Loves movie-star, over-the-top, kinetic filmmaking (JFK, The Verdict, A Few Good Men) and old-school craft; favors Paul Newman. Willing to admire films he doesn't believe in. Sucker for big speeches and taste-making directors.
Stances
Courtroom drama must be in the courtroom: no legal thrillers, no 12 Angry Men
JFK is a masterpiece despite being hogwash
Winner of the A Few Good Men scene is Tom Cruise
Humor: Mock-legalistic framing and affectionate hyperbole.
Loves the theatrical culture of places like Alamo Drafthouse, pedigreed auteurs (Fincher, Nolan, the Coens), and deep film-history binges. Can't stand corporate pettiness dressed as principle, and thinks The King's Speech beating The Social Network should die in a fire. A sucker for trivia glory and big awards-season structure (wants 75 awards).
Stances
Theaters will survive as a boutique business but wide-scale moviegoing will not last five years
Netflix's lead of finished movies makes it well positioned for the Oscars
Windowing will change and studios will test higher VOD price points
Humor: Mock-grandiose and self-aware, with bits like hosting a five-day awards festival and running out of frame during trivia.
In their words
“There should be 75 awards.” (0:50:42)
“I'm just trying to have a cinematic experience at all times.” (1:06:36)
Loves big, noisy, auteur and genre-bending work: The Lighthouse, Midsommar's ending, Alita and 6 Underground action, Gemini Man, Triple Frontier. Wants more categories and a nine-hour ceremony; adores Paul Walter Hauser and Uncut Gems. Can't stand news-anchor cameos in fiction and Oscar-bait homogeneity.
Stances
Wants more Oscar categories, not fewer
Spider-Man's post-credits scene counts as an ending
Defends Midsommar and The Lighthouse
Wants a casting Oscar and a best first feature
Humor: Cheerfully obsessive and self-mocking about his hobby-horse enthusiasms (the minute-by-minute Lighthouse podcast), with mock-legalistic rule enforcement.
In their words
“I will be starting one of those for the lighthouse.” (0:52:43)
“I personally would like there to be a 9 hours Oscar ceremony.” (0:12:22)
“Have you ever been sewn inside of a bear skin and lit on fire in a giant triangle.” (0:45:39)
Loves Parasite, Marriage Story, Little Women, Uncut Gems and champions Toy Story 4. Prickly toward Joker-style noisy awards bait, wants more fun and weirdness at the Oscars. Sucker for Hark segments and sporting analogies.
Stances
Academy has a taste gap against pop culture and women's stories
He loves The Cabin in the Woods, It Follows and The Witch and likes discussion-making horror like Get Out, but he distrusts elevated-horror branding. He wants to be physically dominated by a horror film, and says he is dead inside and cynical, so he is impressed when a film makes him feel something.
Stances
Get Out is the best horror film of the decade
Elevated horror is an ugly phrase
Horror needs something supernatural or extraordinarily visceral to qualify
Wingard is creative but ultimately disappointing
Humor: Deadpan needler of his guest who takes bits to their end, like the Tim Apple joke.
In their words
“I tend to think there has to be something either supernatural or extraordinarily visceral about the movie to qualify.” (0:10:18)
“I think I'm pretty dead inside and very cynical.” (0:11:46)
Loves big, event-level filmmaking and prizes one great movie over a great season of TV; he is a champion of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and of Tarantino and Anderson. Likes working through discourse and being a guide who tells friends what to see or skip. Has a soft spot for old-fashioned Hollywood comedy and for Mike Nichols.
Stances
One great movie beats prestige TV
Disney's dominance is overwhelming but not to be underestimated (Cameron)
Streaming may hollow out comedies made without theatrical money
Was surprised and moved by Luce
Humor: Dry deadpan teasing of co-hosts with running bits and impressions, such as PTA at D23.
In their words
“I still would always, always, always rather have one great movie than an experience like that.” (0:52:42)
“And that's why this is the big picture and not the watch.” (0:52:43)
Loves long things, big-tent Oscar movies (Ford v Ferrari, Once Upon a Time) and the business and career-arc angle of franchises. Skeptical of Tom Hooper and unclear streaming strategies; cares about artists controlling their image. As interviewer he probes how Garfield picks directors.
Stances
Homecoming is long, not boring, and great because of Beyonce the performer
Guava Island lacks a strategic purpose and sits outside Glover's mission
Under the Silver Lake has been slightly mischaracterized in the press
Humor: Self-deprecating wonk who plays his own wounded vanity for laughs and teases Amanda with Star Wars archetypes.
In their words
“I'm a big fan of long things.” (0:05:20)
“I am confused about what the strategic purpose of something like that is.” (0:11:33)
“This is upsetting how you have targeted my feelings.” (1:07:11)
Fennessey likes fun, audience-pleasing superhero movies that do something different and cares about tone and the business of the DCEU. He is curious about process, and is a fan of the filmmakers he interviews. He enjoyed Shazam!, though he found the final fight less effective.
Stances
DC's turn from interconnection to standalone movies is interesting and lower-risk
Shazam!'s first half works better than its punch-up ending
Wants to know how directors communicate what is in their heads
Humor: Dry and teasing, as in his mock-eager 'Can't wait for the trench.'
In their words
“I thought Shazam was a very fun and entertaining movie” (0:01:41)
“I don't think that part was as effective.” (0:05:55)
Loves origin-story craft done efficiently, Ben Mendelsohn, indie directors like Boden and Fleck, and Annette Bening. Bothered by surface-level 90s nostalgia, a rickety Marvel mythology load, and a character too powerful for stakes. Sucker for comic lore and for character actors.
Stances
Captain Marvel is rickety, overstuffed, and does too many jobs
Boden and Fleck taking a big-studio job is understandable, not a sellout
Captain Marvel is too powerful to build tension around
Wonder Woman did the origin story better
Humor: Dry teasing of Amanda's comic-book blind spots and deadpan asides about names like Yon-Rogg.
In their words
“I can't believe Jan Rag is the name of a character that I'm talking about on a podcast.” (0:07:03)
“he is one of my favorite living people.” (0:35:58)
“it's funny to see, you know, the McDonald's Happy Meal version of those movies in a lot of ways.” (0:25:50)
Defends Roma as a masterpiece worth reclaiming, loves Spider-Verse (the self-declared devotee), and takes Avengers: Infinity War seriously. Likes craft people with a through-line (Libatique, Corwin). Cannot stand the Oscars' song performances and the Green Book result.
Stances
Green Book winning is a farce
Bohemian Rhapsody should not be taken as great cinema
Spider-Verse beats Sense and Sensibility
Humor: Deadpan and bit-driven, with running gags like the Close Zone and the jar of cold fusion.
In their words
“I am putting my money down right now that says Spider-Verse better than Sense and Sensibility.” (1:00:25)
“green book winning best picture is a farce.” (0:22:56)
Loves GLOW and big, sincere genre movies, and is a hardcore former WWE kid who still lights up at Beyond the Mat. Treats wrestling movies as an industry phenomenon worth tracking. Is a sucker for lists and double features.
Stances
Fighting with My Family signals a more refined era of movies and wrestling
Rocky is the template for sports films
Wants guests' favorite lists (loves the 500-movie idea)
Humor: Dry, quick teasing, such as his joke about Michael B. Jordan in a Junkyard Dog biopic and Die Hard 8 or a Red Desert remake.
In their words
“I'm a huge fan of that show.” (0:03:35)
“I remember being a such such a hardcore WWE fan when that came out” (0:15:27)
“This is exactly my sort of thing.” (0:51:34)
“imagine Michael B. Jordan signing up for, you know, the junkyard dog biopic right now.” (0:09:47)
Loves a clear narrative and critics' consensus picks; Roma, Beale Street and Spider-Verse are his side. Cannot stand the HFPA and films that claim truth while drawing criticism. Sucker for Queen songs and Mahershala Ali.
Stances
Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody are not the best of the year
Globes versus critics is a problem for Roma and Star
Academy is lost without a plan
Humor: Mock-outrage escalation and self-aware yelling about a meaningless award show.
In their words
“I don't hate green book.” (0:10:42)
“We have to be able as a society and also as people who freaking vote on awards” (0:14:47)
Loves films that are sincere, meta and inventive, and praises vocal performance and rap on a soundtrack. Quick to dismiss the generic superhero origin slog and the lowered bar of Aquaman. A sucker for comic-book feel and a good casting parlor game.
Stances
Spider-Verse is extraordinary and unlike any animated movie
Origin stories are overdone, but the film subverts the trope
Rooting for it to win best animated feature
Having several Spider-Man continuities is a lot for a weekly film writer
Humor: Dry, self-deprecating, acting the aging man and the adult who tucks in his shirt.
In their words
“It's absolutely fantastic.” (0:01:29)
“I now find myself rooting for it for this strange silly award.” (0:29:24)
Loves Oscar-season contenders and deep conversations with filmmakers; says he just really loved Eighth Grade. Little else is stated in this trailer.
Stances
The Big Picture is moving out of the channel 33 feed into its own feed
Will cover more Oscar contenders and filmmaker interviews
Humor: Brief and promotional; no real jokes in the trailer.
In their words
“We're going to keep bringing you more banter about this year's Oscar contenders and more deep conversations with the filmmakers behind them” (0:00:17)
Loves the lean, tightly-told Spielberg entertainments like Jurassic Park and Raiders, and rates Close Encounters and Schindler's List highly. Is lukewarm on E.T. and Munich and a skeptic of the long-form Spielberg-as-prestige push. A sucker for Tom Cruise talk and Day-Lewis.
Stances
Jaws is the perfect movie
Munich is overrated
E.T. is fine but not a favorite
Close Encounters deserved a higher spot than he gave it
Humor: Dry, needling, and self-aware about the show's habits (Tom Cruise riffs, 'safe space').
In their words
“The more I look at my list, the more boring it feels to me.” (0:18:42)
“Will there ever be a podcast where you and I don't talk about what Tom Cruise should do next?” (1:02:21)
Admires the craft of this film and wants to know how directors build rhythm and performance. Interested in awards, box office and streaming. Ends interviews with a last-great-thing question.
Stances
Curious about how a chamber piece becomes propulsive
Presses on awards and box office
Humor: Dry and light; teases with a superhero question and the Friday sing-along.
In their words
“So no superhero movies coming from you anytime soon?” (0:22:54)
“I will start applying the Friday sing-along.” (0:19:03)
Loves the MCU best and thinks it is the most important film business now. Frames everything in industry terms: genre cycles, infrastructure, risk. Skeptical of DC's lack of voice and Snyder.
Stances
Superhero movies are the only movies of consequence in studios
Marvel's strength is infrastructure and filmmaker choice
Genres are most vulnerable when they seem strongest
Humor: Dry host asides and self-deprecation, like claiming empathy for Scott Summers.
In their words
“what matters is the infrastructure.” (0:55:28)
“are never more vulnerable than when they seem strongest.” (0:55:31)
Loves uncomfortable, unusual comedy and says he really loved Lemon. Draws lines from film to TV (Curb, Atlanta) and reaches for Twin Peaks as a tonal comparison. Likes ending interviews on what people are watching.
Stances
Lemon is awkward, fascinating and deeply unusual
Awkward comedy has evolved from Curb
Humor: Dry, teasing; jabs at the guests and himself.
Interested in directors' careers and the industry's shape; pushes on obsession, failure and reception. Notes how many filmmakers now pitch TV. Knows his jungle-film canon.
Stances
Frames Gray as a great American filmmaker deserving more notice
Curious how the Amazon release and streaming change moviegoing
Humor: Dry and light; mostly a straight interviewer.
In their words
“Yeah, Bird of Dream, sure.” (0:07:04)
“You have resisted the urge to make a TV project.” (0:30:24)
“I'm curious that you've partnered with Amazon to release the movie.” (0:26:31)
Calls himself one of America's preeminent Mank defenders and watched it four times in the 2020 Oscar season. Loves Citizen Kane, Paramount in the 70s, and the studio-hand-as-auteur idea. Dislikes Mank-mid takes that he thinks are phony and a Welles-defense posture he calls bullying.
Stances
Mank is a summation of Fincher's worldview and his father's influence
Welles defenders are bullying, not bullied
The Offer is compellingly bad but he finished all ten episodes
Netflix should not be Fincher's only home
Humor: Dry film-critic asides and confessions of excess, like watching Saw X at ten in the morning.
In their words
“I watched it 4 times in the Oscar season of 2020 to 2021.” (0:17:23)
“I don't do drugs.” (0:14:39)
“I not only watched it but I completed it.” (1:06:08)
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.