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 601–700 of 1,576 claims.
unmapped (globalization start):
Jaws → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Movie globalization began in the 1970s when Jaws went wide and Star Wars became a phenomenon.
“which started in the 1970s when Jaws went wide and Star Wars became a phenomenon”
industry (Chinese box office):
Marvel movies → Ne Zha 2.
This franchise is among the wordless spectacle brands that played in China and pushed out mid-budget movies (target is the China-box-office counterexample).
“And what played in China was Marvel, Jurassic World, the Fast and the Furious, Avatar, et cetera, et cetera.”
industry (Chinese box office):
Jurassic World → Ne Zha 2.
This franchise is among the wordless spectacle brands that played in China and pushed out mid-budget movies (target is the China-box-office counterexample).
“And what played in China was Marvel, Jurassic World, the Fast and the Furious, Avatar, et cetera, et cetera.”
industry (Chinese box office):
The Fast and the Furious (franchise) → Ne Zha 2.
This franchise is among the wordless spectacle brands that played in China and pushed out mid-budget movies (target is the China-box-office counterexample).
“And what played in China was Marvel, Jurassic World, the Fast and the Furious, Avatar, et cetera, et cetera.”
industry (Chinese box office):
Avatar → Ne Zha 2.
This franchise is among the wordless spectacle brands that played in China and pushed out mid-budget movies (target is the China-box-office counterexample).
“And what played in China was Marvel, Jurassic World, the Fast and the Furious, Avatar, et cetera, et cetera.”
unmapped (counterexample):
Ne Zha 2 → A Minecraft Movie.
Ne Zha 2, a Chinese animation, is now the world's top grosser, almost all from China, showing China no longer needs Hollywood.
“Niza 2 is the highest grossing movie in the world right now.”
industry (streaming vs theatrical):
Black Bag → A Minecraft Movie.
Movies like Black Bag go to streaming; Minecraft or Sonic are needed to revive theaters.
“appetites lost interest in going out to a movie theater for a movie like Black Bag”
unmapped (generational analog):
A Minecraft Movie → Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Minecraft is Gen Alpha's TMNT: adults despaired at the Turtles film but it opened a pathway for storytelling.
unmapped (healthy model):
Nosferatu → A Minecraft Movie.
A $50M gamble on an interesting filmmaker turning $200M is the healthy middle, versus a $18M comedy hoping for $700M.
“I hope there are more Nosperatus, where they're like, we're going to give a really interesting filmmaker $50 million, because we think it can make $200 million.”
unmapped (mixed-feelings precedent):
A Minecraft Movie → Barbie.
Barbie wasn't Sean's favorite that year, but he's glad it happened; same attitude to Minecraft.
“Barbie wasn't my favorite movie of that year, but I liked it.”
unmapped (Soderbergh exercise):
Black Bag → The Good German.
Soderbergh is the king of the exercise; The Good German is an earlier, reclaimed exercise film.
“the movie that is being reclaimed of his right now and is being released on 4K is a good German.”
people (tell-tale casting):
Black Bag → Vincent Price.
Brosnan and Page show their hand early, like seeing Vincent Price in a movie and knowing he will do bad things.
“sometimes you're watching a Vincent Price movie and you're like, well, Vincent Price is in this movie.”
people (same director lineage):
Misericordia → Stranger by the Lake.
Misericordia is in the same lineage as Guiraudie's Stranger by the Lake: eerie, upsetting, queer serial-killer thriller.
“This is very much in the same lineage as that movie.”
theme (theme):
Babygirl → The Substance.
Same year as The Substance; both are women-made films confronting an actress's aging, one literal, one metaphorical.
“it's an interesting time for this movie to come along in the same year as the substance where that movie makes the metaphorical literal.”
industry (industry):
A24 → Civil War.
A24's year: hit lots of doubles and a home run with Civil War, then Heretic, We Live in Time, Babygirl, The Brutalist.
“They had a home run with Civil War, but, you know, you had, we live in time, we had heretic, now this movie, then the brutalist,”
career (career):
Nicole Kidman → The Golden Compass.
Kidman dots her ambitious work with supporting parts in popcorn movies like The Golden Compass and Aquaman.
“And then she tends to dot it with, I think, pretty smart supporting work in popcorn movies.”
contrast (contrast):
Nicole Kidman → Jennifer Lopez.
Jennifer Lopez longs for Kidman's stature as an elevated celebrity who is also celebrated as an artist.
“That's the thing is when you see Jennifer Lopez longing, what she really longs for is Nicole Kidman's stature.”
people (people):
Dead Calm → Phillip Noyce.
A small thriller directed by Phillip Noyce with Sam Neill and Billy Zane, her big breakthrough performance.
“This is her big breakthrough performance in a very small thriller, directed by Philip Noyes, co-starring Sam Neil and Billy Zane.”
career (career):
Happy Feet → Prince.
Prince's 'Kiss' in the opening minutes of Happy Feet is how the speaker first realized Prince was cool.
“I think that this might actually be the 1st time that I realized Prince was cool was because they sing Kiss in the opening like 5 minutes of this movie.”
verdict (verdict):
Nicole Kidman → Dead Calm.
Thirteen yellows read aloud, starting with Dead Calm and Days of Thunder.
“Dead calm, days of thunder, malice, practical magic, the hours, dogville, rabbit hole, the paper boy, Paddington, the killing of a sacred deer, destroyer, the Northman, and baby girl.”
craft (craft):
Halina Reijn → Paul Verhoeven.
Intense tension blended with absurdist humor that pierces it is a Verhoeven idea Reijn shares, partly as Dutch humor.
craft (scene mirror):
Babylon → Singin' in the Rain.
Babylon's walk-on bar scene mirrors the flashback that opens Singin' in the Rain, where Don Lockwood gets a walk-on.
“Um, Don Lockwood gets a walk on part in a bar in that like in that flashback to start the movie.”
unmapped (self-commentary):
Babylon → Damien Chazelle.
A speaker reads the film as possibly Chazelle commenting on himself as a holdout against blockbusterization, after its box-office failure.
“Damien Chisel gets propped up as one of the, like, the, the, last filmmakers to, who was trying to make movies like this in the face of, DIP blockbusterization of cinema.”
people (shared cinematographer):
Linus Sandgren → Saltburn.
Babylon's cinematographer also shot Saltburn, No Time to Die and True Detective: Night Country.
“You know whose name we didn't mention is Lena Sangren, the cinematographer of this film who also shot Saltburn?”
unmapped (could become):
Con Air → Hardcore.
Con Air could become the Rolling Thunder or Hardcore of 2047, a once-obscure film needing care and restoration.
“Conair could become the rolling thunder or hardcore of 2047.”
unmapped (restoration):
Wings of Desire → Wim Wenders.
Wenders says the negative was wrong and he and his DP and editor always knew; the restoration is the intended version.
what-if (recut):
Black Hat → Michael Mann.
Arrow's Black Hat 4K includes a recut that moves a significant sequence to the front, making it more coherent.
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
The Langley vault heist is nearly silent; the digital sound meter goes into the red. It is the pick for most rewatchable scene and has been ripped off numerous times.
“almost all in silence, which is an incredible choice.”
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
Masks win 'what's aged the worst' over floppy disks, Netscape and Usenet, though one host argues the preposterous masks are the point and the show's legacy.
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
Unintentional comedy: Senator Waltzer appears on the McLaughlin Group and the team watches it in crystal-clear video in a Prague hotel room.
“being able to watch the McLaughlin group in crystal clear video in a hotel room in Prague.”
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
Unanswerable question: three theories on Senator Waltzer, including that he is a 65-year-old American citizen played entirely by Cruise for IMF on 60 grand a year.
“Or he is a completely constructed 65-year-old human American citizen played entirely by Tom Cruise when necessary for the IMF.”
fun, about
The Rewatchables:
Recurring Danny Trejo category: asked which character in MI should be Danny Trejo; answer was Steve Buscemi as Estevez or Claire. Said to matter to Bill Simmons.
“This is one of like the 6 or 7 things that matters most to Bill is the evolution of the Danny Trejo category within the real logic.”
fun, about
Resident Evil:
Cregger told Sean the film would be a rock-em sock-em, brain-off Evil Dead 2 style movie, nothing like Barbarian and Weapons. Sean regrets asking him why he was making a franchise film right after Weapons.
fun, about
Resident Evil:
The suicide jumper scene: Brian runs through a canyon of people leaping off tall buildings and exploding near him; Chris calls it operatic but wishes it was not in the trailer.
“So I thought it was just completely operatic and amazing.”
fun, about
Resident Evil:
A voice-note confession by the elevator is undercut by an intercom voice saying come up, take the stairs; he takes the elevator anyway, which becomes the acid-barf, snowball-zombie set piece.
fun, about
Griffin Newman:
Blank Check co-host Griffin Newman and Severance's Zach Cherry play scientists in the final lab; podcasters get extra pixie dust from the scene.
“there's a little bit of extra pixie dust on this sequence”
fun, about
Zach Cregger:
Constantin Film head said Cregger came to them with the idea; Cregger's next film is a big sci-fi action movie, The Flood, for Warner Bros.
“Zach Craiger came to them and was like, I have an idea for a Resident Evil movie.”
fun, about
Video games:
Sean skips cut scenes; Chris likes being controlled by a movie and not controlling a game. GTA 6 arrives in two months and may blot out podcasting.
fun, about
Horror lately:
Both hosts feel horror movies are becoming a drag, heavy on ponderous self-examination; Resident Evil could be a changer-comer back toward fun.
fun, about
Raisinettes in popcorn:
Chris pours Raisinettes into a popcorn bucket, one person's breaking point; the speaker defends it as making popcorn tolerable.
fun, about
Camp Miasma (voyeur and victim):
Chris's confession of wanting to be both voyeur and victim is the film's most critical scene and a double-edged pleasure.
“you're the voyeur and the victim at the same time.”
fun, about
Camp Miasma (the movie-within-movie viewing):
Chris keeps annotating the old film's technique and transphobia while Billy rolls her eyes: the movie asks if you can enjoy something without its externalities.
fun, about
Obsession:
The discourse around Obsession is the most deranged for any American movie since the speaker started; 80 percent the moment, 20 percent the movie.
“about 80% of that is the moment that we're in, and only 20% of it is the movie.”
fun, about
Scarface / Scott Hall:
Story that Scott Hall auditioned for Vince McMahon as Tony Montana and afterwards admitted he didn't know what Scarface was.
fun, about
Alien:
In the original Alien script Ripley was a man, and little changed for Weaver beyond Ridley Scott stripping her to underwear at the end.
fun, about
Obsession:
A tiny indie horror movie made a stunning five million dollars on a Wednesday in its third week, which Griffin says breaks his brain.
“Obsession made $5000000 on a Wednesday in its 3rd week of release”
fun, about
Super Bowl / Jets:
Amanda announces a 12-month hiatus from the NFL after the Jets' pointless season; Sean doesn't believe a word of it.
“the New York Jets are a psyop that have been operated against me and I am publicly announcing that after this year's NFL draft, I am taking a 12 month hiatus from the team.”
fun, about
Movie swap history:
The hosts recap six swaps: Spider-Verse/Sense and Sensibility (2019), Aliens/Four Weddings (2020), Terminator 2/Titanic (2021), Fargo/English Patient (2022), the three-way Casablanca/In-Laws/Spy Kids (2023), and the Shrek one-way swap.
“The 1st one we ever did was in 2019, and we swapped into the Spider-Verse and Sense and Sensibility.”
fun, about
The Strangers:
Sean saw it in theaters knowing only the trailer; the hosts say it was shot in 2006-07 and sat on the shelf a year, which is how it landed in 2008.
“Apparently this movie was shot in 2006, 2007 and just sat on the shelf for a year.”
fun, about
The Strangers:
Bit about the proposal: the ring, the parking lot, the pear-shaped diamond from Sex and the City, and Sean's diamond shaped like Babu Frick.
“The diamond that I got for Eileen when I proposed is in the shape of Babu Frick.”
fun, about
Mamma Mia!:
Sean watched Mamma Mia with Eileen and Alice in a 4:30-to-6:18 window between Lincoln and moderating a One Battle After Another event at Warner Brothers.
“I can watch Mamma Mia from 430 to 618, and then I got to drive to Warner Brothers to go to moderate a conversation for one battle after another.”
fun, about
Mercy:
Mercy has an on-screen countdown clock of 90 minutes that nearly matches the 96-minute runtime, which the hosts call its one real innovation.
fun, about
Send Help:
The film moves from office revenge to survival, and Linda's survival skill comes from reading survival texts and loving Survivor.
“One of the reasons why she's so good at surviving on this island is because she has read survival texts and she loves the show Survivor”
fun, about
Rachel McAdams:
Letterboxd's most popular McAdams films: Mean Girls first, then The Notebook, Midnight in Paris sixth, Spotlight seventh, Game Night eighth, Sherlock Holmes ninth, Red Eye tenth.
“Number 7 is a movie that I always forget that she's in.”
fun, about
Zack Snyder's Justice League:
Sean rarely rewatches films except Zack Snyder's Justice League (ten times); he's seen The Dark Knight Rises six times from channel-flipping for Bane.
“I tend to not go back to films aside from Zack Snyder's Justice League, which I've seen 10 times.”
fun, about
Everything Everywhere All at Once:
Sean picks it as a genre mashup and sincere immigrant-family portrait with a lot of kung fu, despite the awards spin cycle.
fun, about
The Wolf of Wall Street:
Slowed-down blues over the bacchanalia, where lights change and sound drops out until the camera finds Belfort gleeful and regretful, reads as him descending into hell.
“you can almost feel Jordan like descending into hell or like, or he's being portrayed as Satan.”
fun, about
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:
Fennessey says seeing Once Upon a Time at an ArcLight screening made it a forever movie, and says he feels the same hunger now for One Battle After Another.
“as soon as it was over, I was like forever movie.”
fun, about
Bill James:
Great baseball thinker who is weird on other topics; has a lot of feelings about who killed JFK. Joke about Chris Ryan reading the deleted files with Control F, like GMs did with James.
“He's got a lot of feelings about who killed JFK.”
fun, about
Billy Beane:
He has not won a World Series, is no longer GM, and the A's no longer play in Oakland, yet the movie still has a sentimental hold.
fun, about
Moneyball:
The big game is a mid-season winning-streak game, not a playoff; the movie shows mostly failures, only the Hatteberg home run and not the 11 runs.
“the big game is just like a winning streak game in the middle of the season.”
fun, about
Grady Fuson:
The scouts' scene is one of the great scenes of the century; the real Fuson was reportedly supportive of the revolution but the movie took dramatic license.
“another just one of the great scenes of the 21st century.”
fun, about
Chris Pratt:
Hatteberg is invented as a softening character; a joke list of his later movies follows from the audience, ending on Bride Wars.
“it invents the Hatteberg character written, played by Chris Pat in one of his best movie roles.”
fun, about
Steven Soderbergh:
His planned version: Reds-style baseball with real players like Hatteberg and Bradford acting; added more statistics days before production and Amy Pascal asked what the fuck it was and put it in turnaround.
“Amy Pascal, who was running Sony at the time, said, what the fuck is this?”
fun, about
Bennett Miller:
Hired after Sorkin's draft; had only made a documentary and Capote; has not made a movie in over 10 years, which may dim Moneyball's legacy.
“I wonder if like the legacy of this movie is dimmed at all because Bena Miller hasn't made a movie in over 10 years.”
fun, about
A Minecraft Movie:
Sean sat next to a date-night couple; the guy crushed three Sam Adamses and chuckled, all while surrounded by 9-14-year-olds who did not know how to behave.
“I watched a guy crush 3 Sam Adamses during the movie.”
fun, about
A Minecraft Movie:
Participatory movie, compared to Rocky Horror; Sean felt like he had no Amanda to turn to for explanations, as with Marvel.
“This is a participatory movie, the likes of which I haven't seen in a while.”
fun, about
A Minecraft Movie:
The 'chicken jockey' moment: when a baby Frankenstein rides a chicken and fights Momoa and the words are uttered, the whole theater erupts like a World Series win; it happens 5-6 times in the movie.
“The movie theater exploded as though everyone had just won the World Series.”
fun, about
Gabby's Dollhouse:
Eleven seasons on Netflix, from the creator of Blue's Clues; Universal pitched a movie with Kristen Wiig and Gloria Estefan.