Sean loves collecting boutique Blu-rays, a Michael Mann completist, drawn to cult and exploitation titles, and a heavy supporter of Criterion and Arrow. He worries about space and cost, buys sale titles, and hates streaming's impermanence. He is a sucker for beautiful box sets and for completism by director.
Stances
Physical media matters as streaming becomes unreliable
Buy only what carries emotional weight
Be completist about core directors
Humor: Self-mocking addict bits about plastic, black tar heroin, and an ethical non-monogamy riff.
In their words
“I'm a little bit like teetering on the brink of like black tar heroin” (0:07:25)
“Really focus in on things that have emotional weight” (1:11:06)
Loves author-driven art cinema and international films (Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days, Taste of Things) and is moved by sincere, vulnerable movies like All of Us Strangers, though he stops short of calling it a five-star masterpiece. Respects Andrew Haigh's directness. Can be a sucker for the Rewatchables and Ringer in-jokes. Disdains flat, obviously written films like Rustin and the Oscars' short-term thinking about moments and speeches.
Stances
Predicts via chalk plus a few contrarian bets (Glazer over Payne)
Argues the director, not the producer-spouse, should give the final acceptance speech
Believes All of Us Strangers works only if you stay with the feeling and do not dissect it
Reluctant remake critic: gives IP echoing a pass for a new generation
Humor: Dry, deadpan banter with Amanda, running bits (7 AM garage pod, Yasi Salix promise) and mock-promos.
In their words
“It's not, it's not a sunbeam.” (1:04:29)
“I think if you, if you, like see the movie and respect the movie in its totality, I find it to be very effective.” (1:10:17)
“I have a dead mom and a weird relationship with my dad.” (1:10:38)
Loves auteurs and the desolate, we-are-all-alone Lanthimos films like The Lobster and Sacred Deer, ranks Killers of the Flower Moon a masterpiece, and is a big PTA, Haynes and Past Lives fan. Prefers stars with old-school physicality and wants Ruffalo and Sterling K. Brown honored. Gets irritated at shifts away from what he loves, e.g. Payne and Lanthimos pivoting.
Stances
Poor Things is excellent but 'lags' on second watch and the ship section is stuck in neutral
Zone of Interest is a borderline masterpiece but under-seen
Oppenheimer's third hour is the weak point
Questions the Oppenheimer frontrunner status: 'noted skeptic' of the clipboard
Humor: Deadpan, self-mocking bits about his own ego, fitness ignorance, and ranking-rule disputes with Amanda.
In their words
“I think it's a borderline masterpiece that like 180 people.” (1:34:15)
“It's very, very unusual for an American movie star to be in like 14 sex scenes in a movie” (0:36:57)
Loves the Mann of Thief and The Insider, and the dialogue-rich classical side. Has struggled with Mann's last 15 years, calling Miami Vice and Ferrari kin. Sucker for lists and the Mann mythology.
Stances
Thief is Mann's best
Ferrari is good, in the same zone as Miami Vice
Mann is in a late-career box office squeeze
Humor: Dry, needling and fond, especially at Chris's expense.
In their words
“I think Miami Vice and Ferrari are kind of right in the same zone.” (0:48:14)
“this is the last time he feels like young.” (0:51:55)
Loves Fincher fiercely and Fincher's control-freak process; reads The Killer as a repressed-emotion thesis statement. Delights in jokes, set pieces and filmmaking mechanics, and gets nervous about getting a beloved movie wrong. Can't stand cynical dismissals of the film as slight.
Stances
The Killer is an emotional movie about a man avenging a wounded loved one
It is his favorite film of the year and a complete piece of movie-making
Fincher's work is thematically coherent around people who repress feelings
Humor: Self-deprecating and performative, riffing on being compared to Fincher the control freak.
In their words
“I think this might be my favorite movie of the year.” (0:04:39)
“the second time I was like, this is the thesis statement for all of his repressed feelings” (0:07:07)
Loves Scorsese's big, immersive late-period epics and long historical megadramas (The English Patient is one of his favorites, he says); thinks Goodfellas will always outrank Silence or Killers for him. Wants studios to spend on practical craft such as Jack Fisk's sets instead of VFX. Can't stand excuses about runtime and Oppenheimer as a rival to Killers.
Stances
Killers of the Flower Moon is a masterpiece after two viewings
Runtime complaints are a non-argument
Making Ernest a conflicted figure is what makes it great Scorsese
Picks Killers' ambiguity about love as the central question
Humor: Dry needling of Amanda, mock-pompous pronouncements, and a running Oppenheimer bit.
In their words
“I think it's a masterpiece.” (0:02:23)
“It's a complete non-argument.” (1:19:03)
“So do you not want a Martin Scorsese movie?” (1:19:06)
Loves ambitious, big swings and craft: Nope at number one, Babylon, Tar, and big engineered blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick. Responds to blunt, shocking horror (he has recommended Speak No Evil repeatedly) and is wary of Park Chan-wook and Chazelle's La La Land. Less taken with quiet interregnum films like The Eternal Daughter. Sucker for theater experiences and auteurs spending studio money on something personal.
Stances
Nope is his number one and a better movie than Top Gun: Maverick in terms of what it asks of the viewer
Babylon is bold and bravura despite flaws
Top Gun: Maverick is a beautifully engineered vehicle he does not need to overthink
Tar is a Rorschach test film
Humor: Dry, self-aware; builds comic set pieces around his own mood and cocktail-party logistics and pretends to circle Nope like Mav circling a MiG.
In their words
“Okay, I don't know how I can match the energy of Top Gun Maverick, but my number one is nope.” (1:29:39)
“This film has that. It was really bad, though.” (0:40:57)
He loves Ryan Coogler's movies and rated the first Black Panther a major accomplishment inside a Marvel structure. He wants real-world themes and a clear sense of place, and gets disappointed when Marvel films feel contorted or overstaffed. He's a sucker for the idea of a leaner movie that says one thing well.
Stances
Wakanda Forever felt like it had a Chadwick Boseman shaped hole and was contorting itself
Strong bookends but a muddled middle
Ironheart felt like a cynical Kevin Feige insertion
Would rather a narrower film about Shuri, Wakanda succession and Namor
Humor: Dry host who needles his guest and co-host while conducting the show.
In their words
“I felt that there was a Chadwick Boseman shaped hole in the movie” (0:05:05)
“we're like an hour and 40 minutes into the movie before I'm like, oh, wow, this is actually about this” (0:19:18)
“Game of Thrones was very good at posing who should be the heir.” (1:06:00)
Sean loves Cameron the schemer who wins and is a Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar believer who rewatched Avatar in theaters. He is a box-office and awards-season nerd, dubious that the long tail Avatar had in 2009 can repeat. He is a sucker for a movie that simply works and for director talk.
Stances
Avatar is good and it works because its single story is engineered like machinery
Hollywood misread Avatar
The sequels' success depends on the long tail and not on franchise homework
Humor: Dry host banter, nicknaming Cameron 'Big Jim' and teasing Griffin and David about stealing material.
In their words
“Like, he is the ultimate, like, con artist whose con is real.” (0:30:08)
“I'm always so interested in high-level schemers who actually win.” (0:30:00)
“Okay, this leads me to the most important question of this podcast.” (0:56:49)
A music-journalist-turned-film-critic who loves Elvis's music as a skeleton key to American pop and loves Steven Soderbergh and Todd Haynes. He finds Luhrmann's maximalism overwhelming and Parker framing a failure, prefers biopics that skip the rise, and is a sucker for the performance-forward, auteur-driven ones.
Stances
Elvis is a mess, with Tom Hanks's Parker a baffling failure
Rises in biopics are dull; wants more Fat Elvis
Likes cerebral, conceptual deconstructions of musicians (I'm Not There)
Walk Hard is a five-star movie
Humor: Dry and exasperated, deflating pretension with throwaway one-liners and affectionate teasing of co-hosts.
In their words
“I do think of it more as that, you know, image deconstruction” (1:15:13)
“I wish there was a little bit more Fat Elvis in the film Elvis.” (0:47:24)
“I really didn't love the movie at all.” (0:05:00)
Loves Tom Cruise as movie star above all, and the old-style entertaining Hollywood movie. Pushes Scorsese, Kubrick and PTA, and pulls for Collateral and Magnolia. Can't stand Cruise coasting or being too reserved; sentimental about Legend.
Stances
Cruise is the movie star of his lifetime, not necessarily a great actor
Hall of Fame should combine importance, relevance, achievement and idiosyncratic love
Fallout must be in because it makes Maverick possible
Humor: Mock-politician bits about running the draft, and absurd cultural references.
In their words
“I think that there's probably 5 films in his career that are like locked down the greenest green you've ever seen in your life” (0:52:04)
Loves doom and bleakness in his movies and has a taste for cynical noir. Initially lukewarm on Nightmare Alley, he rewatched it four times and became a champion. Likes 70s noir revisionism and under-the-radar modern noir such as Under the Silver Lake.
Stances
Nightmare Alley is bigger, bolder and better than the 1947 version
Del Toro's visual excess is the point, not a flaw
Noir is coming back into vogue
Great movies often flop and get rediscovered
Humor: Dry and conversational; he teases Patton's range and drops film trivia as a quick aside.
In their words
“As listeners of the show know, I absolutely love doom in my movies.” (0:05:01)
“I watched it again. And then I watched a 3rd time.” (0:02:57)
Loves the 80s comedies, Ivan Reitman movies, Local Hero, Totoro and Pee-wee, and deeply moving small family films like Come On, Come On. Can't stand nostalgia strip-mined into product placement. Sucker for movies tied to when he saw them and for parent-child stories.
Stances
Afterlife betrays what made the original special
Feel-good movies are about when you see them
Come On, Come On is a highest recommendation
Humor: Wry, nerdy asides about production credits and mock-grandiose declarations.
In their words
“I feel very bent out of shape about it.” (0:03:14)
“this is like my highest possible recommendation.” (0:35:37)
Admires craft, spectacle and set pieces but is not a car guy or a Vin Diesel fan. Likes tonal wit and context from filmmaker careers. Can't stand needless world-building homework.
Stances
Fast is as good as its set pieces
Fast & Furious is not built for him
Hobbs & Shaw is last
Humor: Dry and ringmaster-ish, jokes about ruling the show with an iron fist.
Loves tightly engineered, kinetic filmmaking and sharp dialogue (Reservoir Dogs reorganized his brain chemistry) and filmmakers who arrive fully formed. Respects Soderbergh and Aronofsky. Quick to see craft lineage between directors and enthusiastic about unfussy, carefully built genre.
Stances
Reservoir Dogs is #1 despite it being a second feature
Sees Hard Eight as a great but harder first film
Glazer, Coppola, Singleton belong near the top
Oscars should try something weird this year
Humor: Dry and quick: sets up bits with Amanda and teases Brian for forgetting Soderbergh was born in the 60s.
In their words
“I probably would certainly not be doing it.” (1:17:53)
“I choose darkness.” (0:10:19)
“I wish that there was a movie like Mother coming out this year, honestly.” (1:06:59)
Loves canonical 1970s American cinema (Network, All the President's Men), the Hitchcock and Kubrick end of the dial, Japanese cinema (Mifune), and golf and sports documentaries as an avowed golf fan. He rewatches movies as comfort food even when they are not comforting (True Romance, Clerks, 12 Monkeys). He is a sucker for classic stars like Jimmy Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Ingrid Bergman and for rediscovering neglected directors like Preston Sturges.
Stances
The Academy is wrong more often than not, and it is the show's animating force
Classic filmmakers like Sturges are slipping through the cracks of the canon
Great actors should get their Oscars in their time
Unauthorized documentaries like Tiger trade access for candor
Humor: Mock-grandiose and self-aggrandizing, deadpan about his own obsessiveness (fact-checking Scorsese, threatening to lie on the floor).
In their words
“I think we're all agreed that more often than not, the academy is wrong.” (0:40:47)
“I have a poisoned brain.” (1:00:45)
“We need to reward the actors in their time for their great performances.” (0:44:17)
Prefers Sorkin on the big screen over the West Wing and ranks by sheer entertainment and rewatchability; loves Fincher-era Sorkin, A Few Good Men, Moneyball and Steve Jobs, and thinks Sorkin shines when paired with a dark-hearted collaborator. Skeptical of Sorkin's politics and of Chicago 7's smallness; wants the filmmaking sharper.
Stances
Sorkin is at his best with darker directors like Fincher and Bennett Miller
Chicago 7 is entertaining but politically small and Sorkin is not yet a filmmaker for action scenes
Social Network is the best movie of the decade and possibly Sorkin's best script
Humor: Dry and self-deprecating, with mock-grievance about not being invited on The Rewatchables.
In their words
“I would not put it in the top tier.” (1:29:59)
“He's an interesting counterweight, I think, to Oliver Stone” (0:30:43)
“he's he's not quite there yet as a filmmaker.” (1:42:37)
Sean wants command of everything: he watches about three movies a night, keeps a Netflix DVD queue and a 1000-plus film list, and treats director filmographies (Hitchcock, De Palma, Wachowskis) as projects. He champions unloved movies he thinks are secretly good (Last Action Hero, Mother!, A Cure for Wellness, Marie Antoinette), likes Garland over Nolan on a hypothetical budget, and admires effortless, tasteful careers like Paul Newman's. Not into 'so bad it's good' cult culture or into talking down animated films.
Stances
Bad movies worth loving are rescued reputations, not wrecks like Battleship
Would take another Alex Garland film over another Nolan film
Movie business as it was is over and will restart; theaters will come back
Streaming democratizes criticism but lowers the floor
Will not do a top five movies of all time
Humor: Dry, self-mocking obsessiveness: explains his absurd systems and then insists he is right, and trades jabs at Amanda and Chris.
In their words
“I'm a member of every significant streaming service.” (0:21:45)
“my version of a bad movies podcast is not me reveling in the badness, the shittiness of battleship.” (1:08:32)
“I'm never doing top 5 movies of all time.” (0:40:57)
“I'm always kind of obsessed with the Palma” (0:18:37)
Loves a charming 90s Disney musical and the music-driven storytelling he finds in them, big Christopher Nolan and The Last Jedi defender. Cannot stand tonal mush or movies made for everybody and nobody. Sucker for Donnie Yen and film business context like the Chinese box office.
Stances
The remake does not know what was good about the original
Magic and wuxia trappings read as a bid for the Chinese box office
Wishes the film were more grounded and historical
Interested in the business and politics around the release
Humor: Dry and self-deprecating, leaning on bits like 'a 38-year-old man' watching Mulan and Amanda's Tenet claim.
In their words
“I'm a 38-year-old man and I probably shouldn't be watching Mulan 1998 version at this stage of my life.” (0:17:57)
“I think Mulan is kind of what happens when you don't really know what's good about your movie.” (0:26:03)
Loves inventive, maximalist filmmaking where rhythm and music drive the staging, and film as a time capsule of future stars. Cares about directors' careers as a whole. Allergic to studio flattening of weird ideas.
Stances
Scott Pilgrim predicted a lot of pop culture
Baby Driver does not exist without it
A sequel should center Knives
Humor: Dry and wry, mostly through overstatement and tongue-in-cheek asides like comparing the sequence to a 2x podcast speed.
In their words
“I've never really seen that before, something that saw the future in this way.” (0:03:36)
“there is no baby driver without this movie in terms of like the rhythm and the pacing and the way that he uses music.” (0:39:06)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
The Big Picture
Drafts: Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument.
Hall of Fame: A star's or director's best, ranked and argued.
Countdowns: Ranked lists, top five or top ten.
The Rewatchables
Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.
Their claims
Showing 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
Napoleon (unmade Kubrick film):
The book 'Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon' is Sean's heaviest book, with phone-book pages holding thousands of pages of documents.
“The book is so big that the pages are almost like telephone book pages.”
fun, about
Tenet:
Sean and Amanda drove about 130 miles round trip to a San Diego drive-in to see Tenet in a heat wave, parked side by side. Amanda left claiming she understood the whole film; they will try to explain it on the pod next week.
“The movie ended and she said, I get it. I know everything that happened.”
fun, about
Chadwick Boseman:
Sean rewatched Black Panther the night before, saying it lived up to unprecedented anticipation, which never happens in mainstream culture.
fun, about
Mulan:
Controversy: filmed in Xinjiang, where Muslims are held in mass internment camps; lead Yifei Liu's Hong Kong police tweet triggered #BoycottMulan.
“was filmed in uh, Jinjiang, the region in China, where uh, Muslims have been detained in mass internment camps.”
fun, about
Cruella:
Sean reads the logline: a 1970s London fashion designer obsessed with dogskins, especially Dalmatians; Amanda and Jason react with horror.
“young fashion designer Cruella DeVille becomes obsessed with dogs skins, especially Dalmatians, until she eventually becomes a ruthless and terrifying legend.”
fun, about
The Little Mermaid (upcoming live action remake):
Casting rundown: Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, plus voices Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay; King Triton is described as xenophobic toward humans.
“Ariel's overprotective father and the king of Atlantica, who is xenophobic towards humans.”
fun, about
Trolls World Tour:
Parents reportedly rented the 48-hour 19.99 title three weekends running; the hosts bless parents and hope kids learned respect for country as well as rock and pop.
“I had people anecdotally tell me that they rented the movie 3 weekends in a row.”
fun, about
The Great Moment:
Host watched Preston Sturges's late biopic about William Morton, inventor of ether, during a pandemic film-history bender.
“I watched Preston Sturgis's The Great Moment last night about William Morton, the inventor of ether, who revolutionized dentistry.”
fun, about
David Fincher:
Netflix is betting on a black-and-white, no-movie-star historical drama because studios have not funded Fincher in 7 or 8 years.
“studios haven't been giving David Fincher money to make movies for the last 7 or 8 years for a reason.”
fun, about
Netflix and the Egyptian Theatre:
Netflix bought the Egyptian and was refurbishing the Paris Theater; a host reads the moves as overtures to older Academy members.
“those overtures were made to ingratiate themselves to the older members of the academy”
fun, about
Alamo Drafthouse:
A six-hour evening: movie, whiskey cocktail, fries, rent a video from the same filmmaker at their video store, beer and trivia, which AMC does not offer.
“And that is a 6 hour evening in a movie palace that AMC is not offering.”
fun, about
Academy Awards:
From 24 awards to 23 by merging sound; one host wants 75 awards and a five-day festival; another wants best first feature and best breakthrough.
“There should be 75 awards. This should be a 5 day festival of handing out awards.”
fun, about
Stunt Oscar:
A host zags on the stunt category: everyone demands it without knowing why, while still wanting to honor stunt work with an honorary award; joke pitch: Zoom Stunt Oscars with DVDs held up.
“Everybody needs to just settle down with pretending that they really like stunts in movies.”
fun, about
Twilight Zone: The Movie:
An episode of the Shudder series Cursed covers the 1982 set death of Vic Morrow and two children in a helicopter stunt; Landis was acquitted.
“A helicopter crashed during a stunt and Vic Morrow, Jennifer Jason Lee's father, was killed along with 2 children during the making of this movie”
fun, about
Incredible Hulk / Iron Man:
Trivia win: the two characters in the first two MCU films, Hulk and Iron Man, earned the team points after a host sprinted out of frame.
“It's the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, you fools.”
fun, about
Postponed films:
Sean tracks 18 postponed undated films that could drop when theaters reopen, listing New Mutants, Promising Young Woman, Bad Trip, The High Note, Run, Military Wives, Greyhound and Malignant.
“there have been 18 movies that have been postponed and are undated at the moment.”
fun, about
Alita: Battle Angel:
Sean watches strangers watch Alita on planes and tracks the actors he recognizes; the 15-minute motorball fight keeps breaking for exposition and restarting.
“I watched people watch it on the plane and then at some point I just took kept track of like the actors I could recognize.”
fun, about
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum:
The dog-fight sequence took six months to design and train, and director Chad Stahelski told this podcast it was the hardest thing he had done. Wins best action sequence.
“I took 6 months to design and train the dogs to execute this fight.”
fun, about
Spider-Man: Far From Home:
Sean argues the post-credits scene (J.K. Simmons outing Peter Parker on a Times Square screen) is the best ending of 2019 because the theater erupted; Amanda calls it a teaser, not an ending.
“That was the loudest vocal reaction I had heard to a movie in 2019.”
fun, about
Midsommar:
Sean defends the ending by asking whether anyone has been sewn inside a bear skin and lit on fire in a giant triangle; Midsommar also wins best meme inspiration and Halloween costumes.
“Have you ever been sewn inside of a bear skin and lit on fire in a giant triangle.”
fun, about
The Lighthouse:
Sean is so devoted he'll launch a minute-by-minute Lighthouse podcast alone in a lighthouse; Amanda calls him an A24-merch-bro Reddit nerd and says Eggers shows his work too much.
“what you are is a Reddit nerd, bro, and you hate this. I believe what I said was A24 merch, bro.”
fun, about
Richard Jewell:
Paul Walter Hauser was a guest and recited A Few Good Men past the code red, continuing through the officer on deck; Sean says he can do it too.
“He started doing like this, the extended a few good men recitation, like we had done, the normal code red stuff, and then he just kept going”
fun, about
Richard Jewell:
Hauser's home scene with Kathy Bates sells the age of the relationship with comfort alone, and the film cooks whenever Jewell, Rockwell and Bates share a room.
“these 3 people are amazingly comfortable with each other.”
fun, about
Blair Witch (The Woods):
Sean says its last 30 minutes are the most scared he has ever been in a theater, though he doesn't think the film is good.
“the last 30 minutes of Blair Witch is the most scared I think I may have ever been in a movie theater”
fun, about
Soul / Inside Out:
Sean can only remember Inside Out as a drawing and confuses its Sadness creature with Tina Fey's Soul; Amanda saw it in a theater.
“No, I saw that in a movie theater. Really? Yeah, I just couldn't remember anything about it because it's a drawing.”
fun, about
Paul Thomas Anderson / Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:
Sean riffs on the DGA podcast, where PTA gushed about Brad Pitt, and impersonates him on the Moana bit.
“Because Paul Thomas Anderson is being like, Quentin, fucking Brad. In this movie.”
fun, about
Fleabag / Succession vs Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:
Sean says that's why the show is The Big Picture and not The Watch: he would take one great movie over Fleabag.
“And that's why this is the big picture and not the watch.”
fun, about
Captain Marvel:
The 90s signaling: a never-worn Guns N' Roses T-shirt, and Carol stealing a Nine Inch Nails shirt off a mannequin as a metaphor for the film.
“steals a 9 inch nails t-shirt and a leather jacket off of a mannequin outside of a boutique.”
fun, about
Captain Marvel:
The big fight scene is set to No Doubt's Just a Girl while she punches Jude Law, which Sean finds cute and clever but ham-handed.
“certainly the chorus of that song makes it fit when she's punching Jude Law on the face repeatedly.”
fun, about
The Ringer office:
A Ringer Slack prompt for the most 90s song stopped work for an hour; Dan Devine said Smells Like Teen Spirit immediately.
“Dan Devine gave immediately, which was smells like teen spirit.”
fun, about
Guardians of the Galaxy:
Amanda knows Guardians only as the raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper, and Sean suggests she go by Amanda the Accuser.
“perhaps you should go by Amanda the accuser in future podcasts.”
fun, about
Captain Marvel:
Opening weekend benchmark: less than $150 million would be called a disappointment, even though few can open a movie on name alone.
“less than $150000000 in the opening weekend would be considered a relative disappointment for a Marvel movie like this”
fun, about
Kingdom Come:
Sean explains the Alex Ross series, set 50 or 60 years later with an older Batman in a wheelchair and gray-streaked Wonder Woman, calling it very melodramatic.