Amanda Dobbins

41 sketches, 520 claims, and 275 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Showing 1–20 of 41 sketches.

The Rewatchables: ‘Working Girl’ With Bill Simmons, Amanda Dobbins, and Joanna Robinson (host)

Working Girl is her favorite movie and her dream Rewatchables pick; she loves it as a rom-com, a Cinderella story and a cultural artifact, and as how she learned the 80s and her parents. Sucker for the song and score, the Staten Island Ferry, big real estate and Harrison Ford's clothes. Defends Tess to the end.

Stances

  • Working Girl is the perfect romantic comedy and a cultural artifact
  • Defends Tess against the villain charge
  • Chose the elevator or opening as most rewatchable
  • Loves the Staten Island Ferry as Apex Mountain

Humor: Self-aware and warm; jokes about herself, her husband Zach, and her real-estate award.

In their words

  • “Perfect romantic comedy, but more than a romantic comedy?” (0:03:03)
  • “It is a cultural artifact as well as a, you know, Cinderella story.” (0:03:07)
  • “Amanda has always said, working girls, the number one movie I would ever want to do in the rewatchables.” (0:01:29)

The Rewatchables: ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins (guest)

A child of divorce who treats divorce movies as a pantheon, loves interiors and real-estate fantasy (the Nancy Meyers houses), and holds firm opinions on decor. Can't abide the late-80s terrazzo floor.

Stances

  • Roses house is not even a top 20 movie house
  • The terrazzo foyer floor is the weak link
  • Cruise, via Jerry Maguire, is the right lead
  • The Roses are shocking because of their cruelty to animals

Humor: Obsessive-list energy and affectionate takedowns, as in her house-ranking bit.

In their words

  • “the 1st Michael Douglas movie I saw was the American president.” (0:06:45)
  • “This is not even a top 20 movie house.” (0:59:09)
  • “I'm thinking like collateral cruise crossed with Jerry Maguire cruise.” (1:17:39)
  • “Yeah, I did the terrazzo floor in the foyer.” (0:51:21)

The Rewatchables: ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins (guest)

Loves Nancy Meyers world, the family house and kitchen aesthetic, Steve Martin as dad, and earnest comforting movies. Can't stand talking-to-camera as a device and one-note accent comedy. A sucker for nostalgia, sequels and revivals she says she will watch anyway.

Stances

  • Father of the Bride is a Meyers formula movie where the house is the first character
  • Annie is a good daughter, she is just 22
  • Father of the Bride Part II is fine
  • Would watch a Grandfather of the Bride series
  • Second family dinner scene is the best scene

Humor: Precise, self-aware, observational wit (hot dog buns, curtain rings, independent consultant as unemployed).

In their words

  • “I'm definitely my father's daughter in that sense.” (0:03:26)
  • “Nancy Myers get your shit together.” (1:09:36)

The Rewatchables: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano (host)

Adores Easy A as a summary of the teen-movie canon she liked: John Hughes, Ferris Bueller, Clueless (her number one), and Mean Girls. Loves star-quality musical numbers, Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as parents, and a good recast game. Cannot stand plot choices that don't hold up, like the party scene and Facebook shutting everything down.

Stances

  • Easy A is a summary of what she loved in earlier teen movies
  • Emma Stone should have been Oscar-nominated; the Oscars ignore comedy
  • Defends the Clarkson and Tucci parents
  • Emma Stone is not at Apex Mountain here but doesn't get there without it
  • Picks Zendaya and Florence Pugh as recasts

Humor: Warm and enthusiastic, with committed hot takes and the occasional Freudian slip (Emma Thompson for Emma Stone).

In their words

  • “I think it's pretty high for me as well, because in a lot of ways, easy A is a summary of all the types of teen movies that came before it that I really liked.” (0:12:26)
  • “Number 2 for me is Emma Stone.” (0:18:24)
  • “So please respect Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci.” (1:20:24)

The Rewatchables: ‘Skyfall’ With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins (host)

The biggest Skyfall fan on the show, owns it and rewatches it; loves Bardem, the Adele song, and Judi Dench. Protective of Bardem's performance, can't stand criticism of it, and finds modern Bond sexual politics rough.

Stances

  • Skyfall is the best Bond movie
  • Bardem's performance is the performance of the decade
  • No one is overacting

Humor: Defends Bardem with mock fury and ribs the others about sex habits.

In their words

  • “I think it's an outrage that Javier Redemma is not nominated for an Oscar.” (0:07:32)

The Rewatchables: ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins (guest)

Loves Regina George and the script, the first lunch scene, Lizzy Caplan, and Mean Girls as internet culture. Hates dumbing down for a boy and the ending speech; a sucker for teen-movie lineage and McAdams.

Stances

  • The first lunch scene is most rewatchable
  • Rachel McAdams won the movie
  • The soundtrack is underestimated

Humor: Deadpan and teasing, quick with callbacks and rankings.

In their words

  • “I think I'm going with the 1st lunch scene.” (0:25:55)
  • “Because it's just burned in my brain, the plastics at the lunch table.” (0:25:59)

The Big Picture: ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! (host)

Loves The Strangers' withholding craft and a good tense horror film without gore, but likes fun, communal movies like Mamma Mia. She dislikes supernatural or gory horror, which irritates her more than it scares her. She is a sucker for stars and for Googling a movie mid-recording.

Stances

  • The Strangers is scary because of what it doesn't show or explain
  • Ending explanation weakens it; no answer would be better
  • Prefers 'withholding' filmmaking
  • Defends Mamma Mia as joyful and intentional

Humor: Wry and conversational, mocking Sean's marriage take and her own Googling while enjoying emotional detective bits.

In their words

  • “I'm emotionally detecting, but not informationally detecting.” (1:26:12)
  • “It's a very, um, withholding film, like both visually and emotionally.” (0:24:04)
  • “I think no answer would have been better personally.” (0:35:01)

The Big Picture: The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ (host)

Open to horror and gross-out more than she used to be, loves a lovely movie star and a tropical setting, and dislikes screen-movies and AI propaganda. She is skeptical of Chris Pratt, a defender of Amy Adams's ambition, and a Kirsten Dunst champion. A sucker for Beatles news, Harry Styles gossip and the Princess Diaries.

Stances

  • Mercy is a mess that reads as AI and surveillance propaganda
  • Rachel McAdams is beloved and underused
  • Kirsten Dunst and Regina Hall deserve leads (low confidence in attribution)

Humor: Self-deprecating and tangential, riffing on her own survival skills, floating Vespas and Hollywood trivia.

In their words

  • “I thought that this was pretty insulting to, um, the recovery community as well as the unhasked people of Los Angeles.” (0:38:41)
  • “I thought that I was gonna,” (0:46:17)

The Big Picture: The 2022 Movie Draft (host)

Loves Tár and Top Gun: Maverick equally, prizes sincere family-scaled filmmaking like The Fabelmans, and has a soft spot for Downton Abbey, Pearl, and Minions. Treats the draft as a comedy of grudging picks and delights in odd documentaries like Jennifer Lopez: Halftime. Skips most 2022 blockbusters as slop.

Stances

  • Only two 2022 movies really mattered to her, and the draft order spoiled that
  • Downton Abbey: A New Era is the best of the series films
  • Pearl is Mia Goth's best performance
  • The Lost City and Bullet Train are not worth picking

Humor: Mock-petulant and confessional, then escalates a tiny joke (the minions choir) into a long recap.

In their words

  • “I had to have a meeting with myself about not being a petulant brat for the rest of the thing” (0:25:58)
  • “This is a great film.” (0:56:22)
  • “I'm picking the movie that I've thought about the 3rd most in 2022 after Tar and Top Gun Maverick” (1:17:52)
  • “I saw this movie by myself at my childhood theater, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia” (1:15:45)

The Big Picture: The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 11 - 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ (host)

Loves character-driven, funny-but-fucked-up movies, Leo's comic work, and champions The Irishman as underrated. She is bothered by viewers who take the film as a how-to and by tidy trauma-explains-everything backstories. She is a sucker for 90s nostalgia, like Steve Madden loafers, and for a good needle drop.

Stances

  • Wolf deliberately refuses to explain Belfort away
  • The Irishman is underrated and detractors are wrong
  • Catch Me If You Can is the runner-up Leo performance
  • Excitement and nerves about doing right by One Battle After Another

Humor: Teasing and conversational, comfortable with chaos and personal tangents like shoe collections.

In their words

  • “Which I think is the most underrated film on this list.” (0:05:29)
  • “the chunky 4 inch loafer heel.” (0:39:37)

The Big Picture: The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 12 - 'The Royal Tenenbaums’ (host)

Ties Tenenbaums to growing up in a house without a father and loves Gwyneth Paltrow's look and Eli Cash. Sees the film as a 70s/French New Wave hybrid. Champions letting filmmakers grow incrementally. (Attribution of individual remarks is low confidence.)

Stances

  • Wes Anderson deserves an Oscar
  • Grand Budapest wouldn't exist without Tenenbaums

Humor: Dry riffs and running gags about the Beckhams and jarred goods.

In their words

  • “You and I both grew up in a house that our dad didn't live in.” (0:22:46)

The Big Picture: The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ (host)

A devoted Soderbergh fan, loves baseball and snacking, a Cubs fan, and a sucker for dad-daughter stories and process movies. Likes Moneyball's sentimental core and Pitt's physical restraint.

Stances

  • Soderbergh's version was fascinating but the finished film is happy
  • Moneyball is more than a baseball movie, it's a pop cultural phenomenon
  • Not a stats person

Humor: Wry audience banter, relatable self-mockery about sandals, Mets and snacking.

In their words

  • “as devoted as I am to the Steven Soderberg project, I am, I am happy that we got the movie that we got.” (0:24:06)
  • “I do love to snack.” (0:07:52)

The Big Picture: The 1990 Movie Draft (host)

Loves romantic comedies and mother-daughter stories (Pretty Woman, Postcards, Mermaids), plus well-made studio thrillers like The Hunt for Red October. Dislikes authority and anything too tough, and drafts with her heart. Has a soft spot for Whit Stillman and Mike Nichols.

Stances

  • Pretty Woman is her number-two romantic comedy
  • Sequel slot: take Die Hard 2 to avoid Look Who's Talking Too
  • Drafted Metropolitan with her heart, not strategically

Humor: Playfully self-deprecating, with a flair for roasting her co-hosts' obsessions.

In their words

  • “I don't really like authority very much.” (0:41:45)
  • “I think I'm going to draft with my heart instead of strategically.” (0:59:49)
  • “I mean, it's Mike Nichols, one of my faves.” (1:18:24)

The Big Picture: ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … (host)

Amanda is the skeptic and the Q1-doomer who thinks TV is currently better than movies. She loves Black Bag, The Studio, a good Amanda Seyfried indie, and the original Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She can't stand cynical IP bait or grim retirement-home talk, and she is wary of any community she'd have to join.

Stances

  • Creatively TV is in a better place than movies this quarter
  • Only happy to concede business wins, not quality wins, for Minecraft
  • Super Mario was the real comp for Minecraft
  • Does not want to be a burden to her kids as she ages
  • Will not go to Misericordia-type brutality unprompted

Humor: Dry, deflating interjections and domestic complaints (golf weekend, kids' ages, Hatch), usually landing at Sean's expense.

In their words

  • “I mean, I just think we're I... Sorry to be the negative person because I know this is like your therapy session and you had a religious experience at Minecraft or whatever, but... We're like, I mean, I think we're just in a really rough time.” (0:28:13)
  • “I mean, no, I don't want to join any community ever, as you know.” (1:20:22)
  • “Because I'm taking care of my 2 children while you take my husband golfing.” (1:24:34)

The Big Picture: The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ (host)

Just returned from maternity leave with a new baby, and a self-declared Harris Dickinson fan. Defends Moulin Rouge as a masterpiece (she was 17 in 2001) and calls Baz Luhrmann a visionary. Wants both Destroyer and Babygirl in the Hall of Fame, and likes Kidman for dismantling her own glamour.

Stances

  • Babygirl is good, divisive, and its sex scenes are memorable
  • Women really can have it all, including Destroyer and Babygirl in the Hall
  • Kidman is great at playing against her own myth

Humor: Warm, self-deprecating, a mother who turns sports loyalties and sleeplessness into jokes.

In their words

  • “I think this movie is a masterpiece and I think Baz Lerman is a visionary.” (1:11:04)
  • “What if I want Destroyer and Baby Girl?” (1:57:46)
  • “I made a joke that I was like, I'm going to raise our children to be Cowboys fans just to mess with you.” (0:33:12)

The Big Picture: The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along (host)

Loves melodrama and classic Hollywood, Rudolph Valentino and Betty Davis catalog. Famously prefers Babylon's middle two hours to the opening party. Not a fan of animals, high heels, or party excess, and is skeptical of the film's cohesion even as she respects the filmmaking. Likes Singin' in the Rain and old-fashioned show business.

Stances

  • Babylon's middle two hours are the best
  • She admires Babylon more than she is in the hive
  • Admits the film's narrative cohesion is missing while still saying he can make a movie

Humor: Quick, dry needling of her co-hosts (especially Sean's social switch and Chris's habits) delivered while eating Chick-fil-A.

In their words

  • “I famously really like the middle 2 hours of this movie.” (0:07:04)
  • “It's not something I don't really want to interact with animals, you know?” (0:09:07)
  • “But, I mean, he can fucking make a movie.” (2:58:26)

The Big Picture: Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott (host)

A devoted Mean Girls (2004) fan who also found the musical charming. Loves actresses she believes the Academy undervalues (Greta Lee, Margot Robbie), keeps pushing Oscar chalk, and is a sucker for emotional, parent-centered movies; All of Us Strangers hit her as a mother. Can't stand award-show indignities like airplane-style food, nor True Detective's current season.

Stances

  • Believes Barbie will be nominated for best picture but win little
  • Thinks the Academy never respects comedy
  • Wants the director to give the final speech, not the spouse-producer
  • Pushes back on the notion of actor-chemistry irrelevance in musicals

Humor: Self-deprecating and quick, riffing on her own life, in-laws, bars, and Whole Foods.

In their words

  • “This was the 1st movie I think I've ever watched where I was watching it as a mother.” (1:11:58)
  • “The academy never respects comedy.” (0:42:08)
  • “I'm perfectly fine if this is the newest Star Wars Born where every 20 years another Otour comes along” (0:54:17)

The Big Picture: Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! (host)

Loves genre translated by auteurs (Lanthimos as rom-com, Mean Girls, monster movie), costumes, production design, and Tony McNamara's writing. Likes Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone. Can't stand movies that feel like they are looking too hard for something; a sucker for funny costume details.

Stances

  • Poor Things is flat-out great
  • The Favourite is Mean Girls
  • Poor Things and The Holdovers are 8-out-of-10s for her
  • Reads Poor Things' ending as resignation after exploitation

Humor: Bickers with Sean as a running bit and delivers chaotic parenting anecdotes.

In their words

  • “I liked it a lot.” (0:33:17)
  • “And I said, well, because the Oscar nominations are being announced on Tuesday morning” (1:37:25)

The Big Picture: ‘Ferrari’ and Top Five Michael Mann Movies (host)

Likes Ferrari for its physicality and immersion and Penelope Cruz; The Insider is her number one. Allergic to poor casting and loves things that go fast. Sucker for Europe locations and Adam Driver.

Stances

  • Cruz carries Ferrari
  • Woodley is miscast
  • The Insider is Mann's best

Humor: Wry, dropping deadpan asides and teasing jokes.

In their words

  • “I really liked it.” (0:07:12)
  • “once again, I think Michael Mann, for bringing me closer to the people I love.” (1:01:23)

The Big Picture: ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More (host)

Admires Fincher's genre craft and finds the film propulsive, funny and violent; enjoys the Smiths cues and consumer-culture jokes. More skeptical of reading the movie as emotional, seeing it as cynical and nihilist. Sucker for tiny logistics and travel details.

Stances

  • The movie is more cynical or nihilist than emotional
  • Fincher is the chosen one of the American thriller
  • Netflix canon problem: streamer films feel less real

Humor: Dry, teasing, constantly poking Sean about identifying with the killer.

In their words

  • “he is the chosen one at the American thriller in the last 30 years.” (0:18:09)
  • “I think that that is kind of the electricity of it” (0:08:34)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

The Rewatchables

Their claims

Showing 401–500 of 520 claims.

  1. theme (theme): A Few Good Men → Miracle on 34th Street. Wanting to believe the law upholds good is a theme across the list that doesn't always pay off, but does here.
    “wanting to believe in the law and the ability of the court to uphold the side of good”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:37:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): Witness for the Prosecution → Agatha Christie. Adapted from a Christie short story then play; its formula made the twist guessable.
    “adapted from an Agatha Christie play”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:40:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Charles Laughton → Elsa Lanchester. Husband and wife both nominated for the same film.
    “a husband and wife were nominated for performances in the same film”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:42:55 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. people (people): Anatomy of a Murder → Otto Preminger. Directed by Preminger, arguably the most important filmmaker of his day.
    “arguably the most important filmmaker of his time”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:48:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): Otto Preminger → Laura. Preminger also made Laura, Carmen Jones and Bonjour Tristesse.
    “He made movies like Laura and Carmen Jones”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:48:38 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. craft (craft): Anatomy of a Murder → Saul Bass. Bass made the indelible opening title sequence.
    “Saul Bass, the great title sequence creator”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:48:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. craft (craft): Anatomy of a Murder → Duke Ellington. Ellington's score is one of the enduring movie soundtracks, and he appears in the film.
    “one of the enduring movie soundtracks of all time”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:48:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. contrast (contrast): Anatomy of a Murder → The Verdict. Anatomy is cynical; it is not about who wins but who was on trial, a red herring verdict.
    “Like the movie is not about who wins and who loses”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:49:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. lineage (lineage): Inherit the Wind → William Jennings Bryan. Brady is loosely based on Bryan; the film is loosely based on the Scopes trial.
    “loosely based on William Jennings Bryan”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:56:11 · Amanda Dobbins (0.75 sure it was them)
  10. people (people): Gene Kelly → Inherit the Wind. Kelly plays an HL Mencken-style newspaper man who sits at the lawyer's table.
    “an HL Menken style sort of sing-songing newspaper man”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:56:49 · Amanda Dobbins (0.75 sure it was them)
  11. industry (industry): Inherit the Wind → Inherit the Wind. Remade four times because it is catnip for actors.
    “just catnip for actors”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:58:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.75 sure it was them)
  12. lineage (lineage): Inherit the Wind → Clarence Darrow. Drummond is loosely based on Darrow.
    “loosely based on Clarence Darrow”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:58:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.75 sure it was them)
  13. contrast (contrast): A Man for All Seasons → Wolf Hall. Wolf Hall covers the same events from Cromwell's side and repudiates the film; both end with the trial.
    “almost the exact same structure, but with the opposite spin”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:02:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  14. lineage (lineage): A Few Good Men → The Verdict. You cannot have A Few Good Men without The Verdict; everything on the courtroom checklist comes from it.
    “you really, really cannot have a few good men without having the verdict”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:07:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  15. verdict (verdict): The Verdict → The Verdict. Dawn of the modern courtroom drama.
    “this is basically the dawn of the modern courtroom drama”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:07:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  16. career (career): Paul Newman → The Verdict. Newman's charm carries the film and a flawed character.
    “Newman just fits”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:11:54 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  17. career (career): JFK → Joe Pesci. Pesci's JFK is not his best; the hair disqualifies it.
    “The hair alone disqualifies it”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:14:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  18. craft (craft): My Cousin Vinny → A Few Good Men. Vinny is a parody and a loving endorsement of all the pleasures of courtroom movies.
    “a parody of these types of movies and a parody of the legal system”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:21:02 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  19. people (people): My Cousin Vinny → Marisa Tomei. Tomei is the rare woman who gets to do something in these movies.
    “the only time, God bless Marissa Tome, that a woman gets to do anything”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:21:12 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  20. contrast (contrast): Tom Cruise → Jack Nicholson. The winner of the showdown is Cruise, not Nicholson.
    “the winner of that scene is Tom Cruise and not Jack Nicholson”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:25:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  21. people (people): A Few Good Men → Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin's difficult lines; Cruise commands them.
    “total command of the Sorkin lines”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:26:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  22. people (people): A Time to Kill → Chris Cooper. Cooper steals the interrogation scene.
    “Chris Cooper just steals every movie”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:29:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. career (career): A Few Good Men → The Firm. Tom Cruise's Firm period was important to Amanda; she ranks it the best Grisham movie.
    “the firm is like the quote best movie”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:31:01 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  24. contrast (contrast): JFK → The Pelican Brief. Conspiracy thrillers sharing DNA; JFK is the unhinged one.
    “speaking of conspiracies”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:31:31 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  25. contrast (contrast): The Pelican Brief → JFK. The Pelican Brief is JFK Light, but JFK if it made sense.
    “JFK Light, sort of, but JFK if it made sense”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:31:34 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  26. programming (programming): A Time to Kill → The Client. Grisham power rankings: the firm, a time to kill, the client.
    “I would do the firm a time to kill the client”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:32:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  27. lineage (lineage): Legally Blonde → My Cousin Vinny. Legally Blonde comes after Vinny and plays with the genre's moments.
    “it comes after my cousin Vinny”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:34:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.75 sure it was them)
  28. verdict (best-of-year pick): Never Rarely Sometimes Always → Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is the VOD best-picture pick, set against the hosts' mock 2021 winner Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
    “I'm going to go with never really, sometimes always.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:10:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  29. theme (market comparison): Long Shot → The King of Staten Island. Long Shot, an adult non-franchise comedy, made little in theaters because people wanted it on demand, suggesting Staten Island may suit VOD.
    “I was thinking about long shot, which is not a Judd Apatau movie, but is in a similar vein, similar, like a comedy for adults, that it's not a franchise.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:11:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  30. unmapped (VOD precedent): The Hunt → Trolls World Tour. The Hunt, Emma and The Invisible Man were the first theatrical-to-VOD moves and set the 19.99 price.
    “the person who decided that 1999 was the right rental price for, I think, was it was it the Hunt, an Invisible Man, and Emma.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:19:23 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  31. contrast (tentpole contrast): Fast and Furious (franchise, incl. Fast 9) → Trolls World Tour. Fast movies will stay in theaters because margins are too high; Trolls World Tour is not a Fast and Furious.
    “Trolls World Tour is not James Bond. And Trolls World Tour is not Fast and the Furious.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:23:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. people (director / Oscar bait): Hillbilly Elegy → Ron Howard. Ron Howard's adaptation feels like pure Oscar material even if it makes a speaker's brain bleed.
    “there's also a Ron Howard Hillbilly LG adaptation, which, you know, kind of like makes my brain bleed, but also feels like such Oscar stuff.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:38:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  33. lineage (stunt lineage): John Wick (franchise) → stunt coordinators turned filmmakers. 70s-90s stunt masters became filmmakers; the John Wick team revived that.
    “there's been this revival of this with the guys who make the John Wick movies”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:52:50 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  34. contrast (awards contrast): Parasite → Green Book. The Academy zagged with Parasite; Green Book was a different type of win.
    “Parasite won best picture. Can you believe it? And then, you know, I think Green Book was like a different type of win”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:56:28 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  35. industry (awards backlash cycle): Parasite → Mank. A bold Academy choice like Parasite triggers a counter-reaction toward traditional movies about movies, with Mank a test.
    “I do kind of think it'll be movies about movies and the power of storytelling and all and all of that nonsense.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:56:38 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  36. people (cameo): Always Be My Maybe → Keanu Reeves. Keanu wins best cameo 2 to 1 as the spirit of a cameo, though he stays too long.
    “Yes, of course it's Keanu Reeves. Like what are we talking about?”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:27:28 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  37. unmapped (snub): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Julia Butters. Leaving Julia Butters off a ballot while filling it with other Hollywood names is baffling.
    “I don't know how you watch that movie ... and not put Julia Butter's name on your ballot.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:31:32 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  38. people (casting): Little Women → Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Both are examples of movies that would not have worked as well with different casts.
    “Little Women and Once Upon a Time are interesting examples of movies that with different casts would not have worked as well.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:33:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  39. unmapped (memes): Midsommar → Us. Midsommar wins best meme inspiration; Us and Joker are the Halloween costumes Amanda saw.
    “Us and Joker, the 2 Halloween costumes that I saw.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:46:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  40. unmapped (same complaint): Midsommar → The Lighthouse. Amanda's problems with the Lighthouse are different from her problems with Midsommar but both register as filmmaking that anticipates the discourse.
    “my problems with the lighthouse are different from my problems with Midsomar.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:53:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  41. people (same director): The Lighthouse → The Witch. Eggers made The Witch, which Amanda loved until its not-great ending, and The Lighthouse, which she finds fussy.
    “I love the witch until and speaking of endings until the end.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:53:29 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  42. unmapped (category fraud): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt is the star of Hollywood, so putting him in supporting is a rigged category.
    “He is the star of that movie and F everybody for saying otherwise.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:05:22 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  43. unmapped (backlash pattern): Jennifer Lopez → Gwyneth Paltrow. Famous women get nominated less because voters feel they have too much already; Paltrow after Shakespeare in Love is the example.
    “there's a certain kind of famous woman because this never happens to men.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:09:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  44. people (performance): Ad Astra → Brad Pitt. The movie can't be saved, but the scene where Pitt records a message to his father is Pitt having therapy on screen.
    “Brad Pitt's having his therapy on the screen and someone filmed it and let me watch it.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:13:29 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  45. contrast (emotional inversion): Little Women → The Nightingale. The Nightingale is called the emotional inversion of Little Women.
    “It's sort of the like emotional inversion of Little Women.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:31:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  46. verdict (verdict): Joker → Parasite. Anyone ranking Joker above Parasite, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Little Women or Uncut Gems has bad taste.
    “I think that anyone who thinks that this movie is better than parasite or once upon a time in Hollywood or Little Women are uncut gems has bad taste and doesn't know things about movies straight up.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:03:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  47. industry (industry): Uncut Gems → Parasite. Uncut Gems was snubbed even as Parasite was nominated, a sign of a changed Academy.
    “the fact that we're all kind of bummed out about the fact that uncut gems got snubbed”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:09:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  48. people (people): Pain and Glory → Antonio Banderas. Banderas's nomination made the speaker want to rewatch Pain and Glory.
    “made me want to watch it again, seeing him get recognized here.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:14:28 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  49. career (career): Florence Pugh → Little Women. Pugh's Supporting Actress nomination for Little Women thrills the speaker.
    “Nominated for best supporting actress for Little Women.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:16:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  50. industry (industry): Diane Warren → Beyonce. Warren's reliable nomination displaced Beyonce's Spirit.
    “I'm not sure that the song I would have eliminated would have been Spirit by Beyonce”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:18:32 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  51. what-if (what-if): Jennifer Lopez → Kathy Bates. Bates took the presumed Lopez slot.
    “it appears that it's Kathy Bates really who took her spot”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:21:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  52. craft (craft): Fiona Apple → Hustlers. A host wonders whether Academy voters even know Fiona Apple, whose music is tied to Lopez's entrance in Hustlers.
    “Do you think anyone in the academy knows who Fiona Apple is?”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:22:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  53. contrast (contrast): Uncut Gems → The Irishman. Only one slot exists for a mob/crime film or an epic war film, and the Irishman and 1917 took them.
    “if you have the Irishman and you have 1917, that kind of more, there's a, it's a Scorsese mob surf flick and a, and an epic war film.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:23:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  54. craft (craft): Jarin Blaschke → The Lighthouse. A24's lone nomination went to the Lighthouse cinematography, which a host puts down to voters liking showy black and white.
    “Because cinema, you know, people like showy black and white. It's real, like more is more.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:24:54 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  55. industry (industry): One Child Nation → The Edge of Democracy. Both missed Documentary alongside Apollo 11; One Child Nation is the most disappointing omission.
    “But no one child nation here.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:28:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  56. contrast (contrast): Harriet → Us. Erivo's slavery role is the Oscar-type narrative; Nyong'o's genre role in Us is not.
    “One is a heavy genre, one is sort of indie coming of age story.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:31:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  57. people (people): Joker → Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix is the frontrunner for Joker, though the speaker does not care about the movie.
    “I really don't care about the movie, but that's my guy.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:46:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  58. career (career): Renee Zellweger → Bridget Jones's Diary. Speaker defends Zellweger's casting in Bridget Jones's Diary.
    “It worked for me in Bridget Jones diary.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:48:12 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  59. industry (industry): Bong Joon-ho → Sam Mendes. Tied for Best Director at Critics Choice.
    “So the tie was between Bongjun Ho and Sam Mendes.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:52:05 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  60. industry (industry): Disney slate (D23) → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Disney has consolidated all its IP and has Disney Plus as its distribution plan, confirming the predicted monopoly.
    “they have consolidated all of the IPas together. They have their distribution plan ready in Disney Plus”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:07:08 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  61. unmapped (joke crossover): Jungle Cruise → Crawl. A joke about a crossover where the same alligator-escape ideas get investigated.
    “Maybe it'll be crawl too, and they'll finally investigate how to escape an alligator on land.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:14:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  62. people (performance): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Brad Pitt. Pitt's responsiveness and presence is a rare form of acting, making the lead-versus-supporting call hard.
    “I just think like responsiveness is a form of acting as well. And he is the person who's reflecting a lot of Leo back.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:23:13 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  63. people (performance): Midsommar → Florence Pugh. Florence Pugh is named for best leading performance.
    “I wrote down Florence Pugh and Midsommar.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:24:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  64. people (performance): Yesterday → Himesh Patel. Patel is a good performance in a bad movie, singing Beatles songs at Wembley.
    “to be able to sing Beatles songs in front of Ed Wembley, is like, you know, it was impressive.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:24:06 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  65. lineage (source article): The Souvenir → Rebecca Mead. A New Yorker piece by Rebecca Mead explains Swinton Byrne was cast two weeks before filming.
    “I couldn't believe that she was cast 2 weeks before they started filming.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:26:54 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  66. people (performance): The Farewell → Diana Lin. The mother and grandmother in The Farewell are named as great supporting performances.
    “I'm trying to isolate the mother and the grandmother.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:29:35 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  67. unmapped (scene): Long Shot → Charlize Theron. Charlize Theron's terrorist negotiation on the phone in a long shot is a favorite scene.
    “And then Charlize Theron doing a terrorist negotiation on Molly in long shot.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:35:13 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  68. unmapped (elevator pitch): Long Shot → Broadcast News. Long Shot is hard to pitch in one line, with a Broadcast News remake as the only handle.
    “What is it, is it a remake of broadcast news?”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:37:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  69. industry (industry): Long Shot → First Man. A political controversy did not help First Man, so a Trump spat would not have rescued Long Shot.
    “That didn't work for 1st man though.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:39:23 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  70. lineage (remake): The Hustle → Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The Hustle is a reboot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
    “Rotten scoundrels.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:40:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  71. verdict (ranking): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Avengers: Endgame. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a tier of one, with the rest of the summer far down.
    “once upon a time in Hollywood is is like a tier of one to me.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:49:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  72. theme (era comparison): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Inglourious Basterds. Looking at the 2009 summer, which also had Inglourious Basterds, shows what this summer lacked.
    “that was the summer of Inglorious Bastards, but also, um, you know, what what it had that this summer didn't have.”
    The Big Picture · The Future of ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s Movie Monopoly. Plus: Our Summer Movie Awards and Paul Downs Colaizzo on ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ | The Big Picture · 0:50:48 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  73. verdict (verdict): The Last Waltz → Homecoming. Amanda was bored by Last Waltz and suspects many viewers were equally bored by a concert they had already seen.
    “okay, fine, it's a Beyonce concert that I've already seen.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:05:48 · Amanda Dobbins (0.90 sure it was them)
  74. career (career): Homecoming → Lemonade. Sean points to Beyonce's talent for assembling shows, music and the Lemonade film as proof of a clear storytelling vision.
    “she's so singularly talented at putting together, not just as a performer, but this shows and the music and, you know, lemonade the film.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:07:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  75. lineage (lineage): Guava Island → This Is America (video). Glover reprises the This Is America dance moves and warehouse set in Guava Island.
    “he's just kind of doing this is America.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:10:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  76. programming (programming): Guava Island → Homecoming. The smaller reception is partly about release: Amazon is not Netflix for promotion.
    “Amazon is not Netflix in terms of promo.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:13:48 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  77. lineage (lineage): Guava Island → Atlanta: Teddy Perkins. Guava Island shares a style with Atlanta, and recalled Teddy Perkins, though not as well developed.
    “it is of a style with Atlanta, you know, it felt like I was immediately reminded of Teddy Perkins.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:14:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  78. industry (industry): Beale Street → Oscar calendar. A December release now leaves about 7 weeks of campaign before a February ninth ceremony.
    “If a movie comes out on December 14th, that movie's got 7 weeks, the campaign less.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:17:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  79. verdict (verdict): Les Mis → Cats. Amanda rates Les Mis a much better musical than Cats.
    “Les Mis is a much better musical than cats.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:20:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  80. theme (theme): Downton Abbey → Green Book. After Green Book, Amanda thinks voters just want to be happy, which could help a crowd-pleaser.
    “man, people just want to be happy.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:22:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  81. people (people): Vice → Adam McKay. Vice stars previous Oscar winners and is directed by the guy who made The Big Short.
    “directed by the guy who made the big short.”
    The Big Picture · The Oscars Schedule Changes, and Andrew Garfield On ‘Under the Silver Lake’ | Interview · 0:23:38 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  82. contrast (contrast): Captain Marvel → Wonder Woman. Amanda's instant reaction is that Captain Marvel falls short of Wonder Woman, a high bar.
    “my immediate reaction was this is not Wonder Woman.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:01:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  83. craft (craft): Captain Marvel → Batman Forever. The prosthetic-ears-and-face-paint alien look recalls the trashy 1990s comic book movies, specifically Batman Forever.
    “It felt a little bit like Batman forever at times where I was like, that guy is definitely just wearing face paint.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:12:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  84. contrast (contrast): Captain Marvel → Ant-Man. Each Marvel movie gets its own genre: Captain America is WWII, Ant-Man is slacker comedy, Captain Marvel is 90s sci-fi.
    “And then, what Ant-Man is like the modern day slacker dude?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:13:23 · Amanda Dobbins (0.65 sure it was them)
  85. craft (craft): Captain Marvel → Nirvana. The AI scene with Annette Bening is set to Nirvana's 'Come as You Are', called the most ironic song to choose.
    “And come as you are, is like, is the also just the most ironic song to be choosing.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:26:45 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  86. theme (theme): Captain Marvel → Roma. Recreating childhood wholesale is hard, which is why Roma was such a great movie.
    “That's why Roma was such a great movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:27:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  87. contrast (contrast): Darkest Hour → The King's Speech. Mendelsohn's king did not stutter as much as Colin Firth's Oscar-winning version.
    “famously the character that Con Firth won for the Oscar for.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:37:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  88. career (career): Annette Bening → The American President. Amanda adds The American President as a 90s movie Sean did not mention, deeply problematic but loved.
    “A 90s movie that you didn't mention is the American president, which is deeply problematic, but also I love it”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:40:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  89. career (career): Annette Bening → 20th Century Women. Bening has had a late-period resurgence, especially with 20th Century Women.
    “I think that she's had sort of a late period resurgence, I think, especially 20th century women”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:41:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  90. verdict (verdict): Captain Marvel → David Shoemaker. Shoemaker's point: Captain Marvel is too powerful to be a good movie character.
    “Captain Marvel is not a good movie character because Captain Marvel is too powerful.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:47:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  91. contrast (contrast): Captain Marvel → Superman. Captain Marvel is so powerful that Amanda wants her Kryptonite, like Superman.
    “I'm sure she have her version of Kryptonite or whatever?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:49:46 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  92. theme (theme): Wonder Woman → Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Both Wonder Woman's Amazons and Rey getting the lightsaber hit Amanda with a symbolic reaction, despite her not being a franchise person.
    “I felt the same way when Ray gets the lightsaber in, in the Force Awakens”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:57:48 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  93. what-if (what-if): Nora Ephron → Black Widow and Hulk (hypothetical). Amanda's pitch: a Black Widow and Hulk love story written as if Nora Ephron wrote a Marvel movie.
    “It should be like if Nora Efron wrote a Marvel movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 1:04:07 · Amanda Dobbins (0.75 sure it was them)
  94. lineage (lineage): Green Book → Driving Miss Daisy. Notes that the Green Book win lands exactly 30 years after Driving Miss Daisy's win, with the same conversation roiling.
    “we're 30 years exactly since driving Miss Daisy one, and that the conversation around this sort of thing was roiling back then”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:07:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  95. verdict (verdict): Bohemian Rhapsody → Bohemian Rhapsody. Okay for flawed movies to be nominated; it would have felt different had Bohemian Rhapsody gone zero for seven.
    “I think it's okay for flawed movies to be nominated for awards.”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:13:48 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  96. industry (industry): Roma → Black Panther. Voters resisted a Netflix film the way they resisted superhero movies for years.
    “I do think at some point just people didn't want to vote for a Netflix film and in the same way that they didn't want to vote for a superhero movie for many years.”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:26:13 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  97. contrast (contrast): A Star Is Born → Lady Gaga. The movie created whole other characters, but the real-life Gaga/Cooper performance of Shallow did not work as well.
    “And in the movie, they managed to create whole other characters.”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:29:39 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  98. theme (theme): Kendrick Lamar → Black Panther. Kendrick Lamar skipping the Oscars read as a referendum that the Academy did not acknowledge Black Panther enough.
    “you didn't really acknowledge Black Panther in the way that you should have at this award show”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:32:49 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  99. craft (craft): Ludwig Goransson → Black Panther. The score blends African sounds with a Silvestri/Zimmer-style propulsive action feel.
    “with the classic African sounds that he's trying to integrate into the story, plus that sort of like sweeping Alan Sylvestri, Hans Zimmer, kind of propulsive feeling”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:54:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  100. craft (craft): Ludwig Goransson → Alan Sylvestri. His Black Panther score carries a sweeping Alan Silvestri-style propulsive action feel.
    “plus that sort of like sweeping Alan Sylvestri, Hans Zimmer, kind of propulsive feeling that you need in an action movie”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 0:54:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–100 of 275 fun items.

  1. fun, about Harrison Ford: Hottest moment in the movie: the shirtless office change as the women cheer; Ford plays a nothing role with charm.
    “He's just there to like be handsome and support her and he does it with such charm”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Working Girl’ With Bill Simmons, Amanda Dobbins, and Joanna Robinson · 0:31:32 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The War of the Roses: Amanda's unranked top-20 list of best movie houses, which grows past 30 as others add theirs.
    “This is not even a top 20 movie house.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:59:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Father of the Bride: The film's catchphrase-adjacent scene: the dad's opening monologue to camera. Dobbins hates talking to camera as a device but says it works here because the monologue is excellent, and it sets up voiceover narration that lets George say what he cannot say to the family.
    “It works in this one because the monologue's really good and he's really good in it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 0:26:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Father of the Bride: Steve Martin's dinner list of consolations: Paul Simon tickets at the Forum, a Lakers game, and 'independent communications consultant' as code for unemployed. Dobbins used the line on her in-laws.
    “Independent communications consultant is still...”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 0:33:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Father of the Bride (most rewatchable scenes): Cutting the wedding list: the crossing-off gag where they ask if someone died last year is a Simmons favorite. Also the blender box scene with Martin grappling a blender.
    “wait, didn't Harry Kirby die last year?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 0:35:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Father of the Bride (hot dog buns): The hot dog bun math gag still persists: Dobbins had a meltdown ordering curtain rings (7 holes, packs of 9) and thought of the scene; Simmons tells his daughter that tips and hot dog fractions are the only math adults need.
    “All I could think about was the hot dog, hot dog bun scene and father of the bride.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 0:45:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Martin Short: Worst-aged: the whole fake-accent wedding planner gag is one note, and Simmons's teenage daughter just found him annoying; Dobbins says the gag is not comedy in 2021. Both think B.D. Wong is funnier.
    “I actually think B.D. Wong is funnier than him.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 0:52:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Diane Keaton: Casting what-if: Keaton says Disney's Jeffrey Katzenberg did not want to work with her after The Good Mother flopped, and Shyer and Meyers had to beg to get her into the film.
    “Charles Shire, Nancy Myers, who'd worked with me before, had to beg to get me into Father of the Bride.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 0:55:06 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Father of the Bride (remake as series): Unanswerable: Dobbins talks Simmons into a 10-episode series called Grandfather of the Bride with Kimberly Williams and George Newbern as the parents and Martin and Keaton as grandparents, and no Zoom version.
    “Kimberly Williams and George Newburn would be the parents.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 1:15:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Annie Banks: Unanswerable: is Annie a good daughter? Simmons prosecutes (never told them for 3 months, ignored dad at the wedding, only called to say goodbye); Dobbins defends: she is 22, and the call is a great movie moment. Verdict: Simmons says bad daughter.
    “Is she a bad person or is she just inexperienced?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 1:23:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Father of the Bride (who won the movie): Who won the movie: Steve Martin. Nancy Meyers is the alternate, though it comes together more for her later.
    “I think it has to be Steve Martin.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Father of the Bride’ With Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins · 1:25:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Easy A: Amanda's pick: the Knock on Wood performance is pure star quality and needed in a teen comedy.
    “And you always need a musical number in a teen comedy, in my opinion, or some sort of performance.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:26:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci: Olive's parents are called the most underrated movie parents; the table's quip-heavy family bit.
    “I think that these are probably my most underrated movie parents”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:31:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Easy A: Emma Stone famously auditioned via YouTube, sending a webcam reel.
    “Emma Stone famously auditioned via like YouTube.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:36:11 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Ojai: Ojai is the Woodstock of California: wealthy, hippie-ish roots, a Ferris Bueller suburb it's not.
    “It's kind of like the woodstock of California.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:38:31 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Easy A: Ojai has 'pink moments', branded sunsets on the mountains; one shows when Olive and her mom talk on the car roof.
    “they have what they call the pink moments”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:38:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.90 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Easy A: Bart's Books, the outdoor Ojai bookstore, is where Olive goes to read the Bible.
    “Barts books featured in EZA.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:40:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Easy A: The chlamydia subplot: Thomas Haden Church's marriage ends; Shea feels bad for him, the movie skates through.
    “she gives the student chlamydia.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 0:57:50 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Zendaya: Amanda's recast: Zendaya, because you trust she will be okay.
    “You need to believe they're going to be okay.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 1:23:12 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Skyfall: Severin scene: Bond sneaking up on her in the shower after she says she was in a sex ring, flagged as the film's worst-aged moment.
    “It really jumped out at me last time I watched it when he's like, I'm going to sneak attack you in the shower”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Skyfall’ With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:53:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Skyfall: Bond gets a Heineken and khakis after sex, a long running nitpick.
    “And then you're like, I'm gonna get a Heineken and put on some khakis.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Skyfall’ With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:19:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Skyfall: Hacking nitpicks: a list of NATO agents on one hard drive, villain posts reveals on YouTube.
    “The hacker is using YouTube.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Skyfall’ With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:22:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Mean Girls: Mean Girls is dated April 30, 2004, but fans celebrate Mean Girls Day on October 3rd, after the line about the date; Simmons only learned of it while researching.
    “People think Mean Girls Day is October 3rd, but actually it came out on April 30th.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:01:48 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Lindsay Lohan: The rewatchables crew remembers an MTV 'Diary' episode filmed right before Mean Girls, plus a hosted SNL with Debbie Downer, and a 2005 return whose monologue was about her problems.
    “By the time she comes back in 05.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:15:54 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Mean Girls: Amanda picks the first lunch scene as most rewatchable: Regina introducing the Plastics in about three minutes.
    “I think I'm going with the 1st lunch scene.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:25:55 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Janice Ian: Lizzy Caplan said Janice was styled to stand out as an outcast, but years later people dressed like her.
    “But then people actually started dressing like Janice in a few years later.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:32:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Mean Girls: It was an early meme movie, with Tumblr-era life and even the Obama campaign using Mean Girls memes.
    “the Obama campaign was using mean girl means and it had this 2nd internet life”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:34:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Tim Meadows: Best 'heat check' pick: Tim Meadows sells the worst-written character; they cannot understand why he is not a bigger star.
    “I don't understand why he's not a bigger star after seeing him this”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:56:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about Mean Girls: Best quote picks: 'Stop trying to make fetch happen' is the iconic line; others include 'I'm a cool mom' and 'On Wednesdays, we wear pink'.
    “Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:13:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Regina George: Unanswerable question: Regina becomes a lacrosse star at Duke or Northwestern or Williams.
    “Duke for her.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:17:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Marriage take: Sean's hot take that past a certain tax bracket people should not marry, because marriage is a business arrangement propped up by the tax code.
    “past a certain tax bracket, you just like should not get married anymore.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:11:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. fun, about The Strangers: Amanda admits the film gets under her skin without being gory or supernatural, because her horror problem is irritation, not fear.
    “it's actually not fear that is my issue.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:18:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  33. fun, about The Strangers: The hosts guess the unmasking was shot but cut because the film is stronger if you never see the faces.
    “they filmed it where they take the masks off and then they realized an edit that it's more powerful if you never see their faces.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:31:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  34. fun, about The Strangers: The final line: asked why, the masked woman answers because you were home. The hosts debate whether no answer would be better.
    “she says, yes, doll face.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:34:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  35. fun, about The Strangers: Self-defense riff: the hosts argue about whether you can kill an intruder and why the couple never barricades the door with furniture.
    “It's just a real like barricade the home situation.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:46:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  36. fun, about The Strangers: The couple's vinyl collection includes Joanna Newsom, Merle Haggard, Gillian Welch, Billy Bragg and Wilco and Richard Buckner; later the strangers put on the Merle Haggard record, with Mama Tried as the closing jam.
    “This couple had awesome taste in music.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:46:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  37. fun, about The Strangers: Sean gives it 3.5 stars on Letterboxd and notes the strangers franchise is now IP.
    “Uh... 3.5?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:47:49 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  38. fun, about Mamma Mia!: The cast treated it like a vacation in Greece, slightly sunburnt and unglamorous, which Sean finds charming.
    “everybody's a little sunburnt, and it does kind of feel like they've had a couple of glasses of wine while performing”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:03:12 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  39. fun, about Mamma Mia!: It made $610 million worldwide, $144 million domestic, and was huge in the UK.
    “this movie has made $610 million worldwide at the box office.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:07:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  40. fun, about Mamma Mia!: Meryl Streep singing The Winner Takes It All at Pierce Brosnan on a cliff is a favorite scene, with Brosnan looking confused.
    “Pierce Brosan just stands there looking confused.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:10:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  41. fun, about Meryl Streep: A running bit, checking whether Meryl Streep ever holds a gun in her filmography, and recasting her in Wanted and Salt.
    “Meryl Streep is hard to talk about. It's kind of like talking about Coca-Cola on a warm summer day.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:21:32 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  42. fun, about Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again: Amanda applauded alone at the Arclight when Fernando played in the sequel and has told Sean what happens before.
    “I maybe did start applauding at the arc light, like, alone when Fernando shut up.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:26:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  43. fun, about Mamma Mia!: Mamma Mia remake game: Rihanna in Barbados.
    “if we're doing Rihanna, then you do Barbados, right?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:28:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  44. fun, about Pierce Brosnan: Brosnan's long residence near Hanalei on Kauai and a rumored $100 million Malibu property turned up in an Architectural Digest search.
    “he lived like outside Hanalay for like 25 years in on the north shore of Kauai”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:31:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  45. fun, about Mamma Mia!: The who's-the-father debate: Sean and Amanda both pick Pierce Brosnan; the director and screenwriter reportedly say Stellan Skarsgard, and Amanda offers a diary-order ovulation argument for the middle man.
    “the middle person is going to be the closest to ovulation.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:33:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  46. fun, about Harry Styles: Styles was in St. Peter's Square when the new pope was announced.
    “Harry Styles was in St. Peter's Square when the new pope was announced”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 0:05:26 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  47. fun, about Mercy: Reenacting the closing line: Pratt says we all make mistakes and learn, then the AI judge appears on a lobby screen and says yes, we do.
    “Human or AI, we all make mistakes, and we learn.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 0:23:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  48. fun, about Mercy: The movie's chase footage shows the truck braking, with no A-team stunt drivers.
    “And also like, you can just, like, you can see the truck breaking sometimes.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 0:30:49 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  49. fun, about Mercy: The wife's lover is a chef at the Loews Hollywood, and a rooftop fight on its helipad is called a big look for the hotel.
    “And I just want to say that's a really big look for the low's Hollywood and congratulations.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 0:42:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  50. fun, about Send Help: Raimi shoots McAdams in gross close-up, including tuna fish at the corner of her mouth.
    “you know, there's a whole bit about tuna fish”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 0:50:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  51. fun, about Send Help: The film keeps seeming over and then turning again, at least five false endings.
    “we thought we had gotten to the conclusion or I thought we had gotten to the conclusion, like, at least 5 times.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 0:58:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  52. fun, about Angelina Jolie: Salt was a $110 million movie that grossed $300 million, and nobody can name its director.
    “If I paid you a million dollars, could you tell me who directed salt?”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 1:22:06 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  53. fun, about Bradley Cooper: Cooper's roles this decade are cameos like a two-foot-tall Dungeons and Dragons appearance.
    “at the scream when he shows up on Dungeons and Dragons, like 2 feet tall.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 1:31:38 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  54. fun, about Amy Adams: The pair argue over whether Amy Adams is to blame for her roles, with a roll call of Hillbilly Elegy, Justice League, Woman in the Window and Dear Evan Hansen.
    “Hillbilly Elegy Justice League, woman in the window.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 1:36:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  55. fun, about Amanda Dobbins: After Chris takes Top Gun first, Amanda announces she needs a meeting with herself, then admits she was being a petulant brat.
    “I had to have a meeting with myself about not being a petulant brat for the rest of the thing”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 0:25:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.90 sure it was them)
  56. fun, about Top Gun: Maverick: Chris sat in another room watching it with Amanda's son while they dealt with power loss during the fires.
    “you sat in the other room with my son watching Top Gun Maverick while we figured out what to do.”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 0:30:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  57. fun, about Tár: Amanda laughed with joy at the ending and recalls small observed moments like the deleted email and Petra's father.
    “I started like laughing with joy and I can't believe you're doing this at the end of this movie”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 0:35:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  58. fun, about Tár: The Juilliard confrontation is an instant time capsule of cancel culture, done less well since.
    “The Juilliard set, you know, confrontation between the student and Lydia Tar is sort of like a, an instant time capsule”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 0:37:23 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  59. fun, about Avatar: The Way of Water: Sean's tears over Jake Sully and the whale are teased as the closest he's come to crying on the podcast.
    “that was just him crying about a whale.”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 0:51:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  60. fun, about Downton Abbey: A New Era: Amanda pitches it as Singin' in the Rain: Lady Mary dubs a silent star, and Lady Violet inherits a French Riviera house from a torrid affair.
    “Lady Violet, a.k.a. the dowager countess, like had a torrid love affair, and she got left a house.”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 0:56:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.90 sure it was them)
  61. fun, about Prey: The group teases the speaker who likes Prey for being largely silent yet wants chatter, noting no foreign or silent films.
    “So no foreign films and no silent films.”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 1:11:06 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  62. fun, about Minions: The Rise of Gru: Amanda saw it alone at her childhood theater in Atlanta; a minions choir appears from nowhere and sings, which made her crack up.
    “There's a minions choir that shows up from nowhere and they just start singing.”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 1:16:31 · Amanda Dobbins (0.90 sure it was them)
  63. fun, about Jennifer Lopez: Halftime: Amanda says cameras caught Lopez backstage devastated after losing the Golden Globe, the most defeated moment, and she's the third most thought-about 2022 movie.
    “the most defeated, disappointed, like, I can't believe like I let you guys all down for a fucking golden globe”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 1:18:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  64. fun, about Steve Madden: Dobbins tells of 90s Steve Madden four-inch chunky loafers on Long Island, towering over 13-year-old boys, and the pump-and-dump that sidelined him.
    “the chunky 4 inch loafer heel.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 11 - 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ · 0:39:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  65. fun, about Brad Pitt: His best performance: it does not ask him to speak much and he is great at looking pissed or regretful, unless eating a Twinkie.
    “I think it's his best performance.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:12:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  66. fun, about Brad Pitt: Opening of the film: old playoff footage, then Pitt alone in a stadium turning a radio on and off. Riveting because he holds the frame.
    “him sitting alone in a stadium just turning a radio on and on. And it is riveting.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:12:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  67. fun, about Brad Pitt: Lost the Oscar to Jean Dujardin for The Artist; audience groaned, Weinstein blamed.
    “I do understand what happened there. Harvey Weinstein happened.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:27:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  68. fun, about Moneyball: The Mets version of Moneyball would be Dog Day Afternoon, a hostage situation in 100-degree heat.
    “What would the Mets version of Moneyball be?”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:29:11 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  69. fun, about Challengers: An audience member suggests Challengers as a sports movie they should have done; the hosts say it is not on the list and Amanda jokes about her own list.
    “Challengers is not on the list.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:30:22 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  70. fun, about Moneyball: The show kept refusing Moneyball screening requests; the hosts say they said no four times.
    “You said no 4 times.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:30:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  71. fun, about Spike Jonze: Great cameo in a beautiful peaceful living room, in sandals; Amanda owned similar sandals at 15 and wore them in March to Long Island high school.
    “I think I own those sandals when I was like 15.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:33:34 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  72. fun, about Pretty Woman: Amanda wonders about wearing a Pretty Woman polka-dot dress to a wedding where younger guests may miss the reference.
    “I was internet shopping to avoid the world the earlier today, and then there was a brand polka address”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 0:31:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  73. fun, about The Hunt for Red October: Amanda imagines herself as the sonar operator listening to pings at double speed.
    “If I could listen to the sonar pings at 2X.”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 0:42:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  74. fun, about Metropolitan: Amanda says Metropolitan showed her people who seemed to value being terrible the way she did.
    “didn't know that there were people out there who wanted to be like this and are terrible”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:00:50 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  75. fun, about Postcards from the Edge: The Shirley MacLaine dinner-party song is painful and amazing, with Streep watching her.
    “But then also what Meryl Streep is doing in that scene watching her and hating her and loving her.”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:17:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)
  76. fun, about Mermaids: The movie was Amanda's first sight of Cher; the family took their little woman to see a film with three women.
    “This might have been my 1st introduction to share also.”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:26:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  77. fun, about Made in America: Ted Danson wore blackface at a Friars Roast while dating Whoopi Goldberg; Richard Benjamin directed Made in America.
    “Ted Danson wore blackface at the fryer roast.”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:26:35 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  78. fun, about Napoleon Dynamite: Amanda finds it a little overrated, though she chuckled in the moment.
    “It's a little overrated, in my opinion.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 0:05:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  79. fun, about Kool-Aid Man movie: The joke: Minecraft is to Barbie as a Kool-Aid movie, 'not Martin Scorsese's Kool-Aid.'
    “you know, it's not Martin Scorsese's Kool-Aid.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 0:15:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  80. fun, about Black Bag: Casting a particular actress as the coder/satellite tech expert is still the funniest thing that's ever happened.
    “By the way, just casting her as the coder is still the funniest thing that's ever happened.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 0:57:39 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  81. fun, about Amanda Seyfried: Sean's fan trivia: her Vogue get-ready-with-me discussing her eczema, a Jimmy Fallon clip singing Joni Mitchell, an Architectural Digest tour full of hiding places.
    “doing her get ready with me, talking about her eczema.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 1:12:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  82. fun, about Kinda Pregnant: Amy Schumer steals a pregnancy bump from Hatch, the noise-machine company, pretending to be pregnant to keep up with her friend; one sex scene, harder than you'd expect.
    “harder than you might expect”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 1:24:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  83. fun, about Babygirl: The film opens on Kidman's orgasm sounds piped in loud; in one screening nobody made a noise for a long time, in another people laughed.
    “And those sounds are like piped in loud and there's nothing else, no one else was making any noise for a very long time.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 0:06:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  84. fun, about Secretary: Jesse Eisenberg's date to Secretary: his future wife put her coat over her head the whole time and he decided he wanted to marry her.
    “And I believe his wife was so uncomfortable that she just put her coat over her head throughout the thing and he says, and then I was like, wow, she's so weird.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 0:30:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  85. fun, about Moulin Rouge!: The defender was 17 in 2001 and calls the film a masterpiece and Baz Luhrmann a visionary.
    “I think this movie is a masterpiece and I think Baz Lerman is a visionary.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 1:11:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  86. fun, about Babylon: Amanda's famous take: she likes the middle two hours best, and found the opening party a lot after the elephant.
    “I famously really like the middle 2 hours of this movie.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:07:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  87. fun, about Poor Things: A Los Angeles bar printed a Poor Things martini ad, not from Searchlight but because the bar manager liked the movie.
    “oh no, the bar manager just does that when he likes stuff.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:16:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  88. fun, about Dominic Sessa: Praise for his red-carpet styling: tuxedo, leather jacket, sunglasses, a Strokes look that plays to the hosts' era.
    “you go to the old classics, you get a sick tuxedo, you get a sick leather jacket, you get great sunglasses.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:18:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  89. fun, about Maestro: Amanda's in-laws, who grew up going to Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, walked out of Maestro because they were bored.
    “They were also telling me about how they walked out of Maestro.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:26:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  90. fun, about Oppenheimer: Gripe that Emma Thomas gives every final acceptance speech instead of Christopher Nolan: the unavoidable Nolan wife problem.
    “It's never going to make up for the Christopher Nolan wife problem.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:44:28 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  91. fun, about Nancy Meyers: A joking aside that Nancy Meyers recommends L.L.Bean sheets, spoken in mock-ad voice.
    “Sheets that Nancy Myers recommends from LLB.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:46:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  92. fun, about Mean Girls: Every October 3rd the Aaron Samuels meme returns, and the new film makes a choir sing it.
    “So every October 3rd, you get that meme of the Aaron Samuels turning around and Katie being like, it's October 3rd.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  93. fun, about Mean Girls: Renee Rapp's numbers stop the movie so she can do a full pop-star vamp, because the movie knows what it has.
    “it's kind of like the movie stops and she does a number and then it keeps going. because the movie knows what it has.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:56:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  94. fun, about Mean Girls: A new bit in the talent show: Damian performs the iCarly theme song in French, with a slow reveal from tight on his face.
    “his performance at the talent show is, um, the theme song to iCarly in French, which is one of the funniest jokes.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:59:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  95. fun, about Mean Girls: Damian recaps the Regina/Janice drama using plushies, a new joke the hosts loved.
    “when he recaps the Regina Janice drama, he uses Plushies, and I also thought that was really funny.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:59:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  96. fun, about Renee Rapp: Rapp's loose publicity tour: she said she dislikes millennial women and called out a tour-company guy named Buddy.
    “she's agist and that she really doesn't like millennial women.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:01:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  97. fun, about Poor Things (toddler performance): Amanda says Stone's baby-to-toddler stages matched her son Knox's development between viewings, six months apart.
    “I was like, wow, we've really charted the development here over 6 months.”
    The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:43:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.65 sure it was them)
  98. fun, about Poor Things (Lisbon): The first section is black and white; the Lisbon title card cuts to color and the 'furious jumping'. Bella wears yellow silk shorts (maybe Victorian underwear) with white heeled ankle boots, costumes by Holly Waddington.
    “The 1st section is all shot in black and white.”
    The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:46:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  99. fun, about Poor Things (the three things she can say): At dinner Bella is told to say only 'delighted', 'how marvelous', and 'so flaky, so crisp' about the pastry, then yells that she must go punch a wailing baby.
    “I must go punch that baby”
    The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:48:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  100. fun, about Poor Things (Willem Dafoe): Dafoe's Godwin has a burp bubble, and gastric juices removed for an experiment ('It turns out we need them').
    “His burp bubble is an incredible psych gag.”
    The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 1:00:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)