Pod Insights The Big Picture The 2022 Movie Draft About this episode We’re drafting again! Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan to discuss who they were in 2022 and draft the best movies from that year.
Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins
Guest: Chris Ryan
Producer: Jack Sanders
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Transcript 16,743 words · 5 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:14 Sean Fennessey? I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about 2022. Chris Ryan is here. Thanks, man. I've been trying to pierce this guy's heart. I've been trying to get inside the breastplate, figure out who this man really is.
0:27 Speaker 01 Doctor heal thyself. That's what Cameron Winter says. You gotta work on what's happening over here.
0:31 Amanda Dobbins? So were you there last night? Or was, no, that was Yasi. Sorry, I was just confusing Instagrams. And also, this, we're recording this for the future.
0:38 Speaker 01 Earlier in 2025 with Yasi at the Barnstall Art Center.
0:43 Sean Fennessey? Lovely Park, I've been there many times.
0:44 Amanda Dobbins? That's cool.
0:45 Sean Fennessey? Cameron Winter, you know, is going to be the subject of a documentary, perhaps co-directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and Benny Safdie?
0:52 Speaker 01 May we live in interesting times.
0:54 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
0:54 Sean Fennessey? Chris Ryan, congratulations. This is huge, dude. Very exciting.
1:00 Amanda Dobbins? This episode of The Big Picture is presented by Amazon Prime. You know how in every great holiday movie, there's that last minute scramble to make it all come together? From gifts to hosting essentials, Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays, especially when it's last minute and just can't wait. So if you need fast, free delivery that saves the day, it's on Prime. Head to amazon.com/prime to shop now.
1:23 Sean Fennessey? Let's just get right into 2022. Unless there's anything you want to get off your chests?
1:26 Speaker 01 Hmm, I was trying to think about whether or not I had any takes. Uh, Ellen McKay, no.
1:33 Sean Fennessey? Did you see that?
1:33 Speaker 01 No, but like, I am interested in the fact that it's been critically revived in just 72 hours.
1:38 Sean Fennessey? Ellen McKay.
1:39 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, it's been revived?
1:40 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:41 Sean Fennessey? No, no, no. You mean like reclaimed?
1:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:43 Sean Fennessey? No, it's all irony poisoned millennials who are like, actually, here's why this is good. We'll get into that later this week.
1:49 Speaker 01 Did you happen to see either Ethan Hawke interview Sydney Sweeney for Actors on Actors or Ethan Hawke and his performance on Rogan?
1:57 Amanda Dobbins? I saw a clip of Ethan Hawke on Rogan explaining why the Tarantino Paul Dano thing was actually an amazing gift to Paul Dano because he learned how many people love him.
2:08 Sean Fennessey? Yes.
2:08 Amanda Dobbins? Ethan Hawke is unstoppable. Ethan Hawke should, I mean, like, he would be wasted as president. Like, let's do more, you know? Let's think bigger.
2:16 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
2:16 Amanda Dobbins? Unbelievable. And it was like-
2:18 Sean Fennessey? I would never burden him with the presidency.
2:20 Amanda Dobbins? I didn't even click on it as a Rogan clip, you know? It was just fed to me. And then suddenly they cut to Joe Rogan just like trying to look earnest or whatever.
2:27 Speaker 01 But he was like, Joe Rogan was like, I'm actually seeing things differently.
2:30 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
2:31 Speaker 01 Which just never happens.
2:34 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, he's just been giving a lot of gifts this season. He's a very special person. 2022.
2:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, sure.
2:41 Sean Fennessey? We were, we were together.
2:42 Amanda Dobbins? We were, sort of.
2:43 Sean Fennessey? We were, we were, we had emerged from quarantine.
2:48 Speaker 01 Just living in the house that Jason Kilar built, you know?
2:51 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, it was a, it was a, that wasn't Project Popcorn. That was 21.
2:54 Speaker 01 No, but I think that-
2:55 Sean Fennessey? It kind of bled into 2022, but-
2:56 Speaker 01 We kind of are in the, the, what do they call it? The water that comes from the back of the boat?
3:02 Amanda Dobbins? The, the, oh, the wake.
3:04 Speaker 01 The wake. The wake of, of-
3:06 Amanda Dobbins? I got there with you.
3:07 Speaker 01 Project Popcorn.
3:07 Sean Fennessey? I see.
3:08 Speaker 01 Yeah.
3:09 Amanda Dobbins? I noticed you didn't turn to him for that boat question.
3:11 Speaker 01 It's like, I knew you were-
3:11 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. Have you been on a boat?
3:13 Speaker 01 The waves?
3:13 Sean Fennessey? On a boat? I'm from Long Island. How dare you? I was on boats all the time.
3:17 Amanda Dobbins? You've never been tubing?
3:19 Sean Fennessey? Uh-
3:19 Amanda Dobbins? Or jet skiing?
3:20 Sean Fennessey? I haven't been, I have been tubing, but not tubing behind a boat.
3:23 Speaker 01 Would you do it?
3:24 Amanda Dobbins? So you wouldn't know about the waves?
3:25 Sean Fennessey? Would I do it?
3:26 Speaker 01 Yeah.
3:26 Sean Fennessey? Like, today?
3:27 Speaker 01 Watch along?
3:30 Speaker 01 I'll do fire and ash if you go tubing with me.
3:35 Sean Fennessey? I'll consider it. I'll consider it. Just to get you in front of Jake Sully one more time.
3:39 Speaker 01 Just tubing would be a good podcast for us to do if, like, Andy ever quits the watch.
3:45 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
3:45 Speaker 01 And it's just Sean on the, on TV. Just tubing.
3:48 Sean Fennessey? Oh, nice.
3:49 Speaker 01 Yeah.
3:49 Sean Fennessey? Not a freak.
3:49 Amanda Dobbins? That's good.
3:54 Sean Fennessey? Have you ever?
3:56 Amanda Dobbins? That was 2021.
3:57 Sean Fennessey? You know, and in 2021, how many pods did you record wearing no pants?
4:02 Speaker 01 Totally nude underneath? Yeah, most of the rewatchables from then, Gladiator, for sure. At full attention.
4:09 Sean Fennessey? Yeah. Do you like wearing pants? Do you guys like wearing pants?
4:11 Speaker 01 Very much so.
4:12 Amanda Dobbins? No.
4:13 Sean Fennessey? You don't like it?
4:13 Amanda Dobbins? I mean, I've, I've come back around on it. I mean, you remember there was like a dress phase of my life?
4:20 Sean Fennessey? A dress phase, yeah.
4:20 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, and now I think for a while, when pregnant, it was like very hard to wear pants because they don't really, this, the technology is not there yet for pregnant women.
4:32 Speaker 01 Smock era.
4:33 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
4:34 Sean Fennessey? We gotta get Jim Cameron on this.
4:36 Amanda Dobbins? But now I'm back, oh, on the technology. Honestly, like, if they put Jim Cameron in charge of like prenatal and care and like postpartum technology or whatever, like, our lives would be so much better. I think like people, like, quite literally, many women's lives would be saved. All of the medical care and the experience would be like tremendously improved.
4:59 Sean Fennessey? I agree.
4:59 Amanda Dobbins? If Jim Cameron could just get to work. Anyway, I wasn't wearing pants for a while, so now I'm like kind of back to pants. You know? That's true, but you know, I, some people like those. And then the babies can swim.
5:11 Sean Fennessey? I feel like we haven't really figured pants out.
5:14 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
5:14 Sean Fennessey? Like, there's still something very unfinished to me about this experience.
5:17 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
5:18 Sean Fennessey? You know, like, I get it, we need to cover ourselves, right? For a variety of reasons, for propriety, for warmth.
5:24 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
5:24 Sean Fennessey? For safety, but the way that these things fit is just funny.
5:29 Speaker 01 I gotta tell you, man, I don't really know where you're coming from on this because I feel like in 2008, I saw you wear a bape jacket and since then, you've worn the same outfit every day. Like, your pant leg never changed, right? All through skinny to now we're going back to 501 full leg, like,
5:49 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
5:49 Speaker 01 You never bit on-
5:50 Amanda Dobbins? You don't wear 501s, do you?
5:52 Speaker 01 No, he never did.
5:52 Sean Fennessey? I don't.
5:53 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
5:53 Speaker 01 He has whatever cut he wears.
5:55 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, you mean that we, the culture?
5:56 Speaker 01 Of pant or jean.
5:57 Amanda Dobbins? The pant culture.
5:57 Speaker 01 Sean remains the North Star.
6:00 Sean Fennessey? I have a uniform.
6:00 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
6:01 Sean Fennessey? I have a uniform.
6:01 Amanda Dobbins? Or is it still the slim rag and bones?
6:04 Sean Fennessey? The idea, yes.
6:05 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, yeah.
6:05 Sean Fennessey? Not slim, whatever number three is.
6:08 Amanda Dobbins? OK, I think they're all slim cut, but that's OK. It works for you.
6:11 Sean Fennessey? Thanks.
6:11 Amanda Dobbins? It's better.
6:12 Sean Fennessey? They're not all slim cut, that's incorrect.
6:13 Amanda Dobbins? Well, on the, and the range of things, like compared to Zach closet, you know, the silhouettes have widened.
6:19 Sean Fennessey? That I've noticed.
6:20 Amanda Dobbins? Around the, you know.
6:21 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
6:22 Amanda Dobbins? More broadly.
6:22 Sean Fennessey? That will, that will, that will change again.
6:24 Speaker 01 First episode of Just Tubin, you wear Diesel bootcut jeans. Who says no?
6:30 Sean Fennessey? Whenever I'm getting dressed in the morning, I think, would this be acceptable if I were to meet Frank Sinatra today?
6:34 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:34 Sean Fennessey? That's exactly what crosses my mind. Do you think about things that way?
6:39 Speaker 01 No.
6:41 Sean Fennessey? Should we pivot back to 2022 or just keep going?
6:43 Amanda Dobbins? Sure, yeah.
6:44 Sean Fennessey? Men's sartorial choices, is that of note to you?
6:46 Speaker 01 Is this the year that, that slop poisoned the well? Is this, when you went through the, the list of films?
6:51 Amanda Dobbins? Wow, look at him go.
6:53 Sean Fennessey? Dramatic idea.
6:54 Speaker 01 Well, I was just like, my, my process for these drafts, uh, in which I'm undefeated,
7:02 Speaker 01 for five years.
7:02 Sean Fennessey? Many people are saying.
7:04 Speaker 01 No, my process for these drafts is to go through, uh, chronologically, the list of American theatrically released films.
7:10 Sean Fennessey? Yes.
7:11 Speaker 01 Uh, the definition of theatrically.
7:13 Sean Fennessey? Because you will not watch a foreign language film.
7:14 Speaker 01 I just, yeah, I mean, like, I don't feel like I'm hearing it in the intended language.
7:18 Sean Fennessey? I'm not here to read.
7:21 Speaker 01 I was overwhelmed.
7:22 Amanda Dobbins? Except for every single film that I watch with subtitles, because I'm old.
7:26 Sean Fennessey? Oh, yeah, every movie, yeah, yeah.
7:29 Speaker 01 I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff and also the unbelievable amount of films I was like, what is that? There are two DJ Caruso films here. What, when did those come out and what, what platform or service were they available?
7:42 Sean Fennessey? I see.
7:42 Speaker 01 And, uh, just the, the kind of, not the poisoning of the well, but just the changing shape and, and feel of the film landscape feels very distinct in 2022. Like, we come out on, on the other side of COVID and everything's different. That's, that's something that really struck me, look, going through the movies.
8:00 Sean Fennessey? That's an interesting query. We never really talk about it in that context, because. I just pulled up the average rating of all the films released that year according to the list that I made on Letterboxd. And if you look from the bottom up, the lowest rated films of the year, any guesses? I'm sure you haven't spent much time thinking about these movies because you won't be drafting them.
8:18 Speaker 01 Uh, no, I mean, like, also, I don't even know how wide the the sort of aperture is there. I mean, like, how many movies do you have listed there?
8:25 Sean Fennessey? Uh, hun, I think I have over 300 movies here.
8:29 Speaker 01 Oh, wow. So.
8:30 Sean Fennessey? A lot.
8:31 Speaker 01 What's the bottom? Like, yeah, what were you? What were you gonna say?
8:32 Sean Fennessey? Morbius is at the bottom.
8:34 Amanda Dobbins? Hmm, sure.
8:36 Speaker 01 Yeah.
8:37 Sean Fennessey? Uh, the Firestarter remake, Judd Apatow's The Bubble.
8:41 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
8:42 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I never saw that.
8:43 Sean Fennessey? Netflix's Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot.
8:45 Speaker 01 That's fucking wrong.
8:46 Sean Fennessey? Um, Robert Zemeckis's Pinocchio.
8:50 Speaker 01 Never saw it.
8:51 Amanda Dobbins? Sure. Not the fascist one.
8:53 Sean Fennessey? No.
8:54 Speaker 01 There's a fascist?
8:55 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, Guillermo del Toro also made a Pinocchio this year, and he makes, uh, oh.
8:59 Sean Fennessey? Well, you, well, he made Frankenstein. Oh, you in 2022?
9:02 Amanda Dobbins? In 2022, he made, excuse me, and he made him fascist.
9:05 Speaker 01 He did?
9:06 Amanda Dobbins? Yes.
9:07 Sean Fennessey? He made him a puppet contemporaneous to the rise of fascism in Italy.
9:10 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, but like.
9:11 Sean Fennessey? In Spain.
9:12 Amanda Dobbins? But like Pinocchio is like dancing around pretty fascist.
9:14 Sean Fennessey? Italy, in Spain, in Italy.
9:15 Amanda Dobbins? Italy.
9:16 Speaker 01 Italy. Yeah, I spent some time this weekend watching Joe Wright's Mussolini, Son of the Century.
9:21 Amanda Dobbins? How is it?
9:22 Speaker 01 Very Joe Wrighty.
9:23 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
9:24 Speaker 01 But it's basically this guy playing Mussolini being like, I am a fascist, like the entire, like screaming at camera.
9:29 Sean Fennessey? But was it subtitled?
9:30 Speaker 01 Yes.
9:31 Sean Fennessey? And you did watch it?
9:32 Speaker 01 Yeah.
9:33 Sean Fennessey? First time ever watching a subtitled film?
9:34 Speaker 01 You know, I'm, I'm a citizen of the world.
9:35 Amanda Dobbins? Mm hmm.
9:36 Sean Fennessey? Many people are saying that as well. Yes.
9:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
9:39 Sean Fennessey? So now you're finally giving yourself over to this podcast. It only took 20 minutes. Um, are you wearing pants right now? Also on this list of the lowest rated films of that year, Halloween Ends, the final in David Gordon Green's trilogy of Halloween reboots.
9:53 Speaker 01 And, uh, 4XD.
9:55 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
9:56 Sean Fennessey? 4DX.
9:57 Speaker 01 4DX.
9:58 Sean Fennessey? Is 4XD like on Pornhub? Where do you see that?
10:01 Speaker 01 Trying to have like a real cultural conversation.
10:05 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, 40x is the one with the sides.
10:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
10:08 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
10:08 Amanda Dobbins? But like, not the whole thing, insides, which was my disappointment.
10:12 Speaker 01 Yes.
10:12 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
10:12 Sean Fennessey? I actually saw the other film on this list in 40x, Andrew Dominick's Blonde. It was crazy.
10:17 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
10:18 Sean Fennessey? It was like, you felt like you were going through the birth canal. It was wild. Yeah, so a little bit of a complicated year, high highs.
10:25 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
10:26 Sean Fennessey? Some, some big hitters.
10:27 Speaker 01 Sure.
10:28 Sean Fennessey? This year.
10:28 Amanda Dobbins? Not unlike 2025 for me, honest, this, this movie.
10:32 Sean Fennessey? How so?
10:32 Amanda Dobbins? Though maybe, but there are a couple, like all time, I went to the movies and I'll never forget it experiences. And then, just a lot of other stuff.
10:43 Amanda Dobbins? Some of which I liked and some of which I didn't really, but there's like a pretty big chasm between
10:49 Speaker 01 The top and the mid.
10:50 Amanda Dobbins? The top and the mid and then the low.
10:53 Sean Fennessey? What about for you? Did you like it? Even despite the slop?
10:57 Speaker 01 Yeah, no, I mean, I also am a slop connoisseur, you know, I, I've been known to tuck in to a big heaping bowl of kale and other crap, you know what I mean? I think that one thing that, here's how I would define what I, I think I mean by the slop stuff is where the bottom falls out on the competency, not even the competency, but the, the foundation of movies that I ordinarily would be like, this is pretty cool, like a cool genre movie, 90 minutes. And it's like, why is this two hours and 20 minutes? It looks like it's been through four reshoots. And it looks like it was shot with like an iPhone 11, you know, like, and that would be a major release. And so, I think that you see a little bit of like a loosening of standards maybe on some of that stuff.
11:43 Speaker 01 And I still enjoyed a bunch of, a bunch of stuff from this year, but like Amanda, I do think that there's like five to 10 movies that sort of stand above everything else.
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12:38 Sean Fennessey? Terms and conditions apply. There's certainly a handful of movies that I absolutely love on the list. Not a, not a ton.
12:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
12:47 Sean Fennessey? I do think it's interesting to think about the health of the box office at this time coming out of COVID relative to even where we are now. Like when you look at the top of the box office here, the top five movies are Jurassic World Dominion, which made $375 million, Doctor Strange 2, which made 411, Black Panther 2, which made 450, Avatar 2, which made 680 and Top Gun Maverick, which made 720. This is just domestically. That's pretty healthy.
13:14 Sean Fennessey? Now, those are sequels, they're all sequels and the movies below them are all sequels. So it's not as though we've kind of dramatically changed where we were. But it does feel like even from this time, things have changed. And maybe it's augured in part by what you're describing. I seem to remember having a pretty good time at the movies this year though. And there with, with one big hulking, you know, we are back.
13:40 Speaker 01 Yeah.
13:40 Sean Fennessey? Right in the middle of it.
13:41 Speaker 01 Isn't this the invention of we are back kind of? Isn't Maverick sort of like?
13:44 Sean Fennessey? When did we start doing that? I'm not sure.
13:46 Speaker 01 We were literally back.
13:47 Sean Fennessey? We were back.
13:47 Speaker 01 Yeah.
13:48 Sean Fennessey? We were quite lit. Well, I think the first movie I was back for was.
13:52 Speaker 01 A Quiet Place 2.
13:54 Sean Fennessey? A Quiet Place 2.
13:54 Speaker 01 I remember that. Yeah, it was the, the previous summer.
13:57 Sean Fennessey? Yes. And I felt that that was the greatest film ever made when I was sitting in the movie theater, even though it's, I'm sure it's fine.
14:03 Speaker 01 Was, uh, was, what's the M. Night Shyamalan on the beach?
14:08 Sean Fennessey? Uh, old.
14:08 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, old. That was August.
14:10 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
14:10 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
14:10 Speaker 01 Is that August 22?
14:12 Amanda Dobbins? No, it was 21.
14:13 Speaker 01 21.
14:13 Amanda Dobbins? Because.
14:14 Speaker 01 That was my first time back.
14:15 Amanda Dobbins? I was Stranger, no, not Stranger. Um, A Quiet Place was my first one back. And then I was also there. I was at the La Canata, um, movie theater seeing Old in an empty theater by myself. But I had also just told Sean that I was pregnant for the first time. So I was, um, texting with Sean from the movie theater, which is really rude. I'm sorry to have night, Sean Malan, about Old in the theater.
14:37 Sean Fennessey? Why did you text me about that during a movie?
14:39 Amanda Dobbins? Zach was actually, Zach wanted to tell you as a friend that we were having a kid. And so he called you, but like, he didn't really time the call correctly. So.
14:49 Sean Fennessey? Did you guys end up having the kid?
14:52 Speaker 01 Did you see Old?
14:53 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. We did. But so that was also, this was 2022 was when Knox was born. So I was, um, I, some of these movies, it was interesting. Like I, I caught up with a lot of things, but there are some of the slop I just got to, you know, take a pass on.
15:09 Sean Fennessey? You got to skip Morbius. I think Morbius came out February 2022.
15:12 Amanda Dobbins? It did. Um, so Knox.
15:14 Sean Fennessey? I saw it with Van.
15:14 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. No, I remember. You usually do the first podcast after I have a kid with Van. That's but, which is just.
15:22 Speaker 01 Traditional like any other.
15:23 Amanda Dobbins? And now it's done.
15:24 Sean Fennessey? We did Joker 2.
15:25 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. And now, and now we're done. No. So, um, Morbius was his, like around his due date. His due date was actually the day of the Oscar nominations. So we scheduled that Oscar nominations podcast in the morning and then I went to the hospital. That's a true story.
15:39 Sean Fennessey? You're a trooper.
15:39 Amanda Dobbins? And then, but my first back movie in theaters was Top Gun Maverick. Like I, you know, I got to go finally. I was released from postpartum hell. Um, and that's, that's part of the reason that I feel as affectionately toward that movie as I do. But it was also, everyone was like, okay, we feel good about this. Like vaccines are in a decent place. We're all done. Let's fucking go. And they did.
16:06 Sean Fennessey? It was exciting. They really did. They went very fast. Do you, do you, do you remember anything distinct about yourself in 2022? Who you were, what you were doing? I know you were doing pods and you were, we were all hanging out, but.
16:16 Speaker 01 I don't know. I think I was, I have to say, I was looking at a short-lived diary that I was keeping from like two years ago.
16:25 Sean Fennessey? Wow.
16:25 Speaker 01 And was very struck by the similarity of like my day-to-day life. So I think obviously like you get to a certain point in your 40s and like things start to like settle. I traveled a lot in 22, I think, obviously relative to the previous two years. So, you know, I'm a little seasoned.
16:41 Sean Fennessey? Are you ready for a change now?
16:44 Speaker 01 In my professional life?
16:45 Sean Fennessey? If you could go back to school, we've been joking that Amanda's going to business school because she wants to help us better understand this Warner Brothers situation. So she'll be getting her.
16:53 Amanda Dobbins? Did you hear about the network that I pitched also?
16:56 Speaker 01 I didn't.
16:56 Amanda Dobbins? Or the studio, sorry. So if I win Warner Brothers, I think I'm giving the studio tour and then you're just live all the time doing like Business Chris, giving people updates on what our new company is gonna mean.
17:10 Speaker 01 Chrissy Bloomberg.
17:11 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, exactly.
17:12 Speaker 01 Okay.
17:13 Sean Fennessey? Seems like a good use of your talents.
17:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, definitely. Do I want to change? You know, I was talking, we have high fidelity is going up today on rewatchables. And I did say that I think I was probably happiest in my life just working in a record store. And if I had been told like, this is it, we'll give you like 5,000 more dollars every year. I'd be like, all right, let's just do that.
17:34 Sean Fennessey? That's interesting.
17:35 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
17:35 Sean Fennessey? Did you explore that emotionally? Or did Bill just go like, thanks for sharing that, Chris, and move on?
17:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, without the thanks for sharing that part.
17:45 Speaker 01 I think, you know, I am glad that I moved on with my life and there aren't that many record stores. So it would have been a lot of competition.
17:52 Sean Fennessey? But just so I'm clear about this, you are unhappy now at this stage of your life.
17:55 Speaker 01 I'm not unhappy. I'm not unhappy.
17:57 Sean Fennessey? I'm very happy. I was.
17:59 Speaker 01 Are you?
17:59 Sean Fennessey? 2022, 2022 is hard.
18:01 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
18:01 Sean Fennessey? I had a very young, very unhappy child, extremely unhappy, zero to one-year-old. And so that was a very challenging period. Remember very vividly, and I can say this out loud now because I've just entirely replaced our roof. Our roof was fucked up because there was so much rain in California in January, February, and March of this year. I'll never forget it. It was like world historical rain, or at least it felt like it was. And then I think 23, we also had a lot of rain. Anyhow. Personally, I remember that very vividly because it was so challenging and it's so different from how I feel now. Movie wise, pretty good, not great. Very interesting draft situation here for us because a couple of hyper hot commodities.
18:41 Speaker 01 I did have one question for you. Not, not, I know, but like, I did want to know whether when you look at a year like this, where you say, pretty good, not great, are you like, I'm glad I saw everything, though. I'm still glad I watched it all. I'm still glad I was a pretty big completist.
18:57 Sean Fennessey? Well, why do you ask that? Like, what?
18:58 Speaker 01 Because I know that when we get to the end of the years, you're just like, god damn it, that was a lot of movies. You know what I mean? And I know that it's the project and I know you want to see everything and then say like-
19:06 Sean Fennessey? So funny you bring this up. I was just texting with somebody else about this, about like my mania on trying to see as much as I can before the year's out.
19:11 Speaker 01 I'm not psychoanalyzing you. I'm actually like, I'm wondering, I just did the 10 best of the year for the watch. It's impossible to watch all TV, but you know, I did, I did feel a little bit in the back of my head like, man, I really feel like I have to watch 20 hours of these three shows or whatever to have like a real take on the best of the year. I was like, it's just not doable. But you really do, you go for it. You go for the entire picture.
19:35 Sean Fennessey? Yeah. So you can see here on the list that I've made, it's 309 movies and it says, you've watched 309 of 309. So I saw all of these movies that are on this list from the release this year. Now, at the risk of being corny, I really do feel lucky to get to do this with you guys, to get to be on a show like this. When I was 12, if you had told me that this is how I would spend a huge part of my professional time, I would have been, lost my mind. I would have been so happy. So I see it as like a responsibility to try to see as much as I can. The problem is, and I'm feeling it this time of year, obviously, December 15th, where I'm like, there's still 60 movies I think I should see before the year's out.
20:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
20:13 Sean Fennessey? It's usually diminishing returns and the ones that you put off are usually the ones you put off because you're like, I know I'm not going to like this anyway.
20:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
20:20 Sean Fennessey? Sometimes you get surprised, but most of the time you don't. So it does, there is a feeling of wasted effort, but I don't feel like my life is passing me by because the only things that I'm really interested in doing are being here, doing these shows, being a part of this company and being with my family and friends. So I've kind of found a way-
20:35 Speaker 01 Sure.
20:36 Sean Fennessey? -to make it all work together. So I don't regret it. Answer your question.
20:38 Speaker 01 Is this what you dreamed of when you were 12?
20:45 Sean Fennessey? I don't think I could have dreamed that this would be a thing.
20:47 Speaker 01 Yeah.
20:48 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. No, I couldn't have either. No. It's, I mean, I, I agree with Tom.
20:52 Sean Fennessey? What did you dream of?
20:53 Amanda Dobbins? What did I dream of?
20:53 Sean Fennessey? You dreamed of being a ballerina in the Bolshoi Ballet.
20:56 Amanda Dobbins? That had aged out.
20:57 Speaker 01 The first female president?
20:58 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
20:59 Sean Fennessey? You dreamed of being first clarinet in Lydia Tarr's orchestra.
21:04 Amanda Dobbins? I don't, yeah. Not a woodwinds person.
21:07 Sean Fennessey? No kidding. You don't like how they sound?
21:10 Amanda Dobbins? No, I do. The, the LA Phil did a kids' show focused on woodwinds recently. And we went and it was a lovely time and they played Rhapsody in Blue and that, you know what?
21:19 Sean Fennessey? Gershwin.
21:20 Amanda Dobbins? There you go. But, uh, no, I would be more in the, the string section, I think.
21:24 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
21:25 Amanda Dobbins? I recently learned that Rob Hone played the viola.
21:28 Sean Fennessey? Checks out.
21:28 Amanda Dobbins? But watch, I thought was cool. Just wanted to share that with everyone, some crossover stuff.
21:32 Sean Fennessey? What did you play as a child?
21:33 Speaker 01 A recorder when I was young.
21:35 Sean Fennessey? Recorder?
21:35 Speaker 01 A little bit of violin. And then...
21:38 Amanda Dobbins? I like, every parent dreads the day when the child comes home with a recorder. But I really, tiny you with a recorder. I can't imagine.
21:47 Speaker 01 Played some Hanukkah song. I can't remember. And then violin briefly.
21:54 Amanda Dobbins? How briefly?
21:55 Speaker 01 And then guitar, you know?
21:57 Sean Fennessey? You were also a vocalist, right?
21:59 Speaker 01 Yes, that was more in college though. Thank you, Jack.
22:03 Speaker 01 I mean, I'm not ashamed of it. It was fun, man.
22:06 Sean Fennessey? There was no shame coming from my way. Sing a tune.
22:08 Speaker 01 No, my, my music would fucking scare your middle-class, middlebrow audience.
22:16 Speaker 01 Only Zach Baron understands it.
22:20 Sean Fennessey? Are you blind that the watch does not have a middle-class, middlebrow audience?
22:23 Speaker 01 Well, half of us do, yeah.
22:28 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
22:29 Amanda Dobbins? Well.
22:31 Sean Fennessey? Probably time to... Is there anything we want to say about the awards that year? Would you rather save it?
22:35 Amanda Dobbins? Save it.
22:35 Sean Fennessey? Okay. There's, of course, a very potent film.
22:38 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
22:39 Sean Fennessey? At the Academy Awards in this year.
22:42 Sean Fennessey? This movie draft is, is brought to us by State Farm. And now we're back with a new one. And life is all about choices, like deciding whether or not to check out the latest release in theaters. At State Farm, their goal is to help you make decisions that you feel good about. Speaking of good decisions, it is time to pick a draft order. Jack Sanders.
23:01 Speaker 01 Very crucial.
23:02 Amanda Dobbins? I know.
23:03 Sean Fennessey? Very crucial. Maybe like-
23:05 Speaker 01 The most no brainer number one pick in a long time.
23:07 Amanda Dobbins? Well.
23:08 Sean Fennessey? Is it though?
23:09 Amanda Dobbins? Well, so here's the real thing, but we need the order first.
23:12 Speaker 01 Okay, coming right up. Here we go.
23:13 Amanda Dobbins? Okay, I'm nervous.
23:14 Speaker 01 Dungeons and Dragons ball. Here we go.
23:15 Amanda Dobbins? I'm nervous. This is, this is like
23:17 Speaker 01 This is like who's gonna get Wendy.
23:18 Amanda Dobbins? Miss America thing, but like for real, you know? You know?
23:21 Sean Fennessey? Except you're not being judged on your beauty or intelligence.
23:24 Amanda Dobbins? Right, that's true.
23:24 Sean Fennessey? Merely by Jack's ability to shake a bag.
23:27 Speaker 01 Selecting first is CR.
23:28 Sean Fennessey? Wow.
23:29 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
23:29 Sean Fennessey? Wow.
23:30 Amanda Dobbins? Wow.
23:32 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
23:32 Speaker 01 We did it, Joe.
23:33 Amanda Dobbins? All right, but this is the real one. This is like who's second. Yeah.
23:37 Speaker 01 Selecting second, Sean Fennessey.
23:39 Amanda Dobbins? God damn it!
23:40 Speaker 01 Third, Amanda Dobbins. I want to send, I want to show you something from yesterday, Amanda. I sent this to Sean, uh, like in the middle of the afternoon.
23:50 Amanda Dobbins? Um, uh, yeah.
23:55 Sean Fennessey? What does it say?
23:56 Speaker 01 It says, Amanda, if she loses out on Tar and Maverick tomorrow, and it's Patrick Moles' tweet that says, don't know why it had to happen. And not going to lie, it hurts, but all we can do now is trust in God and attack every single day and over and over again.
24:13 Sean Fennessey? We may not know who will dominate this draft, but with the State Farm Personal Price Plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create an affordable price. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.
24:36 Sean Fennessey? Well, Amanda, it's very important that you be a good neighbor right now.
24:38 Amanda Dobbins? I have to have a meeting with myself for a minute. And like, maybe you guys can be.
24:42 Speaker 01 Can I just give you some perspective?
24:44 Amanda Dobbins? Sure.
24:44 Speaker 01 I feel like we've had
24:45 Sean Fennessey? Mansplaining this for her.
24:46 Speaker 01 In a real, really like lovely way. We've really made space for each other this year on these drafts, I think.
24:52 Amanda Dobbins? That's beautiful.
24:52 Speaker 01 And don't you think that like, if you went back historically over like the rest?
24:56 Sean Fennessey? Give me a fucking break.
24:58 Amanda Dobbins? Here's the thing.
24:58 Sean Fennessey? With fucking Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande putting their hearts together. Get out of here.
25:03 Amanda Dobbins? Like I said, like I said, I'm gonna have a meeting with myself and if you want to help, you can just give me a minute because like I'm fucked and that's fine, but there were.
25:14 Sean Fennessey? That's not true.
25:15 Amanda Dobbins? There were, well, but like.
25:16 Sean Fennessey? Anybody who's gonna get Top Gun was gonna be in the, in the pole position.
25:19 Speaker 01 Did we ever do, uh, the 89 draft results? Do we ever poll that?
25:24 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, I won 100% to zero.
25:26 Speaker 01 Yeah.
25:28 Sean Fennessey? It's up somewhere, I think. We, it doesn't, there's no centrality where we vote anymore. So there's no way to like.
25:33 Speaker 01 It's the streets. It's, it's.
25:34 Sean Fennessey? Yeah. What do the people tell you? I do think it's very fun at the live shows when we do the QR code.
25:38 Speaker 01 You know what would be fun for charity is if we do a draft and then we phone banked afterwards to like, take like polls, like with people.
25:46 Sean Fennessey? What people thought?
25:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
25:46 Sean Fennessey? Yeah. But what if they're like super disappointed when I pick up the phone and not you? And they're like, I needed to jerk off with Chris on the other line. Can you please patch me into Chris immediately? Uh, yeah. I don't, is it, did the results matter? We've been doing drafts since COVID. For five years, we've been doing movie drafts.
26:05 Amanda Dobbins? They've never mattered to me.
26:07 Sean Fennessey? Haven't they? Why did you just throw a temper tantrum?
26:09 Speaker 01 Just say you needed a full minute.
26:12 Sean Fennessey? You have a meeting with yourself about something that doesn't matter.
26:15 Amanda Dobbins? I had to have a meeting with myself about not being a petulant brat for the rest of the thing because.
26:21 Sean Fennessey? Do you have a meeting with yourself before?
26:23 Amanda Dobbins? But I'm like, it's no fun without the two, because I really only like two movies this year and I'm not gonna get them.
26:28 Sean Fennessey? You only like two movies?
26:29 Amanda Dobbins? I'm just like, whatever. I don't care.
26:31 Sean Fennessey? Really?
26:32 Amanda Dobbins? Like, I, I didn't see that many.
26:34 Sean Fennessey? Oh.
26:34 Amanda Dobbins? And so I remember going to see the big two and being like, this is awesome. Movies are back. Had like an incredible series. Everything, like, there are some things I like, but like.
26:44 Sean Fennessey? Interesting.
26:44 Amanda Dobbins? You know, you're shuffling around them. And so it's just not.
26:49 Amanda Dobbins? You know.
26:49 Sean Fennessey? Good outcome. You grudgingly taking movies you don't care about is always funny.
26:53 Speaker 01 That's always good content.
26:55 Sean Fennessey? People love that. Well, there's six categories.
27:00 Speaker 01 Yeah, I know.
27:00 Sean Fennessey? I'm gonna talk through the categories for the listeners at home, so perhaps I should pull up the document in which they're listed.
27:06 Speaker 01 I can do the categories.
27:06 Sean Fennessey? I was gonna do seven, and then I took one off the board. I took comedy off the board.
27:11 Speaker 01 Yeah. Well, we're in death throes of studio comedies here.
27:16 Sean Fennessey? I don't know if we can really do comedy as a category for the next few years.
27:20 Speaker 01 Big L M K narrative. Is this the end of studio comedies?
27:23 Sean Fennessey? Not in the movie.
27:24 Speaker 01 Yeah.
27:24 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, because there are no laughs in the movie.
27:26 Speaker 01 There aren't?
27:27 Sean Fennessey? Uh, not very many, no.
27:29 Amanda Dobbins? Not really, no.
27:30 Sean Fennessey? It's a tough set.
27:30 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
27:31 Speaker 01 How is, uh, how is Albert Brooks in the movie?
27:36 Sean Fennessey? Quite good.
27:36 Speaker 01 Okay.
27:37 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, but underutilized?
27:39 Speaker 01 Okay.
27:39 Sean Fennessey? He's not in very much.
27:40 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
27:40 Sean Fennessey? Um, just nice to see him. Six categories: drama, action, horror, thriller, Oscar nominee, sequel, blockbuster with a $100 million threshold. There are 18 films eligible, and wildcard. Amanda has forfeit. She is sitting out this entire draft. There are no good films.
28:02 Speaker 01 You and me taking ambulance 14 times.
28:05 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I remember listening to that one on leave, and I was like, these two found each other, and that's beautiful.
28:12 Sean Fennessey? That was...
28:13 Speaker 01 The coolest night of my life.
28:14 Sean Fennessey? Spiritual. That we... The movie ended, and we turned to each other, like two swans who found one another in a giant lake. And we were like, God, this is so beautiful that we can have this. We can share this.
28:27 Speaker 01 He throws a drone under an ambulance?
28:28 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, it's like a special movie, fucking Bay.
28:31 Amanda Dobbins? Does he actually throw it?
28:32 Speaker 01 No, I mean, he drone, he flies the drone underneath.
28:35 Amanda Dobbins? Nast is like really taken with drones, and I'm not excited about it. He's just like very interested, you know?
28:40 Sean Fennessey? The best moment in television this year is the drone getting caught on the streetlight in Pluribus. That was incredible. That was so good. Uh, okay. Do you wanna start?
28:51 Speaker 01 I mean, yeah.
28:52 Amanda Dobbins? Well...
28:52 Sean Fennessey? Like, but I mean, do you wanna, do you wanna riff anymore?
28:54 Speaker 01 No, I'm good.
28:55 Sean Fennessey? You got any more gags you wanna do?
28:56 Amanda Dobbins? No, I didn't have gags.
28:58 Sean Fennessey? Literally gag.
28:58 Amanda Dobbins? They're just like my feelings, but it's fine. My connection to cinema. Go ahead.
29:03 Sean Fennessey? There are good films this year.
29:04 Amanda Dobbins? It's fine. Do what you're gonna do.
29:06 Sean Fennessey? Is it because there's a movie called Women Talking?
29:07 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
29:07 Sean Fennessey? You're like, these women are talking too much. Talk less.
29:12 Amanda Dobbins? That's what it is.
29:14 Sean Fennessey? CR, go ahead.
29:14 Speaker 01 I'll take Top Gun and Oscar.
29:16 Sean Fennessey? In Oscar?
29:17 Amanda Dobbins? Interesting, okay.
29:18 Speaker 01 Uh, not my favorite batch of Oscar movies, so, uh, while it's, you know, obviously eligible for several categories, including blockbuster, I'm gonna take this in Oscar. I think we all believed, we all dreamed, that maybe, uh, TC would get, get his big statue here, um, but, you know, obviously, like, Hollywood has a way of
29:38 Speaker 01 correcting things, um, but I'm happy that he eventually got, like, what was this, like, the Lifetime Achievement Award that he received?
29:43 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, it's, uh, Governor's Award.
29:45 Speaker 01 Governor's Award.
29:46 Amanda Dobbins? Honorary.
29:46 Speaker 01 But is that, is that part of the Academy?
29:48 Sean Fennessey? It is, yeah.
29:49 Amanda Dobbins? I mean, he got an Oscar, but we don't recognize it on this podcast.
29:52 Sean Fennessey? No, that's not true.
29:53 Amanda Dobbins? I don't. Give him a competitive one, like, be real.
29:56 Sean Fennessey? They did get, it's a real Academy Award.
29:58 Amanda Dobbins? You know what I mean.
29:59 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
30:00 Speaker 01 Uh, this movie still rules. I, uh, rewatched it recently, actually, on, uh, on a streaming service, and it plays, obviously not as bombastically and as involvingly, but like, just as well as it did in the theater. It's actually like, the last,
30:16 Speaker 01 well, I would say the last thirty minutes up until the last ten minutes are perfect cinema, where from when they leave the battleship to go into the coffin run. You know, some of the stuff with the parachuting and rescuing the parachutes and stuff at the very end is a little silly, but the very end is fantastic.
30:33 Speaker 01 I always knew that I would like this movie. I never knew I would love it, you know? Um, and in some ways, I think I agree with you that this is like, kind of like this weird, it's like, it's like better than the first one, and it, it makes you like, love this character in a way you didn't really in the first one, so, yeah, Top Gun Maverick was just, it was, it was truly the clarion call, the battle cry of we're so back.
30:54 Amanda Dobbins? Remember when we came to your house during the fires, because we didn't have power?
30:58 Speaker 01 Yes.
30:59 Amanda Dobbins? And my son was very freaked out, and you sat in the other room with my son, watching Top Gun Maverick, while we figured out what to do.
31:05 Speaker 01 Yeah.
31:05 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
31:05 Amanda Dobbins? Um, thanks for that moment.
31:06 Sean Fennessey? First he gave it to you, and then he took it from you.
31:10 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. That wa, it was very sweet, though.
31:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
31:13 Amanda Dobbins? So, thank you for doing that.
31:14 Speaker 01 I was just thinking about that the other day.
31:17 Amanda Dobbins? Do it. It's fine.
31:20 Amanda Dobbins? I'm deleting it right now.
31:22 Sean Fennessey? December is the season of giving.
31:24 Speaker 01 Oh, my God.
31:25 Amanda Dobbins? You don't have to do it.
31:26 Sean Fennessey? To Amanda, I will bequeath what she will.
31:29 Speaker 01 Oh, my God.
31:29 Sean Fennessey? Because there is a movie that I love more than her movie.
31:33 Speaker 01 You used to get so mad at me when I would do stuff like this.
31:35 Sean Fennessey? Well, things have changed.
31:36 Amanda Dobbins? But it's almost like I don't trust it. Like, why are you doing this?
31:39 Sean Fennessey? I'm just being myself because I love Babylon more than I love Tar. And I care more about Babylon than I do about Tar. And I know Tar means a lot to you.
31:47 Amanda Dobbins? Thank you.
31:47 Sean Fennessey? And I know that I, well, frankly, I need you to perform a good podcast here.
31:51 Amanda Dobbins? I said I had a meeting with myself so that I would.
31:54 Sean Fennessey? I'll be taking Babylon in, I guess,
32:02 Sean Fennessey? drama?
32:03 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
32:03 Sean Fennessey? I think drama.
32:05 Amanda Dobbins? OK.
32:05 Sean Fennessey? Because to me, this is an interesting Oscar year. And I'm kind of middling drama year. And Babylon, of course, Damien Chazelle's near masterpiece about the development of Hollywood, the rise of a certain kind of storytelling, something that I'm completely obsessed with. A movie that I helped construct with many millions of people, A Beautiful Hive.
32:27 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
32:28 Sean Fennessey? We've been living inside that hive for some time.
32:30 Speaker 01 Watch along on it?
32:30 Sean Fennessey? We did a watch along.
32:33 Sean Fennessey? Kind of an instant cult classic. Bombed at the box office, but bounced back pretty vigorously for those who understand and love it. Haven't revisited it since our watch along. I tend to not go back to films, aside from Zack Snyder's Justice League, which I've seen 10 times.
32:49 Sean Fennessey? But.
32:49 Speaker 01 I've seen Dark Knight Rises like six times. It's our.
32:52 Sean Fennessey? Is that true?
32:52 Speaker 01 It's on a lot, so I will stick around for any Bane nuggets I can get.
32:56 Amanda Dobbins? On what?
32:58 Speaker 01 On HBO.
32:59 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, OK.
33:00 Sean Fennessey? So you just, you like are flipping channels?
33:02 Speaker 01 Mm hmm. Like when I'm watching basketball, when I'm watching sports, I'll flip to like, on the commercial, I go to the movie channel.
33:07 Sean Fennessey? Interesting. OK.
33:09 Amanda Dobbins? Do you feel like you understand the ending of Babylon anymore now that you have seen Avatar, The Way of Water?
33:18 Speaker 01 It feels cheap that he would put that movie in the like montage of the greatest film moments ever and whatever.
33:25 Sean Fennessey? It's a horrendous take. It's the most freezing cold take I've ever heard.
33:32 Speaker 01 Okay. I'm not gonna fight with you about it.
33:34 Sean Fennessey? The whole point is about the evolution of cinema over time.
33:37 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
33:38 Sean Fennessey? Avatar was an evolution, was part of the evolution.
33:40 Amanda Dobbins? What Chris is saying is that he didn't feel that Avatar, The Way of Water was as evolved as maybe we presented it to him, but he didn't see it in 3D, you know?
33:51 Speaker 01 That's right, and I never will, so maybe I'll just be blind to that for the rest of my life.
33:55 Sean Fennessey? Frankly, I find your attitude quite poor. Um, so yeah, I've got Babylon.
34:00 Speaker 01 Okay.
34:01 Amanda Dobbins? Um, that was very nice.
34:04 Speaker 01 Are you excited for the prison movie? The Damien Chazelle prison film?
34:07 Sean Fennessey? I, I can't wait. Wait, remind me of the cast. It's two, it's two actors that I'm very excited about.
34:13 Speaker 01 It's not Leo.
34:14 Sean Fennessey? No. This just came out last week.
34:16 Amanda Dobbins? I just Googled Damien Chazelle prison drama. Um, Killian Murphy and Daniel Craig?
34:20 Sean Fennessey? Incredible.
34:21 Amanda Dobbins? It is incredible.
34:22 Sean Fennessey? And that's amazing.
34:23 Speaker 01 The brutalist guy is shooting it.
34:24 Sean Fennessey? And, yeah, uh, uh.
34:26 Speaker 01 Law Crowley.
34:27 Sean Fennessey? Law Crowley, thank you, Jack.
34:28 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:29 Sean Fennessey? Yes. Come on. No?
34:33 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, sure. I like those people, yes.
34:35 Speaker 01 Do you think that those guys are playing Americans?
34:39 Sean Fennessey? Probably. It'd be better if they weren't.
34:41 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
34:42 Sean Fennessey? What's the, what's the, the British and Irish prison system like?
34:45 Speaker 01 Uh, it's pretty bad.
34:47 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
34:48 Speaker 01 I mean, it's like, they, they haven't really updated those places in a long time, so...
34:51 Sean Fennessey? Do we think this is a period piece or contemporary prison situation?
34:55 Speaker 01 Chazelle hasn't made a contemporary film since...
34:59 Sean Fennessey? La La Land.
35:00 Speaker 01 La La Land.
35:01 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
35:02 Speaker 01 Right, which is sort of fantasy.
35:03 Sean Fennessey? But it's set in the modern times.
35:04 Amanda Dobbins? Going hard in my home right now.
35:05 Sean Fennessey? La La Land.
35:06 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, though Knox thinks it's called Gaga Land.
35:08 Sean Fennessey? Close enough.
35:10 Speaker 01 It's actually a star's board.
35:13 Amanda Dobbins? But you know, it's pretty good. He's good at the endings of movies.
35:16 Speaker 01 So you took Babylon?
35:17 Sean Fennessey? Yes.
35:18 Speaker 01 Perhaps as a great peace offering at the end?
35:21 Amanda Dobbins? That was really nice. Thank you.
35:23 Sean Fennessey? You're welcome.
35:24 Amanda Dobbins? I, I promised that I would have gotten it together, but I will, uh, in Oscar nominee, take Tar, uh, which...
35:31 Amanda Dobbins? Is, you know, I have two favorites of this year. Top Gun Maverick for the spectacle of cinema and Tahr for just absolutely fucking going for it. Capital C cinema.
35:44 Amanda Dobbins? I, I started like laughing with joy and I can't believe you're doing this at the end of this movie, which is just a feeling that is so rare in movies at all now, but especially it's, it's very, very hard to end things. This is like an, an amazing, smart, funny, completely discomfiting, like really naughty, just like instant masterpiece that we had such a nice, like fun time arguing back and forth about what it means to different people has been so interesting and like, you know, keeps changing. There are so many like small observed moments that I think about all of the time, you know,
36:28 Amanda Dobbins? just like the, the deleting of the email and the, the, all of Cade Blanchett's like furtive movement, movements and stares and.
36:38 Speaker 01 What did she do with that kid? Was she like, the kid who's like bling?
36:41 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, I am Petra's father. Like, and I, oh my God, I was so incredible.
36:45 Sean Fennessey? Amazing shit.
36:47 Sean Fennessey? So, uh, Todd Field interviewed Noah Baumbach for J. Kelly at the DGA and his questions were so good. I was so jealous of the way that he interviewed Noah Baumbach. You know, Noah is usually, he's a little more restrained in terms of how he answers a question, but it was a, it was a reminder recently of just like special dude, super, he came on the show for Tahr, super cool, really smart. The origins of that movie are so strange where like Focus had the, was developing a movie about a conductor and they kind of gave it to him and then he ripped it up and started making his own version of the movie.
37:25 Speaker 01 Really?
37:25 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, it's such a fascinating thing and God, he's only made three movies. Like I just really would love to get a few more.
37:32 Speaker 01 Have you heard anything about if he's got something rolling right now?
37:34 Sean Fennessey? I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure. I hope soon.
37:38 Amanda Dobbins? I mean, I'm now I'm just like running scenes through my head. The Juilliard set, you know, confrontation between the student and Lydia Tarr is sort of like a, an instant time capsule of that whole time period that we lived in. And it's, you know, has been done since Leswell, including literally putting Julia Roberts in a blazer and having her dress down a college student for like being overly simplistic about, you know, cancel culture. But it really is an incredible piece of writing, incredible performance. Thank you for letting me have this movie, Sean.
38:13 Sean Fennessey? You're welcome. Did you, did you see After the Hunt?
38:16 Speaker 01 No.
38:17 Sean Fennessey? It's a good CR Zag movie. Cause there is.
38:19 Speaker 01 Oh, like I'd be like, you guys, like, why was everybody so mad about this?
38:22 Sean Fennessey? You could do that's like, this movie knows what it's doing and it's actually really smart. Like, I wanted to get there after I saw it. I wanted to do that and I just couldn't do it.
38:28 Amanda Dobbins? I thought I was going to be able to do it until I saw the last 35 minutes. But I, and I did almost.
38:34 Sean Fennessey? It really botches it.
38:35 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I did almost put like the first hour and a half of After the Hunt on my like honorable mentions list, but it just, it doesn't really get there.
38:42 Sean Fennessey? You should check it out, though. It's kind of.
38:43 Speaker 01 I will, I will overlook all this.
38:44 Sean Fennessey? It's chewy. You'll be, you'll find things to like about it.
38:46 Amanda Dobbins? I have another pick.
38:50 Amanda Dobbins? And so in drama, I'm going to take The Fableman's.
38:56 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, good pick.
38:57 Amanda Dobbins? Uh, which is Steven Spielberg's under celebrated, uh, film about his childhood and divorce and creativity and not quite understanding your parents. And also that like nice guy who's hanging around your house all the time. And there are like four movies within it. It's, it's, you know, episodic almost, even though it is ultimately about his relationship with his father and, and his mother and coming of age as a filmmaker. But like, you know, the weird, not weird, like the lovely American graffiti high school, like interlude in the middle. I like, everything is so.
39:43 Amanda Dobbins? Lovingly and like deceptively, uh, complicatedly made, you know, cause it, it, it could just be a guy with a camera and trains. You know, and, and maybe some people would explain Spielberg that way, but there's a lot more going on. So I really like this movie. It seemed to really piss a lot of people off and then.
40:04 Sean Fennessey? I don't know, really know why.
40:06 Amanda Dobbins? I don't either. I, it's, I guess.
40:09 Sean Fennessey? A super sincere self-portrait.
40:11 Speaker 01 Was it like the Michelle Williams aspect of it necessarily? Or like the depiction of the mother? Like, I don't, I don't really know. I mean, I think it's, it seems to have, you know, like all late period Spielberg, like after the up and down of its initial release, just has like, kind of like this 100% approval rating in terms of its craft and stuff like.
40:30 Sean Fennessey? Cinophiles tend to pretty quickly just be like, West Side Story, banger, the post banger. Like these movies are just like eminently watchable, incredibly creative, given the constraints of the story. And this one's just a little different because it's so deep, but it's also this like act of collaboration. Right? Cause he wrote it with, uh.
40:47 Amanda Dobbins? Tony Kushner.
40:47 Sean Fennessey? Tony Kushner, thank you. Um, and I think it's a fascinating piece of work. I think it's a good pick.
40:53 Amanda Dobbins? Really, really raw and really, and also now that the ending has a, you know, extra lovely meaning of labor.
41:02 Sean Fennessey? Gabriel Lavell, fantastic in the movie.
41:03 Amanda Dobbins? But given David Lynch's passing, so, you know, very, very special movie. So that's in drama and those are my two picks.
41:10 Speaker 01 Interesting moment here for us.
41:12 Sean Fennessey? Easy one for me. Blockbuster, I'm taking note.
41:15 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
41:16 Sean Fennessey? This was my favorite movie of 2022. This is my favorite Jordan Peele movie. This is, uh.
41:25 Sean Fennessey? I saw it on 70 millimeter this summer with Eileen and she still was like, I don't really understand this movie. But that.
41:33 Speaker 01 This summer or that summer?
41:34 Sean Fennessey? We saw it this past summer for my birthday. And it was an incredible experience. Actually, Jack, you were there, right?
41:40 Speaker 01 I was.
41:41 Sean Fennessey? What did you think of that screening?
41:43 Speaker 03 Absolutely amazing.
41:44 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
41:44 Speaker 03 On 70, it was just come and how loud the movie was projected to is fucking amazing.
41:48 Sean Fennessey? It was sick. We saw it at the Egyptian. And yeah, you know, I think a really smart, kind of similar to The Fableman's, like exploration of self and like what you do in the act of making movies and the way in which certain artists are overlooked historically while others are celebrated. And then also this really deep and kind of complicated and maybe unsorted idea of spectacle and like why we're drawn to things.
42:09 Speaker 01 Yeah.
42:09 Sean Fennessey? That could be dangerous, that could be exploitative, that could be, that could kind of corrode us in some way. And like for a movie that has a diaphanous UFO in it.
42:22 Speaker 01 Yeah.
42:23 Sean Fennessey? Is really, really thematically rich. Amazing performances from Kaluya and Kiki Palmer.
42:28 Speaker 01 Great mishmash of genres, great moments that stay with you, like the Steven Yeun, like, you know, and, and, and like the, the, obviously the sort of childhood TV.
42:39 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, the sitcom sequence with the, with the, with the ape.
42:45 Speaker 01 I feel like Peels kind of standing or maybe curating or whatever is diminished a little bit over the years, largely because of the stuff that his production company has been associated with not living up to the promise of, of Get Out. And I, I don't know, his movies actually now to me play better on like the 10th watch than they do on the first.
43:07 Sean Fennessey? Totally.
43:07 Speaker 01 And Nope's a great example of like something that's like in the theater, you're like, what the fuck are we, what's going on? Not because it's confusing, but just because you're like, wow, what a big swing.
43:16 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
43:16 Speaker 01 What an interesting idea to throw in the middle of this movie or at the end of this movie.
43:19 Sean Fennessey? I totally agree. I do think that we talked about this on 25 for 25, that Get, that Get Out is such a complete statement. Like it's a movie that is very legible.
43:27 Speaker 01 Yeah.
43:27 Sean Fennessey? It's very fun to watch, very funny.
43:30 Amanda Dobbins? Right. It's pop, but also has a lot of ideas.
43:33 Sean Fennessey? Has depth. Yeah. But Us and Nope are like a little messier, have a lot of strands around them. Like it does feel, it feels less neat. And I, I like that. I like when a great filmmaker is trying to stretch some things out and go a little bit deeper. So I hope that this is just another link in a chain of progression for him. But I, I love, love, love this movie. I probably will watch this movie every couple of years till I die. So easy pick for me. Okay. Amanda, no, Chris, you've got two.
44:01 Speaker 01 Uh, okay. So I will, Andrama, I'm going to take Banshees of Inisherin.
44:06 Speaker 01 That is because I really like this movie a lot.
44:08 Amanda Dobbins? Really?
44:09 Speaker 01 It is also a little bit of a chess move on the Oscar category for you guys because it takes another one off the board. Um, Martin McDonagh's incredible drama comedy about friendship in a rural Irish island? Village? Isn't it an island?
44:27 Sean Fennessey? I think it's an island, yeah.
44:28 Speaker 01 Island, uh, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, and Carrie Condon. Uh, and
44:34 Sean Fennessey? My wife.
44:35 Speaker 01 When you watch the first time through, like, I think you go into it and you're like, this is gonna be like a kind of very snappy, dark, typically McDonagh movie about like these two guys and their weird forever war, but the underlying plot about Keegan's longing for the Carrie Condon character is the thing that really stayed with me and, uh, I think remains, uh, Keegan's best, best performance.
44:57 Sean Fennessey? Mm-hmm.
44:58 Speaker 01 And, um, you know, Carrie Condon obviously got to do this. She's, she's in F1, um, this year is one of my favorite, uh, sort of unsung performers. And I really love this movie. I think it's probably his most satisfying film for me since In Bruges. So I will take that in drama.
45:15 Sean Fennessey? Great movie. That was a fun, we did, that was a fun pod we did when you came back.
45:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:19 Amanda Dobbins? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I very much felt like the Carrie Condon in that particular podcast, but that's okay.
45:25 Sean Fennessey? And we were both Barry Keoghan.
45:26 Amanda Dobbins? Right, yeah.
45:27 Speaker 01 We were both chopping each other's fingers off.
45:28 Sean Fennessey? There goes that dream.
45:29 Speaker 01 And, okay, so I do that in drama.
45:32 Sean Fennessey? Hmm.
45:33 Speaker 01 You taking a Blockbuster?
45:34 Amanda Dobbins? No.
45:35 Speaker 01 Have you taken a Blockbuster?
45:36 Sean Fennessey? I have.
45:36 Speaker 01 You took nope in Blockbuster.
45:39 Speaker 01 I don't like these Blockbusters that much.
45:41 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
45:41 Speaker 01 And I feel like I gotta take the Batman here.
45:43 Sean Fennessey? Okay. Good pick.
45:44 Speaker 01 Um.
45:45 Sean Fennessey? Good movie.
45:46 Speaker 01 Good movie. And, uh, no, I just stand with Paul Dano.
45:52 Sean Fennessey? Well, this was a gift to him.
45:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:54 Sean Fennessey? That he received.
45:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:55 Sean Fennessey? Right?
45:55 Speaker 01 Uh, what do you mean?
45:56 Sean Fennessey? That's what, that's what Ethan Hawke said. This was a gift.
45:58 Speaker 01 Oh, right. This whole experience was a gift.
46:00 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, I picked up your
46:01 Speaker 01 I thought, I didn't know if you meant like getting the Riddler was a gift.
46:04 Sean Fennessey? Yes. Well, no, but this is my, as I've said before, one of my favorite memes of the century is, "No! No!"
46:15 Sean Fennessey? Like him losing his mind behind the Arkham jail cell.
46:18 Speaker 01 This is good. This is if the prisoners guy grew up and moved to Gotham, you know?
46:22 Sean Fennessey? Very much, very much.
46:23 Speaker 01 And he's a fantastic villain in it.
46:27 Speaker 01 Pattinson, a really solid Batman, really good visualization of a world. Reeves kind of came to this and had a fully fleshed out like landscape of characters that he obviously wanted to put out there.
46:42 Sean Fennessey? Did you, did you see the rumor that Brad Pitt is going to be the villain in the Batman two?
46:46 Speaker 01 He's not going to be in it, but yes, he was going to be either Dr. Arkham.
46:50 Sean Fennessey? Dr. Arkham, proprietor of Arkham Asylum.
46:53 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
46:54 Sean Fennessey? Which is a
46:54 Amanda Dobbins? I'm guessing it's not best practices there.
46:56 Speaker 01 I have gone deeper into rumorville with that one.
47:00 Sean Fennessey? And you've, you've learned that it is not true.
47:02 Speaker 01 I've learned that that is not happening. Apparently he cannot make that work with the, um, what's the movie that he's going to make? Driving all over, oh, Ever Burger.
47:11 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
47:11 Speaker 01 Movie that he's making. But it does seem like ScarJo might be the villain of this movie.
47:17 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
47:18 Sean Fennessey? Well, who would she be?
47:19 Speaker 01 She would be Harvey Dent's wife.
47:23 Amanda Dobbins? Hmm.
47:23 Sean Fennessey? Wow. Are you breaking that here on this pod?
47:25 Amanda Dobbins? Can I ask you something? So when you're, you know, you're doing the work on the message boards, are you ever posting?
47:32 Speaker 01 No.
47:33 Amanda Dobbins? Never.
47:33 Speaker 01 Never.
47:33 Amanda Dobbins? You're a 100% lurker.
47:35 Speaker 01 Yes.
47:37 Amanda Dobbins? Have you thought about posting in 2026?
47:39 Speaker 01 Do you think I should post?
47:41 Amanda Dobbins? I think, but you should never be like, you shouldn't be CR, you know?
47:44 Speaker 01 You want me to do burners of, of getting involved in movie DC spoilers?
47:49 Amanda Dobbins? Well, I just, I feel like you could bring a lot of joy to people. Don't you think?
47:52 Speaker 01 Don't, don't run with this as if it's like, I didn't report this at all. I just read it on Reddit that she is playing, that there is a specific Batman run that this is being drawn from.
48:02 Amanda Dobbins? Hmm.
48:03 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
48:03 Speaker 01 Yeah.
48:04 Sean Fennessey? What's, what's Harvey Dent's wife's name? Does she have a name? She is a woman after all. You could give her some, some life.
48:08 Speaker 01 But I can't remember what the, the nickname that she has of a supervillain.
48:13 Sean Fennessey? So what is, isn't Scarlett Johansson doing something else?
48:15 Speaker 01 She's the Exorcist.
48:17 Sean Fennessey? Right.
48:17 Amanda Dobbins? No, but she, but she also joined another franchise.
48:20 Sean Fennessey? No, it was The Exorcist. That was the big one that she joined.
48:22 Speaker 01 She's got Jurassic Park World.
48:24 Sean Fennessey? Was there another one that she joined?
48:25 Amanda Dobbins? I thought so. I'm going to look right now. You guys can keep talking.
48:29 Sean Fennessey? She's just a survivor. She was like, I'll go from lily pad to lily pad.
48:34 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
48:35 Sean Fennessey? Fuck you, baby.
48:36 Speaker 01 You like it?
48:37 Sean Fennessey? I'm gonna have to respect it.
48:38 Speaker 01 Sure.
48:39 Sean Fennessey? You know, she's not suggesting that she's some sort of great artist when she makes Jurassic World Rebirth.
48:44 Speaker 01 She directed her own movie with June Squibb, right?
48:47 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, Eleanor the Great. Did you see it?
48:48 Speaker 01 I didn't.
48:49 Sean Fennessey? Why'd you skip it? Because you're moving for adults?
48:51 Speaker 01 Yeah, because I only watched Taylor Sheridan TV shows. Yeah.
48:55 Sean Fennessey? You can't find it.
48:57 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, no, it was it was the Batman, according to Batman and the Exorcist.
49:02 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
49:02 Amanda Dobbins? But so I think that the DC rumor was what I was thinking about.
49:06 Speaker 01 Gilda, Gilda Gold.
49:08 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
49:09 Sean Fennessey? Gilda Dent.
49:10 Amanda Dobbins? But also Gilda Gold, according to this AI.
49:13 Sean Fennessey? Oh, and is that inspired by the by the 1940s noir?
49:18 Speaker 01 I don't know. I haven't never heard of that. What?
49:20 Sean Fennessey? Gilda?
49:21 Speaker 01 Gilda, the movie?
49:22 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
49:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, I've heard of it, but I haven't watched. I don't I don't have it at my fingertips.
49:27 Sean Fennessey? Okay. It's a great film.
49:29 Speaker 01 Okay.
49:29 Sean Fennessey? You should consider it.
49:30 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, it's really good. It's where she does the hair flip, you know?
49:32 Speaker 01 Oh, is that the movie where she does that? Is that Marlee DeTrick?
49:35 Amanda Dobbins? No.
49:36 Sean Fennessey? No.
49:36 Amanda Dobbins? It's Rita Hayworth.
49:37 Speaker 01 Oh, Rita Hayworth. When does Marlee DeTrick?
49:40 Amanda Dobbins? Do a hair flip?
49:40 Speaker 01 No, she just goes like-
49:41 Amanda Dobbins? She doesn't really do a hair flip, yeah. The hair, that hair doesn't move.
49:44 Speaker 01 My bad.
49:45 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
49:46 Sean Fennessey? Uh, you should check out Gilda. I feel like you would enjoy it.
49:48 Amanda Dobbins? Gilda's good, yeah.
49:49 Sean Fennessey? It's kind of, it's pretty firmly in your zone. And then you'll be able to understand the Batman 2.
49:53 Amanda Dobbins? What's the song she performs? Like, what's the something?
49:57 Sean Fennessey? I forget.
49:57 Amanda Dobbins? Okay. Rita Hayworth, Gilda song.
50:00 Sean Fennessey? It's on the Criterion Collection.
50:00 Speaker 01 Do people start drafting movies from like the 1940s?
50:03 Amanda Dobbins? Put the blame on Mame.
50:05 Sean Fennessey? Put the blame on Mame.
50:06 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. Uh- It's really good, Gilda.
50:08 Sean Fennessey? I want to do the 1939 movie draft.
50:11 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
50:12 Sean Fennessey? So we can do it November 2026.
50:15 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
50:15 Sean Fennessey? If we need to prep.
50:16 Speaker 01 Okay.
50:17 Sean Fennessey? But it's, you know-
50:18 Speaker 01 Project.
50:18 Sean Fennessey? Considered among many of the greatest movie of all time. I think it'd be kind of a tough sell for the audience, once you get past the first five.
50:24 Amanda Dobbins? Grow up.
50:25 Sean Fennessey? But-
50:26 Speaker 01 2029 Michael Curtiz draft.
50:29 Sean Fennessey? Michael Curtiz Hall of Fame.
50:30 Speaker 01 Yeah.
50:30 Sean Fennessey? That's a hard one. Uh, okay. You picked both. You picked the Batman and you picked The Banshees of Inisherin.
50:38 Speaker 01 I did.
50:38 Sean Fennessey? And now I have a pick.
50:42 Amanda Dobbins? Hmm.
50:45 Sean Fennessey? I think in sequel.
50:50 Amanda Dobbins? Mm hmm.
50:52 Sean Fennessey? I will take, no, an Oscar nominee, I will take Avatar, The Way of Water.
50:56 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
50:58 Sean Fennessey? Which is of course, a film that I love.
51:00 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, and brings you to tears.
51:01 Sean Fennessey? It moved me.
51:03 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
51:03 Sean Fennessey? No tears were shed on the podcast. People can watch it at home. There's not a single tear.
51:07 Speaker 01 It's as close as you've ever got to crying that I've ever seen you.
51:10 Sean Fennessey? You can, is that true?
51:11 Speaker 01 I think so.
51:12 Sean Fennessey? That can't be true.
51:13 Speaker 01 The, if the Mets win the World Series, I'm assuming you're gonna burst into tears.
51:17 Amanda Dobbins? I've, I've seen you tear up a couple other times on this podcast.
51:21 Speaker 01 Really?
51:22 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, but like, in all other situations, it's when we're talking about children dying and then, and then we both are crying.
51:28 Sean Fennessey? Mm hmm.
51:29 Amanda Dobbins? And that was just him crying about a whale.
51:33 Amanda Dobbins? I guess.
51:33 Sean Fennessey? I did not cry.
51:34 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. But it looks the same.
51:36 Sean Fennessey? I will not be slandered on this podcast. Uh, I was, I was moved thinking about.
51:40 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
51:41 Sean Fennessey? Jake Sully and his family.
51:42 Speaker 01 Yeah.
51:42 Sean Fennessey? And there's, and Pycon, and Pycon's pain and being cast aside.
51:47 Speaker 01 Is Pycon got a big role in, uh?
51:49 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, he sure does.
51:50 Speaker 01 Good.
51:51 Sean Fennessey? It's a really important role.
51:52 Amanda Dobbins? Mm hmm.
51:53 Sean Fennessey? His majesty is on display. Um, this of course is Jim Cameron's thunderous return to feature filmmaking. 13 years after the original Avatar.
52:03 Amanda Dobbins? Sure.
52:03 Sean Fennessey? He came back and he showed us what his powers can really conjure. I, we, I guess in two days are going to record an episode about the third film.
52:14 Speaker 01 Just the two of you?
52:15 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I guess so.
52:16 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, Pycon not available.
52:17 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. No spoiler.
52:19 Speaker 01 Didn't know if you were gonna be bringing in like another Avatar head.
52:22 Sean Fennessey? Well, you hate it. Joanna hates it.
52:25 Amanda Dobbins? Mm hmm.
52:26 Sean Fennessey? Van loved it.
52:27 Amanda Dobbins? I was wondering whether we should see if he's.
52:30 Sean Fennessey? Van stood and applauded at the conclusion of the film. Yes. Dan also hit us with a similar to Dune Part Two, like a god damn in the middle of the movie, which is really exciting.
52:40 Speaker 01 Oh, can I just say something really quick to our listeners?
52:43 Sean Fennessey? Yes.
52:43 Speaker 01 I have been doing other research about Dune.
52:48 Sean Fennessey? I thought you were gonna say vaccines.
52:49 Speaker 01 Part Three.
52:50 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
52:50 Speaker 01 And I feel bad because I have been like fake spoiling it for a while. And I've kept doing like, and this is gonna happen in Dune Three, and that doesn't happen for like three books. So, never mind what I was saying about Dune Part Three, but I did find.
53:03 Sean Fennessey? So that was a message for the listeners.
53:05 Speaker 01 Yeah.
53:05 Sean Fennessey? To whom you've spoiled the film Dune Three.
53:08 Speaker 01 But don't worry about it. If I did spoil it.
53:09 Amanda Dobbins? Because he hasn't spoiled it.
53:11 Speaker 01 Don't sweat it. It doesn't, that doesn't happen until way later.
53:14 Sean Fennessey? Anytime you started talking about Dune Three, either one of you, I just immediately checked out mentally.
53:18 Speaker 01 So you don't like Dune Three? You're like, I'm out on Dune.
53:21 Sean Fennessey? No, no, no.
53:22 Amanda Dobbins? You just don't wanna know what happens.
53:23 Sean Fennessey? No, I don't wanna know what happens.
53:23 Speaker 01 Okay, good. So you have no, you don't have any memories of what I've said about Dune Three?
53:29 Sean Fennessey? I know that there's some worm situations in play.
53:32 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
53:32 Sean Fennessey? But that's all I really know. Everything else I don't know. I kinda wanna read the books, to be honest, but I know I'll never do that.
53:37 Amanda Dobbins? No, you won't do it. Would you listen to them? Are you an audiobook person for fiction?
53:42 Sean Fennessey? I've never done it for fiction.
53:43 Amanda Dobbins? I can't do it for fiction.
53:43 Speaker 01 Will you do it if?
53:44 Sean Fennessey? I've done it for nonfiction many times.
53:45 Speaker 01 Chalamet reads them, but as the Liverpool rapper that he supposedly is? SD Kid?
53:52 Sean Fennessey? The answer is yes. The answer is yes.
53:56 Amanda Dobbins? This episode of The Big Picture is brought to you by State Farm. Having people in your corner to help you makes all the difference. For example, I'm usually loathe to trust Sean and his movie recommendations, but after many months of him waxing rhapsodic about Train Dreams, I finally watched it, and I have to be honest, he was right. It was wonderful.
54:14 Sean Fennessey? And like those people, State Farm is there to help you feel supported by helping you choose the coverage you need. Go online at statefarm.com or use the award-winning app to get help from one of their local agents. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
54:27 Sean Fennessey? So Amanda, you have a pick?
54:29 Amanda Dobbins? I do. In fact, I have two picks. I was very nervous there for a second in sequel that you were gonna take my pick. So in sequel, I will be taking Downton Abbey, A New Era, which is the best of the Downton era movies.
54:41 Speaker 01 You thought he was gonna take Downton Abbey?
54:42 Amanda Dobbins? It's really good. He'll tell you too.
54:44 Sean Fennessey? I'm a big fan.
54:44 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, it's incredible.
54:45 Sean Fennessey? The films, have you not seen the movies?
54:47 Speaker 01 I don't think so. I never finished Downton Abbey, the series.
54:49 Amanda Dobbins? Okay, so the first one is like, fine, but it's just two TV shows stitched together.
54:53 Sean Fennessey? It's solid.
54:54 Amanda Dobbins? But yeah, but it's like, there's like a plot, you know, at exactly at one hour, they wrap up the first one and then they move on to the second one.
55:00 Sean Fennessey? That's true.
55:00 Amanda Dobbins? It's okay. This one, fully realized. There's a whole new cast of characters who live on the French Riviera, who the Crawleys have to go visit.
55:10 Speaker 01 Okay.
55:11 Amanda Dobbins? Meanwhile, this is the one where Hugh Dancy shows up and is making a film, and Lady Mary has to sing in the rain it because...
55:19 Sean Fennessey? He wants to, she wanna shoot the film at Downton.
55:22 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
55:22 Sean Fennessey? While the whole family is there.
55:23 Speaker 01 Hugh Dancy killing it in the American Revolution, by the way.
55:25 Sean Fennessey? Uh, oh, no kidding.
55:26 Amanda Dobbins? I didn't know he was on Law and Order until Saturday Night Football.
55:29 Speaker 01 Uh, for several years.
55:30 Amanda Dobbins? Sunday Night Football, yeah.
55:31 Sean Fennessey? Is Hugh Dancy a loyalist? What, who is he portraying?
55:34 Speaker 01 A loyalist?
55:35 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
55:35 Speaker 01 Uh, he's portraying like, I think, a British general or something.
55:39 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
55:39 Speaker 01 British Colonel.
55:40 Sean Fennessey? Got it.
55:41 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:42 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
55:43 Speaker 01 Sorry.
55:43 Amanda Dobbins? So he's the film producer. And then it turns out that, um, so, and it's, it's, it's just pure crib from Singing in the Rain, but it starts as a silent film and then, you know, they go to see the jazz singer. And then they're like, oh no, we have to make this. But the, the woman actress can't, doesn't have a proper speaking voice. So Lady Mary steps in and dubs it for her. And then you know who writes the script? Oh my God, I thought if I kept talking that I would be able to remember...
56:10 Speaker 01 Oh, so you were vamping just now.
56:11 Amanda Dobbins? What his name is. No, what's his name? That is all that happens. That's true. What's his name? The guy, the, the, the valet. You know, who writes the script?
56:22 Sean Fennessey? Yes.
56:23 Amanda Dobbins? Who becomes the screenwriter? Come on. Listen, and I'm not even telling you, they go to the French Riviera because Lady Violet, AKA the Dowager Countess, like, had a torrid love affair and she got left a house, a whole house.
56:38 Speaker 01 Really?
56:38 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
56:39 Speaker 01 That's great.
56:40 Amanda Dobbins? This is a great film. This is definitely the best of the three.
56:42 Speaker 01 Do you feel like I need to be current on Downton, the series, to watch the movies?
56:46 Amanda Dobbins? No, but just... Put that on and you are gonna have a great time.
56:50 Sean Fennessey? Molsley.
56:51 Amanda Dobbins? Molsley, of course. Yeah.
56:53 Speaker 01 Does it ever suggest?
56:54 Sean Fennessey? Did you mention Dominic West is like?
56:56 Amanda Dobbins? No. Oh, yeah. And he shows up.
56:57 Sean Fennessey? Fake like Errol Flynn and he comes in and he's an actor, but he's also a gay man. And he fought behind the scenes, he fought, who does he fall?
57:04 Amanda Dobbins? Thomas.
57:05 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
57:05 Amanda Dobbins? Thomas gets a happy ending?
57:06 Sean Fennessey? This is honestly, these movies I think are genuinely good.
57:09 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. It was real. It's really, really fun.
57:12 Speaker 01 Did you see, Katie Baker did a really good piece for The Ringer where she interviewed a bunch of showrunners about their favorite episodes of the last 25 years? And Julian Fellowes was for Presumed Innocent, the pilot.
57:25 Sean Fennessey? Pretty good pilot.
57:26 Speaker 01 Yeah. Awesome pilot.
57:27 Amanda Dobbins? That was the problem. Yeah. Well, I was also like tough last three episodes where you knew what was gonna happen.
57:33 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, that was an ideal.
57:34 Amanda Dobbins? Anyway, sequel, Downton Abbey, A New Era. Great job to everyone involved. And then.
57:40 Speaker 01 Look at her. She's got so much pep in her step because she walked out with Tar and Downton.
57:44 Amanda Dobbins? I did. I did.
57:45 Sean Fennessey? This is friendship.
57:46 Amanda Dobbins? It was, it was really nice. And I, I will, I'll always remember it, Sean. Here's what I'm gonna do. In action horror thriller.
57:56 Amanda Dobbins? The student has become the appreciator. I will take Pearl, which I saw because I promised to watch Maxine.
58:03 Speaker 01 Yeah.
58:03 Amanda Dobbins? And then I was like, well, I gotta watch the first two. And I was really charmed by Pearl.
58:09 Sean Fennessey? Excellent film.
58:09 Amanda Dobbins? Which.
58:10 Speaker 01 Did you like X?
58:10 Sean Fennessey? This completes the trilogy of silent film transition.
58:14 Amanda Dobbins? Yes.
58:14 Sean Fennessey? In movies this year between Babylon, Downton Abbey, A New Era and Pearl.
58:18 Speaker 01 Oh, you could teach a summoner about that. That's really interesting.
58:22 Amanda Dobbins? You know, but it is a horror movie at some point, but for a while it is just Mia Goth being very weird and charming in the mid, in the Midwest.
58:33 Speaker 01 The chronology of Pearl is a little bit.
58:35 Amanda Dobbins? And doing some inappropriate things at a movie theater and David Corns sweat is there. Um, okay, so.
58:41 Sean Fennessey? I think it's, I thought it was Texas because I, X takes place in Texas. That's where the house is.
58:45 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, yeah, that would make sense. Um, it is Texas. I just, I like was very charmed by this. Great Mia Goth performance, even when it gets gnarly.
58:54 Sean Fennessey? I think her best performance.
58:55 Amanda Dobbins? It's like amusing gnarly instead of freaking me out gnarly.
58:59 Sean Fennessey? David Corns sweat.
58:59 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
59:00 Speaker 01 Did you like X?
59:02 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, yeah, I liked that one, but Pearl was definitely my favorite. And then Maxi and I was insulted by them being like, this is Bates Motel, this is where Psycho happened. You know, I was like, thanks, thanks so much.
59:14 Speaker 01 I like Maxi. I also just, I'll never forget watching Maxi on a plane and just be like, this is so inappropriate.
59:20 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, the stomping of the balls is really quite powerful.
59:28 Sean Fennessey? Pearl, being a movie that Ty West and Mia Goth just cooked up because they were stuck in, I think, Australia or maybe New Zealand during the production of X is also one of those really, a weirdly positive outcome of the struggles of 2020 and 2021.
59:44 Speaker 01 There's a lot of like, we had to go to some far-flung place to shoot a movie that could have just as easily been shot in Plano. Yeah.
59:50 Sean Fennessey? Right, right. Okay, good pick. I love Pearl. I will stay in thriller, action, horror, and I'll be taking Barbarian.
59:59 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I was waiting.
1:00:00 Speaker 01 I was, I was, I took, I took Banshees and Drama because it's a thin category.
1:00:07 Sean Fennessey? You wanted to take.
1:00:07 Speaker 01 I wanted to. Are you taking Nope in Barbarian Hertz?
1:00:10 Sean Fennessey? Well, Barbarian also in my top 10 that year. I, the minute it was over, I was like, we have another guy. We have another person whose movies I will be seeing for the next 25 years. And that's very exciting. And that really just came to fruition with Weapons and the success that Zach Craig had with that movie. Barbarian, we recorded an episode about the film, very normal episode, in which Chris and I, in extraordinary detail, talked minute by minute through the film, off of memory, to Amanda. We, that was before I was getting close to the 44 cliff. And I could still do things like that.
1:00:45 Speaker 01 I think I wasn't, I, that, this would have been me at 47, six.
1:00:50 Amanda Dobbins? See, he's proof that we're gonna be okay.
1:00:52 Speaker 01 But I just didn't procreate.
1:00:54 Amanda Dobbins? Well, that's, so part of my reprogram for you, we are gonna start doing some weightlifting, some strength training.
1:01:00 Sean Fennessey? Okay, okay. Who's we?
1:01:01 Amanda Dobbins? Well, I.
1:01:02 Sean Fennessey? Like, together?
1:01:03 Amanda Dobbins? No, no, no, no, unless, I did think it would be funny if you guys came to Pilates with me sometime.
1:01:09 Amanda Dobbins? I just, I'd like to watch you fall into the machine.
1:01:11 Sean Fennessey? I think doing Pilates would be helpful for me.
1:01:13 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:01:14 Sean Fennessey? I don't think I want to do anything with you.
1:01:16 Amanda Dobbins? That's fine.
1:01:16 Speaker 01 Don't want to be in shorts.
1:01:19 Amanda Dobbins? There's like a, there's always one man in the Pilates class and I, I love the one man in the Pilates class and I like salute him.
1:01:26 Speaker 01 Specifically, or like is he like a generally speaking?
1:01:28 Amanda Dobbins? No, there's just like always ah, like there's like one guy.
1:01:31 Sean Fennessey? It's not like Steve is always there in any class you're in.
1:01:34 Amanda Dobbins? No, except for the time.
1:01:35 Sean Fennessey? That may be a man who's haunting you.
1:01:36 Amanda Dobbins? Except for the time that there was a Shrek soundtrack themed Pilates class after me and there was more than one man going, which says a lot. But the one man in the Pilates class, I have respect for this man. He's always trying his best and he just like always comes up against the moment where he can't, he can go no further.
1:01:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:01:54 Amanda Dobbins? But he keeps trying and I admire it.
1:01:57 Speaker 01 But all the women in the class can.
1:01:59 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, that's right. Because it is, it's some tough shit. Which is why I want you to come, because I think it would be fun, but also it would be good for you.
1:02:07 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:02:08 Amanda Dobbins? Anyway, so yeah, Pilates strength training, that'll help you with your wellness cliff.
1:02:14 Sean Fennessey? Uh, I was talking about Barbarian.
1:02:20 Sean Fennessey? I think Barbarian's great.
1:02:21 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:02:22 Sean Fennessey? And I need it on 4K.
1:02:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, what's up with that?
1:02:25 Sean Fennessey? Zach said he's working on it.
1:02:26 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:02:27 Sean Fennessey? We'll see.
1:02:28 Speaker 01 It's been three years.
1:02:29 Sean Fennessey? Bob Iger, if you're listening.
1:02:32 Sean Fennessey? Your movie studio produced Barbarian, I'd like to say thank you. Thank you for contributing the funds and the distribution power for that film. I'm glad I was able to see it on a movie theater screen. Put it on 4K now.
1:02:46 Speaker 01 Bob, in return for putting it on 4K, I, on behalf of Sean, consent for his likeness to be available in Sora AI training videos?
1:02:56 Sean Fennessey? I will have tea with Minnie Mouse on Sora.
1:02:59 Speaker 01 If you think that's what I'm doing with you on Sora.
1:03:02 Sean Fennessey? What would you do?
1:03:03 Speaker 01 I would have you wearing a Chase Utley uniform, crying at his Hall of Fame induction.
1:03:10 Sean Fennessey? Well, now someone's just gonna go and make that.
1:03:12 Speaker 01 You're the most beautiful big boy in my life.
1:03:16 Sean Fennessey? Now I have to make Chase Utley AI to combat that. Like, you're gonna make me make slop so that all the people in my mentions making slop?
1:03:24 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:03:24 Sean Fennessey? Uh, see, this is the problem.
1:03:25 Speaker 01 We could go to Pilates, but instead, we're gonna send each other videos of Chase Utley.
1:03:29 Sean Fennessey? Maybe, maybe, yeah, I mean, putting it all together, I think, would be really the ideal execution.
1:03:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:03:34 Sean Fennessey? Uh, I had a funny conversation about ChatGPT, uh, over the weekend at your house where, uh, someone was telling me that they, someone was telling Eileen and I that they use it. And we were asking questions about what they use it for, why they use it. And then this guy who was explaining it to us was like, yeah, and you know, it's like, you gotta pay the monthly fee. And Eileen almost lost her mind. And she was like, you have to pay for this? Like, oh, how much do you have to pay? And I was like, I don't know, was it $7.99 or something?
1:04:01 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
1:04:02 Sean Fennessey? And she, she was like, I will get a pitchfork and take it to the, to the door of, of OpenAI.
1:04:07 Speaker 01 Was the guy using it for more than just like a slightly elevated Google? Was he using it as like companionship or what was?
1:04:13 Sean Fennessey? It was, uh, as a companion to raise his son. No.
1:04:21 Sean Fennessey? Uh, okay. Chris, you have a pick.
1:04:24 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:04:24 Sean Fennessey? Right, Chris's pick?
1:04:25 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I think so, because I just got to do Pearl.
1:04:28 Speaker 01 Just review what we got here. I have a drama, I have a Oscar nominee, and I have a blockbuster. So I need a sequel, a wild card, and a action horror thriller.
1:04:39 Amanda Dobbins? Do you still take like the green supplements in the morning?
1:04:42 Speaker 01 No.
1:04:42 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
1:04:43 Speaker 01 I do.
1:04:43 Amanda Dobbins? I don't really do that either, but I'm wondering.
1:04:45 Speaker 01 Vitamin C goop, I've been kinda on for the last couple of months.
1:04:48 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, I, I tried that, like the honey one?
1:04:49 Speaker 01 But I have a, um, immersion wonder thingy that Phoebe got that I use.
1:04:54 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, I'm not allowed to use those.
1:04:55 Speaker 01 I just crush those.
1:04:56 Amanda Dobbins? Um, yeah, the finger. But, um, but I was thinking some sort of, like, you know, vitamins or powder type thing that you can just put in tea or coffee or whatever.
1:05:07 Sean Fennessey? For me, you mean?
1:05:07 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, for you, to make sure that you're getting the foods that you need.
1:05:10 Sean Fennessey? I wanna have creatine in every, in every drink.
1:05:12 Amanda Dobbins? Do you want the girl creatine?
1:05:13 Sean Fennessey? Do I want the girl creatine?
1:05:15 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, they have special girl creatine.
1:05:17 Sean Fennessey? Let's go back, let's go back to the exact second before you asked me the question. Was there ever a moment when you thought to yourself, he's gonna say yes? He's gonna say, I want girl creatine.
1:05:27 Amanda Dobbins? No, but I thought you might ask some more questions.
1:05:29 Speaker 01 I will now be making AI slop of Sean being like, yes, mommy, give me girl creatine.
1:05:39 Speaker 01 Nothing makes me appreciate Chase Utley's beauty like girl creatine.
1:05:43 Amanda Dobbins? Chase Utley really was quite handsome. So that's, I mean, I'm sorry. That's just sort of like small player. And like better as he aged, I just, I honestly, when you said it, I Google image just to make sure. But like Chase Utley could get it. Sorry.
1:05:57 Sean Fennessey? Disgusting. The way that he played indicated a real fragile ego, a weak baby. Somebody who had to stomp on defenseless people because he was bullied as a child. What a weak bitch. Fuck him. That's how I really feel.
1:06:09 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
1:06:10 Sean Fennessey? All right. Amanda, you're up.
1:06:12 Speaker 01 No, I'm up.
1:06:12 Amanda Dobbins? No, he's up. He didn't pick you.
1:06:14 Sean Fennessey? We're skipping your place. Chase Utley is suspended and you're out.
1:06:19 Speaker 01 And, uh, action horror thriller. I'll take ambulance.
1:06:26 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
1:06:27 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:06:27 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
1:06:27 Speaker 01 Uh, Michael Bay's.
1:06:29 Amanda Dobbins? See, and then there was healing.
1:06:31 Speaker 01 One crazy day in LA.
1:06:33 Sean Fennessey? Yeah.
1:06:33 Speaker 01 With Yahya Abdul Mateen and Jake Gyllenhaal as brothers.
1:06:37 Sean Fennessey? I think actually Gyllenhaal's character was inspired by Chase Utley, now that I think about it. Coked out of his mind, robbing people. It's very Hunter Biden.
1:06:46 Speaker 01 Um, as, uh, uh, brothers, right?
1:06:50 Sean Fennessey? They're brothers.
1:06:51 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:06:51 Sean Fennessey? Why would they not be brothers?
1:06:52 Speaker 01 Of course. And they are.
1:06:54 Sean Fennessey? Are you suggesting there is a reason they would not be brothers?
1:06:56 Speaker 01 And there's the first half of this film, skip right past that. Well, cause they, they don't seem like they would be from the same mother, right? But they're adoptive brothers.
1:07:04 Sean Fennessey? Why?
1:07:05 Speaker 01 Cause one is black and one is white.
1:07:07 Sean Fennessey? Got it. Okay. I guess that's how it works.
1:07:10 Speaker 01 Uh, the first half of this movie is basically like Michael Bay being like, I want to make heat.
1:07:15 Sean Fennessey? Yep.
1:07:16 Speaker 01 And then the second half of this movie is a, one of the best Chase movies that you will see this century.
1:07:23 Sean Fennessey? Some of the greatest work with defibrillators you'll ever see in a film.
1:07:26 Speaker 01 It's so fucking good. I can't remember how it ends specifically, like where it, like what happens at the end.
1:07:32 Sean Fennessey? Everyone survives and everyone is not in jail.
1:07:34 Speaker 01 Just like, we're actually, we are blood brothers now.
1:07:37 Sean Fennessey? Yep.
1:07:37 Speaker 01 Uh.
1:07:38 Sean Fennessey? Andrew Arhona doing stuff.
1:07:39 Speaker 01 This movie is.
1:07:40 Sean Fennessey? No, I use a Gonzalez.
1:07:41 Speaker 01 I use a Gonzalez. Yeah.
1:07:45 Amanda Dobbins? I'm not even laughing at you. Keep going. I was just thinking about a seed into my blockbuster.
1:07:53 Sean Fennessey? Does she know we're doing a pod?
1:07:54 Speaker 01 She got her camera?
1:07:55 Amanda Dobbins? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Keep going.
1:07:58 Sean Fennessey? Can we do like a, like a full time Amanda cam? But then don't pu- publish it on Amanda's YouTube channel.
1:08:05 Speaker 01 Were you just fucking like?
1:08:09 Amanda Dobbins? Sorry. Yeah.
1:08:11 Sean Fennessey? Did you choose your blockbuster?
1:08:12 Amanda Dobbins? No, I just, I was thinking.
1:08:14 Sean Fennessey? It's the blockbuster you're going to choose.
1:08:16 Speaker 01 You're laughing about something that's about to happen in the future?
1:08:18 Amanda Dobbins? You were talking.
1:08:21 Sean Fennessey? But that you all, you've already seen.
1:08:23 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, no, I was just laughing, thinking about a thing. You just, you were talking about ambulance for a long time. So I was just trying to multitask and then I sort of.
1:08:31 Sean Fennessey? What scene could possibly have happened in Black Adam that made you so happy?
1:08:34 Speaker 01 Seriously.
1:08:36 Amanda Dobbins? Anyway, and then, and then I just, and then I lost it. But I know that ambulance meant a lot to you guys. I listened to you talk about it for like 90 minutes.
1:08:44 Sean Fennessey? Wasn't the highest rated episode of the show.
1:08:48 Speaker 01 Ambulance is my action horror thriller. And then my sequel.
1:08:55 Speaker 01 May I take Confess Fletch?
1:08:58 Sean Fennessey? You may.
1:08:58 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:08:59 Speaker 01 I'll take that. Greg Mottola's riff on, you know, a movie, a franchise that has long been promised to get rebooted at some point. Chevy Chase did an iconic turn as, as a Fletch character, a journalist come detective in Los Angeles. And, you know, I think several actors have circled the idea of reviving it over the years. I think Kevin Smith was involved at some point. But they finally settled on Greg Mottola, who's one of like the most accomplished, undersung directors out there. And he made this with Jon Hamm, taking on the Fletch role. And it's just like a really, really charming comedy mystery that I loved. It was, I think, kind of street streaming.
1:09:38 Sean Fennessey? Paramount Plus.
1:09:39 Speaker 01 Uh, and it just went really overlooked. But if anybody, you know, is listening to these pods, it was like, I'm looking for something I didn't see. I think Confess Fletch is awesome.
1:09:49 Amanda Dobbins? I do think that was the other half of the Barbarian episode.
1:09:51 Speaker 01 It might've been.
1:09:52 Sean Fennessey? That discussion?
1:09:53 Amanda Dobbins? Yes.
1:09:53 Sean Fennessey? I can't recall.
1:09:54 Amanda Dobbins? It was.
1:09:55 Speaker 01 Confess Fletch?
1:09:55 Sean Fennessey? I do. Quite a bit. Um, I would love similarly to just have three or four more of these with Jon Hamm, um, as Fletch.
1:10:03 Sean Fennessey? I also would have liked to have seen it in a movie theater.
1:10:05 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:10:06 Sean Fennessey? Definitely watched it at home. It didn't quite feel the same.
1:10:10 Sean Fennessey? This episode of The Big Picture is brought to you by Amazon Prime. What pairs with a good comedy? The cozy blanket arriving with Prime. What pairs with a nail biting thriller? Snacks arriving with Prime. What pairs with the big game on Prime Video? That new couch arriving with Prime. Whatever feeling you're after, Prime helps bring it to life with great entertainment and fast shipping that delivers what the moment calls for. From streaming to fast shipping, it's on Prime.
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1:11:03 Sean Fennessey? So I have a pick.
1:11:05 Sean Fennessey? We've got Sequel and Wild Card left.
1:11:09 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
1:11:12 Sean Fennessey? Interesting, interesting situation here. In Sequel, I will take Prey.
1:11:19 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
1:11:19 Sean Fennessey? I'm quite stunned that Chris did not take Prey.
1:11:22 Speaker 01 I like Prey a lot.
1:11:23 Sean Fennessey? But as we learned.
1:11:24 Speaker 01 Not as much as Predators.
1:11:25 Sean Fennessey? In 35 years, after you've logged.
1:11:28 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:11:29 Sean Fennessey? Predators.
1:11:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:11:30 Sean Fennessey? Several more times.
1:11:31 Speaker 01 I think I had Prey four.
1:11:32 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, Predator 2.
1:11:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:11:34 Sean Fennessey? You would watch more times than the rest of your life.
1:11:36 Speaker 01 I like Prey. I don't know if Prey is a rewatchable film for me. I like Prey a lot.
1:11:41 Sean Fennessey? Because it centers a woman in the story?
1:11:42 Speaker 01 No, because it's largely silent and it's like, I love to have the chatter.
1:11:46 Sean Fennessey? I see. This is, so no foreign films and no silent films. Just want to be clear about this.
1:11:52 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:11:54 Sean Fennessey? And no pants when you're recording podcasts.
1:11:58 Speaker 01 Just to chase that new jersey.
1:12:05 Speaker 01 Prey.
1:12:06 Sean Fennessey? Dan Trachtenberg's first crack at the Predator franchise. He's made two subsequent films, including the most recent Predator: Badlands. Which, why were we just talking about Predator: Badlands? Oh, Charli XCX watched it.
1:12:18 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, yeah, sure, yeah.
1:12:18 Sean Fennessey? Didn't leave any note on it. No heart. Didn't put any stars on it.
1:12:21 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:12:22 Sean Fennessey? You think she got it? You think she was into it?
1:12:23 Speaker 01 I think, honestly, she probably had a similar reaction to us. Glad I saw that.
1:12:27 Sean Fennessey? You see Predator: Badlands?
1:12:28 Amanda Dobbins? No, but I, again, listened to your podcast.
1:12:30 Speaker 01 You would enjoy it.
1:12:31 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. And you were like, I'm really glad I get to go to the theater. I really only listened and watched movies like this. I really only experienced the Predator films through you podcasting about them and/or acting them out for me.
1:12:46 Speaker 01 Does it sound like something you're interested in?
1:12:48 Amanda Dobbins? I think that everyone should have access to your live reenactment of Predator. I think that the next one they do, you should be hired as the TikTok correspondent. And you just, and then this. And then a guy comes this way. They're really good.
1:13:04 Speaker 01 There are no guys in the most recent Predator: Badlands.
1:13:07 Sean Fennessey? That's right. Well.
1:13:10 Speaker 01 There's no dudes.
1:13:11 Sean Fennessey? But the Yaucha is a male.
1:13:13 Speaker 01 Yeah, but there's no, just like, there's no Boyd Holbrook. You know, there's no guy who's just like, I'm walking across the screen, Straight Talk Express.
1:13:22 Sean Fennessey? Just, I'm gonna underline this again. Predators, which features several men, Chris loves.
1:13:28 Amanda Dobbins? Right.
1:13:29 Sean Fennessey? Badlands and Prey, which features primarily female characters.
1:13:33 Speaker 01 What's your Predator ranking?
1:13:35 Sean Fennessey? I believe I did it on the pod.
1:13:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, but like, what, like, did you just stand by it?
1:13:38 Sean Fennessey? It's Prey.
1:13:39 Speaker 01 No.
1:13:39 Sean Fennessey? And then nothing else.
1:13:42 Sean Fennessey? It's the only one I've seen and the only one I like.
1:13:44 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:13:44 Sean Fennessey? No, Predator 1.
1:13:47 Sean Fennessey? Strong case for Prey 2. Strong case.
1:13:50 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:13:50 Sean Fennessey? From a pure filmmaking perspective.
1:13:54 Sean Fennessey? Has nothing to do with my gender politics.
1:13:57 Speaker 01 Yeah, your allyship.
1:14:01 Sean Fennessey? I'm not sure. I'd have to think about it. Predator 2 is probably number 2.
1:14:05 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:14:05 Sean Fennessey? Prey is probably 3.
1:14:06 Speaker 01 Okay, so Predator's 4 for you.
1:14:08 Sean Fennessey? Predator's 4. Predator Badlands 5.
1:14:11 Speaker 01 We just did this podcast. I can't believe we're doing it again.
1:14:14 Sean Fennessey? Yeah, I think that's right. I think Prey is really good. Is it a sequel?
1:14:18 Speaker 01 Prey is chronologically a prequel.
1:14:23 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
1:14:23 Speaker 01 But I will accept it as part of a franchise, just because you were so benevolent to let me have Confess Fletch, which is just a reboot.
1:14:31 Sean Fennessey? Good point. I hadn't thought of that.
1:14:31 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:14:34 Sean Fennessey? All right, you're up, Amanda.
1:14:35 Amanda Dobbins? I am.
1:14:36 Sean Fennessey? You have 2 picks. Your final 2 picks?
1:14:37 Amanda Dobbins? My last 2 picks?
1:14:38 Sean Fennessey? Okay.
1:14:39 Amanda Dobbins? I have Blockbuster and Wildcard yet left.
1:14:45 Amanda Dobbins? In Blockbuster. It's, as Chris identified, it's not a great list. And I saw more of this slop than you would think for someone who was out for 6 months this year. But I don't want to pick most of it. Even some of the quote-unquote "original" stuff, such as The Lost City and Bullet Train, which are sliding in under the wire. So I will instead take the film that made me crack up just now, remembering a scene in it that I was gonna try to explain to Chris, which is, of course, Minions: The Rising Crew.
1:15:25 Amanda Dobbins? Which I saw by myself.
1:15:27 Speaker 01 You know, it kind of just feels like, did you... Do you almost feel like you should take back Tar because if that's what she's gonna do with it?
1:15:32 Sean Fennessey? That was the exact thought I had in my head. It's like, you would blaspheme Tar's reputation.
1:15:37 Amanda Dobbins? Well, so, listen. I was originally, if I had first pick, I was gonna do Top Gun Maverick and Blockbuster, but someone made that impossible. So now I need to tell you. So do you know about the minions? Okay, so...
1:15:48 Speaker 01 I know they're yellow.
1:15:49 Amanda Dobbins? So, yeah, so there's this guy...
1:15:51 Speaker 01 And they loom over the valley.
1:15:52 Amanda Dobbins? There's this guy, Gru, and he wants to be a villain. And so he has all of these minions who are like, you know, they're his minions and they like help him, but they are...
1:16:04 Amanda Dobbins? They're instead like the Three Stooges, they're like the 85,000 Stooges. They multiply and they're just like stupid and funny.
1:16:10 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:16:10 Amanda Dobbins? And there's a lot of-
1:16:12 Sean Fennessey? It's like sitting with David Bordwell explaining the theory of film.
1:16:14 Amanda Dobbins? So they keep, you know, they get stuck in vending machines and stuff.
1:16:20 Speaker 01 I've actually seen that scene.
1:16:21 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, it's good when you can't, and they, and they just always like sprout new hair. You know, there's always a new one. There's a lot of renovation anyway. But what made me laugh was I saw this movie by myself at my childhood theater, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia, because I was home visiting my parents. And I was able to secure some babysitting at 11 a.m. And I went-
1:16:40 Speaker 01 What was Zach doing?
1:16:41 Amanda Dobbins? He was golfing with you, you jackass. So now you have to hear about-
1:16:54 Amanda Dobbins? So the minions, there are like three main minions. One of them's named Bob. I don't remember the other two, but like more minions show up. And at the end, I guess he makes it into the-
1:17:03 Speaker 01 What made you laugh?
1:17:07 Sean Fennessey? Spent more time on Minions: The Rise of Gru than Tar.
1:17:12 Amanda Dobbins? There's a Minions choir that shows up from nowhere and they just start singing. Like the choral part of, uh, You Can't Always Get What You Want.
1:17:23 Amanda Dobbins? And they're all singing like this.
1:17:29 Amanda Dobbins? And it makes me laugh.
1:17:30 Speaker 01 She also did Pearl.
1:17:33 Sean Fennessey? It's really funny.
1:17:35 Amanda Dobbins? I told you it's a weird year. There are two movies I wanted.
1:17:40 Amanda Dobbins? There's gonna be a new Minions movie the next year that I'm gonna take Knox to. Uh, okay, Minions: The Rise of Gru is my blockbuster. It made a lot of money. Remember when all the children were wearing their suits?
1:17:49 Speaker 01 Gentle minions.
1:17:50 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah. And then, were you a gentle minion, John?
1:17:53 Speaker 03 I was not a gentle minion. I think I aged out just a little bit.
1:17:56 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
1:17:56 Sean Fennessey? That's good.
1:17:57 Amanda Dobbins? And then I have a lot of like serious movies that I could take in wildcard. But I don't really think I'm in that headspace right now, so I'm in it.
1:18:06 Sean Fennessey? Surprised to learn that.
1:18:10 Speaker 01 What would be the hardest fucking left turn?
1:18:12 Sean Fennessey? Armageddon time.
1:18:13 Amanda Dobbins? You'd, I'd saw it on my list, but I'm not.
1:18:15 Sean Fennessey? Yeah. After Sun.
1:18:17 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:18:20 Speaker 01 That would be all time. If a man did like an eight-minute Minions recap and then was like, "After Sun, wildcard, think about that."
1:18:30 Amanda Dobbins? No.
1:18:33 Amanda Dobbins? I'm, I'm picking the movie that I've thought about the third most in 2022, after Tar and Top Gun Maverick, which is, I swear to you, Jennifer Lopez Halftime. Because here's the thing, here's what happens with Jennifer. Yes, it's a documentary that was released in 2022.
1:18:50 Sean Fennessey? Jennifer Lopez Halftime?
1:18:52 Amanda Dobbins? Yes, and this is the.
1:18:53 Sean Fennessey? That's the name of the movie?
1:18:54 Amanda Dobbins? And this is the one where she's nominated for a Golden Globe for Hustlers, but not.
1:19:00 Sean Fennessey? It's just halftime.
1:19:01 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, okay. Well, okay. Halftime, right? Because she's also doing the Super Bowl halftime show.
1:19:06 Sean Fennessey? Did you watch this?
1:19:06 Amanda Dobbins? But.
1:19:07 Sean Fennessey? I'm pretty sure I did. I'm gonna look it up on my mailbox.
1:19:10 Amanda Dobbins? It's, she does the halftime show with Shakira and, you know, there's some, there's some feedback from people and they do a good job. But.
1:19:17 Sean Fennessey? I did. Two and a half stars.
1:19:19 Amanda Dobbins? She's nominated for a Golden Globe for Hustlers for this. And she doesn't win, and the cameras are with her backstage as she doesn't win the Golden Globe. And it's like, the most defeated, disappointed, like, I can't believe, like, I let you guys all down for a fucking Golden Globe.
1:19:39 Sean Fennessey? To whom?
1:19:40 Amanda Dobbins? To her team, to the camera. Like, she thought this was gonna be her moment and she took it so seriously.
1:19:46 Sean Fennessey? Who did she lose to that year?
1:19:48 Amanda Dobbins? Um, she wasn't even nominated ultimately for an Oscar. I don't remember. So this would have been.
1:19:54 Sean Fennessey? Who did she lose to?
1:19:55 Amanda Dobbins? Musical.
1:19:55 Sean Fennessey? That's probably Michelle Yeoh, right?
1:19:57 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, musical comedy, I think, at the Golden Globe.
1:19:58 Sean Fennessey? For everything of her role once.
1:20:00 Amanda Dobbins? And then she didn't even get an Oscar nomination. But every time we talk about.
1:20:05 Sean Fennessey? I can't believe I gave you Tar. This is outrageous.
1:20:07 Amanda Dobbins? Every time we talk about award season.
1:20:09 Sean Fennessey? Halftime.
1:20:11 Amanda Dobbins? I like, and you and I are very glib and we're like, we think these people, you know, it's a machine, like, it's all made up, blah, blah, blah. And there's this woman having a breakdown because she didn't win a Golden Globe. I think it's fascinating. I think that, I can't believe she allowed it to be filmed. I think that everyone should watch this as an example not to behave after the Golden Globes and also not to take the Golden Globe seriously.
1:20:32 Sean Fennessey? My advice would be, don't have a camera follow you around if you're nominated for a Golden Globe. Food for thought.
1:20:38 Amanda Dobbins? But she did. And then she let another camera follow her around while she was married to Ben Affleck, and that was also wonderful. She's an important documentary subject to me.
1:20:50 Sean Fennessey? Okay, I have a wild card pick.
1:20:53 Amanda Dobbins? Hmm.
1:20:55 Speaker 01 How can you, how can you match that? I can't believe you also logged halftime. I was hoping that maybe you were gonna pick a wild card that he hadn't seen.
1:21:03 Sean Fennessey? I saw all 309 films released in 2022. You know, just something that I do. Uh, it was on Netflix, right?
1:21:10 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:21:13 Sean Fennessey? I'm gonna take Everything Everywhere All at Once and Wild Card. So here's the thing.
1:21:16 Amanda Dobbins? Were you going to? Yeah.
1:21:18 Sean Fennessey? Here's the thing.
1:21:19 Amanda Dobbins? All right, that's fine.
1:21:20 Sean Fennessey? Revisionist history. I like that movie and I always did.
1:21:24 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:21:24 Sean Fennessey? The pod that we did on it, I think I did it with Joanna. You were still on leave when the movie came out.
1:21:28 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, well, it was March. I had just started.
1:21:30 Sean Fennessey? And the movie went through the spin cycle in the same way. We were just had a conversation on the last episode about Green Book. Where it was like, Green Book came out and we were like, this is kind of funny. This is like fun and a crowd pleaser. You know, it's like a Farrelly Brothers.
1:21:42 Speaker 01 Put into the like.
1:21:42 Sean Fennessey? Then it went into the spin cycle of like, that movie was more problematic, I would say, than Everything Everywhere All at Once, like the origins of how it was made and who made it.
1:21:51 Sean Fennessey? But this is the same thing where this movie like probably, I'm not, I would not have chosen it for Best Picture that year. I, it's still kind of fascinating that it became.
1:21:58 Speaker 01 It's really strange.
1:21:59 Sean Fennessey? This like centerpiece of awards conversation and everybody just got behind it. You know, Jamie Lee Curtis won in addition to Michelle Yeoh. And the whole thing was just very strange and it was like a fun moment in the moment, but it didn't, I think it hurt the movie's reputation weirdly. But I really liked the movie as a genre mashup and as like a pretty sincere portrait of like an immigrant family and how the, like the generation gap between people and how they can't communicate with each other. And it has a lot of fucking kung fu in it. And that's all stuff I like, so I'm not gonna shy away. I'm gonna take a movie that I like in this space.
1:22:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:22:33 Amanda Dobbins? Okay.
1:22:34 Speaker 01 I think that's okay. And it's a useful note to remember that, you know, these movies live on beyond their awards campaigns.
1:22:41 Sean Fennessey? They do.
1:22:41 Speaker 01 They should be, they should be viewed as their own pieces of art, not part of like a.
1:22:45 Sean Fennessey? Mania is the Rise of Gru, out of the spin cycle, the take cycle, we can see it clearly as a special film.
1:22:52 Speaker 01 There were a bunch of small films from, uh, 2022 that I would highlight or that I would think about taking for my wild card. I'm gonna pick Emily the Criminal.
1:23:01 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:23:01 Speaker 01 Which is a very cool John Patton Ford movie. He's got, he's the director of this upcoming Glenn, Glenn Powell movie.
1:23:08 Sean Fennessey? Yes.
1:23:09 Speaker 01 Which is called, it was called Huntington, what's it called now?
1:23:12 Sean Fennessey? It is How to Rob.
1:23:17 Sean Fennessey? What?
1:23:18 Amanda Dobbins? How to Make a Killing.
1:23:18 Sean Fennessey? How to Make a Killing. Thank you.
1:23:20 Speaker 01 John Patton.
1:23:20 Sean Fennessey? How to Rob is a great song by 50 Cent.
1:23:22 Speaker 01 That's right. Is a film with Aubrey Plaza and a really, really cool turn by Theo Rossi.
1:23:28 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, he's so good.
1:23:29 Speaker 01 In this film. It's just a really good contemporary crime movie about the slippery slope someone can find themselves on when they're in debt and they're looking for answers and they're running out of they're running out of moves and it's about Aubrey Plaza's character, the titular Emily becomes basically a petty thief fraudster and rather than shying away from that lifestyle, continues to embrace it and embrace it. Kind of has like a little bit of a vibe. I'm not saying it's the same thing, but a little bit of a vibe of like 70s movies like Straight Time, where it's just like a very, very cool character portrait.
1:24:07 Speaker 01 And Plaza gives like a really great, probably at that point, uncharacteristic for her kind of role and a really great performance. And this is a movie that I've strangely gone back to and not strangely, I have gone back to. And I think is one of the better crime films of the decade.
1:24:24 Sean Fennessey? Great pick.
1:24:24 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, really. It was also on my wildcard list, but you know, I thought the Minions Rise of Gru too.
1:24:30 Sean Fennessey? More important.
1:24:31 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, Emily the Criminal segue.
1:24:33 Sean Fennessey? Uh, okay. Let's recap. I'll go first.
1:24:37 Amanda Dobbins? Great.
1:24:38 Sean Fennessey? In drama, I selected Babylon. In action horror thriller Barbarian. In Oscar nominee Avatar, The Way of Water. In sequel Prey. In blockbuster Nope. In wildcard, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Amanda?
1:24:50 Amanda Dobbins? In drama, I have The Fableman's. In action horror thriller Pearl. In Oscar nominee Tar. Thank you, Sean Pennisi. In sequel, I have Down in Abbey, A New Era, blockbuster Minions, The Rise of Gru, and wildcard Jennifer Lopez, Halftime.
1:25:04 Speaker 01 I love your recap voice.
1:25:05 Amanda Dobbins? Thank you so much.
1:25:06 Speaker 01 Kind of reminds me of the voice message in Pluribus, like where it's like, hello Carol.
1:25:12 Speaker 01 In drama, I took Banshees of Inisherin. In action horror thriller, I took Ambulance. In Oscar nominee, I took Top Gun Maverick. In sequel, I took Confess Fletch. In blockbuster, I took The Batman. And in wildcard, I took Emily the Criminal.
1:25:28 Sean Fennessey? That's it. Last draft of the year. Last CR appearance of the year.
1:25:32 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:25:33 Amanda Dobbins? Oh, wow.
1:25:35 Sean Fennessey? What else? Last what? Last appearance period?
1:25:39 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'm moving on.
1:25:42 Sean Fennessey? Where are you moving?
1:25:42 Speaker 01 To Sora. Digitizing myself so I can podcast with some of my idols.
1:25:49 Sean Fennessey? Who among them?
1:25:50 Speaker 01 Like Benjamin Franklin and...
1:25:52 Sean Fennessey? Slave owner.
1:25:57 Sean Fennessey? Will you be moving on or are you sticking around?
1:26:00 Amanda Dobbins? I've committed to at least five more episodes of this podcast this year. How many are left at this point? Jack, what's the count? I know how many.
1:26:09 Sean Fennessey? I know exactly how many. It's six.
1:26:11 Amanda Dobbins? It's six.
1:26:11 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:26:12 Amanda Dobbins? Six left to record.
1:26:13 Sean Fennessey? And Monday, next Monday.
1:26:14 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, and next week. Okay, six more episodes. We just have to hold it together till then.
1:26:20 Sean Fennessey? Friday's episode is about Avatar Fire and Ash. It's gonna be seven hours long.
1:26:25 Speaker 01 When are you doing Ellen McKay and Is This Thing On?
1:26:27 Sean Fennessey? We'll be recording that on Friday.
1:26:30 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah.
1:26:31 Sean Fennessey? Where will you be?
1:26:32 Speaker 01 Hanging out with Bradley Cooper at Moornet.
1:26:34 Sean Fennessey? You're welcome to join us if you want.
1:26:35 Speaker 01 Maybe getting a tight 15 up at the cellar, you know? Thinking about my wife.
1:26:40 Sean Fennessey? Well...
1:26:43 Sean Fennessey? I mean, that pod records at 11:30 a.m. on Friday.
1:26:45 Amanda Dobbins? Yeah, let us know.
1:26:46 Sean Fennessey? Give it some thought.
1:26:47 Speaker 01 I will. I will.
1:26:49 Sean Fennessey? Thanks to Jack Sanders for his last in-person recording of 2025. It's been a hell of a year.
1:26:55 Speaker 01 Indeed, it has.
1:26:56 Sean Fennessey? How do you feel?
1:26:57 Speaker 01 I feel great. Never better.
1:26:59 Sean Fennessey? Okay, you don't believe that.
1:27:00 Amanda Dobbins? That's the positivity we're looking for.
1:27:02 Speaker 01 Who's gonna step in for Jack?
1:27:04 Sean Fennessey? Uh, no, and just I'll be engineering while recording on my hands. No, that's not true. We have a crack team here at The Ringer of people who will be filling in. Any final thoughts, Amanda?
1:27:15 Amanda Dobbins? Thank you to the Minions and the Rolling Stones and to Sean and Chris.
1:27:21 Speaker 01 And to me, a Goth.
1:27:23 Sean Fennessey? See you next time.
Previous The Movie Business Freak-Out Mailbag and ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,’ With Rian Johnson! Next ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Burns Bright Before Flaming Out. Plus: Best Picture Power Rankings and the Oscar Short Lists! Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated