Sean Fennessey

81 sketches, 1,576 claims, and 559 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Showing 1–20 of 81 sketches.

The Rewatchables: ‘Domestic Disturbance’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Appreciates craftspeople and lesser-known directors (loves The Boost and City Hall) and attends Cannes. Scrutinizes plot logic and loves Buscemi's Fargo energy. Disdains the garage finale.

Stances

  • The movie works until the murder, then the investigation sinks it
  • Modern tech would have ended the plot
  • Harold Becker's career deserves a look

Humor: Wry, uses film-nerd references and dry understatement.

In their words

  • “I just saw it for the 1st time this year is amazing.” (0:30:27)
  • “I just feel like reverse image search alone on a photo of Rick just ends this whole thing.” (1:08:35)

The Rewatchables: ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey (host)

Treats After Hours as a top-5 Scorsese and an all-time favorite; loves style, Pee-wee-adjacent oddballs, Frances Ha and film-history research. Can't stand lazy comic-book flatness or explicit violence for its own sake. A sucker for homage, trivia and a clean pace.

Stances

  • After Hours is a hinge in Scorsese's career
  • Goodfellas' look starts here
  • Pauline Kael misread it
  • Nighttime New York movies are a lineage

Humor: Dry, researched asides and a New Yorker's grumble about the city changing.

In their words

  • “It's just a hinge movie for him, you know?” (1:41:36)
  • “Bad take by polling.” (0:42:40)

The Rewatchables: ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan (host)

Barely audible in the transcript; credited by Bill's live-show promo and addressed as 'Fantasy', he offers short remarks on Spider Rico. Little can be said about his taste from this episode.

Stances

  • Don't sleep on Spider Rico

Humor: Minimal evidence in this transcript.

In their words

  • “Fantasy, don't sleep on Spider Rico.” (1:07:42)

The Rewatchables: ‘Pulp Fiction’ (Part 2) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Admires Walken's monologue craft and Tarantino's refusal to sell out. Likes movie stars taking risks in non-star roles (Stallone in Cop Land). Dislikes how the film ends up with Fabienne.

Stances

  • Walken wins the Dion Waiters Award
  • Travolta, not Day-Lewis, was right
  • Tarantino never sold out

Humor: Quiet, wry one-liners; takes the long view.

In their words

  • “Don't massage my wife's foot unless you're a professional masseuse is one of my takes.” (0:10:40)
  • “I love when movie stars play non-movie star roles.” (2:41:43)
  • “Having him play like just one normal hitman having a weird day would be awesome.” (1:39:01)

The Rewatchables: ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’ With Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey (host)

Likes the sketch-driven silliness and Mini-Me/Scott Evil feud. Annoyed by Fat Bastard's grossness and Felicity sleeping with him. Likes Rob Lowe's resilient career.

Stances

  • Fat Bastard scene is the worst-aged
  • Dr. Evil nipples age best
  • Heather Graham deserves credit

Humor: Dry, plays straight man to Bill's tangents.

In their words

  • “Felicity sleeping with Fat Bastard has just grossed me out in 1999.” (0:37:25)

The Rewatchables: ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Sean is the most film-critical of the three, with a theory of Pacino as broken by Scarface and an argument that The Insider is his most calibrated performance. He admires Plummer's non-impression of Wallace and values the Mann-Roth research. He is less into the score and the style when applied to a white-collar story.

Stances

  • The Insider is probably Pacino's best performance
  • Mann's style strains for individuality and sometimes ages him
  • The movie is a little masturbatory when applied to a hotel-room decision story
  • The score is not his favorite Mann element

Humor: Wry and observational, with film-critic asides and self-deprecating comments about being excommunicated from the Mann club.

In their words

  • “I think this is truly his last great masterpiece.” (0:07:22)
  • “I think that the insider is probably his best performance because it's the one that is the most finely calibrated between loud, crazy, and kind of subtle and stormy” (0:12:36)
  • “It's pretty abstract” (0:30:32)

The Rewatchables: ‘The Big Chill’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

A DVD head and Letterboxd regular who would cave on the deleted scenes. Likes the fact sheets, craft details like Ozu, and friendship movies. Dislikes the sequel idea and the Costner scene being sat on forever.

Stances

  • Would show the cut Costner scene
  • Doubts Grand Canyon

Humor: Dry quips and the straight man to the Letterboxd jokes.

In their words

  • “Yeah, you're also a DVD head.” (0:42:16)

The Rewatchables: ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan (host)

Cares about directorial craft and homage; Scorsese devotee. Praises performances and lessons over the direction, which he finds first-time-filmmaker plain. Bothered by mixed Goodfellas homages.

Stances

  • Wonders if Goodfellas echoes are purposeful
  • Scorsese directing would be more thrilling but less breezy
  • Wants answers on who planted the car bomb

Humor: Plays straight-man with deadpan nitpicks and question lists.

In their words

  • “my obsession with Martin Scorsese is probably rooted in the fact that I didn't have that.” (0:08:56)
  • “I just want to know how much of what he was doing was a purposeful homage to Goodfellas” (1:32:47)

The Rewatchables: 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris (host)

Altman is in his top five favorite filmmakers and he knows the filmography cold, from Tanner '88 to Cookie's Fortune. He's a sucker for Carver and Blu-ray collecting and defends Greta Scacchi. He has little patience for TV-style stretches of an asshole.

Stances

  • Altman's legacy is the filmmakers he influenced
  • The Player is one of Altman's three or four best
  • Movies have been good for 15 months
  • The oral biography is the place to start with Altman

Humor: Dry and a little snobby about his own collector habits; deadpan fact-drops.

In their words

  • “He is in my top 5 favorite filmmakers ever.” (0:08:57)
  • “I think it's really like definitely one of his 3 or 4 best movies.” (0:10:20)
  • “I think movies have been good for like 15 months.” (1:40:05)

The Rewatchables: ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Film-nerd who values Willis's daring taste in directors and takes seriously the craft and the cultural footprint. Fond of Renny Harlin's Long Kiss Goodnight, De Palma, and a good that-guy roll call; skeptical of the movie's incoherent plot and the 9/11-erased airport.

Stances

  • Willis took risks with unproven filmmakers
  • Die Hard 2 is still among the better action movies of its era
  • Long Kiss Goodnight is Harlin's coolest movie
  • Air traffic control access was problematic

Humor: Dry, specific and film-literate; sets up jokes with precise references.

In their words

  • “he was willing to take on projects with filmmakers who were maybe not as proven.” (0:07:32)
  • “My favorite is Long Kiss Good Night.” (1:01:37)

The Rewatchables: ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Film-nerd who builds the big readings (Hitchcock lineage, Fincher career arc) and loves camera moves through walls and Blu-rays. Won't love the accent in Silence of the Lambs; sucker for nitpicks about propane physics.

Stances

  • Panic Room is Hitchcock doing Psycho after North by Northwest
  • Silence of the Lambs is still Foster's best
  • Likes Adventureland best of Stewart
  • Nitpicks the propane tank and phone logic

Humor: Dry and literate; gets teased for loving cameras inside walls and Blu-rays.

In their words

  • “I still think is probably the best thing she's ever been a part of” (0:29:47)
  • “I would say Adventureland is my favorite, Kristen Stewart” (1:34:50)
  • “Sean loves when we take cameras inside walls.” (1:21:07)

The Rewatchables: ‘The Ice Storm’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Loves Ang Lee's range, Brokeback Mountain, tragedy with satire, and thinking about how industry changes. Can't stand over-explained text. A sucker for Joan Allen and small observed behavior.

Stances

  • Lee has the most varied filmography of any major director in 30 years
  • The film is more satire than bum-out
  • Joan Allen is the apex pick

Humor: Earnest and precise, then undercuts with a deadpan aside.

In their words

  • “He probably has the most varied filmography of any major director in the last 30 years.” (0:09:07)
  • “Joan wins out of all the actors.” (1:23:11)
  • “I thought that movie was good, and that kind of came and went, and it was almost in the wrong decade.” (1:12:00)

The Rewatchables: ‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Film-history lens: loves the Method actors versus movie-star divide, Scorsese's visual flourishes, and Newman's integrity. Dislikes the idea that Ebert missed the ending's point. A sucker for Grady Seasons and Amos scenes.

Stances

  • It's a torch-passing movie in both business and story
  • Ending ambiguity is the point, not a flaw
  • Newman integrity explains the forfeit
  • Scorsese is great at making a small movie feel big

Humor: Dry film-nerd asides, like claiming he will be 'young and vital forever.'

In their words

  • “Just that I'm going to be young and vital forever, so I still don't relate to any of that stuff, you know?” (0:21:09)
  • “it's one of the most exciting and entertaining movies he ever made.” (0:16:10)
  • “Newman is one of the few guys who basically fused both disciplines.” (0:05:48)

The Rewatchables: ‘What About Bob?’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan (host)

Proud Bill Murray devotee who frames careers in eras; loves the 'from hell' genre and craft details like cinematographer and editor credentials. A champion of Julie Hagerty and Dr. Melfi. Gets a kick out of deep trivia and the Muppets.

Stances

  • Murray has two phases, pre- and post-Rushmore
  • The film is a successor to Pacific Heights
  • Anna may be a post-college adult
  • Dreyfuss finally plays the character he was destined for

Humor: Confident, nerdy deep cuts and theory-building that makes the others groan, such as the post-college Anna reading.

In their words

  • “Think of this movie as a logical successor to Pacific Heights.” (0:46:51)
  • “Sean, you're a Bill Murray guy. Proudly. Proudly.” (0:03:35)

The Rewatchables: ‘Thief’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Admires Mann's themes and the rich cinematic lineage; calls himself a weed smoker for Heat but loves Thief. Fond of Caan's volatile nuance, finds Weld and Nelson fascinating.

Stances

  • Heat is weed not heroin
  • Blade Runner kinship

Humor: Dry and self-deprecating.

In their words

  • “I am merely a weed smoker.” (0:06:05)

The Rewatchables: ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Admires Fincher as a control-freak craftsman and sees Hitchcock behind Se7en. Can't stand when the Academy rewards uplift over difficult genre filmmaking. A sucker for the Freeman-as-lead reading.

Stances

  • Se7en is the darkest mainstream American movie ever made.
  • Pitt is not top-tier here; it is Freeman's movie.
  • Fincher won the movie.

Humor: Dry and precise, deadpan asides.

In their words

  • “this is just about the darkest mainstream American movie ever made.” (0:05:59)
  • “it's also just completely a Hitchcock movie in so many ways.” (0:14:30)

The Rewatchables: ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Critic-minded and history-minded: loves the real SNL oral histories, Siskel, Ritchie and Chandler-style noir. Cannot stand weak acting, especially Dana Wheeler-Nicholson here, and defends Siskel over Ebert. A sucker for HBO Max old movies.

Stances

  • You have to get Chevy Chase to get Fletch
  • Dana Wheeler-Nicholson is a bad actress
  • Ebert missed the point

Humor: Dry, authoritative asides and long rants framed as scholarship.

In their words

  • “I think if you don't get Chevy Chase, you will never get this movie.” (0:02:14)
  • “You may recall from the Tombstone podcast that I noted that she is a bad actress and she's not good in flutch.” (0:51:31)

The Rewatchables: ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves the Cameron-Ferris friendship, Hughes's relationships, and the film as a closed system of perfection. Cannot stand overthinking about why it works; a sucker for people who keep it together while coiled. Defends innocent fun and Cameron.

Stances

  • Ferris is the movie but audiences relate to Cameron
  • The film works as an unreplicable perfect moment
  • Jeffrey Jones was the right choice over Paul Gleason
  • Hughes is a rare writer who channels all kinds of characters

Humor: Dry, deadpan, quick to drop a zinger; the host who delivers the Silent Judge side-eye.

In their words

  • “It's like a, this is a very closed system of perfection.” (0:19:12)
  • “Your dirtbag ethics have nothing to do with what makes Ferris Bueller beautiful.” (1:26:08)

The Rewatchables: ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Treats Tarantino as the central author, loves Leo DiCaprio's work here, and defends the movie's themes against online complaints. Loves the Bruce Lee roof scene. Can't stand criticism that misses the point about beginnings and endings of careers.

Stances

  • Quentin wins every Tarantino movie
  • Leo's performance is the best of his career
  • The Margot Robbie criticism missed the point

Humor: Dry, deflecting, and gets teased about Equinox and Leo.

In their words

  • “I think Leo decided in like 1992.” (0:15:50)
  • “I think Quentin wins all of his movies.” (1:17:39)

The Rewatchables: ‘Skyfall’ With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins (host)

Self-described not a huge Bond person who finds Skyfall scratches the part of his brain other Bonds do not; loves the Silva rat speech and dialogue scenes. A Peter Morgan disciple and Anglophile who can pick out British character actors.

Stances

  • Skyfall's action is accessible and legible
  • Silva dominates the film
  • Hacking is the worst-aged element

Humor: Deadpan nitpicks and bits about vlogging villains.

In their words

  • “I am not a huge bond person.” (0:04:20)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

The Rewatchables

Their claims

Showing 301–400 of 1,576 claims.

  1. career (career): Kevin Costner → Dances with Wolves. Costner, fresh off Dances with Wolves, could make any film; his blessing and Buena Vista deal shaped Tombstone.
    “Costner was coming off dancing with wolves and could make any movie he wanted and that he bowed out of this.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:07:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (industry): Tombstone → Buena Vista. Buena Vista held the film and had casting say.
    “Buena Vista, which was a subsidiary of Disney”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:07:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): Kevin Jarre → Tombstone. Jarre shot only wide masters with no coverage, which got him fired.
    “He was like, if I start shooting closeups, they'll take away the movie from me.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:09:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. craft (craft): Tombstone → The Godfather. Russell's intended tone was a Western Godfather; Jarre's version was more elegant.
    “Well, Russell says it, it was basically the godfather of Westerns.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. lineage (lineage): Tombstone → Under Siege. Part of the era of genre films that jump a level above their pitch.
    “It just winds up being like an action movie that's way better than it has any business being.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:13:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. career (career): Kurt Russell → Death Proof. Russell pops up every five years in something cool.
    “he pops up in death proof or hateful ate or backdraft”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:14:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  7. contrast (contrast): Michael Biehn → Michael Rooker. Biehn and Rooker effectively swapped parts: Biehn usually plays the good guy.
    “I think that he and Michael Rooker have basically switched parts in this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:24:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. career (career): Michael Biehn → The Abyss. Biehn went on to appear in The Abyss.
    “He is in the abyss.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:25:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. craft (craft): Tombstone → Cobra. The film's intense indiscriminate killing is the Cosmatos effect, like Cobra.
    “It's like, it basically turns into cobra for 5 minutes.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:28:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. craft (craft): Tombstone → Rambo: First Blood Part II. The final-third killing spree reads like a Rambo thing.
    “It's totally a Rambo thing where it's like, why are you just killing everybody?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:29:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. career (career): Dana Delany → China Beach. Delany's TV show; a long tangent on its finale.
    “You been a China Beach fan?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:31:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  12. lineage (lineage): Tombstone → Deadwood. Tombstone as the bridge from John Ford Westerns to Deadwood.
    “I tend to think of this movie as the bridge from John Ford Westerns to Deadwood”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:34:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. lineage (lineage): Tombstone → John Ford. Contrast: Ford Westerns vs gnarly, vulgar Tombstone.
    “bridge from John Ford Westerns to Deadwood”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:34:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  14. craft (craft): Val Kilmer → Tombstone. The other actors recognize Kilmer's performance and change theirs, becoming more buttoned down.
    “they change their performances to elevate his because nobody's really behaving quite in the same way.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:36:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. what-if (what-if): Willem Dafoe → The Last Temptation of Christ. Dafoe was nearly Doc Holliday but Buena Vista balked over Last Temptation.
    “we're not casting the guy who was... was in Last Temptation of Christ 5 years earlier.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:41:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  16. career (career): Kurt Russell → Big Trouble in Little China. Big Trouble came after The Thing.
    “And then Big Trouble in Little China comes after that.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:46:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  17. career (career): Kurt Russell → Escape from New York. Escape was a cult movie that only later got big.
    “Escape from New York was a cult movie that only later became a really big thing.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:46:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  18. career (career): Kurt Russell → Silkwood. Russell's only Oscar nomination, best supporting actor for Silkwood.
    “He was nominated for best supporting actor, four, Silkwood”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:48:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. career (career): Kurt Russell → The Thing. Fennessey's Russell apex mountain: 1982-83.
    “Because 82, 83 is when he was at his best.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:48:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. career (career): Val Kilmer → Top Gun. Proposed apex: out of Top Gun, people thought he was neck and neck with Cruise.
    “I would imagine that Top Gun is his Apex Mountain”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:49:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  21. career (career): Val Kilmer → Willow. Another apex case: 1987 right after Top Gun in Willow.
    “you could make the case that it's 1987 right after Top Gun, because he's Willow, right?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:50:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  22. career (career): Bill Paxton → Aliens. Paxton and Biehn were supposed to be the stars of Aliens in any other world.
    “Paxton and Bean are supposed to, like, in any other world, be the stars of aliens”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:53:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. career (career): Dana Wheeler-Nicholson → Bye Bye Love. Underrated Dana W-N performance as one of the moms.
    “Underrated Dana Wheeler Nicholson performances Bye-bye Love”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:56:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  24. industry (industry): Tombstone → The Other Side of the Wind. Warning about reconstructing lost cuts: Welles film is a document, not a great movie.
    “I think the other side of the wind is like an amazing document, is not an amazing movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. industry (industry): Tombstone → Studio 54. Studio butchering as a movie someone wants to see restored.
    “Studio 54, how the studio completely fucked that movie up”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
  26. industry (industry): All the Pretty Horses → Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton wanted to make a longer version scored by Daniel Lanois.
    “I still really wanted to see the version of all the pretty horses that Billy Bob Thornton really wanted to make.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. people (people): The Last of the Mohicans → Michael Mann. Mohicans was a rare Western that felt like Michael Mann meets MTV.
    “That's why Last of the Mohicans was so interesting when it came out because it was like Michael Mann meets MTV.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:09:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  28. people (people): Panos Cosmatos → George P. Cosmatos. George's son Panos directed Mandy.
    “George Cosmatos's son, Panos Cosmatos is a great director.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:13:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  29. people (people): Mandy → Nicolas Cage. Mandy stars Nicolas Cage.
    “He made a movie this year called Mandy starring Nicholas Cage.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:13:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  30. lineage (callback): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Every later MI film calls back to the Langley drop as a hallmark.
    “I realized that they call back to that specific moment every time”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:06:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. people (same director, different register): Mission: Impossible → Body Double. Body Double puts De Palma's sexual obsessions on the surface; Mission: Impossible keeps them under it for a mass audience.
    “body double is, like, right on the surface.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:08:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. industry (franchise template): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Every MI film reuses the same three-set-piece structure plus a McGuffin, which is why the franchise is elastic.
    “they used the same exact structure in every single movie that came forward.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:11:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  33. industry (franchise turning point): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible II. Hiring John Woo for MI2 is when Cruise's brand became 'I did that stunt myself'; the cliff image set the template.
    “that image of him hanging off the cliff at the cold open of that movie. basically sets the template for what 0 shit thing will he do next?”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:14:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  34. lineage (franchise influence): Mission: Impossible → The Fast and the Furious. The modern MI films combine Bourne-style hand-to-hand combat with Fast and the Furious over-the-top action.
    “the 2 biggest influences on Mission Impossible are born in the Fast and the Furious.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:18:47 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  35. lineage (heist homage): Mission: Impossible → Rififi. The silent Langley vault heist echoes the Rififi heist where an alarm is triggered by sound.
    “my favorite heist movies were Fifi, which has a heist uh, portion where they very similar, they drill through the roof and it's all in silence”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:24:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  36. theme (image echo): Mission: Impossible → The Departed. The rat in the air duct at Langley recalls The Departed's final shot, the hunt for a betraying rat.
    “the rat in the air air duct in Langley, like a little bit of like the departed final shot”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:25:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  37. people (typecasting): Jean Reno → Léon: The Professional. Reno's dickishness here is read through his Leon persona.
    “very similarly coming off of Leon professional and kind of what he represents in our mind”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:28:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  38. lineage (Hitchcock structural homage): Mission: Impossible → Psycho. Killing off Kristin Scott Thomas's star-billed character early mirrors Psycho killing Janet Leigh.
    “it's completely Hitchcocky and it's killing Janet Lee after 40 minutes.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:29:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  39. people (typecasting): Henry Czerny → Clear and Present Danger. Czerny built a 90s career on the office-infighter archetype, with Clear and Present Danger his iconic turn.
    “after clear and present danger, which is, to me, the iconic Henry's or any performance”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:40:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  40. unmapped (same role): Jean Reno → Ronin. Reno plays basically the same part in Ronin, more gregarious, as the Ving Rhames part here.
    “Basically the exact same role he plays Mission Impossible. He plays in a Ronan.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:42:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  41. theme (joke comparison): Mission: Impossible → Tropic Thunder. Joked that Cruise's transformation as an old senator deserved the praise given to Tropic Thunder.
    “Why were we so praiseworthy of Tom Cruise's performance? His transformation in Tropic Thunder?”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:54:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
  42. verdict (apex pick): Danny Elfman → Batman. Elfman's apex is Beetlejuice or Batman, though Sean prefers Midnight Run's score.
    “I also really like the Midnight Run soundtrack, but nobody asked me.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  43. verdict (apex pick): Brian De Palma → The Untouchables. Panel picks The Untouchables as De Palma's apex.
    “I'm going untouchables.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  44. career (career): Stephen Burum → The Untouchables. Asked to pick the apex of De Palma's cinematographer Stephen Burum, the panel runs his filmography (The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, St. Elmo's Fire, 8 Million Ways to Die) and lands on The Untouchables.
    “I'm going untouchables.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  45. unmapped (negotiations): Noah Baumbach → Barbie. Baumbach and Gerwig are reportedly negotiating a payday to return to Barbie, while Baumbach goes to Warner's Clockwork.
    “Bombach and Gerwig are currently mired into negotiations to get a really good payday to come back to Barbie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:08:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  46. craft (craft): Resident Evil → The Crow. Fennessey says DP Darius Wolski is working in his The Crow / Dark City register on Resident Evil.
    “the director of photography of this movie is 70-year-old Darius Wolski, who is best known, I think, recently for his work with Ridley Scott, but who is really in his The Crow Dark City bag in this movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:19:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  47. craft (craft): Resident Evil → Dark City. Same remark: Wolski's look here is his Dark City mode, a shared-cinematographer style comparison.
    “who is really in his The Crow Dark City bag in this movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:19:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  48. career (career): Darius Wolski → Ridley Scott. Wolski is identified as best known recently for his work with Ridley Scott.
    “Darius Wolski, who is best known, I think, recently for his work with Ridley Scott”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:19:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  49. people (people): Resident Evil → Ryan Hayes Holladay. The Holladays return to score, implying a repeat collaboration with the earlier Cregger films; Fennessey loves the score.
    “Ryan and Hayes Holiday are back doing the score.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:20:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  50. lineage (tonal influence): Resident Evil → Evil Dead II. Cregger said he wanted an Evil Dead 2 style rock-em sock-em movie and got crazy with the camera.
    “I'm doing it because I think this movie is going to be fucking awesome.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:21:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  51. people (performance comp): Resident Evil → Evil Dead. Online commenters compare Austin Abrams to Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead.
    “a lot of people have compared, uh, this character and this performance to Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:29:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  52. theme (character comp): Resident Evil → Die Hard. Abrams's Brian reminded the speaker of John McClane, with humor built from the experience; the elevator shoe-melting is a Die Hard nod.
    “He's not as cool and he's not as accomplished with a gun, but he kind of reminded me a little John McClain at times.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:29:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  53. craft (structural comp): Resident Evil → Fargo. Showing the opening crash scene in the trailer is like showing Fargo's opening crime scene.
    “it almost is like he's recreating that.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:36:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  54. lineage (homage): Resident Evil → The Thing. The farmhouse sequence and the dog at the barn are homages to Carpenter's The Thing.
    “You can see the homage to Carpenters the Thing in all this part.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:40:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  55. unmapped (rewatchability): Resident Evil → Boogie Nights. Listing the film's scenes reminded the speaker of prepping the Boogie Nights Rewatchables: every scene is the best scene.
    “most rewatchable scene is every scene.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:45:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  56. contrast (contrast): Resident Evil → Green Room. Without the comedy release valve it would be as upsetting as Green Room or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
    “otherwise it's like you're watching Green Room. You're watching, you know, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  57. unmapped (creature/set-piece comp): Resident Evil → Aliens. The elevator ascent and maternity ward pods recall Alien and Aliens; xenomorphs coming out of the wall.
    “this is really where a lot of the alien and aliens stuff starts to come in”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 0:58:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  58. lineage (homage): Resident Evil → Die Hard. The shoes-melting beat is called a Die Hard nod (walking on broken glass).
    “You have that wonderful diehard nod where his shoes are starting to melt and he has to take his shoes off.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:00:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  59. career (career comp): Zach Cregger → Paul Thomas Anderson. Early-career PTA was a comp for Cregger, but Resident Evil would be his Punch-Drunk Love (a simpler follow-up after the bigger film).
    “I had been thinking about his career in terms of PTA's early career.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:11:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  60. career (career comp): Resident Evil → Punch-Drunk Love. The film is Cregger's Punch-Drunk Love: a more direct follow-up after a bigger film, though Punch-Drunk Love feels more weighed down by feelings.
    “this would be his punch drunk love.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:11:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  61. unmapped (output comp): Zach Cregger → John Carpenter. Twelve 87-minute Cregger films would feel like when Carpenter put out a movie every 18 months.
    “What we imagine it was like to be like our age when Carpenter was putting out a movie every 18 months.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:16:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  62. career (career comp): Zach Cregger → Quentin Tarantino. Four films then a breather would be like Tarantino's Kill Bill then the stop-down.
    “for Quentin, that would have been like the kill Bill and then the stopdown after that, right?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:16:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  63. lineage (inspiration): Kane Parsons → Backrooms. Parsons was hugely inspired by Portal; explorable games move at their own pace.
    “Kane Parsons was hugely inspired by portal”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:22:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  64. unmapped (horror-comedy short list): Resident Evil → Fright Night. Gore plus comedy that works is an extremely short list: Fright Night, American Werewolf, Shaun of the Dead.
    “Like, it's like fright night, an American werewolf in London.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:33:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  65. people (people): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → I Saw the TV Glow. Miasma reuses much of the TV Glow crew: the same cinematographer, editor and composer.
    “A lot of the crew from, I saw the TV glow is back. Cinematographer Eric, you, it's edited by Graham Mason. Alex G is back to provide a score.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:01:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  66. verdict (verdict): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → The Odyssey. Seeing Miasma a second time felt like a second viewing of The Odyssey: it improved once the intentions were clear.
    “the 2nd viewing reminded me a lot of my 2nd viewing of the Odyssey”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:06:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  67. contrast (contrast): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → Halloween. It could sit between Scary Movie and Halloween in theory but generates a different feeling.
    “In theory this movie lives in between those two, but it doesn't at all.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:07:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  68. contrast (contrast): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → I Saw the TV Glow. Both show a child consuming media, but TV Glow carries shame and Miasma carries wonder.
    “but it's not shame, it's wonder.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:11:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  69. craft (craft): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → Zucker Brothers. The tone swings between madcap Zucker-style gags, slasher POV horror and Sundance coming-of-age sincerity.
    “almost like Zucker Brothers gags, into pure slasher POV horror”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:17:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  70. theme (theme): A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 → Commando. The same question of unintended queer subtext could be asked of Commando.
    “You say the same thing about commando, frankly?”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:31:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  71. industry (industry): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → Horror Movie (Paul Tremblay novel). Tremblay's novel has executive meetings uncannily close to Miasma's, though the two are independent.
    “And it's uncanny how close his scenes meeting with the executives are to the scenes in, um, in miasma.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:35:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them)
  72. verdict (verdict): Obsession → Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. The speaker likes Miasma exponentially more than Obsession.
    “I like camping miasma exponentially more, you know, like much, much more.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:39:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  73. verdict (verdict): Obsession → Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Miasma gets an A plus; Obsession is incomplete but has dirty hands and opens a can of worms.
    “I'd say obsession is kind of incomplete.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:40:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  74. what-if (what-if): Obsession → Fatal Attraction. Imagine Fatal Attraction arriving in the Twitter era; that is the scale of Obsession's discourse.
    “If Fatal Attraction had come out when Twitter existed, or if Twitter had existed for Fatal Attraction,”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:41:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  75. craft (craft): Obsession → Smile 2. Obsession takes its sound design and camera movement from Smile 2.
    “obsession is certainly grabbing quite a bit in terms of its mechanical decision making from smile to.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:44:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  76. unmapped (theory): Halloween → Carol Clover. Laurie Strode is the signature final girl of Clover's tradition.
    “and Lori Strode being the signature.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:46:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  77. theme (theme): Carrie → Carol Clover. Carrie White is both the monster and the final girl at the same time.
    “It's funny to think of Carrie White as a load bearing character who was both the monster and the final girl at the same time.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:48:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them)
  78. theme (theme): Sleepaway Camp → Hellraiser. Angela Baker flips the final girl through its reveal, while Kirsty Cotton is called a really good one.
    “Angela Baker from Sleepaway Camp, which kind of flips that on its head because of the shocking reveal of that film.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:49:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  79. contrast (contrast): The Cabin in the Woods → You're Next (title not said; 'your next', Adam Wingard). The speaker pairs Cabin with the Wingard film in which the final girl is tougher than the killer.
    “what if Lori Strode studied jiu-jitsu before encountering Michael Myers”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:53:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  80. lineage (lineage): You're Next (title not said; 'your next', Adam Wingard) → Ready or Not. Ready or Not riffs on the same stronger-than-the-killer final girl.
    “ready or not, is kind of riffing on this at this point now, too.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:53:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  81. theme (theme): Us → Midsummer. Us and Midsummer are prestige films that actively explore what it means to be a final girl though not pure slashers.
    “I think Danny in Midsummer really, really fits the bill”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:55:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  82. lineage (lineage): X → Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. After X, Pearl and MaXXXine the self-referential riffing on rape revenge and slasher films hit a dead end, and Miasma rebuilds the bridge.
    “we have kind of gotten to the conclusive point of self-referential riffing on rape revenge and slasher films”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:55:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them)
  83. career (career): Austin Abrams → Resident Evil. Abrams is floated as this fall's final girl across Resident Evil and Whalefall.
    “Is is Austin Abrams This Falls Final Girl?”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:59:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  84. people (people): John Carpenter → Halloween. Carpenter told the speaker he did not know what a 'final girl' was, until told it came from a Carol Clover essay.
    “I don't know what that is.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 1:01:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  85. contrast (contrast): Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma → The Black Hole. Black Hole is aware of genre tropes but is not about them.
    “Black Hole is aware of genre tropes, but it is not about genre tropes.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 1:02:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  86. craft (craft): The Invite → Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Anderson's pick, The Invite, also glides between tones, as Miasma does.
    “Another movie that kind of glides between tone pretty comfortably in the same way as your movie.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 1:54:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  87. career (career-launch comp): Obsession → The Sixth Sense. Obsession might be like The Sixth Sense, a breakout that puts a new filmmaker on the map and starts a brand.
    “is it more like maybe a 6th sense kind of thing where that kind of puts Shamalan on the map and then there's like a Curry Barker brand?”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 0:06:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  88. lineage (handmade lineage): Obsession → The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Foundational horror films like Night of the Living Dead and Chain Saw were handmade and unpolished, an essential quality Obsession shares in kind though not in quality.
    “But so if you look back at Night of the Living Dead or, um, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Last House on the Left or even Halloween to some extent.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 0:17:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  89. unmapped (emotional comp): Masters of the Universe → Ghost World. Watching it as a fan-turned-commentator, the speaker thought of Seymour in Ghost World saying he hates his interest.
    “I kept thinking of the Sibu semi-character in Ghost World when Thor Burch recommends that he meets a woman his age, who shares his interest, and he goes, I hate my interest.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 0:42:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  90. contrast (quality contrast): Masters of the Universe → Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Mutant Mayhem triggered a similar spiral in Griffin but is an infinitely better film.
    “watching Mutant Mayhem, the Ninja Turtles movie, which I think is an infinitely better film.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 0:43:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  91. unmapped (end-credit tease): Masters of the Universe → Evil Dead. Orko's three-second end-credits cameo feels like Bruce Campbell saying groovy in the Alvarez Evil Dead credits.
    “the end of the Fede Alvarez evil dead reboot where in the end credits, it just inserts a shot of old Bruce Campbell saying groovy.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:12:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  92. verdict (ranking): The Dark Crystal → The NeverEnding Story. Sean would add Dark Crystal and Excalibur to Griffin's fantasy list as the two worthy of sitting alongside it.
    “Yeah, I would I would throw Dark Crystal and Excalibur into that cannon.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:18:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  93. contrast (post-LotR contrast): The Green Knight → The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. After Lord of the Rings, nothing high-fantasy worked in movies until Narnia; Green Knight is great because it does its own thing.
    “Nothing works in movies, post Lord of the Rings until Narnia, which then fell off a cliff.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:19:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  94. lineage (lineage): Conan the Barbarian → Dragonslayer. Conan kicked off the 80s fantasy wave; before it, Weissmuller Tarzan films evolved into things like Dragonslayer.
    “that's sort of the Johnny Wart Mueller Tarzan films are sort of what evolved into things like Dragon Slayer and things like that.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:20:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  95. craft (craft): Michael Bay → Transformers (Michael Bay films). Bay is incredible at sounding images and Transformers is an excuse to do that at scale.
    “The guy's incredible at putting like sounding images together.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:30:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  96. programming (recommendation): Mike Flanagan → Ouija: Origin of Evil. The second Ouija film, directed by Flanagan, is really good, as is the Daley-Goldstein D&D film.
    “I mean, I do think the 2nd Mike Flanagan Ouija movie is really good.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:35:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  97. unmapped (movie kink): Clue → Transformers (Michael Bay films). Clue and Transformers touch something personal in the speaker beyond critical distance.
    “like clue and like Transformers.”
    The Big Picture · The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman! · 1:38:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  98. theme (theme): The Strangers → Mamma Mia!. Amanda argues the two 2008 films share a theme of knowing thyself and what can't be known; later both end by withholding the answer.
    “And I would, I'll argue, has some things in common with Mama Mia.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:02:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  99. lineage (lineage): The English Patient → David Lean. Amanda dismissed The English Patient as a David Lean rip-off in the 2022 swap.
    “this is David Lean rip off”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:12:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  100. programming (programming): Mamma Mia! → Shrek. Reflecting on their movie swaps, Sean ties Shrek, the earlier one-way swap, to Bobby Wagner's last episode.
    “Bob's last episode was like a one-way movie swap, which was Shrek.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:13:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 301–400 of 559 fun items.

  1. fun, about Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow: They show up as lawyers in the last 30 minutes in what feels like a different movie, with Fraser cut to erupt thunderously.
    “They're doing an old timey lawyer thing. There's like this thundering explanatory.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is Astounding · 1:13:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Killers of the Flower Moon: The Masonic Hall spanking scene, a Jack Fisk construction with a checkerboard floor, is called funny and strange.
    “I guess the Masonic Hall spanking?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is Astounding · 1:14:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Timothee Chalamet: In his interview with Scorsese he gushes about sitting with the greatest living filmmaker, and Scorsese doesn't blink.
    “Scorsese, like, doesn't blink. He doesn't like demur.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is Astounding · 1:29:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Killers of the Flower Moon: Awards forecast: nominated for lots (Leo, Gladstone, Scorsese, production design, costume, adapted screenplay, maybe score and editing) but no real shot at Best Picture.
    “I just don't think it really has any chance to win best picture.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is Astounding · 1:32:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about The Big Picture: Next week: a lawyer-movie draft with Griffin Newman and David Sims of Blank Check, described as long and tense.
    “we're doing it with Griffin Newman and David Sims of the Blank Check podcast”
    The Big Picture · ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is Astounding · 1:44:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Sight and Sound poll: Sean notes that the Sight and Sound poll ballots include a Looney Tune and a 14-minute film on Adam's list, which includes Duck Amuck and Meshes of the Afternoon.
    “I mean, Adam had a had a had a looney tune and a 14 minute film on his list.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 0:20:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about The Eternal Daughter: Sean saw it at the New York Film Festival about five feet from Tilda Swinton and bumped it half a star for it. Amanda had slept on it because Sean did not respond to it at the festival.
    “the movie was bumped up half a star for me by seeing it in the front row and then being less than 5 feet away from Tilda Swinton.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 0:38:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Babylon: Sean's backstory: he left a holiday party at Amanda's, in a bad mood, to drive to Century City for a three-hour-eight-minute screening, and was blown away anyway. He relays a Letterboxd review asking if it's a love letter to cinema or a suicide note.
    “Is this a love letter to cinema or a suicide note?”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 0:41:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Babylon: Sean says Margot Robbie is one of the only truly fearless young stars, glorious and disgusting at times, and might deserve a best actress nod.
    “She is one of the only truly fearless young stars we have.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 0:42:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about The Fabelmans: Amanda asks if she would trade having her son be as successful as Spielberg for the movie he'd make about her; Sean says to take the Jurassic Park money.
    “But could you be sitting on Jurassic Park money?”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:03:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Top Gun: Maverick: Sean on Cruise: the film is a beautifully designed vehicle and every viewing he slips into the passenger seat.
    “every time I watch it, I slip right into the passenger seat and I let it take me on a ride.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:06:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Tár: Sean says the opening Q&A scene with the New Yorker interviewer is how to use Blanchett: ten minutes of her talking about things she likes. A hosts' joke imagines a Todd Field and Adam Sandler pairing.
    “that opening scene, as I wrote in the Ringer piece, where she's taking questions from Gopnik, from the New Yorkers, like, that is how you use Cape Blanchett.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:18:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.65 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Nope: Sean admires the premise: an invented family that may be descended from the Black jockey in Muybridge's film strip, launching 100 years of film history and people whose names we don't know.
    “that's a genius idea for a drama, let alone a UFO movie.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:33:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Clash of the Titans: Argument over Clash of the Titans, the Harry Hamlin original versus the Sam Worthington remake, with a side note that Hamlin is Lisa Rinna's husband.
    “Harry Hamlin's like incredibly handsome.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:26:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Black Panther: Sean says Black Panther built a whole country so well that a Marvel movie got nominated for best picture.
    “they fucking nominated a Marvel movie for best picture.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:54:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Matt Damon: Damon turned down Jake Sully plus 10 percent of the future growth.
    “In addition to 10% of the future growth of this movie.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 0:15:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about James Cameron: Chris Ryan nicknamed Cameron Big Jim; the sea is dope.
    “As Chris once said, he thinks the sea is dope.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 0:28:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about James Cameron: Cameron got $10 million from Fox in 2005 to run R&D on Avatar and could have walked away.
    “Give me a year to just do R&D.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 0:29:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about James Cameron: Speaker calls Cameron the ultimate con artist whose con is real.
    “Like, he is the ultimate, like, con artist whose con is real.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 0:30:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Avatar: How To with John Wilson featured Avatar superfans.
    “There is an extraordinary episode of How to with John Wilson.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 0:48:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about The Hurt Locker: Lowest-grossing Best Picture winner, beat the highest-grossing film ever.
    “Hurt Locker, when it won, was the lowest grossing best picture winner ever.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 1:35:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Elvis: Sean's contrast: Elvis was shot with one camera on Ed Sullivan; the movie cuts a hundred times in two minutes to match his magnetism.
    “it literally cuts a 100 times in a 2 minute period of performance because that's almost sort of what it takes to match the Elvis Presley magnetism.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:17:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Tom Hanks: Hanks's Colonel Parker accent is compared to Goldmember; separately Amanda notes this is the film where he contracted COVID.
    “he's doing basically the gold member accent”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:18:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Elvis: The film's 68 Comeback Special sequence and 'If I Can Dream' are Sean's favorite moments, close to Elvis's 'A Change Is Gonna Come'.
    “It's as close as Elvis got to a change is going to come.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:21:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Selena: Amanda was shown Selena in high school intro to Spanish on a quiet day to learn about Selena and Tejano music.
    “they literally showed us this movie in intro to Spanish when I was in high school.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:44:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Love and Mercy: Director Bill Pohlad is the son of Twins owner Carl Pohlad; he produced Brokeback Mountain, 12 Years a Slave and Tree of Life, a benefactor for filmmakers.
    “a guy named Bill Polad, who is the son of Carl Polad, the billionaire owner of the Minnesota Twins.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:55:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Bird: Warner Bros. and Columbia traded Revenge for the Charlie Parker rights, and Adam jokes Revenge is a gift to history that social media should avoid.
    “Revenge and Bird would be quite a double feature.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:59:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Amadeus: Amadeus won all the Oscars; the lasting memory is F. Murray Abraham's Salieri rather than Tom Hulce's Mozart.
    “I think the lasting memory of this movie is not Tom Holst, but F. Murray Abraham”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 1:02:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about Gary Oldman: Running gag: Adam says Oldman is great 'playing Mank or whatever', and Sean protests loudly.
    “Not or whatever, how dare you? Back when he was, he played mank, all right?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 1:08:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise's motion-smoothing PSA with Christopher McQuarrie is a personal Hall of Fame moment, and it plays on the podcast.
    “Video interpolation or motion smoothing is a digital effect on most high definition televisions”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:09:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Risky Business: Amanda says Risky Business has to go in; the dance was seen before the movie.
    “I saw the Risky Business dance before I saw a few good men.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:18:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  32. fun, about A Few Good Men: Cruise goes quiet-loud-quiet-loud against Nicholson, like Smells Like Teen Spirit, priming Jessup to explode.
    “It's like listening, it smells like teen spirit.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:39:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  33. fun, about Collateral: Chris names Collateral his surprising favorite because of Vincent talking about jazz, comparing the takes to Stanley Crouch.
    “Yeah, his takes on jazz are pretty formative for me, I'd say, it's like him and Stanley Crouch.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:40:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  34. fun, about Taps: Sean rewatched Taps and found Cruise as the Sean Penn role: a brat who never plays that part again.
    “He has the Sean Penn role in this.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:47:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  35. fun, about Mission: Impossible – Fallout: Henry Cavill and Cruise punch each other in the bathroom and later on a cliff after a helicopter chase; the Henry Cavill speech about being disavowed is remembered.
    “how many times can a man be disavowed, discarded and ignored by his government?”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:01:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  36. fun, about The Firm: Chris loves The Firm for Hackman, Wilford Brimley and Holly Hunter, a Hollywood movie aspiring to nothing but entertainment; Sean calls his Wilford imitation the best Rewatchables bit.
    “That might be the best episode of the rewatchables ever, in my opinion.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:04:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  37. fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise mailed his Golden Globes back when the HFPA was called fraudulent.
    “Just mailing them back.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:25:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
  38. fun, about The Mummy: The Dark Universe cast photo (Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Angelina Jolie) was taken and then no more movies were made because The Mummy was so bad; Chris says it is the only non-festival movie he walked out of.
    “I think this is the only non-festival movie I've ever walked out of.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:29:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  39. fun, about Nightmare Alley: Host watched it four times; first lukewarm, a soft-focused noir, he came around.
    “And then I watched this movie a 4th time.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:03:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.95 sure it was them)
  40. fun, about Nightmare Alley: Leonardo DiCaprio was originally supposed to star; rumored to have passed over the dark ending and irredeemable lead.
    “this was originally supposed to be Leonardo DiCaprio.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:36:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  41. fun, about Ron Perlman: Reportedly handed Del Toro the Gresham novel in the mid-90s, so he is why the film exists.
    “So he's the reason this movie exists.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:39:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  42. fun, about Nightmare Alley: Patton reads Carlisle's carnival origin as like Trump rallies: a traveling apparatus that sets up and leaves.
    “he was called a carnival barker many, many times during his administration and he embraced it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:45:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  43. fun, about Pharos of Chaos: Host recommends the documentary about Sterling Hayden's agonized life, including HUAC testimony; Patton had not seen it.
    “there's an incredible documentary about him in his life, Pharos of Chaos”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:55:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  44. fun, about The Nickel Ride: Host watched it for the first time two weeks earlier and loved it.
    “Just watch this for the 1st time 2 weeks ago.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 1:01:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  45. fun, about Under the Silver Lake: Host champions it as the modern noir worth rescuing, with a real idea about our current condition.
    “is under the Silver Lake, that that's the one that I feel like people are really trying”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 1:06:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  46. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: The movie pencil-sketch-over-a-Xerox feel.
    “the movie does often feel like a pencil sketch over a Xerox.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:04:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  47. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Nine-year-olds not knowing ghosts terrorized New York is a nit: it would be the biggest thing since the Crusades.
    “This would be the biggest thing since like the Crusades.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:12:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  48. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: A character is named Podcast, with a joke about the podcast finding its voice in episode 46.
    “There is a character named podcast in a movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:14:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  49. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Bill Murray declined a third Ghostbusters for 25 years; speaker found the cameos pathetic.
    “Why he came back for this movie, I have no idea.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:16:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  50. fun, about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Jason Reitman filmed a plea before the movie not to spoil the end.
    “Jason Reitman filmed a little thing to go in front of the movie being like, please don't spoil the end of the movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:17:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  51. fun, about Andrew Garfield: Pundits call an Oscar nomination a lock; speaker finds it a divisive, litmus-test performance.
    “it is now a lock that Andrew Garfield will be nominated for an Oscar for this performance”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:24:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  52. fun, about Tick, Tick... Boom!: The tick, tick... Boom! musical was unfinished and completed after Jonathan Larson's death; it workshops Rent riffs.
    “I believe it was finished after Jonathan Larson's untimely death”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:25:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  53. fun, about That Thing You Do!: Joke: the band is literally called the Wonders because they are one-hit wonders.
    “They are literally called the Wonders.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:44:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  54. fun, about Local Hero: Burt Lancaster plays a Bezos/Musk type batty oil billionaire.
    “Burt Lancaster plays like a kind of like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk before they were Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk type type character.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:47:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  55. fun, about Local Hero: Speaker watched it in month three or four of quarantine and felt better when hard to feel good.
    “I just felt better at a time when it was hard to feel good about very much.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:47:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  56. fun, about My Neighbor Totoro: Gemma Gracewood (Letterbox) told the speaker to start a kid with Ghibli, starting with Totoro.
    “just start with Ghibli, just start with Totoro and she will be a creative and open-minded soul.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:50:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  57. fun, about Pee-wee's Big Adventure: A man goes across hell on earth to get his bike back; it taught speaker you can do anything in a movie.
    “And he goes across hell on earth to get his bike back.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:57:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  58. fun, about Pee-wee's Big Adventure: The finale features a Hollywood version of Pee-wee with James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild.
    “James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild portray Pee Wee and Dottie”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:58:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  59. fun, about Mike Mills: Sean says Mills's 20th Century Women conversation in January 2017 was the first ever for the show.
    “We talked about 20th century women.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:29:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  60. fun, about The Fast and the Furious: The family-is-said 300 times joke.
    “I don't know if something can be a theme if it's a word that is said 300 times in a movie”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:12:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  61. fun, about F9: Corona beer: Diesel sets it down and does not drink in F9.
    “he doesn't take a drink.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:15:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  62. fun, about Han: Han stands with hands in pockets, the coolest person Sean has seen in years.
    “He just stands there with his hands in his pockets”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:19:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  63. fun, about F9: Magnet set pieces redeem F9 for Sean.
    “anytime there's a magnet on screen, I'm like, I'm into this movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:36:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  64. fun, about Eva Mendes: Her last film role was Lost River, directed by Gosling.
    “next to it, it says final film role.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:42:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  65. fun, about Axelrod / Billions: Sean quotes a line from Billions about negotiation.
    “nobody walks away from a negotiation happy”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:45:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  66. fun, about Vin Diesel: Amanda finds Diesel sees Dom as a profound figure of literature.
    “He sees himself as a noble warrior.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:52:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  67. fun, about Fast franchise: Sean imagines Ingmar Bergman style emotional drama.
    “severe emotional dramas like Ingmar Bergman, Circa 1965.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Fast 9’ and the ‘Fast & Furious’ Rankings · 0:56:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  68. fun, about Black Widow: Disney moves Black Widow to July 9 on Disney+ Premier Access (and in theaters) which a theater owner feels is a kneecap.
    “I honestly feel kneecapped. Disney is our lifeblood.”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:04:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  69. fun, about Snyder Cut: The hosts recorded a 4-hour-5-minute Snyder Cut episode.
    “Thanks for listening to all 4 hours and 5 minutes.”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:14:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  70. fun, about Errol Morris: Idea for the Oscars: hire people like Morris to make short documentaries, like the one with Donald Trump misreading Citizen Kane.
    “he completely misreads Citizen Kane and misunderstands it”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:21:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  71. fun, about (Oscars telecast): Joke: a purple 'stories matter' sweatshirt with 'monetize me, daddy' on the back.
    “It's a purple sweatshirt. and on the back it says, monetize me, daddy.”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:22:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  72. fun, about Pi: The most famous actor in Pi is Mark Margolis, from Scarface and Breaking Bad.
    “Mark Margolis from who was also on Breaking Dead.”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 1:05:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  73. fun, about Margin Call: Revisit the boardroom scene where Jeremy Irons shows up, and the 'more lucrative' rocket-scientist answer.
    “I just fire up the scene where Jeremy Iron shows up in the boardroom.”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 1:12:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.65 sure it was them)
  74. fun, about Reservoir Dogs: Sean says he would not be doing the podcast or anything at The Ringer without Reservoir Dogs.
    “I probably would certainly not be doing it.”
    The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 1:17:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  75. fun, about The Ringer / Chris Ryan: Sean says he founded the Ringer to platform brilliant friends, naming Chris Ryan as the prime example.
    “I would like to support and show the world how clever, entertaining smart and useful my friends are.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 0:25:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  76. fun, about Oscars 2021: The hosts catalogue the thirteen awards movies not yet widely seen and where to stream them, with Nomadland the clear frontrunner.
    “There are 13 more movies that most people have not seen that I think are going to be meaningful to the Oscar conversation.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 0:30:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
  77. fun, about Casablanca: Sean tells Bobby to watch it and text him when they start singing La Marseillaise.
    “And then when they start singing the Marseilles, just text me like you were right.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 0:52:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  78. fun, about Pretend It's a City: Scorsese's on-screen role is mostly laughing at Lebowitz; the one time he talks over 20 seconds, he corrects her Penny Arcade into Penny Serenade and explains Grant's career.
    “Martin Scorsese's role on the show, his physical role, is largely just to laugh at the things that friend Leboitt says.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 0:58:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  79. fun, about Penny Serenade: Sean fact-checks Scorsese on air: Cary Grant was nominated twice, for None but the Lonely Heart and Penny Serenade, not once; Amanda dubs it very un-Cary Grant energy.
    “And when a person says a fact about a movie that I know to be not correct, even if it is perhaps the greatest living filmmaker, I just have to note that.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 1:00:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  80. fun, about A Muppet Christmas Carol: Sean's wife Eileen, who will never appear on the podcast, has an unhealthy addiction to the film, and also yells Heat Miser at dinner.
    “she has like an unhealthy addiction to a Muppet Christmas carol.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 1:02:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  81. fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Sean's pick for a day on a historic set: a long shoot, one of the greatest filmmakers, two stars in the midst of a marriage, and some of the wildest scenes ever shot.
    “just some of the wildest scenes ever shot in the history of movies occur in that film.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 1:12:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  82. fun, about Sundance 2021: Sundance goes virtual, roughly 50 to 100 films in three-hour blocks, and anyone can buy tickets for the first time.
    “many people out in the world can just buy tickets.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 1:12:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  83. fun, about 12 Monkeys: Sean fired it up on his iPad at one in the morning when he could not sleep, and enjoyed it.
    “let's just fire up 12 monkeys to see how that goes down.”
    The Big Picture · Thirteen Awards Movies to Watch Out for, Oscar Do-Overs, and More From the Mailbag · 1:28:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  84. fun, about Aaron Sorkin: The 'I'm never, ever sick at sea' line turns up in Malice and again in Charlie Wilson's War; the references are like a drinking game.
    “I'm never, ever sick at sea, shows up in malice, and then it shows up in Charlie Wilson's war”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:16:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  85. fun, about Aaron Sorkin: Lord of the walk and talk; the intercut is his newer trick for real events.
    “He's the lord of the walk and talk.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:38:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  86. fun, about A Few Good Men: As a kid Amanda or Sean practiced Jessup's speech on a park basketball court shooting free throws.
    “The Jack Nicholson speech from a few good men out loud while shooting free throws”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:41:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  87. fun, about Moneyball: Billy Beane joining the Fenway owners group is an end cap to the movie; Red Sox lure scene.
    “he is joining the Fenway owners group, which is John Henry's company”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:51:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  88. fun, about Steve Jobs: Seth Rogen as Wozniak should have won an Oscar.
    “It's absurd to me that Seth Rogan was not nominated for an Oscar.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:55:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  89. fun, about Steve Jobs: Kate Winslet has more of a Polish accent in the later sequences than the first; a filming-order theory.
    “I don't totally understand why she has a Polish accent in the future, but not in the past.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:55:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  90. fun, about Sports Night: A laugh track was added at some point; the show tried to change the network sitcom form.
    “And at some point there was a laugh track, which is ill conceived.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:09:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  91. fun, about A Few Good Men: Among the most rewatched movies of a lifetime, alongside Network, Oz, Godfather, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction.
    “It's in the conversation for the most rewatched movie of my lifetime.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:19:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  92. fun, about The Trial of the Chicago 7: Bobby Seale is bound and gagged in the courtroom in an extraordinary sequence.
    “he was bounding, gagged in the courtroom in this extraordinary sequence”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:37:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  93. fun, about The Trial of the Chicago 7: The score pairs fake 60s guitar rock with syrupy film music; real radicals would be playing the MC5.
    “you have to play the MC5.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:43:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  94. fun, about The Trial of the Chicago 7: Sorkin intercuts real brutality footage but cuts back to dramatized versions, which is less scary.
    “the real stuff is scarier and realer.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:43:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  95. fun, about Mark Rylance: Rylance as Kunstler is the custodian of decency in a film by a believer in decency.
    “he's the custodian of decency”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:51:47 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  96. fun, about The Trial of the Chicago 7: A drive-in screening at the Rose Bowl, courtesy of Netflix.
    “We went to a lovely drive-in screening of this film at the Rose Bowl.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:54:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  97. fun, about Jane Fonda: Hayden later married Jane Fonda; the host wants her take and recommends her autobiography.
    “All I want to know is what Jane Fonda thinks of this movie.”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:57:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  98. fun, about Mank: Fincher's teaser makes both the film and the trailer look 1940s; Sean treats Dec 4 as his day.
    “I turn into a Dragon Ball Z character and I am lit a flame and I'm powered by the energies of David Fincher”
    The Big Picture · 300th Episode Ask-Us-Anything Mailbag Spectacular · 0:02:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  99. fun, about Soul: Soul on Disney+ at Christmas could be the most widely seen Disney movie ever, in 70 million homes.
    “This could turn out to be the most widely seen Disney movie of all time”
    The Big Picture · 300th Episode Ask-Us-Anything Mailbag Spectacular · 0:03:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
  100. fun, about Transformers: Sean's first adult LA trip was a Transformers premiere, driving an Escalade supplied by the film's car sponsor; it hooked him on movies.
    “going to a movie premiere as an adult with a VIP ticket talking to the people that were in the movie”
    The Big Picture · 300th Episode Ask-Us-Anything Mailbag Spectacular · 0:10:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)