The Big Picture – “Is ‘Weapons’ a Classic? And an Oscar Contender? Plus: The Best Movies at TIFF!”

Host: Sean Fennessey
Co-hosts: Amanda Dobbins, Chris Ryan
Special Guest: Adam Nayman
Date: September 15, 2025

Episode Overview

In this packed episode, Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins are joined first by Adam Nayman to break down the big takeaways and top movies from the just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), including discussions on festival culture, standout films, controversies, and industry trends. Later, Chris Ryan joins for an in-depth review of Zach Cregger’s horror phenom “Weapons,” debating its status as a modern classic and its surprising Oscar buzz, followed by a quick hit on the franchise juggernaut “The Conjuring: Last Rites.” Throughout, the discussion blends cinephile insight with characteristic wit, probing both the movies’ artistic merits and their impact across film culture.

Key Segments and Highlights

1. TIFF 2025: Festival Culture & Best Films

[01:35–46:42]

Life in the Criterion Van Line

• Adam Nayman recounts the phenomenon of the travelling Criterion Collection van at TIFF, where fans waited hours for a chance at discounted Blu-rays and collective cinephile bonding.
• Adam: “It’s not the discs, it’s the clout—or the self-deprecating version of clout… people seemed actually excited about this idea of community.” [04:52]
• Despite his skepticism about “consumer spectacle,” Adam was moved by the embodied nostalgia and sense of community: “Those four walls are pretty impressive… they activated all kinds of memories for me of purchasing… even if they’re discs. They’re embodied experiences.” [08:21]

TIFF Vibes & Recognition

• Adam endures the surreal experience of being recognized in the indie-movie line, describing it as “being on the other side of a parasocial relationship.” [02:23]
• The festival’s fragmented nature: “TIFF is very compartmentalized… we could do five different podcasts about what TIFF was like this year.” [05:36]

Best Films at TIFF

• Blue Heron (dir. Sophia Ranvari): Adam highlights this “great movie, already winning prizes… two for two with prizes for first feature.” [12:01]
• Nirvana the Band the Show: “Not a masterwork, but the most Toronto-centric movie possible… if I’d seen that at midnight with a Toronto audience, maybe that idea of masterwork would be in conversation.” [12:21]
• Wake Up Dead Man (Knives Out 3, dir. Rian Johnson): “Deals with something pretty personal to Rian Johnson, the idea of faith as practiced and faith as commodified… It’s a good mystery.” – Adam Nayman [14:09]
• The Smashing Machine (dir. Benny Safdie): Adam praises Dwayne Johnson’s “inside-out” performance but finds Emily Blunt’s character “nothing” in the script: “She’s playing nothing… she’s replicating something in the doc, which is... but why?” [21:08]
• Frankenstein (dir. Guillermo Del Toro): Adam critiques its lack of originality despite lush design: “Meticulous, but weirdly kind of unimaginative… I think Jacob Elordi’s good. I think he’s well cast.” [17:45]
• Hamnet (dir. Chloé Zhao): A hot Oscar contender, but Adam confesses, “I felt myself resisting this film… I didn’t feel anything real was happening.” [24:35]. Sean notes its divisiveness, and Amanda describes the ending as a rallying point: “It did eventually just kind of wrap its arms around me.” [26:49]
• The Testament of Ann Lee (dir. Mona Fastvold): Amanda loved the film’s odd, musical energy, and Adam highlights its daring, “so close to parody but pushes through... quite beguiling and strange.” [32:03]

Theater Kid Energy and Other Highlights

• Adam and Amanda revel in “theater kid energy” films, specifically Maddie’s Secret (dir. John Early) as a festival hit: “The only movie that not a single person I spoke to didn’t enjoy.” [36:16]

TIFF Awards & Controversies

• Discussion of the TIFF “International People’s Choice Award” and debates around programming decisions and festival leadership, especially regarding “The Road Between Us” documentary:
  • Adam: “This is going to be one of those chapters in TIFF’s history… thick on the ground.” [39:37]
  • Sean: “TIFF has fallen back a couple of steps to some of the other major festivals… it’s clear that’s happened in the last 10 years.” [40:30]
• On festival coping strategies: “You want to escape, but choosing art to not escape is one of the great things about art.” – Sean [43:24]

2. ‘Weapons’: Review, Interpretation, and Oscar Buzz

[47:17–82:09]

Is ‘Weapons’ a Classic?

• Chris Ryan joins to declare: “Loved it. Seen it twice… the second time it went from four stars to five stars. You just kind of settle in and enjoy every little piece.” [47:54]
• Amanda, after initial hesitation, also praises: “I liked it very much. Strange and compulsively watchable.” [50:25]

What Is ‘Weapons’ About?

• Sean raises the controversy over whether “Weapons” is “about” anything. Chris responds: “It hadn’t occurred to me that it had to be about anything… I don’t necessarily think that’s a requirement of a movie to be both great and about something.” [53:06]
• The group discusses the pressures of “elevated horror” needing a singular thesis, contrasting it with Weapons’ ambiguous allegory.
• Chris underlines: “This movie is meant to be interpreted, but perhaps not solved.” [54:33]
• Amanda observes, “I wasn’t looking for a lesson, but... at some point, the lack of an answer is just part of why horror isn’t always my go-to.” [60:43]

Themes and Interpretations

• Grief, trauma, generational divides, and substance abuse all surface in the conversation, with Sean arguing: “It was the confusion and the depression that engulfs people when you lose someone like that—that is really the driving force.” [57:15]
• On the “witch” figure: “Barbarian weirdly has a lot of empathy for its monster… This is different. In this movie, the monster’s the monster.” – Sean [56:30]
• Chris postulates potential allegories about generational vampirism: “Gladys represents an older generation that is vampiring younger generations… Siphoning their life force… to stay in power.” [67:15]

Horror Structure & Effectiveness

• Amanda notes the first hour’s suspense—“I had to keep watching. I did not look at my phone… You could not.” [57:06]—and the second half’s supernatural reveals.
• The team hypes Amy Madigan’s performance as Aunt Gladys as sensational and Oscar-worthy: “A crazy good horror movie villain performance… this is going to end up being one of the signature roles for now.” – Sean [74:44]
• On the film’s awards chances, Amanda is cautiously optimistic but realistic: “It’s very well made… but something like this would have to have some up-top support.” [77:27] Sean: “I do think Amy Madigan has a good chance. Best picture? I don’t really see it, but I hope it happens.” [78:55]

Future of Horror, Video Game IPs & More

• Zach Cregger’s next project—a Resident Evil movie—is discussed, with the hosts debating the strengths and weirdness of auteurs taking the reins on franchise blockbusters: “If we have to make $80 million video game adaptations, this is the way… Turn your IP over to someone who has a vision.” – Sean [80:22]

3. Quick Take: The Conjuring: Last Rites

[82:09–96:33]

• “The Conjuring: Last Rites” is presented as both the latest and possibly final entry in the long-running franchise (though the hosts are skeptical).
• The crowd rips through the franchise’s convoluted structure, “it’s the ninth (or tenth) Conjuring movie,” and jokes about haunted objects and farmhouse mirrors.
• Chris: “This feels like a particularly pious film… kinda trad-wifey.” [85:50]
• Sean: “Not very good… But it is incredibly successful—it opened to $80 million over the weekend, third highest horror opening of all time.” [88:43]
• Ongoing affection for Patrick Wilson as the “box office king” and “scream king.” [95:11]
• Amanda, on horror’s current market position: “Kids movies… then horror,” as the only surefire box office draws [96:22]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• Adam: “It’s not the discs, it’s the clout—or the self-deprecating version of clout… it was really nice… people seemed actually excited about this idea of community.” [04:52]
• Chris: “Loved it. Seen it twice… the second time… it went from four stars to five stars.” [47:54]
• Amanda: “I didn’t feel anything real was happening [in Hamnet]… So then grief and trauma did little for me.” [24:35]
• Sean: “You want to escape, but choosing art to not escape is one of the great things about art.” [43:24]
• Chris: “This movie is meant to be interpreted, but perhaps not solved.” [54:33]
• Amanda: “I wasn’t suddenly like, ‘So Zack Cregger is saying all women over 40 are bad’… I was just kind of… I noticed that, but that’s as far as it went.” [55:54]
• Sean: “This is a supernatural horror movie… I didn’t feel like I needed to kind of unpack those additional details that were otherwise unexplained.” [63:36]
• Chris: “The answer not being something hard-coded into what it means seems to be what’s bothering some people… whereas for me, it did what a lot of great horror movies do.” [62:10]
• Adam: “Those four walls are pretty impressive… Even with all of my professional reasons to be skeptical… those are embodied experiences, even if they're discs.” [08:21]

Tone & Style

Throughout, the tone is conversational, funny, and deeply informed—self-aware cinephilia meshed with light sarcasm and occasional inside jokes about movie culture and the podcast itself. Adam’s dry wit, Sean's earnest curiosity, Amanda’s pragmatic insight, and Chris’s genre enthusiasm intermingle seamlessly.

Final Takeaways

• TIFF 2025’s scene is one of both discord and cinephile solidarity, with spirited discussions around both movies and the infrastructure/culture surrounding them.
• Weapons is firmly established as a horror classic in the eyes of the hosts, with a mix of populist appeal, artistic ambiguity, and a breakout villain performance by Amy Madigan—worthy of Oscar recognition.
• Conjuring: Last Rites is dismissed as formulaic but proof that horror, more than any other genre, is box office gold in the current market.
• The episode underscores the messiness and beauty of movies that defy easy interpretation, and the power of film communities to sustain passion even amidst controversy or disappointment.

For a full deep dive into each segment, listen from:

• [01:35] TIFF and Criterion Line
• [13:37] Major TIFF movies
• [47:17] ‘Weapons’ review and meaning
• [82:09] Conjuring: Last Rites
• [96:09] Closing genre/box office reflections

Note: This summary skips all advertisements, intros, and non-content sections per instructions.