Appreciates craftspeople and lesser-known directors (loves The Boost and City Hall) and attends Cannes. Scrutinizes plot logic and loves Buscemi's Fargo energy. Disdains the garage finale.
Stances
The movie works until the murder, then the investigation sinks it
Modern tech would have ended the plot
Harold Becker's career deserves a look
Humor: Wry, uses film-nerd references and dry understatement.
In their words
“I just saw it for the 1st time this year is amazing.” (0:30:27)
“I just feel like reverse image search alone on a photo of Rick just ends this whole thing.” (1:08:35)
Treats After Hours as a top-5 Scorsese and an all-time favorite; loves style, Pee-wee-adjacent oddballs, Frances Ha and film-history research. Can't stand lazy comic-book flatness or explicit violence for its own sake. A sucker for homage, trivia and a clean pace.
Stances
After Hours is a hinge in Scorsese's career
Goodfellas' look starts here
Pauline Kael misread it
Nighttime New York movies are a lineage
Humor: Dry, researched asides and a New Yorker's grumble about the city changing.
In their words
“It's just a hinge movie for him, you know?” (1:41:36)
Barely audible in the transcript; credited by Bill's live-show promo and addressed as 'Fantasy', he offers short remarks on Spider Rico. Little can be said about his taste from this episode.
Admires Walken's monologue craft and Tarantino's refusal to sell out. Likes movie stars taking risks in non-star roles (Stallone in Cop Land). Dislikes how the film ends up with Fabienne.
Stances
Walken wins the Dion Waiters Award
Travolta, not Day-Lewis, was right
Tarantino never sold out
Humor: Quiet, wry one-liners; takes the long view.
In their words
“Don't massage my wife's foot unless you're a professional masseuse is one of my takes.” (0:10:40)
“I love when movie stars play non-movie star roles.” (2:41:43)
“Having him play like just one normal hitman having a weird day would be awesome.” (1:39:01)
Likes the sketch-driven silliness and Mini-Me/Scott Evil feud. Annoyed by Fat Bastard's grossness and Felicity sleeping with him. Likes Rob Lowe's resilient career.
Stances
Fat Bastard scene is the worst-aged
Dr. Evil nipples age best
Heather Graham deserves credit
Humor: Dry, plays straight man to Bill's tangents.
In their words
“Felicity sleeping with Fat Bastard has just grossed me out in 1999.” (0:37:25)
Sean is the most film-critical of the three, with a theory of Pacino as broken by Scarface and an argument that The Insider is his most calibrated performance. He admires Plummer's non-impression of Wallace and values the Mann-Roth research. He is less into the score and the style when applied to a white-collar story.
Stances
The Insider is probably Pacino's best performance
Mann's style strains for individuality and sometimes ages him
The movie is a little masturbatory when applied to a hotel-room decision story
The score is not his favorite Mann element
Humor: Wry and observational, with film-critic asides and self-deprecating comments about being excommunicated from the Mann club.
In their words
“I think this is truly his last great masterpiece.” (0:07:22)
“I think that the insider is probably his best performance because it's the one that is the most finely calibrated between loud, crazy, and kind of subtle and stormy” (0:12:36)
A DVD head and Letterboxd regular who would cave on the deleted scenes. Likes the fact sheets, craft details like Ozu, and friendship movies. Dislikes the sequel idea and the Costner scene being sat on forever.
Stances
Would show the cut Costner scene
Doubts Grand Canyon
Humor: Dry quips and the straight man to the Letterboxd jokes.
Cares about directorial craft and homage; Scorsese devotee. Praises performances and lessons over the direction, which he finds first-time-filmmaker plain. Bothered by mixed Goodfellas homages.
Stances
Wonders if Goodfellas echoes are purposeful
Scorsese directing would be more thrilling but less breezy
Wants answers on who planted the car bomb
Humor: Plays straight-man with deadpan nitpicks and question lists.
In their words
“my obsession with Martin Scorsese is probably rooted in the fact that I didn't have that.” (0:08:56)
“I just want to know how much of what he was doing was a purposeful homage to Goodfellas” (1:32:47)
Altman is in his top five favorite filmmakers and he knows the filmography cold, from Tanner '88 to Cookie's Fortune. He's a sucker for Carver and Blu-ray collecting and defends Greta Scacchi. He has little patience for TV-style stretches of an asshole.
Stances
Altman's legacy is the filmmakers he influenced
The Player is one of Altman's three or four best
Movies have been good for 15 months
The oral biography is the place to start with Altman
Humor: Dry and a little snobby about his own collector habits; deadpan fact-drops.
In their words
“He is in my top 5 favorite filmmakers ever.” (0:08:57)
“I think it's really like definitely one of his 3 or 4 best movies.” (0:10:20)
“I think movies have been good for like 15 months.” (1:40:05)
Film-nerd who values Willis's daring taste in directors and takes seriously the craft and the cultural footprint. Fond of Renny Harlin's Long Kiss Goodnight, De Palma, and a good that-guy roll call; skeptical of the movie's incoherent plot and the 9/11-erased airport.
Stances
Willis took risks with unproven filmmakers
Die Hard 2 is still among the better action movies of its era
Long Kiss Goodnight is Harlin's coolest movie
Air traffic control access was problematic
Humor: Dry, specific and film-literate; sets up jokes with precise references.
In their words
“he was willing to take on projects with filmmakers who were maybe not as proven.” (0:07:32)
Film-nerd who builds the big readings (Hitchcock lineage, Fincher career arc) and loves camera moves through walls and Blu-rays. Won't love the accent in Silence of the Lambs; sucker for nitpicks about propane physics.
Stances
Panic Room is Hitchcock doing Psycho after North by Northwest
Silence of the Lambs is still Foster's best
Likes Adventureland best of Stewart
Nitpicks the propane tank and phone logic
Humor: Dry and literate; gets teased for loving cameras inside walls and Blu-rays.
In their words
“I still think is probably the best thing she's ever been a part of” (0:29:47)
“I would say Adventureland is my favorite, Kristen Stewart” (1:34:50)
“Sean loves when we take cameras inside walls.” (1:21:07)
Loves Ang Lee's range, Brokeback Mountain, tragedy with satire, and thinking about how industry changes. Can't stand over-explained text. A sucker for Joan Allen and small observed behavior.
Stances
Lee has the most varied filmography of any major director in 30 years
The film is more satire than bum-out
Joan Allen is the apex pick
Humor: Earnest and precise, then undercuts with a deadpan aside.
In their words
“He probably has the most varied filmography of any major director in the last 30 years.” (0:09:07)
“Joan wins out of all the actors.” (1:23:11)
“I thought that movie was good, and that kind of came and went, and it was almost in the wrong decade.” (1:12:00)
Film-history lens: loves the Method actors versus movie-star divide, Scorsese's visual flourishes, and Newman's integrity. Dislikes the idea that Ebert missed the ending's point. A sucker for Grady Seasons and Amos scenes.
Stances
It's a torch-passing movie in both business and story
Ending ambiguity is the point, not a flaw
Newman integrity explains the forfeit
Scorsese is great at making a small movie feel big
Humor: Dry film-nerd asides, like claiming he will be 'young and vital forever.'
In their words
“Just that I'm going to be young and vital forever, so I still don't relate to any of that stuff, you know?” (0:21:09)
“it's one of the most exciting and entertaining movies he ever made.” (0:16:10)
“Newman is one of the few guys who basically fused both disciplines.” (0:05:48)
Proud Bill Murray devotee who frames careers in eras; loves the 'from hell' genre and craft details like cinematographer and editor credentials. A champion of Julie Hagerty and Dr. Melfi. Gets a kick out of deep trivia and the Muppets.
Stances
Murray has two phases, pre- and post-Rushmore
The film is a successor to Pacific Heights
Anna may be a post-college adult
Dreyfuss finally plays the character he was destined for
Humor: Confident, nerdy deep cuts and theory-building that makes the others groan, such as the post-college Anna reading.
In their words
“Think of this movie as a logical successor to Pacific Heights.” (0:46:51)
“Sean, you're a Bill Murray guy. Proudly. Proudly.” (0:03:35)
Admires Mann's themes and the rich cinematic lineage; calls himself a weed smoker for Heat but loves Thief. Fond of Caan's volatile nuance, finds Weld and Nelson fascinating.
Admires Fincher as a control-freak craftsman and sees Hitchcock behind Se7en. Can't stand when the Academy rewards uplift over difficult genre filmmaking. A sucker for the Freeman-as-lead reading.
Stances
Se7en is the darkest mainstream American movie ever made.
Pitt is not top-tier here; it is Freeman's movie.
Fincher won the movie.
Humor: Dry and precise, deadpan asides.
In their words
“this is just about the darkest mainstream American movie ever made.” (0:05:59)
“it's also just completely a Hitchcock movie in so many ways.” (0:14:30)
Critic-minded and history-minded: loves the real SNL oral histories, Siskel, Ritchie and Chandler-style noir. Cannot stand weak acting, especially Dana Wheeler-Nicholson here, and defends Siskel over Ebert. A sucker for HBO Max old movies.
Stances
You have to get Chevy Chase to get Fletch
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson is a bad actress
Ebert missed the point
Humor: Dry, authoritative asides and long rants framed as scholarship.
In their words
“I think if you don't get Chevy Chase, you will never get this movie.” (0:02:14)
“You may recall from the Tombstone podcast that I noted that she is a bad actress and she's not good in flutch.” (0:51:31)
Loves the Cameron-Ferris friendship, Hughes's relationships, and the film as a closed system of perfection. Cannot stand overthinking about why it works; a sucker for people who keep it together while coiled. Defends innocent fun and Cameron.
Stances
Ferris is the movie but audiences relate to Cameron
The film works as an unreplicable perfect moment
Jeffrey Jones was the right choice over Paul Gleason
Hughes is a rare writer who channels all kinds of characters
Humor: Dry, deadpan, quick to drop a zinger; the host who delivers the Silent Judge side-eye.
In their words
“It's like a, this is a very closed system of perfection.” (0:19:12)
“Your dirtbag ethics have nothing to do with what makes Ferris Bueller beautiful.” (1:26:08)
Treats Tarantino as the central author, loves Leo DiCaprio's work here, and defends the movie's themes against online complaints. Loves the Bruce Lee roof scene. Can't stand criticism that misses the point about beginnings and endings of careers.
Stances
Quentin wins every Tarantino movie
Leo's performance is the best of his career
The Margot Robbie criticism missed the point
Humor: Dry, deflecting, and gets teased about Equinox and Leo.
In their words
“I think Leo decided in like 1992.” (0:15:50)
“I think Quentin wins all of his movies.” (1:17:39)
Self-described not a huge Bond person who finds Skyfall scratches the part of his brain other Bonds do not; loves the Silva rat speech and dialogue scenes. A Peter Morgan disciple and Anglophile who can pick out British character actors.
Stances
Skyfall's action is accessible and legible
Silva dominates the film
Hacking is the worst-aged element
Humor: Deadpan nitpicks and bits about vlogging villains.
In their words
“I am not a huge bond person.” (0:04:20)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
The Big Picture
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 801–900 of 1,576 claims.
craft (craft):
Ferrari → Collateral.
Collateral's one-night compression is the same pleasure as Ferrari's compression.
lineage (homage):
The Killer → Rear Window.
The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street.
“it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film.”
craft (sound design technique):
The Killer → Ren Klyce.
The sound designer moves the Smiths song from diegetic to stereo soundtrack as perspective flips, then pulls it back into the killer's ear on the Johnny Marr lick.
“Ren Kleiss, the sound designer, has chosen to move the music into from diagetic to pure stereo soundtracking as the perspective of the movie shifts.”
people (actor credits):
Charles Parnell → Top Gun: Maverick.
Parnell is remembered from Top Gun Maverick and Dead Reckoning, a character actor getting his chance as a plucked-by-auteurs turn.
“Charles Parnell, uh, who people remember from Top Gun Maverick, and, you know, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning”
theme (genre ancestry):
The Killer → Jean-Pierre Melville.
The sparse expressionless killer film riffs on Melville, Kurosawa samurai movies and Walter Hill's The Driver.
“This is a Melville movie, this is a Curasawa samurai movie. This is all that stuff, right? This is the Walter Hill, the driver movie.”
unmapped (emotional through-line):
The Killer → Seven.
Repressed emotion under the surface, as in Seven's gun-aiming shot of Brad Pitt, runs through Fincher's work including The Killer.
“think of the shot, um, in 7 when, uh, Brad Pitt is aiming the gun at John Doe”
unmapped (emotional through-line):
The Killer → Gone Girl.
Amazing Amy's coping with childhood exploitation is another Fincher story of someone never letting the facade break.
“Gone Girl is the same way, you know, like everything that Amazing Amy is going through is like her coping with”
lineage (influence):
David Fincher → Alfred Hitchcock.
Fincher loves Hitchcock, who made conventionally entertaining movies carrying deep, confused emotional themes, the dual-entertainment mode Fincher pursues.
“he also knows that he loves Alfred Hitchcock, and what does Alfred Hitchcock do? He makes conventionally entertaining movies that have deep, confused, emotional themes”
theme (thematic trio):
The Killer → Mindhunter.
Mindhunter, Mank and The Killer are three works asking what it was all for, suggesting Fincher is questioning his own devotion.
“Mindhunter and Mank and this are 3 movies slash series about kind of like, what is it all for?”
contrast (contrast):
The Killer → Fight Club.
Fight Club is about societal and male-psyche breakdown; The Killer is about a functioning guy who messed up at work.
“Fight Club is about the breakdown of society and the male psyche. The killer is about a guy who's like, shit, I fucked up at work”
craft (opening style):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Goodfellas.
The opening tracking shot echoes the Copacabana shot before the film rejects that mode.
“It was a very long tracking shot through Leo's arrival, which is, you know, gesturing to Copacabana”
unmapped (dim protagonist):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Taxi Driver.
Ernest joins Scorsese's lineage of dim men wreaking havoc: Jake LaMotta, Travis Bickle, Henry Hill.
“You could say this is true of Jake Lamata. You could say this is true of Travis Bickle. You could say this is true of Henry Hill.”
unmapped (cultural context):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Reservation Dogs.
Reservation Dogs is cited as one of the few truly mainstream pieces of Native culture, contrasting with the absence of a big indigenous-made epic.
“reservation dogs has become one of the most acclaimed shows of the last 10 years.”
“This is a convergence movie, in the way that so many of these movies are convergence, but silence is a convergence movie. The Irishman is a convergence movie.”
theme (genre echo):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Giant.
Its magnitude and oil, family and betrayal themes recall Giant, with Ford, Hawks, Stevens epic scale.
“I did think of giant a few times while watching the movie, which is a movie about oil and families and betrayal.”
lineage (landscape and spirituality):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Kundun.
An American version of the desolate landscapes and haunting spirituality of Kundun, Silence, Last Temptation.
“it is him doing an American version in some ways of what he did in Kundun, in silence, and last temptation of Christ”
unmapped (production scale):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Heaven's Gate.
The $250M-ish Jack Fisk-built world is defended against studio cost-cutting, with Heaven's Gate as a nod.
“you don't need $250000000 Jack Fisk production design. You don't like it is like heaven's gate”
“the fun, the brazenness, the, the energy of Wolf of Wall Street, the kind of solemnity, the probing nature, the sort of like punishing aspect of silence.”
industry (awards rival):
Killers of the Flower Moon → Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer is the likely Best Picture winner, with Killers second or third; also a 'great men' versus 'were there any great men' contrast.
“I feel like Christopher Nolan believes that there were great men in history.”
verdict (ranking):
Crimes of the Future → Barbarian.
Adam has Crimes at five; Sean has Crimes in his top ten, with a strong case for best comedy of the year.
“strong case for best comedy of the year, though it may not feel that way.”
people (same director):
The Eternal Daughter → The Souvenir Part II.
Sean thought The Souvenir Part II was an incredible statement and The Eternal Daughter an interregnum by comparison.
“I thought the souvenir part 2 was like an incredible statement.”
lineage (influence):
The Eternal Daughter → Jack Cardiff.
Sean felt the film downshifted into a Jack Cardiff style 1960s British ghost story he had seen before.
“this just kind of felt like a downshift to like making a, you know, Jack Cardiff, like 1960s British ghost story.”
theme (comparison):
Babylon → Boogie Nights.
Sean says the Boogie Nights comparison for Babylon is apt, though he thinks the characterization is weaker.
“The Boogie Nights comparison has been made frequently.”
career (career arc):
Babylon → La La Land.
Sean, who loved Whiplash and First Man but not La La Land, reads Babylon as Chazelle realizing La La Land was a mistake.
“This feels like him realizing that La La Land was a mistake, which I thought I think is like a magnificent thing.”
people (same director):
Decision to Leave → The Handmaiden.
Sean says The Handmaiden was the first Park movie he liked in a long time, then Decision to Leave was the next.
“It was like the 1st park movie I'd liked in a while.”
theme (comparison):
Decision to Leave → Basic Instinct.
Sean likens Decision to Leave to Park's version of Basic Instinct, a perfectly directed little romantic noir.
“I liked this one as like his basic instinct, you know, like, this is a perfectly directed little romantic noir.”
people (same director):
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed → Laura Poitras.
Sean says the film fits Poitras's past films about outsiders and how media is disseminated, while reimagining what matters to her.
“somehow in keeping with the films that she's made in the past about outsiders and the way that media is disseminated”
verdict (ranking):
Tár → Top Gun: Maverick.
Sean says his number two Tar and number one Nope are close, as electric moviegoing experiences, while his number three is Top Gun: Maverick.
“This, my number 2 and my number one are just, I almost did one and one and then I didn't do it”
craft (style comparison):
Tár → Stanley Kubrick.
Sean says Tar is perceived as having Kubrickian coldness, which makes it less inviting at the box office.
“it at least is perceived as having that Kubrickian coldness, which I think is not very inviting as a movie going experience.”
programming (pairing):
Aftersun → The Fabelmans.
Sean calls Aftersun an interesting pairing with The Fabelmans, both memory movies about childhood; Aftersun is told while the memory is fresher.
“Interesting pairing with the fablemans, this movie.”
industry (awards comparison):
Aftersun → Moonlight.
Sean says A24 could push Aftersun like Moonlight if they did not have Everything Everywhere All at Once.
“you could see them really pushing a kind of moonlight-esque campaign behind this film.”
verdict (ranking):
Top Gun: Maverick → Nope.
Sean puts Nope at number one over his number three Top Gun, arguing Nope makes you think while Maverick deliberately does not; he says you can love one without knocking the other.
“It is like, I loved Top Gun Maverick, but it doesn't ask you to think about a single goddamn thing.”
lineage (influence):
Nope → Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Sean says Nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any he has seen in a long time, with Close Encounters the usual touchstone, and notes the shared theme of looking up and trying to see.
“nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any movie I've seen in a long, long time.”
programming (same-year pairing):
Nope → The Fabelmans.
Sean finds it fascinating that in one year Spielberg made a movie about why he makes movies and Peele made the most Spielbergian movie in ages.
“it's fascinating that this is a year in which Spielberg made a movie about how he figured out why he wanted to make movies”
lineage (lineage):
Nope → Eadweard Muybridge.
Sean reads Nope as launching from the black jockey in Muybridge's original film strip, an invented family tied to a hundred years of film history.
“related to the black jockey that we see in the Edward Weybridge, you know, original film strip, and then use that as the launch point for 100 years of film history”
career (career comparison):
Jordan Peele → Christopher Nolan.
Sean says Peele and maybe Nolan are the only ones who get a huge check and use it to blow your mind.
“Like maybe Christopher Nolan is the only person you could say who's like, okay, you have a $100000000 check, blow my mind.”
career (career fork):
Nope → Phantom Thread.
Sean wonders if Peele will go the Phantom Thread route, the Visit route, or keep making Inception-scale films, and hopes for a Spielbergian approach.
“in 10 or 15 years whether or not Jordan Peele is making his phantom thread.”
lineage (sequel theme):
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever → Black Panther.
The first film's theme was isolation versus justice (Killmonger vs. T'Challa); the sequel has a real-world theme too, about allyship between Latinx and Black communities, but is not done as well.
“his movies always have a big dynamic real world theme in them in a way that I don't think many Marvel movies do.”
unmapped (mythology):
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever → Clash of the Titans.
Sean suggests Amanda could watch Namor's Mayan mythology the way she might watch Greek-myth movies like Clash of the Titans or Troy.
“is there any like suspension of disbelief where you could watch it the same way you might watch Clash of the Titans or Troy, you know?”
unmapped (mythology):
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever → Troy.
Sean pairs Troy with Clash of the Titans as myth-based movies that ask for the same suspension of disbelief.
“you might watch Clash of the Titans or Troy, you know?”
unmapped (blue people / underwater):
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever → Avatar.
Amanda could not stop thinking of Avatar because it is another Disney underwater saga with blue people.
“I mean, it's an underwater saga from the Disney corporation.”
craft (craft):
Beachler → Black Panther.
The first film's production design and Ruth Carter's costumes kept it in one coherent Afrofuturist look, which the sequel lacks.
“in part because of the Ruth Carter costume design, had a beach or production design.”
craft (visual coherence):
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever → Black Panther.
The first film lived in one coherent Wakanda look from Ruth Carter's costumes and the production design, while the sequel hops between many places and loses a single visual style.
“In this movie, we're in so many places, that ship at night, Riri's dorm room, Talakan, Everett Ross's jogging trip, his kitchen, the movie's just all over the place.”
unmapped (succession story):
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever → Game of Thrones.
Sean says a version centered on who should rule Wakanda is the kind of heir story Game of Thrones told expertly, though not House of the Dragon.
“Game of Thrones was very good at posing who should be the heir.”
lineage (lineage):
Avatar → Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Cameron's Avatar treatment drew on childhood sci-fi reading, Burroughs and Haggard.
“drawing inspiration from, quote, every single science fiction book that he had read in his childhood, and also Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard.”
programming (programming):
Avatar: The Way of Water → Napoleon.
Apple may release Napoleon on Christmas Day because the landscape is soft.
“Apple is seriously considering releasing Ridley Scott's Napoleon starring Joaquin Phoenix on Christmas Day because they're looking at the landscape and they're like, it's soft out here.”
career (career context):
Baz Luhrmann → Moulin Rouge!.
Luhrmann reinvented musicals with Moulin Rouge and redefined the jukebox musical, making him a natural fit for Elvis.
“reinvented musicals, really, with Moulin Rouge and redefined the idea of the jukebox musical.”
people (performance praise):
Elvis → Austin Butler.
Butler embodies Elvis so well that Sean thought he was really good, though the Parker framing detracts from him.
“I don't know if he looks exactly like Elvis, but man, he embodies him so well.”
unmapped (prefigured by):
Elvis → Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
A scene in Elvis (the subject thinking over his life before going on stage) is almost beat for beat preceded by Walk Hard.
“there is a scene that is almost beat for beat preceded by walk hard 15 years ago.”
theme (genre boom):
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story → Rocketman.
Walk Hard did not deflate the music biopic; Rocketman, Bohemian Rhapsody and Respect kept coming, certifying it as a subgenre.
“So it didn't actually deflate anything. If anything, it almost like raised them up and certified them as an ongoing subgenre in film.”
craft (shared plot device):
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story → Elvis.
Both feature a dead brother as the formative trauma (Walk Hard's wrong-kid-died gag, Elvis's twin).
“that's also the premise of Elvis is that, you know, his twin brother died at a very young age.”
career (shapeshifter filmography):
Michael Apted → Gorillas in the Mist.
Apted made the Up documentaries, a Bond movie, Gorillas in the Mist and Coal Miner's Daughter.
“He made gorillas in the Mist. He made this movie. He really was a shapeshifter.”
unmapped (wished-for complement):
Elvis → Behind the Candelabra.
Sean wished Elvis had more Fat Elvis; Behind the Candelabra is one long stretch of that excessive late period.
“I wish there was a little bit more Fat Elvis in the film Elvis.”
people (producer turned director):
Love and Mercy → Bill Pohlad.
Pohlad, a producer of Brokeback Mountain, 12 Years a Slave and Tree of Life, directed only this film of note, clearly a passion project.
“he was one of the producers of Brokeback Mountain, and 12 Years a Slave, and the Tree of Life”
craft (same structure):
Elvis → Amadeus.
Both tell a titanic cultural figure's story through a lesser, frustrated figure entrenched in their life (Salieri, Colonel Parker).
“It actually has a little bit in common with Elvis in that it's the story of this Titanic, almost imperceptible figure in the culture, through the lens of a lesser and perhaps more frustrated figure”
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.