead mom and a weird relationship with my dad.” (1:10:38)
Loves auteurs and the desolate, we-are-all-alone Lanthimos films like The Lobster and Sacred Deer, ranks Killers of the Flower Moon a masterpiece, and is a big PTA, Haynes and Past Lives fan. Prefers stars with old-school physicality and wants Ruffalo and Sterling K. Brown honored. Gets irritated at shifts away from what he loves, e.g. Payne and Lanthimos pivoting.
Stances
Poor Things is excellent but 'lags' on second watch and the ship section is stuck in neutral
Zone of Interest is a borderline masterpiece but under-seen
Oppenheimer's third hour is the weak point
Questions the Oppenheimer frontrunner status: 'noted skeptic' of the clipboard
Humor: Deadpan, self-mocking bits about his own ego, fitness ignorance, and ranking-rule disputes with Amanda.
In their words
“I think it's a borderline masterpiece that like 180 people.” (1:34:15)
“It's very, very unusual for an American movie star to be in like 14 sex scenes in a movie” (0:36:57)
Loves the Mann of Thief and The Insider, and the dialogue-rich classical side. Has struggled with Mann's last 15 years, calling Miami Vice and Ferrari kin. Sucker for lists and the Mann mythology.
Stances
Thief is Mann's best
Ferrari is good, in the same zone as Miami Vice
Mann is in a late-career box office squeeze
Humor: Dry, needling and fond, especially at Chris's expense.
In their words
“I think Miami Vice and Ferrari are kind of right in the same zone.” (0:48:14)
“this is the last time he feels like young.” (0:51:55)
Loves Fincher fiercely and Fincher's control-freak process; reads The Killer as a repressed-emotion thesis statement. Delights in jokes, set pieces and filmmaking mechanics, and gets nervous about getting a beloved movie wrong. Can't stand cynical dismissals of the film as slight.
Stances
The Killer is an emotional movie about a man avenging a wounded loved one
It is his favorite film of the year and a complete piece of movie-making
Fincher's work is thematically coherent around people who repress feelings
Humor: Self-deprecating and performative, riffing on being compared to Fincher the control freak.
In their words
“I think this might be my favorite movie of the year.” (0:04:39)
“the second time I was like, this is the thesis statement for all of his repressed feelings” (0:07:07)
Loves Scorsese's big, immersive late-period epics and long historical megadramas (The English Patient is one of his favorites, he says); thinks Goodfellas will always outrank Silence or Killers for him. Wants studios to spend on practical craft such as Jack Fisk's sets instead of VFX. Can't stand excuses about runtime and Oppenheimer as a rival to Killers.
Stances
Killers of the Flower Moon is a masterpiece after two viewings
Runtime complaints are a non-argument
Making Ernest a conflicted figure is what makes it great Scorsese
Picks Killers' ambiguity about love as the central question
Humor: Dry needling of Amanda, mock-pompous pronouncements, and a running Oppenheimer bit.
In their words
“I think it's a masterpiece.” (0:02:23)
“It's a complete non-argument.” (1:19:03)
“So do you not want a Martin Scorsese movie?” (1:19:06)
Loves ambitious, big swings and craft: Nope at number one, Babylon, Tar, and big engineered blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick. Responds to blunt, shocking horror (he has recommended Speak No Evil repeatedly) and is wary of Park Chan-wook and Chazelle's La La Land. Less taken with quiet interregnum films like The Eternal Daughter. Sucker for theater experiences and auteurs spending studio money on something personal.
Stances
Nope is his number one and a better movie than Top Gun: Maverick in terms of what it asks of the viewer
Babylon is bold and bravura despite flaws
Top Gun: Maverick is a beautifully engineered vehicle he does not need to overthink
Tar is a Rorschach test film
Humor: Dry, self-aware; builds comic set pieces around his own mood and cocktail-party logistics and pretends to circle Nope like Mav circling a MiG.
In their words
“Okay, I don't know how I can match the energy of Top Gun Maverick, but my number one is nope.” (1:29:39)
“This film has that. It was really bad, though.” (0:40:57)
He loves Ryan Coogler's movies and rated the first Black Panther a major accomplishment inside a Marvel structure. He wants real-world themes and a clear sense of place, and gets disappointed when Marvel films feel contorted or overstaffed. He's a sucker for the idea of a leaner movie that says one thing well.
Stances
Wakanda Forever felt like it had a Chadwick Boseman shaped hole and was contorting itself
Strong bookends but a muddled middle
Ironheart felt like a cynical Kevin Feige insertion
Would rather a narrower film about Shuri, Wakanda succession and Namor
Humor: Dry host who needles his guest and co-host while conducting the show.
In their words
“I felt that there was a Chadwick Boseman shaped hole in the movie” (0:05:05)
“we're like an hour and 40 minutes into the movie before I'm like, oh, wow, this is actually about this” (0:19:18)
“Game of Thrones was very good at posing who should be the heir.” (1:06:00)
Sean loves Cameron the schemer who wins and is a Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar believer who rewatched Avatar in theaters. He is a box-office and awards-season nerd, dubious that the long tail Avatar had in 2009 can repeat. He is a sucker for a movie that simply works and for director talk.
Stances
Avatar is good and it works because its single story is engineered like machinery
Hollywood misread Avatar
The sequels' success depends on the long tail and not on franchise homework
Humor: Dry host banter, nicknaming Cameron 'Big Jim' and teasing Griffin and David about stealing material.
In their words
“Like, he is the ultimate, like, con artist whose con is real.” (0:30:08)
“I'm always so interested in high-level schemers who actually win.” (0:30:00)
“Okay, this leads me to the most important question of this podcast.” (0:56:49)
A music-journalist-turned-film-critic who loves Elvis's music as a skeleton key to American pop and loves Steven Soderbergh and Todd Haynes. He finds Luhrmann's maximalism overwhelming and Parker framing a failure, prefers biopics that skip the rise, and is a sucker for the performance-forward, auteur-driven ones.
Stances
Elvis is a mess, with Tom Hanks's Parker a baffling failure
Rises in biopics are dull; wants more Fat Elvis
Likes cerebral, conceptual deconstructions of musicians (I'm Not There)
Walk Hard is a five-star movie
Humor: Dry and exasperated, deflating pretension with throwaway one-liners and affectionate teasing of co-hosts.
In their words
“I do think of it more as that, you know, image deconstruction” (1:15:13)
“I wish there was a little bit more Fat Elvis in the film Elvis.” (0:47:24)
“I really didn't love the movie at all.” (0:05:00)
Loves Tom Cruise as movie star above all, and the old-style entertaining Hollywood movie. Pushes Scorsese, Kubrick and PTA, and pulls for Collateral and Magnolia. Can't stand Cruise coasting or being too reserved; sentimental about Legend.
Stances
Cruise is the movie star of his lifetime, not necessarily a great actor
Hall of Fame should combine importance, relevance, achievement and idiosyncratic love
Fallout must be in because it makes Maverick possible
Humor: Mock-politician bits about running the draft, and absurd cultural references.
In their words
“I think that there's probably 5 films in his career that are like locked down the greenest green you've ever seen in your life” (0:52:04)
Loves doom and bleakness in his movies and has a taste for cynical noir. Initially lukewarm on Nightmare Alley, he rewatched it four times and became a champion. Likes 70s noir revisionism and under-the-radar modern noir such as Under the Silver Lake.
Stances
Nightmare Alley is bigger, bolder and better than the 1947 version
Del Toro's visual excess is the point, not a flaw
Noir is coming back into vogue
Great movies often flop and get rediscovered
Humor: Dry and conversational; he teases Patton's range and drops film trivia as a quick aside.
In their words
“As listeners of the show know, I absolutely love doom in my movies.” (0:05:01)
“I watched it again. And then I watched a 3rd time.” (0:02:57)
Loves the 80s comedies, Ivan Reitman movies, Local Hero, Totoro and Pee-wee, and deeply moving small family films like Come On, Come On. Can't stand nostalgia strip-mined into product placement. Sucker for movies tied to when he saw them and for parent-child stories.
Stances
Afterlife betrays what made the original special
Feel-good movies are about when you see them
Come On, Come On is a highest recommendation
Humor: Wry, nerdy asides about production credits and mock-grandiose declarations.
In their words
“I feel very bent out of shape about it.” (0:03:14)
“this is like my highest possible recommendation.” (0:35:37)
Admires craft, spectacle and set pieces but is not a car guy or a Vin Diesel fan. Likes tonal wit and context from filmmaker careers. Can't stand needless world-building homework.
Stances
Fast is as good as its set pieces
Fast & Furious is not built for him
Hobbs & Shaw is last
Humor: Dry and ringmaster-ish, jokes about ruling the show with an iron fist.
Loves tightly engineered, kinetic filmmaking and sharp dialogue (Reservoir Dogs reorganized his brain chemistry) and filmmakers who arrive fully formed. Respects Soderbergh and Aronofsky. Quick to see craft lineage between directors and enthusiastic about unfussy, carefully built genre.
Stances
Reservoir Dogs is #1 despite it being a second feature
Sees Hard Eight as a great but harder first film
Glazer, Coppola, Singleton belong near the top
Oscars should try something weird this year
Humor: Dry and quick: sets up bits with Amanda and teases Brian for forgetting Soderbergh was born in the 60s.
In their words
“I probably would certainly not be doing it.” (1:17:53)
“I choose darkness.” (0:10:19)
“I wish that there was a movie like Mother coming out this year, honestly.” (1:06:59)
Loves canonical 1970s American cinema (Network, All the President's Men), the Hitchcock and Kubrick end of the dial, Japanese cinema (Mifune), and golf and sports documentaries as an avowed golf fan. He rewatches movies as comfort food even when they are not comforting (True Romance, Clerks, 12 Monkeys). He is a sucker for classic stars like Jimmy Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Ingrid Bergman and for rediscovering neglected directors like Preston Sturges.
Stances
The Academy is wrong more often than not, and it is the show's animating force
Classic filmmakers like Sturges are slipping through the cracks of the canon
Great actors should get their Oscars in their time
Unauthorized documentaries like Tiger trade access for candor
Humor: Mock-grandiose and self-aggrandizing, deadpan about his own obsessiveness (fact-checking Scorsese, threatening to lie on the floor).
In their words
“I think we're all agreed that more often than not, the academy is wrong.” (0:40:47)
“I have a poisoned brain.” (1:00:45)
“We need to reward the actors in their time for their great performances.” (0:44:17)
Prefers Sorkin on the big screen over the West Wing and ranks by sheer entertainment and rewatchability; loves Fincher-era Sorkin, A Few Good Men, Moneyball and Steve Jobs, and thinks Sorkin shines when paired with a dark-hearted collaborator. Skeptical of Sorkin's politics and of Chicago 7's smallness; wants the filmmaking sharper.
Stances
Sorkin is at his best with darker directors like Fincher and Bennett Miller
Chicago 7 is entertaining but politically small and Sorkin is not yet a filmmaker for action scenes
Social Network is the best movie of the decade and possibly Sorkin's best script
Humor: Dry and self-deprecating, with mock-grievance about not being invited on The Rewatchables.
In their words
“I would not put it in the top tier.” (1:29:59)
“He's an interesting counterweight, I think, to Oliver Stone” (0:30:43)
“he's he's not quite there yet as a filmmaker.” (1:42:37)
Sean wants command of everything: he watches about three movies a night, keeps a Netflix DVD queue and a 1000-plus film list, and treats director filmographies (Hitchcock, De Palma, Wachowskis) as projects. He champions unloved movies he thinks are secretly good (Last Action Hero, Mother!, A Cure for Wellness, Marie Antoinette), likes Garland over Nolan on a hypothetical budget, and admires effortless, tasteful careers like Paul Newman's. Not into 'so bad it's good' cult culture or into talking down animated films.
Stances
Bad movies worth loving are rescued reputations, not wrecks like Battleship
Would take another Alex Garland film over another Nolan film
Movie business as it was is over and will restart; theaters will come back
Streaming democratizes criticism but lowers the floor
Will not do a top five movies of all time
Humor: Dry, self-mocking obsessiveness: explains his absurd systems and then insists he is right, and trades jabs at Amanda and Chris.
In their words
“I'm a member of every significant streaming service.” (0:21:45)
“my version of a bad movies podcast is not me reveling in the badness, the shittiness of battleship.” (1:08:32)
“I'm never doing top 5 movies of all time.” (0:40:57)
“I'm always kind of obsessed with the Palma” (0:18:37)
Loves a charming 90s Disney musical and the music-driven storytelling he finds in them, big Christopher Nolan and The Last Jedi defender. Cannot stand tonal mush or movies made for everybody and nobody. Sucker for Donnie Yen and film business context like the Chinese box office.
Stances
The remake does not know what was good about the original
Magic and wuxia trappings read as a bid for the Chinese box office
Wishes the film were more grounded and historical
Interested in the business and politics around the release
Humor: Dry and self-deprecating, leaning on bits like 'a 38-year-old man' watching Mulan and Amanda's Tenet claim.
In their words
“I'm a 38-year-old man and I probably shouldn't be watching Mulan 1998 version at this stage of my life.” (0:17:57)
“I think Mulan is kind of what happens when you don't really know what's good about your movie.” (0:26:03)
Loves inventive, maximalist filmmaking where rhythm and music drive the staging, and film as a time capsule of future stars. Cares about directors' careers as a whole. Allergic to studio flattening of weird ideas.
Stances
Scott Pilgrim predicted a lot of pop culture
Baby Driver does not exist without it
A sequel should center Knives
Humor: Dry and wry, mostly through overstatement and tongue-in-cheek asides like comparing the sequence to a 2x podcast speed.
In their words
“I've never really seen that before, something that saw the future in this way.” (0:03:36)
“there is no baby driver without this movie in terms of like the rhythm and the pacing and the way that he uses music.” (0:39:06)
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 1,001–1,100 of 1,576 claims.
industry (industry):
Nomadland → Producers Guild Awards.
The PGAs have predicted most recent Best Picture winners, pointing to a Nomadland sweep.
“the PGAs have predicted 15 of the past 20 best picture winners”
programming (programming):
Errol Morris → Citizen Kane.
The Academy hired Errol Morris for short documentaries, one of which produced Donald Trump misreading Citizen Kane.
“he completely misreads Citizen Kane and misunderstands it and then kind of sort of predicts his own future in some respects”
lineage (lineage):
Sex, Lies, and Videotape → Brick.
Sex, Lies, and Videotape came out 17 or 18 years before Brick and felt like a different generation.
contrast (contrast):
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang → Ex Machina.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is Shane Black's thing, while Garland came from nowhere and arrived fully formed.
“Which is whereas whereas Kiss, Kiss, K Bang, Bang, is Shane Black's thing.”
people (people):
Being John Malkovich → Charlie Kaufman.
Sean sees Jonze and Kaufman as two artists who needed each other; Jonze made Kaufman's abstract ideas literal.
“Spike really was able to visualize and literalize a lot of Charlie's ideas, which are so abstract”
lineage (lineage):
Hard Eight (Sydney) → Jonathan Demme.
The into-camera close-ups in the diner are Demme-like; it is like Scorsese and Demme together.
“It's like if Scorsese and Demi made something together in a lot of ways.”
career (career):
Hard Eight (Sydney) → Boogie Nights.
Seeing Hard Eight after Boogie Nights was like a first album that got bigger distribution once the second took off.
“It was a little bit of a like 1st album, 2nd album thing”
contrast (contrast):
Hard Eight (Sydney) → Boogie Nights.
Boogie Nights is about being young, Hard Eight about getting older, so it was the harder first film to see.
“Boogie Nights is about being young and heart 8 is about getting older”
verdict (verdict):
Inglourious Basterds → Pulp Fiction.
One host puts Basterds first and Pulp Fiction second among Tarantino's films, behind both Reservoir Dogs.
“I feel like Bastards is number one, pretty clearly, and Pulp Pickers is number 2 pretty clearly.”
theme (theme):
Tiger → Earl Woods.
The first half frames Earl as a Dr. Frankenstein making Tiger into a monster of power and emotional danger.
“to show Earl Woods, his father, as the kind of Dr. Frankenstein, and making Tiger Woods into this kind of Frankenstein monster, for better and for worse”
contrast (contrast):
Tiger → The Last Dance.
Unlike The Last Dance, where Jordan and his team were producers with some control, Tiger is unauthorized and Woods does not sit for it.
“this is interesting, especially as a contrast of the last dance, which was, of course, the last big super sports documentary of recent times that wasn't authorized piece in which Michael Jordan and his compatriots were on board his producers.”
lineage (lineage):
Tiger → O.J.: Made in America.
Audiences are conditioned by Made in America and The Last Dance to expect soup-to-nuts sports documentaries that are really about larger ideas.
“we have become conditioned, in part because of OJ made in America, in part because of the last dance, to get this soup to nuts kind of story.”
theme (theme):
The Last Dance → O.J.: Made in America.
Both look bigger than their nominal subject: The Last Dance spans many years of Bulls teams, Made in America covers race in America over 60 years.
“O.J. Made in America is not just a story about O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson and that murder.”
lineage (lineage):
Pretend It's a City → Public Speaking.
Scorsese's 2010 HBO Lebowitz documentary was far more formalist than the loose Netflix series.
“There was a Martin Scorsese documentary about Fran Leboitz in 2010 called public speaking that aired on HBO.”
people (people):
Martin Scorsese → Fran Lebowitz.
Scorsese's affection for his friend Lebowitz mirrors the speaker's own urge to platform brilliant friends like Chris Ryan.
“I can feel and Scorsese, the same urges with Fran Leboitz, where he's just like, my friend is so cool and funny.”
industry (industry):
Malcolm & Marie → 1917.
Like 1917 last year, Malcolm & Marie is a late-entrant Oscar movie that is suddenly competing everywhere with a ready-made narrative.
“This is definitely what 1917 was to the Oscar race last year, the kind of late entrant that's like, oh, okay, this is competing in every category and is going to be really noisy”
people (people):
Malcolm & Marie → Zendaya.
The speaker finds undoubtedly amazing performances from Washington and Zendaya in an overwritten but beautiful film.
“undoubtedly amazing performances from Washington and Zendaya.”
“I think that Malcolm and Marie and Jews and the Black Messiah are probably the 2 big, this kind of showed up late to the party and are going to change the constitution of the nominations”
what-if (what-if):
The Godfather Part II → Harry and Tonto.
Pacino beating Art Carney at the 1975 Oscars could have broken the habit of giving great actors their Oscars two decades late.
“I think we could have just changed the arc of history, if we had given Pacino best actor for Godfather 2 in 1975 instead of Art Carney for Harry and Tonto.”
career (career):
Al Pacino → The Godfather Part II.
Speculating how an early Oscar might have altered Pacino's wild 1980s and later money-driven career.
“I just know that his performance in the Godfather Part 2 is arguably the greatest performance in the history of movies.”
craft (craft):
Full Metal Jacket → Stanley Kubrick.
The boot-camp first hour is cited as one of the great first halves of any movie; the Vietnam second half is very good with Kubrick hallmarks.
“that 1st hour is funny, terrifying, emotionally wrenching.”
lineage (lineage):
Preston Sturges → Nora Ephron.
Sturges's writer-first absurdist romantic comedy style influenced Ephron, James Brooks and Albert Brooks.
“obviously, like the Nora Efron of the world were really influenced by Sturgis movies, um, as were like James Brooks and, you know, the people like Albert Brooks”
contrast (contrast):
Preston Sturges → Howard Hawks.
Sturges lacks the restored, boxed-set iconography that Hitchcock, Ford, Kurosawa and Fellini enjoy.
“the way that, like, Hitchcock and John Ford and Akira Kurosawa, like, they're not slipping through the cracks.”
contrast (contrast):
Casablanca → Sullivan's Travels.
Casablanca still means something to the American moviegoer, while a Preston Sturges carousel on HBO Max would mean nothing to most.
“is there a carousel on HBO Max that says the Preston Sturgis collection? And does that mean anything to anyone?”
career (career):
Burt Lancaster → Sweet Smell of Success.
Lancaster dared to play hated characters and pursue strange films, especially Sweet Smell of Success.
“his willingness to be hated as a character in movies, especially sweet smell of success, but many of his movies.”
career (career):
Toshiro Mifune → Sanjuro.
Sanjuro is the second Sanjuro-character film after Yojimbo, and Mifune is the most fun person to watch on screen.
“I just rewatched Sunjuro, which is the 2nd movie after Yojimbo about the Sunjuro character, and he is just a lightning bolt.”
programming (programming):
Holiday → Bringing Up Baby.
Holiday was long out of circulation and is now on the Criterion Channel, likely prompting the question.
“a lot of people have been watching holiday because that had been out of circulation and is now on the criterion collection”
career (career):
Penny Serenade → None but the Lonely Heart.
Scorsese claims None but the Lonely Heart was Grant's only acting nomination, but he was also nominated for Penny Serenade, both when Grant was trying to break the persona.
“Carrie Grant has 2 Academy Award nominations in his career. For 2 movies that very few people have seen that are our age, none but the lonely heart and penny serenade.”
industry (industry):
Wonder Woman 1984 → Trolls World Tour.
Studios should release straight to VOD and live with unknown numbers; the likely VOD hits are Trolls World Tour, Tenet and The Croods 2.
“Trolls World Tour and Tenet and the Crudes 2 and a handful of other movies that if you just pull up, you know, iTunes or Amazon Prime right now, you'll see are dominating the charts.”
craft (craft):
Eyes Wide Shut → Stanley Kubrick.
The set would mean a long shoot with a great filmmaker, two stars in an actual marriage and untold stories.
“obviously you've got one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, 2 of our favorite stars in the midst of a marriage and a film about the potential dissolution of a marriage”
career (career):
Prisoner of the Ghostland → Sion Sono.
Sono, whose Why Don't You Play in Hell? and Tokyo Tribe are wild, teams with Nicolas Cage on an action movie.
“Prisoner of the Ghostland, which is a Sian Sono team up with Nicholas Cage.”
lineage (lineage):
Tiger → The Last Dance.
The interviewer says Tiger sits in league with Made in America and The Last Dance as sprawling psychological athlete profiles.
“We've seen now with OJ Made in America and the last dance, these kind of sprawling, complex psychological profiles, really, of these historic athletes.”
craft (craft):
Aaron Sorkin → David Fincher.
Sorkin excels when meeting a dark-hearted collaborator such as Fincher.
“I think that when he meets very darkhearted figures, either in the characters he's creating or in his counterparts creatively, like David Fincher, that's when he excels.”
contrast (contrast):
The Social Network → Zodiac.
Social Network was one host's top Fincher film; the Fincher podcast chose Zodiac as the purest Fincher.
craft (craft):
The Social Network → David Fincher.
Sorkin excels when paired with a dark-hearted counterpart like Fincher; the sum is greater than the parts.
“the magic in this is what happens when you put together like a just fantastic.”
programming (programming):
A Few Good Men → Network.
It is in the conversation for most rewatched movie of a lifetime, next to Network, Oz, Godfather, Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction.
contrast (contrast):
A Few Good Men → The Caine Mutiny.
It is a conventional military courtroom drama like The Caine Mutiny, yet has special energy due to Sorkin.
“some very good movies like the King Mutiny, some very mediocre movies like Rules of Engagement.”
theme (theme):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → A Few Good Men.
Both are courtroom dramas of principled argument; Cruise's charisma is key and Chicago 7 needs scene-chewers too.
“You have to have people that want to gnaw on the scenery, that want to yell, that want to be in the center of the frame.”
lineage (lineage):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → Medium Cool.
The Chicago trial and DNC events were told before in Haskell Wexler's part-documentary Medium Cool.
“Medium cool, Haskell Wexler's part documentary, part narrative feature in 1969 kind of reflects on the events at the DNC that year.”
lineage (lineage):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → Chicago 10.
The trial was also rendered in Brett Morgen's animated documentary Chicago 10, the HBO movie and Bananas.
“You can see it in a Brett Morgan animated documentary called Chicago 10.”
programming (programming):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → Moonlight.
Moonlight is the model of a film that was right for its moment, against which Chicago 7's timeliness is weighed.
“I always felt like Moonlight was a movie for its time in a very sentimental way”
contrast (contrast):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → Oliver Stone.
Chicago 7 raises the question of whether entertainment can justify itself on politics, as with Stone's films.
“as I said before about Oliver Stone and all of his other things, I think there's an interesting question here, like, is this movie entertaining enough to justify itself”
contrast (contrast):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → MC5.
The film's mix of faux-60s rock guitar and syrupy film score is faulted; MC5 is what the moment really sounded like and what a radical protester listened to.
“he has this like simulacra, like 60s rock and roll score where there's like electric tar combined with this very syrupy film music score.”
verdict (verdict):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → Aaron Sorkin.
Good and entertaining, worth watching, but politically small and the filmmaking not sharp enough.
programming (programming):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → Mank.
Chicago 7 is a big fat fastball for the Oscars alongside Mank, Nomadland and Hillbilly Elegy.
“this is a big fat, fastball right down the middle.”
industry (industry):
Soul → Disney.
Soul skipping theaters for free Disney+ release shows Disney+ is aimed at kids and families and keeps subscribers from churning.
“it's a reason to not let your subscription lapse”
fun, about
Jack Black:
Sean's gloss on Black's character: Steve is the Christopher Columbus of Minecraft, an interloper colonizing a land he did not originate.
“He's sort of the Christopher Columbus of the Minecraft world, I would say.”
fun, about
Misericordia:
Murder in movies is elegant and thrilling; this film is closer to real murder: blunt, quiet, distancing. Sean calls it a movie for the sickos.
fun, about
The Ballad of Wallace Island:
A fan pays a once-famous duo to play on a private island for him alone; it sounds creepy but is the sweetest movie Sean saw all year, maybe too sweet.
“In fact, it's probably the sweetest movie I've seen this.”
fun, about
The Ballad of Wallace Island:
Sean's Franz Ferdinand story: he spent an afternoon in the lead singer's apartment while profiling them, and has loved the band ever since.
“I was hanging out in the lead singers apartment for the day.”
fun, about
The Assessment:
Alicia Vikander plays an adult assessor who acts as a three-year-old in the couple's house; she nails the tantrums and defiance.
fun, about
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl:
Sean saw it with a packed house; a woman finds her dead uncle in the road, with serious tone and absurdist touches.
“Um, I solicit idiots in a pack with a packed house and had a really good experience seeing it.”
fun, about
Presence (Soderbergh):
Soderbergh, as camera-ghost, tiptoeing around the house in grippy socks; a metaphor for how he sees himself, a ghost haunting humanity.
fun, about
Nicole Kidman:
Her Letterboxd four favorites were Clueless, The Piano Teacher, The Piano and A Woman Under the Influence, though guests are tipped off beforehand to prep.
“Um, you know, I love Letterbox, but they're, these people are getting tipped off beforehand that they're going to get asked by Letterbox, so they're prepping.”
fun, about
Moulin Rouge!:
A rant against the film, singing Smells Like Teen Spirit in a can-can, from a host who says it makes him want to be shot in the face.
“But with turn of the 20th century, France singing smells like teen spirit in a can can.”
fun, about
Babygirl:
The dog-and-cookie scene: Samuel calms a dog with a cookie, then offers her one. In Sean's screening that is where the laughter started.
“In my screening, that's when everyone started laughing was the, do you want one scene with the cookie?”
fun, about
Gladiator:
Chris calls the original arguably the last truly practical blockbuster, right before Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Spider-Man.
“it's arguably the last truly practical blockbuster.”
fun, about
Gladiator II:
Lucius being Maximus's son: Maximus slept with Lucilla while having his own kid, which the panel finds funny in a strength-and-honor way.
“Well, it's also just like, that means Maximus was like fucking Lucilla right when he was having his own kid.”
fun, about
Denzel Washington:
Denzel is both multi-Oscar-nominated and the surest box-office draw who skips Marvel, and here plays a bisexual, earring-wearing schemer.
“He's really struck this harmonious balance in his 70s of being wildly acclaimed multi-Oscar nominated actor.”
fun, about
Denzel Washington:
Denzel's Esquire as-told-to piece about getting sober, plus his Oscar-voting jabs, made this an unusually fun promo cycle.
“he did this esquire as told 2 piece that is fascinating about his life and getting sober”
fun, about
Gladiator II:
Real monkey business: Dondus the monkey really did nibble fruit and, per the panel, relieve himself on Fred Hechinger's shoulder.
“That was a monkey shitting on Fred Heckinger's shoulder.”
fun, about
Babylon:
The cold open joke: the show's tagline is replaced with a gag about who wants to see someone's dad fight a snake, referencing the film's rattlesnake scene.
“And this is the Big Picture, a conversation show about who wants to see my dad fight a fucking snake?”
fun, about
Babylon:
Framing of the whole movie as a 'we're so back, it's so over' manifestation: everything good and bad about Hollywood and the 21st-century promise of movies.
“this movie is the perfect manifestation of, we're so back, it's so over.”
fun, about
Oppenheimer 4K:
The Oppenheimer 4K and Blu-ray sold out; a Variety piece by Todd Gilchrist covered it, and Nolan urged buying physical copies over streaming.
“they had sold out and people were like, we've never seen this before.”
fun, about
Wings of Desire:
Wim Wenders told Sean the film's negative was wrong, and he and his DP and editor always knew; the restored version is the intended one.
fun, about
Black Hat:
The Arrow Black Hat 4K includes a recut with a significant sequence moved to the front, making it more coherent but maybe less disorienting.
fun, about
Zulawski box set (Eureka):
Eureka box with The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, On the Silver Globe; waited for a sale under $50 and loved all three.
“there is an Andrews, uh, Andre Zalowski box set that Eureka makes, but possession's not in it.”
fun, about
Indicator Boetticher box:
Daughter adopted the colorful Indicator Budd Boetticher Westerns box as her favorite toy without seeing any of the films.
fun, about
Oscars 2024:
Amanda delayed the birth of her child for the Oscar nominations announcement, and the hosts joke they are first responders for awards.
“the woman who delayed the birth of her child for the Oscar nominations announcement.”
fun, about
Mickey 17:
Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho, Robert Pattinson) has been undated by Warner Bros.; hosts debate whether it is awards timing, Dune 2, or Zaslav, and note Pattinson gets parental leave.
“my number one most anticipated movie of 2024 has been undated”
fun, about
Maestro (Bradley Cooper):
Cooper learned crane technique from del Toro for the On the Town sequence; the hosts joke about him buying a farm near Gigi Hadid and say they should remake Witness together.
“They should they should remake witness together.”
fun, about
Poor Things (script of the sex scenes):
Sean notes Emma Stone is in about 14 sex scenes and as nude as a major American star rarely is; second viewing, Amanda found there were too many.
“It's very, very unusual for an American movie star to be in like 14 sex scenes in a movie”
fun, about
Poor Things (Jerrod Carmichael):
The hosts agree Carmichael, a funny stand-up, is miscast; he is deadpan in a movie whose cast bounces off McNamara's rhythm.
fun, about
Poor Things (socialist line):
Bella says she and her friends are 'our own means of production'; the hosts credit it as a clever moment and tease Bobby and Amanda's politics.
fun, about
Poor Things / The Da Vinci Code:
A riff on Bella's inverted-triangle hair leads to asking whether Bella is Robert Langdon's great-grandmother.
“Is Bella, Dr. Robert Langdon's great grandmother.”
fun, about
The Big Picture:
A joke at the end: a live audition for the next producer, plus plans for an Iron Claw episode and a possible New Year's Eve Aquaman 2 solo.
“Raw audio. Maybe we should have a live audition for the next producer of the big picture.”
fun, about
The Killer:
Opening hit: the killer needs heart rate below 60, kills a woman instead of the target, then flees by rented scooter to change in a dirty tire-shop bathroom.
fun, about
The Killer:
The killer's work playlist is only The Smiths, on an iPod nano; others include a yoga playlist. He listens to Girlfriend in a Coma while buying a trash bucket at Home Depot to put a body in.
“he is listening to girlfriend in a coma when he goes to a Home Depot to buy a trash bucket to put a dead body in.”
fun, about
The Killer:
The killer's disguise is inspired by a German tourist: bucket hat and khaki jumpsuit, which is basically what Fincher wore to the Q&A.
“he wears a bucket hat in a kind of khaki jumpsuit, which is basically what David Fincher wore to the Q and A after the film.”
fun, about
The Killer:
The killer's aliases are all 70s sitcom character names (Archie Bunker among them), a gag the hosts say lands because nobody checks anything anymore.
“they are all names of 70s sitcom characters, which is an incredible joke”
fun, about
The Killer:
New Orleans: Charles Parnell's secretary zip-ties herself on his orders and begs not to be disappeared so her kids get the life insurance; the killer thinks 'forbid empathy.' Her car scream is the film's one non-subjective moment.
fun, about
The Killer:
The Green River killer quote at the open echoes the band Green River, who were not on Sub Pop, so 'it all comes back to grunge.'
“there was a band named Green River that was not signed to subpop.”
fun, about
Killers of the Flower Moon:
At 3:26 on 3,800 screens it may be the longest widely released movie of the century, and a live check of Gettysburg (4:21) gets no theatrical box office listing.
“I am live Googling Gettysburg, the movie, the 1993 film.”
fun, about
Killers of the Flower Moon:
The Lily Gladstone and DiCaprio dining-room promo still that became a meme for years turns out to be one of the movie's two or three most important scenes, and plays differently in motion.
“It is also like one of the 2 or 3 most important scenes in the movie.”
fun, about
Killers of the Flower Moon:
The coda is a 1930s FBI-sponsored radio show with sound-effects men, a live orchestra, and Jack White; Scorsese appears on screen reading Molly's obituary and adds that there was no mention of the murders.
“Martin Scorsese shows up on the screen. Um, as Marty, basically. And um, and reads her obituary.”
fun, about
Rodrigo Prieto:
The cinematographer also shot Taylor Swift videos and may DP her forthcoming directed feature; hosts float having him on during Oscar season.
“he's also shot a few Taylor Swift videos and may or may not be the DP on the forthcoming Taylor Swift directed feature film.”
fun, about
Jack Fisk:
Per an NYT Magazine piece, Grann saw Fisk had researched how billiard halls kept score; Sean wants him to build a billiard-room barbershop for the Ringer.
“every studio executive listening, you need to stop spending your $250 million on garbage VFX and you need to spend it on Jack Fisk, just building shit.”