Admires Eddie's subtlety in the film and the Detroit-set opening that sets it apart from other 80s blockbusters. Appreciates sly craft details like pop songs turning down for a scene. He is a sucker for the rival-duo moments and the soundtrack.
Stances
The opening feels like Mean Streets rather than an 80s blockbuster
Eddie's performance is quiet and sly, not stuck in a persona
Humor: Understated, pop-culture-reference humor.
In their words
“he's really sly in this movie” (0:06:13)
“Also, a secret trope of the 80s movie making is pop song playing over montage.” (0:35:52)
Loves big-picture film history and awards lore, brings printed research and Roger Ebert quotes, and likes comfort rewatches (Wedding Crashers, Beverly Hills Cop). Bad on moral outrage as a critical starting point. A sucker for pizza as a holy deity and for New York.
Stances
Do the Right Thing is a perfect screenplay and Spike's fiction apex
The Denby, Klein, and Crouch criticism missed the film
Tarantino lifted things from this movie
The worst New York pizza beats California food
Humor: Deadpan and procedural; reads 'half-assed Internet research' with mock apology, and picks fights over pizza.
In their words
“Half-assed internet research.” (1:06:03)
“Pizza is a holy deity to me.” (1:35:53)
“I have thought about this movie every day of my life since 1989, so ask away.” (1:32:24)
Sean is the one who treats Reservoir Dogs as a film education: the Melville and The Killing recommendations, the 10-year-old rewatcher who rented it. He loves the sound-and-image craft of the opening, Buscemi as the ideal Buscemi, and the commode story. Cannot let a bad accent go.
Stances
Reservoir Dogs is the film that shaped how he related to pop culture
Roth's accent is a pet peeve
Madonna's refutation is why the tipping theory wins the Ewing Award
Humor: Dry and unbothered, undercutting Bill's categories.
In their words
“Go rent the killing if you haven't seen it.” (0:47:22)
Cinephile with filmmaker-career knowledge (Todd Phillips' documentaries, Phillips-Cooper partnership). Loves Wayne's World 2 and rewards deep-cut details. Not a fan of The Hangover sequels or the Godfather compound mistake.
Stances
Todd Phillips won the movie
Hangover 2 and 3 are not worth revisiting
Fuck the South Shore, North Shore forever
Never said Frank Sinatra wasn't cool
Humor: Mock-wounded pride about his Godfather misses and hometown loyalty.
In their words
“I am from the northern shore of Long Island, and I'm north shore till I die.” (1:09:30)
“it's Todd Phillips for me because of everything I said.” (1:05:58)
Cares about behind-the-scenes lore and fair historical context; likes Kurt Russell's career arc and Westerns. Dislikes stereotypical bad takes. Provides the lore breakdown.
Stances
Tombstone is better than Wyatt Earp
Russell's apex is 1982-83
Ghost director story is the soul of the film
Kurt Russell wins spiritually
Humor: Dry, knowing asides, calls out cohosts' takes.
In their words
“The miracle of this movie is that so it was basically, let's just say it's directed by 3 people.” (0:09:03)
“He was nominated for best supporting actor, four, Silkwood” (0:48:04)
Obsessed with Brian De Palma and sees this as his last great movie; loves Carlito's Way, The Untouchables, Blow Out, and heist movies like Rififi. Dislikes masks that break the rules. A sucker for Henry Czerny and the Langley vault.
Stances
This is De Palma's last great movie
Langley heist is the most rewatchable scene
Villains' goals in the MI series are always vague
Humor: Enthusiastic, tangents about Usenet confessions and hypothetical senator IP.
In their words
“I love I love Brian De Palma's movie making.” (0:07:34)
“I realized that this is his last great movie” (0:06:56)
Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma.
Stances
Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year
Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed
Short running times are a virtue
Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
Humor: Dry, self-deprecating banter and bit-building (mouse in Boston, Dion Waiters riff, cardigan mouse).
Loves slashers and the final-girl canon, and writes about them; holds Miasma up as an A-plus and Obsession as incomplete but provocative. Uses Smile 2 as a reference. Is a sucker for tonal gear-shifts and sincere-yet-silly filmmaking.
Stances
Miasma is sweet and sincere, not scary
Obsession is incomplete but its reaction is unusual
Horror is more mainstream than ever
Final-girl trope has run to the end of the road
Humor: Dry teasing, running gags with Adam about the Blue Jays and podcasting.
In their words
“as a certified slasherologist,” (0:30:16)
“I like camping miasma exponentially more, you know, like much, much more.” (0:39:49)
“Okay, Adam, one thing, one movie that I revisited this week in writing about Final Girls was Smile 2.” (0:44:06)
A lifelong He-Man collector who admits the film has his number even when he thinks it is flawed. He loves Henson fantasy, Excalibur, and unvarnished, handmade movie moments, and prizes sincere emotional entry points. He is allergic to Marvel-style end-credit teases and sequel bait, and is a sucker for Hensonian creature work and toy nostalgia.
Stances
The film is wildly flawed and too long but tonally interesting
Handmade, unpolished horror like Obsession is what the fandom wants
Fantasy canon is mostly the five things everyone says
Tired of sequel-bait end credits
Humor: Self-deprecating about being a broken fan critic, riffing on his own 'film critic or not' persona.
In their words
“I'm a bizarre broken person and this silly thing means a lot to me, right?” (0:42:31)
“I want to watch a movie finish itself.” (1:12:44)
“Yeah, I would I would throw Dark Crystal and Excalibur into that cannon.” (1:18:46)
Likes lean, formally controlled genre movies, prefers Sondheim to Lloyd Webber-era musicals, and respects cult phenomena once he understands them. He doesn't care for modern movie musicals, bad-good irony, or over-psychologized horror. He is a sucker for movie stars and celebrity mystique and for a good Letterboxd rating.
Stances
Mamma Mia is both very good and very bad and he's willing to join the cult
Camera work and direction in Mamma Mia are poor
Dislikes modern musicals like Wicked and over-performative choreography
Not fond of 'so bad it's good'
The Strangers is richer than its 81 minutes suggest
Humor: Dry, digressive and self-deprecating, building long riffs on sports fandom, marriage and Meryl Streep's filmography.
In their words
“I've never seen a film be so good and so bad simultaneously.” (0:52:28)
“I'm actually willing to join the cult, but it is extremely important to talk about the myriad ways in which this movie also kind of stinks.” (0:52:38)
“It's just not a bad idea for a movie and maybe there should be other movies like this.” (1:26:26)
Loves genre craft and auteur signatures: devoted to Sam Raimi, delighted by Send Help as exactly what he wants from any month, and fond of movie stars with range. Detests mean-spirited, incoherent studio product like Mercy, and likes making lists of underused stars. A sucker for Beatles, Chris Pine and scenes that feel like real fights.
Stances
Mercy is ugly, mean, immoral and structurally confused
Send Help is the model fun genre movie, and Rachel McAdams should be in more
Hollywood misuses stars, especially women over 40
Amy Adams is partly responsible for her own bad roles (low confidence in attribution)
Humor: Dry compliment-sandwich deadpan, with dramatic mock hosting and running bits like the list of 22 stars.
Loves ambitious, Hollywood-about-Hollywood spectacle and big-swing auteur messiness: Babylon, Nope, Avatar: The Way of Water, Barbarian, EEAAO. Likes genre mashups with sincere hearts, rewatches Zack Snyder's Justice League, and wants theatrical formats (70mm). Will follow a filmmaker for decades after one great film.
Stances
Babylon is a near masterpiece and he is obsessed with it
Peele's messier movies reward rewatching
Avatar: The Way of Water is a film he loves and was moved by
Awards campaigns should not define a movie's reputation afterward
Humor: Dry, performative magnanimity, grandly generous gestures, and teasing his co-hosts about pants.
In their words
“I love Babylon more than I love tar.” (0:31:21)
“I love, love, love this movie.” (0:43:31)
“I tend to not go back to films aside from Zack Snyder's Justice League, which I've seen 10 times.” (0:32:25)
“I think it's probably his most satisfying film for me since in Bruges.” (0:44:50)
Loves the apotheosis of Scorsese's style and long, ambitious movies, and champions Leo, blues-drenched needle drops and big Hollywood events. He is bothered by audiences who misread excess as celebration and by passion projects that take decades. He is a sucker for personal connections, like Long Island details, and for a rankable list.
Stances
Wolf is the culmination of Scorsese's hyperkinetic 21st-century style
Leo's performance may be his best of the century
Audiences who read Wolf as a celebration are misreading it
Silence is a serious rival pick
Humor: Dry and self-deprecating, deflating moments with a deadpan aside and teasing his co-host.
In their words
“it's like the final boss of a thing he developed in the 21st century as a director.” (0:03:29)
“So we continue to make mistakes throughout this experience.” (0:02:06)
Loves Wes Anderson's Rushmore best and treats Tenenbaums as the calling card. Responds to its imaginative-Texan, literary-pop sensibility, and to sad comedy. Admires showy camera moves and needle drops. (Attribution of individual remarks is low confidence.)
Stances
Tenenbaums is the right Anderson pick as a bridge from indie to institution
Hackman's resistance to the Anderson style makes the film
Humor: Self-deprecating banter about fantasy football punishment and eyeliner.
In their words
“I will wear the Richie Tenbaum headband.” (0:26:06)
Loves Moneyball as one of his favorite movies of the decade, a baseball obsessive, a fan of Pitt's movie-star presence and Sorkin's writing. Drawn to character studies about unfulfilled promise and process movies. Allergic to self-serious later Miller and to Oscar logic.
Stances
Moneyball is the best sports movie of the decade
Pitt's best performance
Bennett Miller is interested in characters, not sports
Oscars miss the right role
Humor: Deadpan, self-deprecating banter, running gags about Chris Ryan and pants.
In their words
“The best sports movie of the decade, one of the, for my money, the best performance by one of the great movie stars of our generation.” (0:02:37)
Loves tilted, genre-mixing movies (Wild at Heart, Gremlins 2) and mainstream crowd-pleasers he grew up with (Home Alone, Ghost, Total Recall). He kept the draft's logic and also took the Spike Lee Mo' Better Blues as a heartfelt late pick. A sucker for sequels with a point of view and for the Rewatchables tie-in.
Stances
Gremlins 2 is among the cleverest movies about the scary future of America
Wild at Heart is great but not top Lynch
Chose to skip five sequels to New Hollywood classics in the sequel slot
Humor: Dry, deadpan teasing, especially of his co-hosts' drafting mistakes and the Braves.
In their words
“I'm taking David Lynch's Wild at Heart.” (1:11:00)
“one of the cleverest, if not the most clever movie about like the scary future of America” (1:15:14)
“I think misery is the best movie of the bunch.” (0:57:28)
Sean is the Minecraft-business optimist who still admits it is a mediocre movie; he loves a theatrical crowd losing its mind, auteur exercises (Soderbergh), music movies, queer European arthouse thrillers and Canadian cinema (Egoyan). He recommends in bulk, with caveats ('mixed on this, but I want to recommend it'). He's a sucker for the macro story: globalization, China, IP, and the studio math.
Stances
A Minecraft Movie is not a good movie but is an important, essential one
Kids deserve their own movies; chicken jockey gave him life
Theatrical revival needs IP and eventization right now
Film critics (incl. himself) share blame for the superhero glut
Optimistic about April and the studio year despite a bad Q1
Humor: Deadpan thesis-mongering and self-mocking melodrama ('movie bleed out'), with a constant needle for Amanda's habits.
In their words
“I'm excited about what's happened over the weekend and I have so many reasons why.” (0:01:58)
“I'm ove indexed on caring about movies.” (0:52:38)
“But you're right that I am kind of paying a penance because my enthusiasm contributed to leading us to this place.” (0:46:09)
Saw Babygirl three months before the episode and again with his wife, and the second viewing made him want a dog. Names The Brutalist his favorite movie of the year and conducts the Halina Reijn interview. Attribution inside the Hall of Fame draft is uncertain, but the draft voice that reads the filmography, champions Dead Calm and wants to hold a listener vote is probably his.
Stances
Babygirl works best as set pieces, a comedy of manners played straight, not Basic Instinct
The Brutalist is the best film of the year
Pushes Dead Calm into the Hall of Fame (low confidence)
Humor: Dry and needling, prone to pretending to be wounded.
In their words
“I think we should get a dog.” (0:12:02)
“I'm very curious about, uh, the big needle drops.” (2:32:14)
Loves spectacle done with craft and the practical heft of the original Gladiator; counts it just under his top tier of Ridley Scott. Can't stand sloppy CGI animals, soft scripts and legacy sequels that merely restate the original. A sucker for actors committing, a big Mad Max: Fury Road partisan.
Stances
Gladiator II is a huge disappointment and also incredibly entertaining
Denzel Washington is the best thing in it, but Macrinus's villainy was telegraphed
CGI baboons and sharks pull him out of the film; real animals would be better
Wants Ridley Scott to finally win Best Director
Humor: Dry, ringleader-style needling of his co-hosts, with absurd escalations (method-acting baboons, Bitcoin vs. cranking it).
In their words
“how do you communicate that this movie is a huge disappointment to me and also incredibly entertaining.” (0:16:31)
A fan of Chazelle's showy, homage-heavy filmmaking and a self-declared proud member of the Babylon hive. Loves Singin' in the Rain, physical media, genre like Suspiria, and the Immaculate theatrical experience. Can't stand long bad blockbusters, though long ambitious films do not bother him. Hunts movie-night rituals and bits.
Stances
Babylon is a maligned masterpiece and the middle and ending montage hold up
Long movies are fine when they are good; the problem is long bad blockbusters
Movies are best with a crowd and a ritual of focus
Humor: Deadpan tangents and mock-solemn setups (snack lists, bridge-dog theory, fake complaints about the golf scandal) that pull the room off the film and back.
In their words
“Now, listen, I am a proud member of the Babylon Hive.” (2:57:53)
“who's going to show this kid? Suspiria, you know, if not me.” (1:52:01)
“Tell you what, I think I'm a pretty normal guy.” (1:09:04)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
The Big Picture
Drafts: Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument.
Hall of Fame: A star's or director's best, ranked and argued.
Countdowns: Ranked lists, top five or top ten.
The Rewatchables
Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.
Their claims
Showing 501–600 of 1,576 claims.
theme (shared theme):
Moneyball → Inside Llewyn Davis.
Both are stories about someone who never quite fulfills his promise or gets as famous as hoped.
“it's another story about a loser, we just did inside Lewin Davis in this series, which was a story about somebody who doesn't quite fulfill his promise”
people (prior collaboration):
Philip Seymour Hoffman → Capote.
Hoffman starred in Bennett Miller's first narrative feature and won the Best Actor Oscar for it, then brought gravitas to a small Moneyball part.
“Hoffman had had acted in Capote, Bennett Miller's 1st narrative feature film and won an Academy Award for best actor for that role.”
unmapped (anti-chemistry):
Philip Seymour Hoffman → Brad Pitt.
Hoffman is not intimidated by Pitt, giving their scenes of open contempt a rare tension.
“film Seymour Hoffman is not afraid of Brad Pitt.”
contrast (contrast on data):
Moneyball → Eddington.
Today we are skeptical of lives dominated by data, as in Eddington, which makes Billy's stance feel different now.
“pretty dubious of having our lives dominated by a data center if you've seen Eddington.”
unmapped (unmade version):
Moneyball → Reds.
Soderbergh's planned version was like Reds as a baseball movie, with to-camera testimony from real people.
“It was kind of like if you made reds as a baseball movie where he was going to use into camera testimony and real life people performing from the film.”
unmapped (authorial signature):
Aaron Sorkin → Moneyball.
The nobility-of-work and dad-daughter material is attributed to Sorkin's rewrite.
“the nobility of the work, which is so common in all of Sorkin's TV shows and movies, the idea of like just doing the thing in an honest and decent way.”
people (director filmography):
Bennett Miller → Foxcatcher.
Miller made Foxcatcher four years after Moneyball and has made nothing since, which may dim Moneyball's legacy.
“He makes Foxcatcher, a 4 years later, a movie that no longer exists.”
industry (Oscar consolation):
Brad Pitt → Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Pitt eventually won Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but not for the right role.
“Pitt, of course, 8 years later, we'll eventually win best supporting actor for once upon a time in Hollywood.”
unmapped (critical reading):
Manohla Dargis → Brad Pitt.
Dargis wrote about Pitt's power as a movie star filtering Robert Redford-type strong, silent figures.
“Manola wrote at length about the kind of use of Pitt's power and what he kind of brings as a movie star type”
unmapped (similar subject):
Moneyball → Air.
Air is a similar movie about commerce, finance, and decision-making around sports, with movie stars and questionable pants.
“Air sort of a similar movie to this in terms of ideas and the relationship between commerce and finance and decision making around sports.”
unmapped (process procedural):
Moneyball → All the President's Men.
Both are process movies that take you inside a world and show how people do things and talk.
“taking you inside of a world that you don't totally understand and showing you literally how people do things, literally how people talk about things”
career (career):
Goodfellas → Oppenheimer.
Goodfellas came at the point in Scorsese's career where Oppenheimer came for Nolan, but Scorsese lost the Oscars.
“Nolan just won Oppenheimer at a very similar play time in his career to where Scorsese was when he made Goodfellas”
contrast (contrast):
Dances with Wolves → Driving Miss Daisy.
Unlike Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves is not offensive in its depiction of native people.
“It's not like driving Miss Daisy where there's something kind of offensive about it.”
contrast (contrast):
Total Recall → The Terminator.
The pick makes a case that Total Recall is Schwarzenegger's best movie, neck and neck with the Terminator films.
“strong case for it being Arnold Schwarzenegger's best movie, kind of neck and neck, I think, with the Terminator films”
programming (programming):
Sean Fennessey → Misery.
Pick 10 (round 4), category action/horror/thriller: Best of the bunch; Stephen King, Kathy Bates, Goldman, Reiner.
programming (programming):
Sean Fennessey → Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
Pick 16 (round 6), category sequel: Passes on five sequels to New Hollywood classics for Joe Dante's satire.
programming (programming):
Sean Fennessey → Mo' Better Blues.
Pick 21 (round 7), category wild card: Spike Lee's different follow-up to Do the Right Thing; love story about an artist's soul.
“Well, better blues is sitting at the top of my wild card list right now.”
what-if (what-if):
Home Alone → Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Had Home Alone not been taken, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would have been the comedy pick.
“if I had not taken home alone, I would have I would have considered teenage being Ninja Turtles”
unmapped (rowdy audience):
A Minecraft Movie → Minions: The Rise of Gru.
The last time Sean saw a theater this rowdy was Minions 2 (though that was teenagers doing memes).
“Now, the last time I remember this experience was minions 2.”
unmapped (in-joke crowd):
A Minecraft Movie → Marvel movies.
The Minecraft shout-along crowd reminded Sean of watching Marvel movies with Amanda, where he needs her to explain references.
“It reminded me of sitting with you during Marvel movies.”
career (kids-movie career):
Jack Black → Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Evidence that Jack Black is the signature kids'-movie star of the last quarter century.
“Jumanji, Super Mario Brothers, Kung Fu Panda, School of Rock, Goosebumps, Ice Age, Shark Tail.”
unmapped (star promotion):
Challengers → Zendaya.
Challengers and Dune 2 needed star promotion, specifically Zendaya, so they were pushed to early last year after the strikes.
people (actor opportunity cost):
Marvel movies → Chris Hemsworth.
Comic book movies took great actors off the board; Hemsworth hasn't explored being a movie star because of Thor.
“Just have not had a chance to even explore his potential as a movie star because he has so much commitment as Thor.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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?”
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.”
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?”
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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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?”
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.”
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.”
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”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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”
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”