A (2:48)

This is very important, so Everybody listen. So 3:00pm PT Pacific Time, 6:00pm Eastern. That's on Instagram. Before the show.

B (2:59)

Before the Oscars. Yes.

A (3:00)

The reason it's so early is because the Oscars Telecast starts at 7:00pm Eastern, 4:00pm Pacific.

B (3:10)

Yes.

A (3:10)

Let me say that again. The Oscars telecast, and I'm not being paid by ABC right now, just so you know, is at 7pm and not the traditional 8pm I'm letting you know because I don't think anyone has done a sufficiently good job of broadcasting that it's, it's unusual. It's nice in that it starts a little earlier. Hopefully it'll be done a little earlier. But if you don't want to miss the first hour, join us at 3pm, 6pm, join the Oscars at 4pm, 7pm and then join us again after the

B (3:43)

oscars somewhere between 7:30pm PT, 10:30pm ET, based on how long the telecast goes, where we will be back live on Netflix. You can watch our immediate reactions to all of the hopefully interesting results. And I have been waxing and waning on my predictions over the last few weeks. And we'll talk about those predictions later this week on the show.

A (4:07)

But not today.

B (4:08)

Not today. That'll be on Wednesday. How do you feel about that? Can you hold it in until for two more days?

A (4:13)

I think a couple things will creep out probably. But also, I don't feel that my predictions are yet locked in.

B (4:20)

Mine are not either.

A (4:21)

I'm going right down to the wire. So in that sense, it's fine. You know, we'll, I agree. Maybe we'll feel it out.

B (4:27)

Let's talk about the precursors over the weekend, quickly, because this is not an Oscars podcast. But I at least want to note what happened on Sunday, which was two of the relatively big precursors based on how we've been tracking this godforsaken awards season for six months. One is the WGA Awards, which of course, much like the Academy Awards, splits between adapted screenplay and original screenplay, one battle after another. One adapted sinners, one original. We have learned nothing about the state of this race.

A (4:53)

Seems chalk. That seems like we know which to pick in those categories.

B (4:56)

Yes. The other major precursor was the American Society of Cinematographers Awards, which transpired last night. And and Michael Bauman won for one battle after another, which means he now has the trifecta of cinematography precursors, which I think means this is over.

A (5:12)

I do as well, which is Not, I think, what we expected and probably not even if I had filled out my predictions on Friday that I, I would have put down. Yeah, I, you know, there's always room for a surprise. But I do wonder, again, it's just a really tight race, One battle and Sinners and things are just going back and forth and every time you think, oh, may maybe it's going to be over here, you get something else. But I think one battle is very strong. People like this film.

B (5:40)

I completely agree with you. It has absolutely dominated the precursors in a way that almost like we've maybe we've never seen. And there's something in play that could be tremendously historic for that movie. But we'll talk about that on Wednesday. We have a lot more award season to come on Wednesday and then Sunday and then probably after that on Tuesday as well. So for now, let's talk about movies, movies, movies. Pixar's back.

A (6:02)

Sure is.

B (6:03)

Over the weekend, Hoppers made $81 million worldwide, made $47 million here in the United States of America. It is the second largest original opening movie, the second largest original movie opening this decade behind F1, which we can quibble about whether or not that's an original. And then on down the list, you've Got Weapons, Onward, another Pixar film, and Sinners. This is the biggest Pixar opening for an original since Coco in 2017. And I do feel like the thing that started happening around the, around the Barbie time, around the Super Mario Brothers movie time, where you could sense that audiences were a little sick of the hegemony of the previous 15, 20 years of franchise movies was starting to shift and that the old was going out and that the new was coming in. And then, you know, we had Minecraft last year and then we had movies like Sinners and Weapons last year. You know, I don't want to overreact, but what do you make of the Hopper's success?

A (6:59)

I see what you're saying, and I think, yes, in the sense of there is a new generation of young audiences who are ready to get in on the ground floor of something instead of being handed whatever their parents were really into 30 years ago, even though that's also thriving in both our houses and at the world at large. But I think you're right. I do also think that this just had a billboard with an animal at the center of it. And I really. You don't have to overthink it. And I know that was very powerful in my home and there were many people who Just. And I think by many people, I mean many children under the age of 16 who were taken by that simplicity. You know, it is. It's effective. It's just, here's an animal, maybe it's gonna talk.

B (7:46)

Yeah.

A (7:47)

Come see what's going on.

B (7:48)

I've been thinking about this with respect to the last five years of Pixar, which has been a troubled period, I would say in 2020 and 2021, soul and turning red both went kind of day and date. They went on Disney very shortly after their release or maybe timed same to their release. And I like both of those movies a lot. I think they were a little bit disserved by the moment. Since then, Pixar has been in a little bit of a rocky place. Pete Docter has come under some fire for some of his changes that he has made to stories to make them, quote, unquote, less woke, less dei, whatever you want to call it. There's been a lot of sense that Disney is maybe putting their thumb on the scale to change the point of view of some of the movies. But like, if you just look at the movies themselves, if you look at like Lightyear inside out to last year's Leo, there's a fourth one that I'm forgetting that is also in that kind of mid tier. Luca Luca precedes that. But there is another one Onward. You know, there's a handful of these movies from this time that have not quite hit Elemental. Elemental, yes. Which did decent business, but I don't think anybody would put it in the top five Pixar movies of all time. And so because the company is in this kind of transition, one unsurprising that over the weekend they announced Monsters Inc. 3 because they have come to rely very much on the sequel machine, as maybe the rest of the world is getting a little more interested in original stories. Pixar knows that every two years there has to be a new Toy Story, a new Monsters, Inc. A new Inside Out, a new When's Ratatouille coming? Will there be a third Finding Nemo movie like all that? That's kind of their business strategy at this point.

A (9:27)

I think that's good business.

B (9:28)

The.

A (9:29)

The monsters, you know, they're pre. Merchandise, they're great. Monsters, Inc. A classic, you know, at every pediatrician's office, in the waiting room that I've ever been to. So that makes sense to have your baseline of things that we know work and things Pixar movies that are made a little bit more in the mold of this is slightly more at a child's level than some of the other experiments you just made. And maybe also Hoppers. We'll talk about it later. And repeatable. And that's. Listen, if you repeat it well, that's not inherently an evil thing.

B (10:03)

I agree. I don't think there's anything evil about it. I think it is good business. I think creatively I'm curious where the studio goes. It was once kind of the. The most successful bastion for original storytelling in not just animated features, but arguably in all feature storytelling in, in this country for the last 25 years. I think you could make that case. There are roughly 10 original stories that this studio just built and created and made into individual franchises. Hoppers. I'm not sure if it's going to be a franchise. It seems like it's doing very well and is going to do fine, but it doesn't. It's not a billion dollar movie. Right. So it's just, maybe just a transition period. We shall see. But I do feel, I feel pretty good about what's going on. Project Hail Mary's two weeks away.

A (10:48)

I'm psyched.

B (10:49)

The buzz is like deafeningly positive on that. And we've both seen it. We'll wait to share our thoughts, but I don't know. Something's happening.

A (10:57)

Listen, my child laughed multiple times during the Minions vs Monsters trailer. And you know, it's like, that was my It's a Wonderful Life. You know, every time a bell rings, like every time Knox laughs, magical things happen in my heart. So, yeah, it's looking up.

B (11:13)

I agree. Not such original news. Christopher McQuarrie, last seen completing his octology of Mission Impossible films with the final reckoning. Is that a word? Octology? Probably not. He finished the Mission Impossible movies with Tom Cruise and now he's making a Conan the Barbarian movie for 20th century studios with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Conan the Barbarian. How old is Arnold Schwarzenegger? Pop quiz. Don't look it up.

A (11:39)

Okay. 64.

B (11:41)

I think he's gotta be older than that.

A (11:42)

No, Really? I don't know. It's very confusing now with all of the plastic surgery of like, some people are way older, some people are way younger.

B (11:50)

He's 78 years old.

A (11:51)

Really?

B (11:51)

Yeah.

A (11:52)

Well, okay. Well preserved funny on Instagram.

B (11:57)

How did you think he did as governor of California? Did you like his work?

A (12:00)

I have some notes. Okay.

B (12:03)

I enjoyed that documentary about him on Netflix a couple years ago.

A (12:05)

Yeah.

B (12:06)

This is interesting for Macquarie. I get it. This is for guys who like to work at scale and he Likes to work with big budgets on big stories. Sure. You need to have ip. You actually need to have a known story to get your arms around. It seems somewhat similar to what 20th Century Studios, what their mandate is now, since they were kind of subsumed in the Fox Disney deal, where, okay, we have Predator. What are we going to do with Predator? To make a new Predator movie to make it coherent. Okay, we've got Alien. What are we gonna do with this Xenomorph? And they've pretty successfully done movies like that. And so I suspect they'll have a pretty cool spin. McQuarrie is great. I have had some concerns about the last couple of Impossible movies, about losing the plot and things getting a little bit too big to get your arms around.

A (12:51)

Yeah. And also the process, the structure and the stuntification of the movie getting away from what they're actually doing. I also, you know, another star of our childhood trying to reinvent a phase of their career. But, like, I haven't seen Arnold Schwarzenegger run. Like, I don't know how he's doing. But 78 is different than 60 or whatever cruise is hovering around.

B (13:16)

Presumably there's some sort of baby Conan hanging around.

A (13:19)

Yeah. They're gonna like Creed it?

B (13:20)

I assume so. Okay. I think. Well, that would be interesting if what they did was they had James Earl Jones character from the original Conan the Barbarian. If he had a son, he could be the Adonis Creed now. Then we would be cooking with gas. Okay, that's an idea.

A (13:37)

Now you're excited.

B (13:38)

Well, God, I gotta remember what the name of that character is from Conan the Barbarian because that character is a sick villain that James Earl Jones plays. It is Thulsa Doom.

A (13:51)

That's cool. So what's the son's name? Doom 2?

B (13:56)

Well, in the Apollo Adonis formulation, would it be like Thalor Doom? Like something similar, but different? Just honestly put me in the room for this movie. I worship the John Milius original. Conan the Destroyer. Not a big fan of, but, God, this is. I got interested again. Who's going to play baby Conan? Nicholas Galitzin, Austin Butler, Noah Centineo, maybe could see that, Right?

A (14:24)

Yeah.

B (14:25)

Will Poulter.

A (14:26)

I like Will Poulter.

B (14:27)

Okay, I'm firing off names here.

A (14:29)

Yeah, yeah. You're just firing off the cast of Warfare.

B (14:30)

That's true. Yeah. Well, I mean, maybe they should just bring the whole group back together and to do Conan o'. Brien, Conan the Barbarian.

A (14:41)

I'm excited. You're excited?

B (14:43)

Yeah. Conan. Not really in your interest set?

A (14:45)

No. We asked Jack Sanders, our producer, to break in if there was any breaking news during this. And with four minutes to go, he broke in. And I was bracing for something, like, more exciting than a Conan the Barbarian reboot. But that's okay, Jack.

B (14:58)

You are empowered to break in again if something dramatic happens again.

C (15:01)

Don't worry, I will.

B (15:02)

Okay. Any other. Any other stray thoughts? How are you feeling? You feeling good about the world of movies? You feeling good about your life?

A (15:08)

Those are two very different questions.

B (15:10)

I feel like they're intertwined for me.

A (15:13)

Feeling good about the world of movies? Yeah, sure. Okay. I had a great time with my son. I also recorded him watching the entire 2 minute Mandalorian and Grogu trailer, which, I mean, I really feel Disney should be paying me at this point for this. This work. But he's excited. And we also had to switch theaters because Knox's first choice of theater was sold out when we could go. So that's good. Yeah, it was a robust scene. We ran into some school friends.

B (15:43)

Wow.

A (15:44)

At the. At the Ed Hoppers. Hi, Lorelli, if you're listening. Yeah.

B (15:47)

So, incredible stuff.

A (15:49)

Yeah. Films, they're great. Everything else. Really don't wanna get into it, you

B (15:53)

know, I'm about to make my first half picks for the movie fantasy league I'm in, and that goes March through August on the slate. So I've been taking a longer look at where we're. What this show is gonna be.

A (16:05)

It goes March through August. But you haven't done it yet.

B (16:08)

It's due on Wednesday. My picks are due on Wednesday.

A (16:11)

So Hail Mary is eligible.

B (16:14)

Hail Mary is eligible. And I am likely to take it. Now, there's a price affix to every movie.

A (16:18)

How much?

B (16:18)

And what I want to do is I want to introduce this game to the world at large. I want a big picture movie fantasy league.

A (16:25)

Okay.

B (16:25)

It's something I mentioned to Jack. It will require a lot of work, probably a little bit of backend tech, but I think it would be really fun because it's kind of in the spirit of everything that we do on the show with the auctions and, you know, all of our previews. So I've been looking at the slate and I. It's not the greatest first, like next three months of the year, once July comes around, we're cooking.

A (16:47)

Yeah.

B (16:48)

But up until about July, up until about Toy Story 5, it's not an ideal set of circumstances, which I think is pretty common. And that's usually when my panic starts to set in, is like, roughly April, May.

A (17:00)

Yes. So I. I Mean, we can annotate it, but, like, we have a record of past years. But it is. It's, I would say, mid April.

B (17:08)

Mid April is when I get a little concerned and you know what, and.

A (17:10)

Or you go to see Minecraft by yourself on a Saturday night and are like, the movies are saved.

B (17:15)

Minecraft right into sinners. That was a very special time for me. We kind of staved off my panic this. This past year.

A (17:21)

Yeah.

B (17:21)

I don't know if our April is going to look quite that good this time around, but I think that there's a lot to look forward to. We'll preview the summer stuff as we get a little further into the spring, but I think I'm feeling pretty good. The world at large. No.

A (17:34)

Yeah.

B (17:34)

Bad.

A (17:35)

Real bad.

B (17:36)

Extremely bad.

A (17:37)

Also, I want to let you and Jack know that another International Women's Day has passed without your comment. So thanks again for all of you.

B (17:44)

That's on. It was on a Saturday.

A (17:45)

No, it was on a Sunday.

B (17:46)

Was it Sunday? Okay. There was a big banner. What day is this?

A (17:51)

Yeah, it's the day of rest.

B (17:52)

I did turn to my wife and daughter when I saw that banner and I said, it's your day.

A (17:57)

Oh, no. Before we start, let me just say one of the best memes of all time was this. I just clocked this bracelet halfway through this recording, which I love.

B (18:06)

Thank you.

A (18:06)

It's wonderful. Is. Is she gonna. Is it a one of one or is she gonna be making any others?

B (18:11)

This was individually.

A (18:12)

Can I place an order, is what I'm asking.

B (18:14)

Oh, I think she would love.

A (18:15)

I would love. Or maybe I can come make one with her.

B (18:16)

Yeah, I mean, honestly, she would love nothing. Actually, in a bit. Alice in a big Amanda phase right now. Big like, will Amanda be there? What Amanda doing. So.

A (18:24)

Thank you. That's very sweet.

B (18:25)

If you. What color would you go with?

A (18:26)

I mean, I do like the blue, I guess I'd want to see the options. Red, maybe.

B (18:30)

All manner of bead. So make a choice. Maybe don't. Maybe not to matchy matchy. You might want to find some differentiation here at the table. Okay. Red. Red is nice. Then we can be.

A (18:38)

That's one of my colors.

B (18:39)

Superman and Supergirl.

A (18:41)

Yes, that's exactly what they put Supergirl

B (18:44)

so close to International Women's Day on purpose this year on the calendar.

A (18:46)

I was about to ask you when it is.

B (18:48)

Yeah. You're a Supergirl. I must tell you.

A (18:50)

Thank you so much. Every day.

B (18:52)

Should we do the mailbag? What do you think?

A (18:53)

Absolutely.

B (18:54)

How do you Feel about these questions.

A (18:56)

Good.

B (18:56)

Yeah.

A (18:57)

Yeah.

B (18:57)

Okay.

A (18:57)

They're funny. Jack, are we opening up? Are people gonna submit any while we're recording or not? So.

B (19:03)

No, they're not. Okay.

C (19:04)

Not today.

A (19:04)

All right. Not today.

B (19:05)

Should we just have them text you? Read your number out loud right now.

C (19:08)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

A (19:10)

What if someone emails during the show?

C (19:14)

Sure. Listeners email in the Big pic mailbag@gmail.com. if you have anything truly special, I'll

A (19:20)

fire it because the one thing I'll say, these, these are great questions. I'm excited. I love our community. Also love that I no longer really look at the Big Pic Mailbag account because there are a lot of unsolicited essays. There's. People took anything but Oscars, like pretty literally in a film sense, you know. And just one question of advice. You know, anything people need to check

C (19:47)

in on, that's it. Amanda. If any of you live listening have advice questions to send to Amanda Dobbins, email them right now. I will try to get them in at the end.

B (19:56)

You, you, you want to be Dear Abby? You don't want to be a podcaster.

A (20:02)

I just think I have a unique

B (20:03)

perspective that I will not argue with. I, I, I can't say I feel good about that. That is definitely true that you are, you are one of one.

A (20:15)

Thank you so much.

B (20:15)

You got it. All right, let's begin the questions. Jack, where do we start?

C (20:19)

Well, I just want to say if you email me your question nine times in a 24 hour period, I will not be reading it. Not to name any names, but Phillies Fancr. 1, 2, 3. Your question's not going to be read and I'm sorry about that.

B (20:32)

Tough one.

C (20:33)

This first one is probably my favorite and I'm guessing Sean moved it up to the front from Paul. He's asking. In one battle after another, we see a shot of Bob Ferguson watching the Battle of Algiers on his couch. I doubt that the local Fox affiliate in Backton Cross would be airing this film. So does this mean Bob is into physical media? If he were invited into the Criterion closet, what other films do you think he'd grab?

B (20:57)

What do we think he was doing? Did he have a VHS tape? Was he watching tcm?

A (21:01)

It's tcm, you think?

B (21:02)

But he, I mean he like really was like tucked in for the afternoon, you know, where he was like, this is what I'm doing today. I'm watching the Battle of Algiers in the middle of the after in the evening time. I guess his daughter went off to the dance. What time did she leave?

A (21:13)

It's still dusk. 4:30, probably 5:30 because it's. It's springtime, no one's wearing winter coats so it's getting a little bit later in the day. But it's not like a 9pm start for a school.

B (21:25)

Are you feeling about daylight savings by the way?

A (21:27)

I'm thrilled. I went outside at 7:30 yesterday to take the trash out and it just like almost started crying of happiness. It smells so good. It's. I love it. This is a two part question.

B (21:37)

Yes.

A (21:37)

And I'm going to let you have part two.

B (21:39)

Okay.

A (21:39)

But I'm going to take part one.

B (21:41)

Great.

A (21:41)

Does this mean Bob is into physical media? Fam. He does not have a phone. This guy is not investing in plastic. He is like a wash up. No, he's just. He does not know about like international, like region free whatevers. He doesn't even believe in borders. Like he's not investing, he's watching this on tcm. No, not a collector. It's nice. And also.

B (22:07)

Are you incorrect?

A (22:09)

If you want. He's a. He's a wash up. He's a loser. Do you want him like in your army?

B (22:13)

Fuck yeah.

A (22:14)

Okay.

B (22:14)

Bob Ferguson of the French 75.

A (22:17)

He's got a good heart.

B (22:18)

Ghetto Pat.

A (22:19)

I'm rooting for him, but I just.

B (22:21)

I'm kidding me.

A (22:22)

First of all, is he like on the Internet checking out new releases? Does he know about all?

B (22:27)

No, no, he has his old favorites.

A (22:30)

He's mad.

B (22:31)

And that's why if he were invited to the Criterion Closet, he would do wonderfully.

A (22:36)

That's why I said you can answer part two. Because he's watching tcm. He has taste, he's just not hoarding plastic.

B (22:44)

In the preceding scene we hear him talking to his daughter who could not give less of a damn about recording with his band. The old band. Sure, about. And getting that tube sound from the Steely Dan records. This is an analog king. This is a guy. This is also a course is into

A (23:02)

vinyl who cannot remember anything and is also watching the Battle of algiers at like 5:30pm because he's lost contact with the rest of the world and he has nothing going on.

B (23:12)

I know, God love him. It's so fucking relatable, you know where you're just like. You just tuck into a cinema classic on an afternoon after you send your daughter out for the evening.

A (23:21)

Yeah.

B (23:21)

God damn.

A (23:22)

Bob does not have a letterboxd. Bob is not.

B (23:25)

No, he doesn't.

A (23:25)

And Bob is not.

B (23:26)

That wasn't the question.

A (23:27)

He's not into physical media, but I think he would have a lovely time and some very interesting picks in the Criterion Closet. So now you. You made Dreamcast for it.

B (23:36)

I've made five Criterion Closet selections on Bob's behalf. Whether he owns These discs, laserdiscs, VHS, DVD, Blu Ray, 4K, we don't know. Probably not.

A (23:48)

Bob isn't into ownership.

B (23:50)

That's very true. That's true. But the great works must be celebrated, even in a socialistic experience. We still. We support artists.

A (23:58)

Listen, I believe. I believe in film preservation. I just don't believe that, like, you are the person preserving film. You know what I'm saying?

B (24:05)

No, but I have a voice, and I'm using that voice to proclaim you

A (24:09)

are making capitalism work for you.

B (24:11)

Well, that's very true. And you know what? Hopefully sending a positive message in doing so.

A (24:14)

And you are supporting the work of other people who actually do this.

B (24:17)

That's right.

A (24:18)

You are a crazy person with a garage full of plastic.

B (24:21)

I am a creator. The five films that he would either pull from the Criterion Closet or maybe he has in his stash as follows. And all of these movies are in the closet. And I would recommend all of them. It's actually technically, I chose seven movies because he's pulling a box set off the shelf. One is Jean Pierre Melville's army of Shadows. Nice little pairing about the paranoia of living in a revolutionary moment. Jean Pierre Melville, one of the great filmmakers about war and espionage and subterranean societies. Number Two, Paths of Glory. Stanley Kubrick's classic about living in ethical rejection of awful fascism. Three revolutionary films by Usman Semben, the African filmmaker. Those films are Imiti, Zala and Saito. All three of those movies are amazing and underseen. Steven Soderbergh's Che. Yeah, that big.

A (25:14)

I know about it.

B (25:16)

Great film. Starring Benicio del Toro, of course. Does the film Che exist in the one battle after another universe? Because Benicio del Toro is in it, but so is Sensei.

A (25:27)

Sensei's also in it.

B (25:29)

Well, Sensei's in Bob's universe. So does Che exist? And if Che exists, does it star a different actor?

A (25:36)

Interesting.

B (25:37)

You know, is it like Lou Diamond Phillips in Che?

A (25:41)

I'm trying to think of other in the universe. What else exists? Probably it exists and it's just a guy who looks a lot like Sensei. Okay, all right, but here's my question.

B (25:50)

Or does Sensei just look like Benicio del Toro? Is that the thing?

A (25:54)

Yeah. Okay, here's my question. What is Bob's second favorite?

B (25:58)

Steven Soderbergh film, Full Frontal. What do you think it is?

A (26:04)

Let's see the Limey. You could see.

B (26:09)

Yeah. You know, tell them I'm fucking coming. Yeah. Although Terence Stamp in that movie has really has more Sean Penn vibes from one battle.

A (26:17)

Well, sure, but you got to know your enemy.

B (26:19)

Good point. Good point. Number five, Eraserhead. Right. Girl, dad movie, you know, and just like guy figuring out what it means to be a father. The absolute abject terror of bringing life into this world and having to protect it.

A (26:30)

Yeah. What we're doing every day.

B (26:32)

We are doing that every day. Thank you, Bob. Thank you for that question. Thank you, Paul. I didn't move this question up. Was this question sent by Paul Thomas Anderson?

C (26:39)

That is correct.

B (26:40)

Okay, thanks, Paul.

C (26:41)

You think you would go for Shortcuts, an Altman film in the PTA world?

B (26:49)

Bob is like a real kind of single issue voter, I would say, you know, doesn't really. He's kind of into revolution and not much else and I guess Steely Dan, but we don't know a whole lot about him. I'd love to know what's on his. What's on his nightstand.

A (27:04)

You think he's doing a lot of

B (27:05)

reading, like Anarchist Cookbook?

A (27:07)

Well, I definitely don't think he has a Kindle, you know, so I don't.

B (27:12)

Bob, make money?

A (27:13)

Well, I don't know.

B (27:15)

Have we explored this?

A (27:16)

We don't know that. Which means that we don't. Where does the money come from to buy the DVDs?

B (27:22)

Sorry, I don't know.

A (27:23)

Blu Rays.

B (27:24)

I know. I think it might just be VHS tapes.

A (27:26)

Okay.

B (27:26)

I think he might just be rocking. I got to go back and look at that scene. I need to see that scene for a ninth time. Just a wonderful question. Incredible way to start this, by physical media. That's my message to everyone watching right now on Netflix. What's the next question?

C (27:39)

Next question comes from Thomas. Frequently we hear someone affectionately refer to a modern movie as something that feels like a 70s movie. In my heart, I know what that means. If you had to describe a 2020s film, what would that mean to you?

B (27:54)

What do you think of this question? Do you feel that we know the character of the films that are happening right now, or do we need more space to determine that?

A (28:03)

I guess we know some of the visual signifiers and some of the mood. And I think, one, we say it feels like a real 70s film. Sometimes that means the subject matter or the performance or, you know, or the style of direction. But it can often mean that Someone's just like ripping off Gordon Willis and. And that's good, by the way. You know, all good artists, you know, great artists steal. So at this point we have a sense of what it's going to look like. The tricky part is that I think all the examples of what we consider to be like good films made in the 2000 and 20s we often compare to 70s films. And so I think our definition of 2000s would be just because of subtraction, like negative.

B (28:52)

Yes.

A (28:53)

Which is unfair. I guess there are. But if I had to think of examples of new cinema, like visually that I think is genuinely really exciting. I don't know, I mean, maybe that's a reflection of me that I am. I'm yearn for the traditional.

B (29:11)

Yeah. I think the signature movies of the century so far is probably in some order, Top Gun, Maverick, Barbie, Everything everywhere, all at once. Oppenheimer. You know, I'm sure there's a few others that you could throw in there. But just kind of off the top of my head, those are movies and they're all different, right? Those are mostly franchise stories. They're pretty heavyweight. This is a very American focused point of view. Obviously. I don't mean that those are the best movies. I don't mean that they're the most successful movies. There's kind of somewhere in between. They're kind of like when you go back, when we get to 20, 30 and we look back at what this decade represented, I do think that there's something about spectacle and about fusing genres together that has been pretty consistent. I think we're in a very both a synthetic and a synthesis era where everything feels a little bit more like. Barbie is a very kind of created world. Right. Everything everyone wants is a very created world. It's very hyper stylized world. Oppenheimer even is a very stylized movie. It's not a gritty, realistic, naturalistic movie. I think when you think of like all the President's Men or the Sidney Lumet films from the 70s, those are very ground level, hard bitten, naturalistic films in the way that they're shot and in their performance style. Right now everything is sort of like there's a kind of extratextual mania in every movie. You know, the Mission Impossible movies that have come out in the last seven years, Minecraft, like these are kind of zany constructions. So I feel like that is a thing and I feel like that is very much the influence of the Internet in terms of people's attention spans and the stylistic things that we have seen on Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Facebook, all of these social media platforms over the last 15 years. I feel the influence there. I've personally been super excited by the YouTube influence on movies, and I feel like it's really strong on horror. And we're about to have this stretch this year where you've got backrooms and obsession. And Kyle Edward Ball, who made Skinamarink, has another movie coming out and there's like all of these new filmmakers. I know, I know the Chris Ryan voice.

A (31:31)

Hello, Sean.

B (31:33)

What's up me? But I like that there's like some. There's like some peanut butter getting in the chocolate right now. That is kind of messing with what a movie is allowed to look like on a big screen. That I like. But for the most part, I mean, do you agree with what I'm saying about the big movies and kind of what their character is?

A (31:50)

Yeah, both the, like the hyper production, the spectacle of it all, and also as you said, essentially like the meme or the, you know, the one shot influence reflected back into the movies. And we know that this is gonna be parceled out image by image. So people are really kind of Wes Anderson ing out, but in very specific ways. And that's not always a bad thing. I liked most of the movies that you just mentioned. The other thing I think about, and this is sort of related to the YouTube of it all, but just screens and you know, very obviously like phones in movies and how that affects on a plot sense. But I mean more in terms of when you see people on, on their phones or you see the text messages, you see surveillance footage, you see, you know, monitors in like situation rooms, all sorts of, just like the presence. You see recreations of YouTube and TikTok. All the ways that we spend our time looking at screens other than a movie screen now have to be reflected back into the movies themselves. And sometimes that's done in an interesting way, sometimes it's done in an absolutely vile way. But the movies visually trying to get their arms around the Internet and all of the ways we're projected around ourselves all the time is certainly a visual signature.

B (33:16)

I agree. I feel like there's some filmmakers who really have their arms around it. Park Chan Wook in particular, I feel like, has done a really nice job with that. What was the. There was the Soderbergh series that was on HBO a couple of years ago. It was a miniseries that Ed Solomon wrote. I can't remember the name of it at the moment. Was it Full Circle, something like that?

A (33:33)

Not Mosaic, typically Mosaic,

B (33:37)

maybe no, maybe it wasn't Mosaic. Maybe there was another one. Mosaic was the Sharon Stone one. That wasn't the one. I'm thinking of.

A (33:42)

Full circle sounds. Yeah, full circle sound.

B (33:43)

Full circle, yeah. That also, I think, had an interest in this and this kind of idea of surveillance. And in that way, it kind of mimics the 70s and this sense of paranoia that you'd find in films like the Conversation. And I can feel that coming in a little bit in mainstream movies, not really in blockbusters. It's a little bit more like in that second tier of size of film. But there's definitely some. Some of the anxiety of the world is creeping in. I mean, we talked about a little bit with even just the. The Academy Award nominees this year. Secret Agent one, Battle Sinners, these are all movies, but kind of like one group coming in to take over another group and doing it in subterranean ways. But I think there's also just a little bit of a nostalgia porn pre branded thing that is essential to it too. Like F1 is another movie that I think will be, if not memorable, like notable in the chain of big movies over the last 10 years. And that movie is kind of like a big hash of other stuff. And some of it works really well and some of it doesn't work as well, but. But you never watch that movie and think, like, never seen this before. Like, I've never seen racing like that before, but I've seen race car movies, I've seen old guys still got it movies. You know, I've seen reinventions of that, you know, hero dynamic. Like, all of that seems very familiar. So it feels like Hollywood is kind of figuring, trying to figure out, like, what people want. And the only time when it really works is when someone truly original comes along and is like, I have an idea. You know, when Jordan Peele comes along and he's like, I got something, or Daniels are like, we're going to try something like that is when things really shake a little. Hopefully that keeps happening. What's next?

C (35:26)

Before our next question, just want to let you know we probably have already 15 advice questions, two of which I've put at the bottom of the rundown.

B (35:32)

Wow.

C (35:33)

Just putting that on your radar.

B (35:34)

Incredible.

A (35:34)

Thank you, guys.

B (35:35)

You did it.

A (35:36)

Wow.

C (35:36)

The next question comes from Michael. In honor of Send Help and Survivor50, let's flip the classic desert island question around. Instead of what movie you'd bring, what movie would you force each other to have as their only option? With the idea being they can't leave the island until they finally get it.

A (35:54)

Double horseprada, easy, over and over again.

B (35:57)

Is it that I don't get it?

A (35:59)

Yeah, I know I don't get it. I think you're resistant to it as well. You don't want to get it. You know, and it's a good movie on a desert island. No, I think it's a good movie. It could really click for you.

B (36:09)

I. You want me to believe it is a five star masterpiece and you think repeated viewings will reveal that. You don't think I'll turn against it by being exposed to it so often because I have. I don't have negative feelings towards it.

A (36:21)

I don't think that you value it.

B (36:23)

I see.

A (36:23)

And by definition, this would make you value it in the sense that it's something for you to. It's the only thing you have. Also, Bill's point stands. You know, you go to Paris, you get a makeover in New York. King Cole Bar.

B (36:36)

Tell you something. Devil Wars, Prada not available in 4K. Okay, what's going on there? What's up with that?

A (36:43)

I don't know. Maybe those people are just spending their money on other things. Like close Prada.

B (36:47)

They probably are. The devil wears Prada 2 trailer ran before Hoppers. Curious, I would say, based on the audience in my movie theater. And Alice was like, what's this?

A (36:57)

I will let her know. I will take her and we will find out together.

B (37:02)

First of all, just a few words on Survivor 50. Loving it so far. I think the three hour premiere was an act of evil and I don't support that. Just making any episode of television three hours is not okay. However, just love seeing all my old friends together again on an island.

A (37:18)

That's nice.

B (37:19)

Just fighting it out. It's a wonderful show. You should get involved.

A (37:21)

Has anyone been sent home?

B (37:22)

Oh, certainly. Yeah. Well, we've had two tribal councils and one injury evacuation thus far.

A (37:27)

Oh, no.

B (37:28)

Some poor guy who is a great player named Kyle, I believe he ruptured his Achilles in full, which is not what you want.

A (37:36)

No, absolutely.

B (37:37)

It was one of those things where they showed it and in real time when you watched it happen, you were like, no, it was like watching sports. Right.

C (37:45)

You knew immediately it was his Achilles.

B (37:47)

It was very tough. Wonderful. For me, just in keeping with the Sam Raimi thing, I think I'll just give you Evil Dead 2 and you could just sit with it and you can look at the craft and the creativity, the relationship to cinema history, that it has the wonders of Bruce Campbell's chin. There's so much Also, Bruce Campbell, diagnosed with a treatable but not curable cancer, he announced last week. Want to send my love to him. One of my all time favorite actors. That was very Sad. Evil Dead 2, just fucking banger. Banger. Okay.

A (38:16)

I can appreciate Craft.

B (38:18)

What's your preferred format on a desert island? Streaming.

A (38:24)

So am I building my own theater or does my preferred.

B (38:28)

Is this the Send Help island or

A (38:30)

can we like, you know, airlift in a full couch and.

B (38:35)

Not sure that's how that's gonna work. How would you remind me you. You would do well in the Send Help environment?

A (38:40)

No, no, no, no. Because first of all, I haven't watched Survivor.

B (38:43)

Okay?

A (38:44)

So when we saw Send Help, you kept turning to me and being like, this is like they do on Survivor and they do this on Survivor. And then afterwards I was asking you, so which skills did you recognize from Survivor? And like, do you and you have some practical knowledge?

B (39:00)

I guess I don't think I'd do very well.

A (39:03)

I would know to like, I need to build a shelter. I need to stay out of this. The sun.

B (39:08)

I could build the shelter. I have some concerns about fire.

A (39:10)

I mean, also, spoiler alert for Send Help, I guess. But, you know, if I had the knowledge that Rachel McAdams character has and Send Help, I'd be great.

B (39:20)

Well, sure. That's called cheating. Okay, what's the next question?

C (39:26)

Our next question comes from Drew. With the Warner Brothers merger, I've been wondering, why don't industry giants like Apple or Disney go after this storied studio and all it has to offer? I feel like they've got more than enough money and power to obtain it, so I don't get why they never threw their hat in the ring.

B (39:41)

I actually invited Tim Cook and Bob on here to join us. So. Tim, Bob, come on out, guys.

A (39:46)

I was gonna say, I actually did just get my advanced degree in like, debt load management. And so I'm able to explain Disney's balance sheet to you in, like, great detail.

B (39:57)

Disney, I mean, Disney's just now digging out of the Fox debt, so they were never really under consideration.

A (40:03)

And they have enough of their own stuff that they don't actually need it to compete.

B (40:07)

I'll tell you what, there was a lot of talk about Game Over. If the Netflix deal went through, if Disney bought Warner Brothers, that would really be IP Game Over. Then they would really have the complete neat war chest of valuable franchises. I don't think Disney was ever on the table, and particularly because they're bringing in a Parks chief to now run their Content business, which I think should tell you a little bit something about how they intend to monetize over the next 10 years. Apple. Did we talk about Apple as like it might have been offline where we were just like, couldn't it just be Apple and make this a little bit more coherent? That would have been just preferable.

A (40:39)

I do think a couple weeks ago we were at least talking about, you know, Apple has a. Or has had a distribution deal with a 24 in the past and it was always rumored.

B (40:49)

Maybe that was what we were talking about.

A (40:50)

Yeah, it was maybe rumored, but that like has never really happened. And it's just sort of unclear what Apple wants.

B (40:57)

I think they are enjoying just kind of ginning up their own stuff.

A (41:01)

Yeah.

B (41:01)

You know, like they feel very proud of the F1 thing. I think their movie and TV strategy has been like a little hit or miss. But it's kind of hard to just start from nothing. And they have built up like a very credible slate. And you go to Apple TV now and you're like, there's a lot to watch here. There's a lot of shows, there's a lot of original films, there's a lot of kids content and five years and they can just keep doing it because it's a drop in the bucket for them. Right. Structurally. And I don't, you know, I'm very curious to see where they go with movies. I wish that they were throwing more behind theatrical movies because I think they could end up doing really good business. And even taking an L would not be that big of a deal for them. But some of it is just reputational and what can be seen as far as acquiring. I mean, they've been very persistent actually. I think Eddie Q was on the town last year vehement that he was not that they were not going to pursue Warner Brothers. So it was never really under consideration. Could they afford it? Yeah, they would be a big. They would be doing it just to get the IP too. Right. I mean, what like.

A (41:59)

Yeah, but then it's like, what. What are they going to use the IP for? It sort of seems like a lot of distraction from, you know, here's what

B (42:09)

I think it would be.

A (42:09)

They don't need to sell Mickey Mouse or Batman branded iPads. You know, like they don't. They just have iPads.

B (42:16)

I think it would be not for the tech and the hardware. I think it would probably be a big experiential shift where they would actually start exploring theme parks. They would start exploring different lines of business that are Much more experiential, one to one, person to person in the real world, which they don't really do.

A (42:32)

Yeah.

B (42:33)

And that's just a totally different kind of a business. And you have to build up a whole infrastructure to do that. That's the one thing with Warner Brothers. And there was talk even of one of the studio lots being transformed into kind of like an experiential playground for people who love movies, TV shows, the Paramount lot.

A (42:51)

And then they would move to Warner Brothers.

B (42:52)

There's some centrality there, but there's no fucking parking there. So I don't know how that would work. But if they wanted to get involved in that business, in addition to being able to just have Batman and Harry Potter, I guess I could see that. And also HBO obviously just matches very neatly with what Apple TV has been correct. You know, like just tonally the vibe of the shows, even some of the administration and people like Richard Plepler advising on Apple content so that it would make sense. They just. They didn't want to do it.

A (43:19)

Yeah.

B (43:19)

So they didn't do it.

A (43:20)

You know what I was wondering about the other day related to Apple? Whatever happened to the Eye Vision Pro? I was thinking about it because I went to the eye doctor and was basically given a Vision Pro to do a test. A good version of A.I. yeah.

B (43:34)

Pretty fancy eye doctor.

A (43:35)

And then it's our local eye doctor. I recommend them. And what was his name?

B (43:41)

Jim. Eye Doctor.

A (43:42)

Yeah, exactly. And then I was like, oh, I haven't seen or heard from those things in actual years. And that was. I mean, I remembered it because that was another like not quite experiential, but their version of experiential. Right. And also trying to merge in with video game streaming, whatever. And that just didn't happen.

B (44:03)

It didn't happen. I tested one out. Van Lethan is the only person I know who actually bought one and he enjoyed it. I watched some of a movie and a really unique kind of baseball game experience with the headset and I thought it was very cool. I can't imagine wearing a headset for hours on end. That's just not something that seems fun to me. And it is. I just rewatched Ready Player One to prepare for the Steven Spielberg conversation that I'm having later this week. And you know, that movie, which I think is pretty cool actually and a little bit misunderstood, is about the hellscape of like plugging yourself in and not unplugging. And so I think that there was some. Some wisdom in that.

A (44:41)

Yeah. But I just I thought of it because their version of experiential is still gadget based because that's ultimately what they are. They are, you know, and the most recent iteration didn't work. But I do still think their business aim is to release another product that they can sell, rather. Rather than, you know, a Batman theme park.

B (44:59)

I think you're right. What's our next question?

C (45:02)

Next question comes from Skyler. My question is related to a comment Amanda made in the alternative Oscars episode about how she visits the Rebecca Ferguson death bridge every time she is in Venice.

A (45:12)

It's been twice, but it is true every time. Every time. Maybe this year too.

C (45:17)

My question is simple. Is Venice the greatest film location in the world? If not, what is?

A (45:23)

I don't know. I mean, Paris, New York.

B (45:26)

It's New York for me. Yeah, but that's, you know, I've got some biases there.

A (45:29)

I just like, I just want to put Paris in as a European location. They've done good work.

B (45:34)

Absolutely. You know, no question about it.

A (45:35)

The light just right.

B (45:37)

What's the name of that bridge?

A (45:39)

Oh, I don't know. I don't speak Italian. Let's see. Venice. Mission Impossible Bridge.

B (45:43)

Why don't you see a bridge?

A (45:45)

Dead Reckoning Bridge. Let's see the Bridge of. Hold on. You got this size.

B (45:52)

Hang in there, mama.

A (45:52)

But S I C S I G H S, not C Y's size. Like, like, like I size.

B (46:00)

I G H S. Yes, the bridge of size, apparently. Wow, that's dramatic. That was not what I was expecting.

A (46:08)

I mean, this is an AI thing, so I got it.

B (46:10)

I was expecting like mozzarella, Montepulciano.

A (46:14)

Sure. You know, that is not respectful of the, of the Italian people.

B (46:20)

Is this, Are we on right now? Is this going out live?

C (46:23)

I don't know.

A (46:23)

Let's see. Now I'm looking on Reddit and I don't, I don't. Some people just talking about their opinions of this scene, which they didn't like. So we're going to go with Bridge of Sighs, which apparently also Lord Byron wrote about. Again, this is an AI answer, so it's wrong. Most likely. There are a lot of bridges in Venice, so. But there's a little bit of a crowd when I'm there. Usually.

B (46:47)

I have not been to Venice before. Yeah, I can't say how it matches specifically. I think Rome, speaking of Italy, is also a wonderful movie location.

A (46:56)

Rome, dynamite.

B (46:58)

Love Rome. The city had a wonderful time there.

A (47:02)

London, not bad.

B (47:03)

London is interesting. We can just name large cities. Chicago is a fine city. I think Oslo. I enjoy Oslo.

A (47:15)

Have you been to Oslo?

B (47:16)

No.

A (47:16)

Okay.

B (47:16)

But I've enjoyed the cinema of the Norwegians.

A (47:19)

Now, I was thinking of all of the places where Bond did opening sequences. So Mexico City. That's a really good one.

B (47:26)

Yes. I love Mexico City.

A (47:27)

Let's see. I mean, we haven't said Los Angeles.

B (47:30)

Pretty good.

C (47:31)

I was just about to say that. Took about a dozen names, it was.

B (47:34)

And then they stopped letting us shoot movies here. You know, I dramatically overrate crime 101 because I'm like, I know what that is. That's very rare to be able to look at a movie and say, I know what that is in 2026.

A (47:48)

I don't know.

B (47:48)

I got to get to Venice one of these days. When's that going to be?

A (47:52)

I don't know whether it'll be this year, but it won't be.

B (47:53)

I've already signed up for Telluride, so I won't be going to Venice, but maybe one year.

A (47:58)

It's great.

B (47:59)

Okay, what's the next question?

C (48:00)

Next question comes from Tim. What is a movie you objectively know is flawed, messy, and maybe even chaotic, but you still defend with your whole heart?

B (48:10)

This comes right on the heels of the Bride. Absolutely tanking at the box office, like, far worse than anyone could have imagined. I think it was tracking for between 12 and 18 million dollars on Thursday, and it finished at 7 million dollars.

A (48:23)

You know, it's bad when Just Jared does its Instagram card and says, it's bad news for the Bride at the box office. And I was like, damn, even Just Jared is getting in on the Bride. They're not regularly doing box office criticism.

B (48:37)

Yeah, it's a. It's a very dramatic underperformance for that film.

A (48:40)

I skipped this question in my prep and was like, I'll come back to it. And then I forgot. So you got to go first. Because anytime people are like, it's flawed, it's messy, but, like, you know, it's perf. No, to me, it is perfect, therefore it's not flawed.

B (48:53)

Well, and that was actually at the

A (48:55)

center of me with the love actually cards. To me, it is perfect.

B (48:59)

That's like. I think that I really cotton to a kind of insane. I went for it kind of a movie that doesn't totally come together. I really have a real, like, sentimentality about those kinds of movies. It's why I was defending the Bride and pretty much enjoyed my experience watching it while also acknowledging it has a lot of problems. And we talked about Mickey 17. We talked about Babylon. We talked about these movies.

A (49:23)

Here Comes the Motherfucking Bride. I realized as I was falling asleep last night that I didn't say that on our podcast, but that's a real thing that she says. That's how she ends the prologue. And then it says the Bride in. I liked the typeface, like the font that they use.

B (49:37)

Very cool.

A (49:38)

That's my one nice thing about the bride.

B (49:42)

There's a somewhat similar question to this about, like, disasters that we'll get to in a minute. And it feels like they kind of feel intertwined because I don't know, you know, like, my easy answer for this is always Congo, which is like, the dumbest movie of all time. That I think is a five star classic.

A (49:57)

Well, I was about to say Triple Frontier.

B (49:59)

Yeah, that's pretty good. I mean, is it chaotic?

A (50:04)

I don't know. They're just like on the side of a mountain for a while. And I'm not really sure about any of the choices that Ben Affleck's making. Yeah, but that's just like Charlie Hunnam, like, has a breakdown in a public, you know?

B (50:14)

I know. So relatable. Holy shit.

A (50:16)

You ever been to a Publix?

B (50:18)

I have. Yeah.

A (50:18)

Okay.

B (50:19)

Yeah.

A (50:19)

You don't need to say it like that. It's fine.

B (50:21)

How did I say it?

A (50:22)

We were just like, that's a thing that you people in the south have, and we don't really care about it.

B (50:26)

That's not what I was saying.

A (50:27)

It was dismissive.

B (50:28)

You know what? The shopping, the supermarket that I think of most when it comes to the south is Food Lion.

A (50:36)

Oh, yeah.

B (50:36)

This is Food Lion. When I would visit North Carolina.

A (50:38)

Oh, yeah.

B (50:39)

We would always hit the Food Lion.

A (50:41)

That is where my grandparents in North Carolina shopped. Always. Yeah.

B (50:44)

Yeah. Is Food lion still kicking around?

A (50:46)

I hope so.

B (50:46)

Okay, cool. You know what was elite going to college in Ithaca was Wegmans. And Wegmans has kind of spread now.

A (50:53)

I've heard a lot about Wegmans. Still have never been

B (50:57)

Wegmans, Jack.

C (50:58)

It's where I first purchased alcohol under the age of 21 with a fake ID. Congratulations, Sam Adams. Pumpkin beer for October.

B (51:05)

Nice.

A (51:06)

Sure.

B (51:06)

This is Sanders lore. I love it.

A (51:09)

I would really like to go to Wegmans. Cause I really like grocery stores and I like grocery store, like, you know, tourism, sure. But I just. I've never made it to a Wegmans there.

B (51:18)

I feel like it is expanding. And it was the first. It was. I don't know if it predates Whole Foods entirely, but it Was the first time where I was like, this is a lot of fucking grocery store.

A (51:27)

Yeah.

B (51:28)

Like there are a lot of places to get. And being 18 and just being like, I'll just buy every bad junk food that I was not allowed to eat as a kid in my mom's house. Thrilling experience. Anyway, I don't know how we got here. What's the next question?

C (51:39)

Next question comes from Thomas. What are some upcoming titles that you hope will be world premiering at this year's Cannes Film Festival?

B (51:47)

Should we make an announcement?

A (51:49)

Sure. We're booked for Cannes. It's happening. Cannes 2026. Sean and Amanda.

B (51:55)

We're going.

A (51:56)

We are going.

B (51:56)

We're going.

A (51:59)

We have a place to stay. I got to submit that expense report. That's a good reminder. Thanks so much. And I have some outfit concepts, as do you. So I'm pretty excited.

B (52:11)

I am excited. I'm a little nervous.

A (52:14)

Why?

B (52:14)

Because this is kind of the last mountain to scale in terms of like.

A (52:18)

And you don't feel you'll be good enough.

B (52:20)

Well, I just don't know what to expect. It's a lot. It's a very long festival.

A (52:23)

That is true.

B (52:24)

It's a 12 day festival. I want to do a good job being at the festival, but just given what our job is, it's not really coherent for us to be out for 13 days. So I'm trying to figure out how we can pull that off. And I want to see as much as possible. Like, that's my disease. Right. Is trying to like knock everything off the list. And that's not totally achievable at can. So I want to just play chess properly.

A (52:46)

Well, it is. It's very different from what I understand Telluride to be, which is just everyone convenes together for three days and does trust falls and then like we just see films.

B (52:58)

That's not what it's like. But continue.

A (53:00)

And I'm assuming that this is a little bit more like Venice. It is also ticketed like Venice.

B (53:05)

Yes.

A (53:06)

So I look forward to us up at like 1am on the French ticketing website. But you'll be able to see a lot. You do also. Bless you. You don't have to file reviews three times a day.

B (53:18)

I don't. But I want to try to find a way to cover it in real ish time.

A (53:23)

Yes.

B (53:24)

You know, like realish.

A (53:25)

But that is different than having to go to three press conferences and file. So I think you'll be able to see a lot.

B (53:31)

You're right. We're very lucky. In terms of the way that we cover the movies and cover the festivals, I'm really grateful that we've been able to figure that out in the way that we have. And I don't want to spoil, actually, what I think is usually a very fun episode where we convene to talk about what we've seen. And I think we should also divide and conquer a little bit, too. You should definitely see some stuff that I can't make and vice versa. But there's a lot of potentially great stuff this year. I don't know if there's anything on the. I don't. You know, the, like, Killers of the Flower moon level. You know, I don't know that that's sort of like. It would be my hope and dream to see the world premiere of Blank

A (54:09)

Blank, or even the year of Megalopolis and Horizon and a lot of other things that turned out to be fairly disastrous.

B (54:20)

Right. Outrageous misfires, but were historic. Yeah, see, that's a really good answer to the previous question. Like, Horizon is, like, kind of a mess, but I enjoyed it. Megalopolis is kind of a mess, but I really need to revisit because I didn't like it very much.

A (54:31)

So what is Kevin Costner doing opening Zero Bond in Las Vegas?

B (54:36)

What is Zero Bond?

A (54:37)

It's just the new. Listen, he was just at a club opening with Tom Brady and Alex Earl.

B (54:43)

Wow.

A (54:44)

This weekend, exciting. I have some. They really need to get that Horizon money back.

B (54:48)

Okay, so Alex Earl and Tumbri. That's officially happening.

A (54:51)

They have been seen a lot of the same places.

B (54:55)

Sounds great. Movies at Cannes. We did go through this a bit in January in terms of what we thought could happen. But here's the list that I made. Tell me if you have additions. Any other thoughts? The Adventures of Cliff Booth. Netflix doesn't premiere movies there, so I assume that's not gonna happen. Yeah, but it's QT and Fincher.

A (55:16)

Well, it's this summer is the release.

B (55:18)

It is this summer.

A (55:19)

And it's not, like, September 15, which would technically be the definition of summer. We don't know either. This is on Netflix. We don't know shit.

B (55:28)

I also don't have any information, so I'm not pretending like I do. I have not talked to Gwen about it.

A (55:33)

Fincher has a history of Venice, and Netflix is very, very Venice Forward. So if they wanted to do something splashy.

B (55:40)

Yes, but this would be my number one with the poll in terms of anticipation.

A (55:43)

Are you kidding? That would be so exciting.

B (55:45)

I have to put the way of the Wind, the Terrence Malick movie which has been rumored for seven consecutive years. Some people seem to think this could be the year. I think April 9th is the announcement date. So we have a full month till we find out what's coming. Jack of Spades, the new Joel Cohen movie, which I think I took in the auction.

A (56:01)

That sounds right.

B (56:03)

Nicholas winning refence. Her Private Hell will almost certainly be there.

A (56:07)

CR Come to Cannes.

B (56:08)

Yeah. That is.

A (56:09)

You think Chris is watching right now on Netflix?

B (56:12)

Yeah, I think he has to make his own podcast right now.

A (56:14)

I will. They're usually wrapped by now.

B (56:16)

That's true.

A (56:17)

I will say you want him to

B (56:18)

burst in the last time.

A (56:19)

We know. But the last time we went live. Like I heard from a lot of friends and love loved ones via text message. Just noting that everyone's silent right now,

B (56:26)

so it's a good point. Would you. Would you say you have a lot of friends and loved ones?

A (56:33)

It depends on the day.

B (56:35)

That's exactly how I feel. Don't we all feel that way? Isn't that the mystery of life?

A (56:40)

Yeah.

B (56:40)

You know, sometimes you're so alone and sometimes we're so together. Disclosure day, perhaps.

A (56:46)

I'd love it.

B (56:46)

The new Steven Spielberg film, which I think it'll only come out maybe three weeks or four weeks after Cannes. That seems definitely possible. Spielberg has premiered five films out of competition. I think he has only competed for the Palme d' or one time and it was for his first theatrical feature film, the Sugarland Express. I've been doing a lot of Steven Spielberg. I'm excited recently. I'm excited for her disclosure day too.

A (57:08)

Oh, I'm also excited for you to talk to Steven Spielberg.

B (57:11)

Oh, yeah. I'm nervous. Digger.

A (57:14)

I think that's a Venice.

B (57:15)

I think you're right. The entertainment system is down. Ruben Oslin's new film, this, to me

A (57:21)

he's, you know, the prince of Cannes. So that seems like a no brainer. Also, that means that once again, Kirsten Dunst and I would be sharing the same air.

B (57:29)

Yeah. How do we get you guys together socially?

A (57:33)

I don't know. And I really don't want to force it. Right.

B (57:35)

Because what if I pursue it? I have some contacts.

A (57:38)

She's genuinely cool. So she's not. I don't want anyone to be like, hey, this person wants to be your friend. The one time I met her, she was great. We just talked about kid stuff. So she's lovely.

B (57:47)

But no one, hey, this person wants to be your friend. No one would. You can't be Intro that way.

A (57:52)

Well, I know.

B (57:52)

I feel like you guys would get along great.

A (57:54)

I do as well. But like, but any of like the fake, the Hollywood bullshit setup is just not going to work, you know?

B (58:00)

Okay.

A (58:00)

So I gotta, I gotta think smart.

B (58:02)

Do you like her? Because she's real talk central, just like you. She's like we're just cutting through it. Absolutely. Okay, I get that. That's nice. Do you think she has many loved ones and friends?

A (58:13)

I think she does.

B (58:14)

I think she probably does too. So she doesn't need anymore. Okay. Paper Tiger, James Gray's new movie.

A (58:19)

I hope so. Speaking of big in France.

B (58:22)

Kind of want to ask him Shaya Millen right now.

A (58:24)

Yeah, that'd be good. You think James is watching on Netflix? Probably not.

B (58:30)

Certainly not. Does he have Netflix? We should talk about that. 1949, Pavel Pavlikowski's new movie.

A (58:36)

This would be really fun.

B (58:39)

There's naturally a bunch of very exciting potential international films. Fjord, also with Renato Reinzva and oh my gosh, what is Bucky Barnes name? Sebastian.

A (58:51)

Stan.

B (58:51)

Stan. Thank you, Hope. Na Hong Jin's new movie. I haven't seen the wailing in like 10 years. I'm just going to rewatch the Wailing before Cannes just in case this movie is playing there. Albacera's out of this World starring Riley Keough, his first English language work I'm pretty excited about. Is there anything else that you're thinking about that could be there?

A (59:12)

I mean, I think you took the big ones.

B (59:13)

You think Mando and Grogu will do at a competition?

A (59:16)

Well, when are we gonna see it?

B (59:17)

That's the real challenge.

A (59:19)

And how am I gonna see it with my child? I mean, it's fine. Chris Ryan's taking him as he knows.

B (59:25)

He says he's not seeing the film

A (59:26)

and then I told him that he will be seeing it with Nox, who will be so locked in, who's so excited, has so many questions, you know, and maybe Joanna and Mallory, who have become kind of my like Ask Jeeves. But instead it's Ask how Savar questions about the Mandalorian.

B (59:43)

Interesting how you think of them as service people and not loved ones or friends.

A (59:47)

They're lovely. But when Nox asked me, is Grogu an animal or a human at 5:30 on a Thursday? What am I supposed to do? And then he follows up with, can you ask the director?

B (59:56)

That's actually.

A (59:56)

I'm like, I don't. No, I can't. But these people know they're close enough. Okay, so we'll ask Mallory and Joanna.

B (60:02)

I never had Jon Favreau in the podcast. Should I pursue that?

A (60:06)

I guess so.

B (60:07)

On Knox's behalf.

A (60:07)

And then I'll present the list of questions.

B (60:10)

Always been a fan of Jon Favreau. I don't really. You know, his career has taken a turn. That wouldn't be my first choice, but, you know, those early stretch of the Swingers story was iconic to me. One of the first screenplays I ever bought was Jon Favreau screenplay for Swingers.

A (60:27)

Have him on.

B (60:28)

It's a little personal.

A (60:29)

Maybe he'll be in Cannes for the out of. Of, you know, out of competition screening.

B (60:33)

Yeah.

A (60:33)

And we can all see it together.

B (60:34)

He's pumped for Fjord.

A (60:37)

You don't know him.

B (60:38)

You don't know. I don't. I know he loves movies.

A (60:40)

Yeah.

B (60:41)

I hope he likes Fjord. Any other. Any other thoughts on Ken? You're excited?

A (60:45)

I'd like to go to the cap.

B (60:47)

Okay.

A (60:48)

So if you're having a party, just think of me. You probably also. We should go on a boat. How are you on sea?

B (60:54)

Fine. I'm from.

A (60:55)

You're never ever sick at sea?

B (60:56)

No.

A (60:58)

Okay, then we'd like to go on a boat.

B (61:00)

I didn't say I want to.

A (61:04)

So if you're out there, you're gonna be a can let us know.

B (61:06)

Are there movies playing there? That's the thing I'm most excited about.

A (61:09)

The mornings are for movies, then the evenings are for boats.

B (61:13)

Is that how it works?

A (61:15)

I would hope that. I mean, I'm just basing this on the Venice of it all, but that all of the, you know, that the big movies at least get pressed. Press screenings in the morning, so then you can do the press conference and then they have like, the premiere later at night. That's what I would assume.

B (61:28)

Do you feel that you'd like to go to press screenings or premieres?

A (61:32)

Press screenings. As much as I can. I mean, it would be fun to do one premiere, you know, and just see all the hoopla, but it's inefficient.

B (61:40)

I see. Good question. Thank you for asking. All right, Jack, what's up?

C (61:44)

Next question comes from Brandon. Every March, especially after the Oscars happen, I like to watch a bunch of baseball movies. In the lead up to opening day, what are your favorite garbage sports movies and why don't we get them anymore?

A (61:57)

Opening day at my house on Saturday.

B (62:00)

Yes. Little League has begun.

A (62:02)

That's right.

B (62:03)

I saw the Instagram clip. I'm very surprised. Yes.

A (62:07)

There we go. This is a nice tradition. I like Baseball movies. I like sports movies. These were important to my childhood. Like bad movies about sports that aren't regularly broadcast on American television.

B (62:21)

I have a bunch of these as well. I didn't write mine down. I will just say they don't happen anymore because audiences don't show up for them. And that this was like stock and trade Disney strategy for 30 plus years. That almost every year without fail, there would be a new kind of like high concept, low execution movie for nine year olds about sports. And you've listed some of them here. Others not listed include like the Little Giants, for example, Angels in the Outfield. You know, there were a lot of movies that were like that when I was, you know, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, where you could kind of count on them at all times. And there was definitely a generation, our generation had our stretch of these and I think that they really carried on and extended to people who were in their like 30s, even their 20s. And now it feels like if you're like 15, what are the sports movies of your life? Like Creed, I mean Warrior, you know, like what are the.

A (63:17)

Creed. Creed would be great if the, if the youth are embracing Creed.

B (63:22)

Yeah, the way back.

A (63:23)

I mean, that would be exciting. I do remember taking F1, our littlest cousin Max on Thanksgiving to Creed 2. Hi, Max, if you're listening. And as the lights went down, he said, so what happened in Creed 1? So I don't think that, you know, that generation 18ish is embracing things.

B (63:40)

Does Max listen to the show?

A (63:43)

Sometimes. But listen, he's in college, she's got a lot of obligations.

B (63:46)

What makes you more concerned? Loved ones of which you have many listening to the show or famous people that you've heard listen to the show because we've now heard some, some, some prominent famous people are listening.

A (63:57)

No famous people or no people who work in cinema should ever listen to this podcast. Okay.

B (64:03)

Why?

A (64:04)

Because they know things. Like they, first of all, they know where they know all the secrets, but like they know how things work. And this is, this is not, this is a, this is a fan thing. This is a celebration. You know, I think there should be some.

B (64:18)

Would you say this is a fandom podcast?

A (64:21)

No, because I think we're often too mean. But I also don't really feel that artists should read criticism of their work, positive or negative.

B (64:29)

Disagree.

A (64:30)

I don't, I don't know how you can preserve the. Well, let's see.

B (64:33)

I think people should be themselves and if they are neurotic and need to see that feedback, I think they should.

A (64:39)

I think that obviously artists are different from people engaged in a commercial enterprise that has to make money, which movies also are. And you kind of do have to take some of that feedback. But no, I don't think filmmakers should be listening to what we have to say. I think you could just go and

B (64:57)

create and there's hearing us and there's listening, right?

A (65:01)

Sure. But I don't know. We don't look at a lot of things.

B (65:04)

You know, I listen.

A (65:06)

This is what I'm saying. So famous people, good job on everything you're doing. And I would say to you what I say to the rest of the dabob. Go outside.

B (65:17)

Okay. What are. What were your garbage? Sports movies.

A (65:20)

Cutting edge. Essential.

B (65:21)

Yep.

A (65:22)

Just absolutely dynamite related. Mighty Ducks. The Sandlot is not garbage. But it's for children.

B (65:29)

I don't think any of these first three movies are garbage.

A (65:31)

I don't either.

B (65:31)

They're garbage. In the classical. Like, we love this Edge, written by Tony Gilroy. The Sandlot is an. A masterpiece.

A (65:38)

So is the next film, Bring it on, which is a straight up masterpiece and is also about a competition. Cheerleading. Chariots of Fire, which my parents tried to show me when I was like 10. And great. You know, the theme song and the guys running on the beach. It's very good. It's not really garbage, but also. So it won best picture over. That's 1980, right? Yeah. So it won over Raging Bull. So I don't know whether we can defend that.

B (66:07)

No, that was Ordinary People.

A (66:10)

Oh, that's right. So what did it win over?

B (66:12)

I think Chariots of fire is 84.

A (66:15)

81. 81.

B (66:17)

Okay.

A (66:17)

Okay.

B (66:17)

And what is. What did it win over there?

A (66:19)

Well, I just. Chariots of fire. So 1982 Oscars. We gotta really standardize this. Okay, okay. It won over reds. Yeah, that's tough.

B (66:29)

That's. That for me.

A (66:30)

That's a. Yeah. And that was a split Beatty one for directing.

B (66:32)

Anyway, I don't like that.

A (66:35)

It is really funny to follow people around who are running or exercising with the Chariots of Fire.

B (66:40)

Do you like the Vangelis? The theme?

A (66:42)

Yeah, of course. It's very beautiful.

B (66:44)

Do you run to it?

A (66:45)

No, but like sometimes when Knox is on the playground and I'm trying to get him to run somewhere, I play it on my phone and then we run along and it gets him from A to B.

B (66:53)

Can I tell you something? I've been preparing for the To Live and Die in LA rewatchables, which is recording immediately after this. Oh, Normal day for me.

A (67:00)

Congratulations.

B (67:02)

And I used to think that the 80s sucked. And I used to think that the pop music from the 80s was not interesting. And I didn't really like the cinema. I'm coming around.

A (67:11)

Listen. Harold Faltermire, a God in our house.

B (67:14)

Wow.

A (67:15)

I don't know. What. I know nothing besides his music. So I don't. And his contributions to cinema.

B (67:19)

So, like, in the event he has 10 people tied up in his basement.

A (67:22)

Don't, like, bring the politics to me. I don't know. I haven't done that with that research. Yeah. Power, powerful stuff.

B (67:30)

Okay. A couple of others. Like I get to say Wimbledon.

A (67:33)

Speaking of.

B (67:34)

Kirsten, Wimbledon stinks, but okay. Excuse me.

A (67:39)

Tin Cup. Yeah, that's more of your alley. It also stinks, but whatever.

B (67:43)

Please stop.

A (67:44)

Please stop Molly's game. She was a competitive skier. That is garbage sports. If I've ever seen Watch along garbage.

B (67:54)

That would be really good. That would be good.

A (67:56)

So fun.

B (67:56)

Yeah.

A (67:57)

Okay. No one watches those, but it would be good. Yeah. And then Blue Crush.

B (68:02)

Yeah. I don't know if I've seen that.

A (68:05)

That was that.

B (68:05)

Oh, yeah. Keep Osworth.

A (68:06)

Yeah, that was a thing when we were young, Jack. Blue Crush. Ever heard of it?

C (68:10)

No.

A (68:10)

Yeah.

B (68:12)

I mean, a few others, like Miracle is just good, you know, like that's. But that's kind of in the same zone. Remember the Titans is a famous version of this.

A (68:19)

This isn't a list of like, good sports movies. Those are mainstream sports movies. Mainstream and garbage.

B (68:25)

Different.

A (68:26)

Sure.

C (68:26)

Yeah.

B (68:27)

That's kind of the Big Green, the soccer movie. You ever see that one?

A (68:30)

No, I never saw that one.

B (68:31)

You're kind of anti soccer, aren't you?

A (68:33)

No, I'm at soccer practice every Saturday, except when it's my turn to stay home with the sleeping baby.

B (68:38)

Thunderstruck starring Kevin Durant.

A (68:41)

I haven't seen this.

B (68:42)

Came out like seven years ago.

A (68:43)

Darring.

B (68:44)

Kevin Durant was when he was still on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thunderstruck is a play on words.

A (68:48)

And he's the star.

B (68:49)

He's the co star. Along with a young boy.

A (68:52)

But how much screen time? How much does the movie rest on Kevin Durant's shoulders?

B (68:57)

Inadequate amount. A teenage klutz becomes the star of his high school basketball team when he magically acquires the abilities of his hero, NBA star Kevin Durant. But the switch leaves Durant unable to score.

A (69:09)

Oh, dear.

B (69:10)

It's kind of a body swap.

A (69:12)

Okay.

B (69:13)

With NBA.

A (69:14)

I haven't seen it. How'd it turn out?

B (69:16)

What's the body swap movie? It's terrible. What's the body swap movie with Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore?

A (69:21)

What's that movie called? I don't.

B (69:23)

I think that's. Who's.

A (69:24)

Like father, like son.

B (69:26)

Yeah. Is that. Are they. Is that it? Is it? No. Is it Judge Reinhold with Kirk Cameron?

A (69:31)

What is this? Let's see. No, this is. The father and son are switching minds in this.

B (69:37)

Yeah. Okay.

A (69:37)

Like father, like son.

B (69:38)

Yeah. That movie's a banger. What's the. Is there a Judge Reinhold body swap movie, too? I feel like there is. Yeah. Vice versa. Fuck, yeah. Vice Versa is actually the superior film.

A (69:47)

Okay.

B (69:47)

Vice Versa is Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage and they body swap.

A (69:51)

Wow.

B (69:52)

And it is fucking good, let me tell you.

A (69:54)

Okay. We're talking about sports movies right now.

B (69:57)

Are we. I said thunderstruck. People were screaming at the tv. I mean, Karate Kid, sure.

A (70:07)

But, like, is that garbage? I guess it is. I don't know whether. I don't. What's. What's the definition of garbage here?

B (70:14)

Ralph Macchio, the pride of Long Island.

A (70:15)

Yeah.

B (70:16)

Thank you to Ralph, noted Mets fan. Okay, what's the next question?

C (70:20)

Next question comes from Patrick from Ghana. What recent underseen or underappreciated movies do you see becoming a cult classic in the future?

B (70:30)

What do you think about my theory of the holy trinity of low wattage, late 2000 and tens, early 2000 and twenties Rom coms of Palm Springs? Plus one and set it Up.

A (70:42)

These are good key attributes are that they have, if not the next generation of movie stars, but young stars. We really like Glen Powell, Andy Samberg, Christina Miladi, Zoe Deutsch is the other in Set it up. And then plus one is Jack Quaiden, Maya Erskine, plus one, barely seen at all. So if anyone has not seen that, what a delight.

B (71:08)

I feel like we should do a new rom com canon. Okay, I was thinking about this, and I was like. Because these other movies that I listed here, and I'm not saying these are the best answers ever, but I'm like, these already kind of have their own cults. They already had, like, instant cults because of the filmmaker who was attached or whatever. And I remember when Set it up came out and Set it up, it's like 2016. It's a long time ago now. But when it came out, I was like, what the hell is this? It was one of the only times I can remember in the last 10 years where I was like, where did this come from? Who made this? Whose idea was this? And probably because it was based in part on Grantland but, you know, still, there was something in it where I was like, how did this get over the line, given what was happening in movies at that time? And I do feel that the same vibe is in plus one in Palm Springs, where it's like, it's dramedy. There's like real world stakes, but it's kind of silly. You know, in Palm Springs case, it's more elevated because of the time travel concept.

A (72:01)

The tricky thing is that these are all direct to streaming. That's the other thing which there's been no shortage of direct to streaming romantic comedies, films and TV shows. But like a lot of movies in the last past 10 years. Yes, many of them starring our greatest former movie stars and most of them, like, quite bad. But it does seem like the high profile, not very good streamers still get all of the, like, the attention and where things are. Where things are directed.

B (72:34)

Yeah, no, I think you're right. There's. I think there's like. I think those three movies I I listed are kind of like the Hidden Bridge to the Kissing Booth to all the boys I loved before the Colleen Hoover wave. Like, they're not. Those movies are not really that funny. They're much more in the sort of like, romance kind of teen obsession. And the other movies are more calm than Rom, I would say.

A (72:58)

Yeah, no, they're like more vibey, I guess. So they're just. They're.

B (73:03)

Is that the best word I can come up with?

A (73:05)

They're traditional rom coms where they. The people are like, opposed and at war until the very last moment when they kiss and make up. That's it. And so much about what's going on is the world that it's set in or like the premise, Palm Springs being like, oh, we're Groundhog Daying it, but at a wedding. Also, many of these two out of three wedding based. They both start at weddings. They don't end at weddings.

B (73:32)

Plus one is such a banger because it deploys this really, really well.

A (73:36)

I know, but your wedding rule is. Would you like to state it?

B (73:39)

If your film opens with a wedding good, if it ends with a wedding bad.

A (73:41)

Right. Palm Springs does end with a wedding, but it's not.

B (73:46)

Well, it's kind of in a continuous

A (73:48)

loop of wedding, so it's allowed. And the other things, those are just different genres, like the kissing booth, it's the teen thing, which is very different. And the Colleen Hoover stuff is romance, weird, whatever. So I think part of the reasons that these work is because they are just really traditional, structured Rom coms. I agree.

B (74:10)

And if they don't have a cult, I'd like to inspire them.

A (74:12)

Okay, good idea. The rest of your list is good.

B (74:15)

So some other ideas I had for this Pearl, which I do think is basically a cult movie already. I think, you know that the Ti west trilogy is well known and well covered, but, like, that movie in particular, I think has like a cosplay quality to it where people are just obsessed with that character. Bottoms.

A (74:31)

Just saw that Alex Raspberry put a question in here.

B (74:33)

Yeah, I put it in there for him.

A (74:37)

No, Bottoms is great.

B (74:37)

Bottoms is great, but not super well seen, but I think generationally well seen by younger moviegoers and also has like,

A (74:46)

IO Debery and Rachel Sennett and Molly Gordon and Ty Gerber. Yeah. Like everybody. All the people who have then a whole generation.

B (74:56)

Beau is afraid.

A (74:57)

Great movie.

B (74:58)

That I think will be dramatically reclaimed in the next 10 years.

A (75:01)

Okay.

B (75:02)

Red Rocket.

A (75:03)

Loved it.

B (75:04)

Honestly, this is the one that I would have picked for all the Oscar hosannas for. For Sean. I feel like this is like, maybe his best movie. Saltburn.

A (75:13)

Yeah. But that was also. It was reclaimed. As soon as it hit Amazon prime, it was watched.

B (75:19)

Was anybody like, this is actually good.

A (75:22)

I think a lot of young people.

B (75:24)

What do you think, Jack?

C (75:25)

I don't know if a lot of young people were saying it's good, but it. I feel like it did penetrate, like the Gen Z possible culture stream.

B (75:32)

Chris Ryan, he enjoyed it.

C (75:34)

Yeah.

B (75:34)

Yeah. Well, he identified with the lead character,

A (75:36)

me more than any other. Emerald fennel. Fennel for you. Yes.

B (75:40)

That was your favorite of the three.

A (75:42)

Yeah.

B (75:42)

Okay. Better man.

A (75:45)

We tried instantly.

B (75:47)

Yeah. Yasi's fave.

A (75:48)

Yeah.

B (75:48)

Yeah. Malignant. Have you seen Malignant?

A (75:52)

No. Which one is that?

B (75:53)

Malignant is a good movie. Swap. Omg. Holy cow. Just look up the log line. Actually, don't. Don't actually don't read anything.

A (76:00)

I didn't. I looked at the poster and then I found.

B (76:01)

It's a James Wan movie that came out during COVID Yeah. When he was like, I'm just gonna put. Set aside the major franchises that I work on for one minute and just make this bonkers original horror movie. And it's crazy. Yeah.

A (76:14)

I added a couple. Game Night night.

B (76:16)

I think it's there.

A (76:17)

I do think it's there. But it's like we aren't. We aren't saying it out loud yet. Every single time it comes up, everyone's like, oh, yeah. Remember how Game Night was the funniest movie ever made? And it still is. It was funny the first time I saw it. It's funny on rewatch.

C (76:30)

How can that be profitable for Frito Lay?

B (76:34)

Oh, no.

A (76:35)

Died, Which I realized when we saw Sent Help. I accidentally. I did that. That. Like an homage by accident. It was just kind of in my head. Yeah. So challengers, I think, also.

B (76:49)

Yes. A hit, though.

A (76:51)

Sure. But a modest hit.

B (76:53)

Yeah.

A (76:54)

And then I was wondering whether Marty supreme counts for this.

B (76:59)

I think the last two are too big, and I think that they're great examples of a legitimate power of a handful of people who are under the age of 35.

A (77:09)

Yeah.

B (77:09)

And we're doing 35 under 35 in April, and I'm excited for it. I'm a little concerned about it, given the, like, some of the new audience we've discovered in the last two years. We haven't done this project in the

A (77:23)

last couple of years.

B (77:25)

A lot of haters come out for this episode. It's usually, like, a really controversial episode.

A (77:30)

So you think it's going to be. You mean that just because of the negativity or because we have young people who are going to be like, okay, mom and dad both.

B (77:38)

You know, I think it kind of is coming in all directions. I mean, it's really good. Honestly, I like it when it's really noisy like that. But, you know, we had a debate about Margot vs Timothee Chalamet the last time we did that episode. And you've. You've held tightly to Margot, understandably, because she was coming right off of Barbie. I think I was pushing for Timothy,

A (77:57)

but it was, once again, it's reflective of what they've done versus what they're gonna do. So it's like, are we forecasting or are we marking the moment in time? Because now, yes, you're right, it's Timmy.

B (78:11)

And did Margot Robbie cross the 35 threshold?

A (78:13)

Yeah, she's not so.

B (78:14)

Okay. Interesting. Yeah, she's. Oh, she's 35. She just turned 35.

A (78:18)

Yeah.

B (78:18)

Okay, what's the next question?

C (78:22)

Next question comes from Day. What would you like to see in the new X Men movie? Coming from Jake Schreier. P.S. the outfits go hard. Amanda.

A (78:30)

Thank you.

B (78:33)

Well, I want something that feels familiar but new.

A (78:44)

Okay.

B (78:44)

I want the Chris Claremont era yellow and blue costumes. I want the classic team. I want Storm and Cyclops and Jean Grey and Wolverine and Beast and Professor Xavier. And I want to see Rogue. I want to see some of the Tier B characters. You know, Jubilee, Archangel. Be interested in that. I want to see them fight Magneto. I want to see A classical X Men story. And I don't want them to have to redo any of the stories they previously done. It would be interesting to see them try to do something brand new. That would be risky. Comic book movies don't usually not use source material. I imagine they are, because one, it, like, pats the fan on the head, you know, where they're like, oh, good Age of Apocalypse. You like this, you know, Dark Phoenix. You'll enjoy this. And it's also, like, because they're usually big, epic stories, it's very legible for Normie Amanda. That's pretty much it. You know, I think I could probably personally do 12 consecutive episodes. Wish casting, like, fan casting. Who should play the X Men? Actually, I made an offer to the legendary news and deals text thread, which includes the blank check guys and Alex Ross, Perry and a few other friends where I'm like, if you guys are all in LA at the same time, we will do an X Men fan casting episode, but they'll never all be in LA at the same time, so we'll never actually make that episode. What do you want from an X Men movie?

A (80:20)

I'd like for you to be happy.

B (80:21)

Okay, thank you.

A (80:21)

And I think I mean that both sincerely and also in the sense that I don't know if I can deal with the level of the breakdown, the fallout. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because this, you know, this will make many waves. It's not just that this movie is bad, but they've besmirched this legacy, and then they, you know, killed a whole studio and lots of people lost their jobs and all for what?

B (80:45)

For. For this.

A (80:46)

For an X Men movie that does not, you know, make the X Men Men happy. Be so.

B (80:50)

You nailed it, man. That's actually it. It's like when you boil down the Fox deal to its barest essential, it's barest essential as X Men. It's gotten other stuff. Right. We just talked about getting Conan and getting to do Alien and Predator and getting to do Deadpool vs. Wolverine and Fantastic Four and all that stuff.

A (81:09)

But getting to do.

B (81:12)

Yeah, remember, I don't want to talk about Fantastic Four. Anyway. I think, yeah, there will be a crash out amongst Gen X, millennial and Gen Z alike, because X Men is very, very sacred and very inspiring to young people who discover that comic book. Because it's a story about outcasts, people who are trying to find each other, found family, your favorite. But it actually literally is to find a family.

A (81:35)

Yeah.

B (81:36)

And it's about figuring out what makes you special instead of what makes you different. And that's a beautiful way of telling a story. I really think X Men is very, very intellectually deep in a way that is uncommon for a lot of comic books and also very legible for young kids. So I like it.

C (81:53)

After seeing Thunderbolts, do you think Shrier has the right sensibility for the material?

B (81:57)

I do. I think that movie is now maybe a bit underrated relative to what comic book movies have been since 2019. It's by no means perfect. But I do think he has a. A background in ya. And X Men is ya. It's about young kids going to school and figuring out their powers.

A (82:17)

I like that. I obviously prefer Spider man to all the other. The kid. Teens are the right entry point. Also, Psy can say Spider man now, just so you know. Spiderman.

B (82:26)

The problem is you can't have teen Wolverine.

A (82:30)

Why not?

B (82:30)

Because he's just not a teenager. You know, like Logan Weapon X. He was like a man.

A (82:35)

Oh, I see.

B (82:36)

When they put the Adamantium in his body.

A (82:38)

Okay. And they don't time drop.

B (82:40)

They do time travel.

A (82:41)

Well, there you go.

B (82:42)

You want old. Well, they did old Logan and younger X Men. Right? Didn't they already do that? No.

A (82:48)

You guys don't remember. There you go.

B (82:50)

Days of future past. Right. Isn't that what happens in that? I'm fairly certain that's what happens in that.

A (82:54)

Okay.

B (82:56)

Did you see that one?

A (82:57)

Is that the one where they go to Argentina or whatever?

B (83:02)

No idea what you mean.

A (83:04)

Anyone? Are you thinking Michael Fassbender?

B (83:07)

Oh, that's first class. No, that's not that one. All right, they go to Argentina in that one.

A (83:11)

I don't know where they go somewhere.

B (83:13)

All right, what's the next question? That's a generous question. Thank you. Day.

C (83:16)

Next question comes from Tom from England on longer journeys. I have started downloading a movie I have seen many times and then play the audio only through my car speakers. If you were to do this, which movie would you choose?

B (83:30)

Probably Network, because I can do network word for word.

A (83:33)

I was gonna say A Few Good Men.

B (83:35)

Another movie I've memorized large chunks of.

A (83:37)

Exactly. And also, you don't really need the visuals. Yeah, it's a lot of. There's not a lot of empty air.

B (83:44)

There's something to a movie that you can listen to. I shared this with you recently. I don't think I said this on the show. I watched the movie Nuremberg on December 24, 2025, and here's why I did it. 1. I was obviously cramming for the year end movies. I think Nuremberg is on Netflix now. You haven't seen it yet?

A (84:03)

No, I keep forgetting.

B (84:05)

It's probably worth a chat at some point.

A (84:06)

You keep saying this, but then there are all these other movies. Can we put it on the movies we missed episode?

B (84:12)

Yeah, that's a great idea. I won't say anything about it, but here's how I watched it. I was building a five foot tall dollhouse for my daughter. Spoiler alert. Alice, Santa is not really. She's not listening. Okay, so I'm building this dollhouse on Christmas Eve. And it was an ornate complicated house.

A (84:32)

It's quite impressive.

B (84:33)

It is a very large edifice.

A (84:35)

Does it close or is it.

B (84:37)

It does not.

A (84:37)

It's open. Yes.

B (84:38)

So it's just kind of like Toni Collette and Hereditary. You know, the miniatures are there and now we have a demon who obviously is living in our home. And so, you know, I couldn't really see the TV while I was building it because it was so tall all but I had Nuremberg on and I found Nuremberg to be an amazing movie to listen to because it's just people yelling at each other in rooms and over explaining the state of the world led one another. And so what I heard, I found it an enjoyable way to pass the time.

A (85:06)

When I was 7 or 8, I got really into and we would drive a lot to see. But my grandparents lived in Tennessee and North Carolina and so this was in the olden days before iPad's kids and I would get books on tape. But what I liked was not just the narrated audiobook. They were like audio plays of Agatha Christie mysteries that the like. I think it was the BBC. They're amazing and they can still. You can get them on Libby or whatever. I really recommend them. But they had the same. You know, there were people. It was kind of like Prairie Home Companion. They had people doing sounds and people doing like enough of a theatrical interesting to set the vibe. And it was sort of like listening to a movie. They're great. I recommend that. But I guess you could also just listen to Miss Marple on without looking at it.

B (85:55)

Semi related. Have you read Sidecho Matsumoto's Tokyo Express?

A (86:00)

I don't think so.

B (86:00)

Eileen was eyeing this recently and it's sort of an Agatha Christie esque Japanese detective novel that apparently is very good.

A (86:09)

Oh no, I haven't read this one.

B (86:10)

Okay. I figured if someone had read it, you would have read it. Okay, what's the next question?

C (86:13)

Next question comes from Brandon. What is your Most memorable movie theater experience ever.

B (86:23)

I vividly recall seeing There's Something About Mary, which I did with 10 friends.

A (86:31)

Oh, that's cute.

B (86:32)

And we were huge, huge, huge. Farrelly brothers and Jim Carrey and super slapstick comedy fans. And I don't know if buzz worked differently at that time in history, but the pre release buzz on There's Something About Mary, probably powered entirely by trailers and commercials, was like, this will be the funniest movie that ever touches your soul. And at the moment, it was like. It was. It was like going to see fucking Led Zeppelin or something.

A (87:07)

Were you reading Entertainment Weekly by then?

B (87:09)

I was, yeah. Whether my friend was part of it, I probably was like the plug for all that stuff. Yeah, yeah.

A (87:14)

So. But then you started and then you're like, no, we really gotta. We gotta do this.

B (87:18)

It was pretty, pretty electrifying. Gotta be honest. I was a teenage boy living on Long Island. You know, what do you want?

A (87:22)

That's beautiful. I'm trying to think. So as a child, I remember going to see Clueless at Lenox mall with my mother. I was 11, 10, turning 11. And just remember being like, wow, I'm allowed to get to see something this quote, unquote, grown up. And also movies can be like this. I also remember seeing A year later Jerry Maguire with my mother, which was a pretty scarring experience because of the sex scene. I remember seeing the American President with my dad multiple times in theater. So that's sort of a. I think we saw it four times in theaters.

B (87:58)

Okay, Four times You both went together?

A (88:00)

Yeah. Wow. We really liked it.

B (88:03)

That's very sweet.

A (88:03)

Well, yeah, he likes movies.

B (88:05)

That's when a centrist, liberal America was still possible. That's true.

A (88:09)

1995, that was the end of it. So I guess 95, big movie year. Let's see. And then as a grownup, I'm trying to think, I think a lot about the Irishman premiere.

B (88:21)

Oh, that was really incredible. Yes.

A (88:23)

Yeah. Which was.

B (88:24)

That was great.

A (88:25)

At the Chinese theater in Hollywood and was like a big deal and very fancy and everyone was there and then wound up being one of the last big premieres that we went to before COVID So that's a great call. And I also just remember the end of that movie and in the still of the night, playing through the Chinese. It really, really works. So. And then I remember taking my son and your son to Singin in the Rain, your daughter to Singin in the Rain at Vidius.

B (88:57)

Where's my son? Give me back my son.

A (89:02)

And they all started dancing in the front during the actual song. Singing in the rain.

B (89:07)

That's very, very special.

A (89:08)

It was really very special.

B (89:09)

More recent adult ones for me. I mentioned this on our 25 for 25, but I was at the New York Film Festival premiere of the Social Network in September of 2010, which was incredible. I took Alice to see Wish when she was barely two years old and I watched something happen that happened to me that is just unforgettable and is like a huge part of our relationship right now, which is very special. I don't know. More recent fare. I'm trying to think of what's an exciting festival screen. Oh, Uncut Gems at Telluride.

A (89:42)

Yeah, yeah.

B (89:42)

That was fucking electric. And it was amazing because 25% of the people were there left because they were like, this is disgusting to me. And the other 75% of us sickos were absolutely vibrating. Good question.

A (89:55)

This episode is brought to you by taxact. From opening credits to the final scene, taxact guides you through your taxes step by step with your maximum refund guaranteed. Get tips along the way. Add expert assist to talk to tax experts or let our experts do your taxes for you with expert Full Service Tax act helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit taxact.com to learn more. Conditions apply. See taxact.com for details.

B (90:23)

This episode is brought to you by the Autograph Journey credit card from Wells Fargo. The Autograph Journey credit card from Wells Fargo is built for travel. You can earn rewards wherever you book your favorite hotel site, your go to airline and more. You get five times points with hotels, four times with airlines, three times on restaurants and other travel, and one point on other purchases. Whether it's a big vacation or a quick getaway, from booking your stay to that first meal when you arrive, you're turning your trips into rewards with the Autograph Journey credit card from Wells Fargo. Learn more@wells fargo.com autographjourney Terms apply. Okay, what's next?

C (90:57)

Next question comes from our good friend Alex Ross Perry. He asks, I wanted to know if you and Amanda have to take those passport style photos that serve as the banner for every episode by looking at the camera and giving a big old smile every single episode. And if so, do you do it at the beginning or end of the recording?

A (91:17)

What, you think AI is doing this? You think we're just changing our little outfits with the AI every time? No, of course we do it. We do it at the end. Here's the alternative. Alex Ross Perry It's a thumbnail that is of a screen grab of you frozen at the most heinous facial expressive moment that you possibly could make.

B (91:38)

Yes.

A (91:38)

And then the green Green Goblin photoshopped into every single, like around you, like five of them trying to eat you. And then it just shows up and it like pops out at you at YouTube or Spotify. You're just going about your business. You're trying to hit Raffy, you know, to please your children. And then your face being eaten by the Green Goblin going like, ah, it's just frozen there.

B (92:02)

Please make that the screenshot.

A (92:04)

Yeah, we do a direct to camera thumbnail. Alex Ross Perry. We're gonna do it after this one.

B (92:10)

I don't do a big old smile.

A (92:12)

And sometimes on NBA group chat, you know, they're getting like snazzy with the little finger guns. Yeah, everything.

B (92:19)

Should we do like this, like one time, you know, just some dance moves.

A (92:23)

Oh, like Pulp Fiction or whatever. No, because then immediately once the photo exists, it gets taken out of context.

B (92:30)

Right, Very good point.

A (92:31)

So when I have enough out of my control of being live on Netflix as we are right now. So that's my one attempt to art direct this. What should we do with our thumbnails? Anyone have any thoughts?

B (92:44)

I don't care. You know, I've been on the Rewatchables on video for some time now, and every single photo of me promoting an episode of the Rewatchables is me awkwardly laughing at something Chris has said every single time. They're like, this is going to be gold, guys. We'll just put Sean right in the middle and he'll look like a freak. And you know what? That's showbiz, baby. You know, like, what can I say? That's just how it works. Okay, what's next? Thanks, Alex.

C (93:12)

Next question comes from Jeffrey Joffrey or Jeffrey.

B (93:15)

I apologize, it's Jeffrey.

C (93:17)

I recently saw Charlie Kaufman speak at Synecdy New York screening at Yale and was reminded of how much his work changed when he started directing his own screenplays. With every best director winner dating back to the 2013 Academy Awards having written or co written their films and all five nominees writing their own films this year is something being lost in the old way of a great screenwriter turning over a script to a great director.

B (93:40)

This is a great question and a wonderful observation about how things have changed. We, I personally, I think you too, we're autorists. We love people who conceive and imagine and build all from whole cloth. However.

A (93:56)

Well, the reason that we're so excited about that is because we came of age and came to love cinema in like the great heyday of our FA of wonderful directors taking great scripts from screenwriters and turning them into this classic. They don't make them anymore like this anymore studio fare. So we were excited by what was new and what the younger generation was doing. And you know, I think we'll all still really feel that way. And there's nothing, I think both of us more exciting than someone who just has like, who has it all in their head. They see it and they've written it. They know what it's supposed to look like, they understand it, that it is kind of the closest you can get to film as a sculpture or a painting or as fine art. So I do really value that. But also Aaron Sorkin is directing the Social Reckoning, like why God Helps. And that is someone who wrote the screenplays for some of my favorite movies that were then directed by Rob Reiner and David Fincher. And it's like. And now he's just doing it by himself.

B (95:06)

I think there's two reasons for this. This is a very interesting question to me. I've given this some thought in the past too. One of the reasons is because obviously the studios are not taking the chances on those kinds of stories that you were talking about that are written by screenwriters. And, and it's just much harder to submit. It was much harder up until about two years ago to just submit a spec script and hope that anything could happen. The idea of a movie like Send help getting made is super exciting. Cause that just came from two veteran screenwriters who'd been writing movies for decades. And that's a movie that they'd written, you know, I don't know how many years ago it was 5, 6, 7. And Raimi was like, I'll do this one. And that's kind of how the business should work. Like 30% of the time where there's just a good idea floating around and someone grabs it who has a lot of skill and they can transform it into something thing. It feels like that business is coming back. We were raised, you know, in like the Shane Black era, right, where Shane Black was like writing these mind blowing screenplays and selling them for a million dollars. And that person was venerated in the same way that like William Goldman was venerated before then. William Goldman never directed a movie. Sorkin obviously working in the same tradition. I think it's coming back a little bit.

A (96:09)

Sales are.

B (96:09)

The spec sales are up this year, which is really cool. Kaufman's a really good example. I like his films as a director, but I do not like them more than when he's working with Spike Jonze. And him and Spike Jonze together, to me, is as magical as it gets. In fact, I was listening to the how to Live and Die in LA commentary track with William Friedkin last night, and he was talking about his favorite films of all time and what they all did, and he listed a handful of movies. All About Eve was certainly one of them, but there were a couple of others. And he said, the things that these movies do is you have no idea where the story is going, and they surprise you, they upend your expectations, and then they surprise you. And he said, the best modern example of that is when Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze get together. And I was like, that's such a random coincidence that that was part of that question. I think sometimes great screenwriters, one, they're not as trained in the art of filmmaking, so when they try to take their hand at it, like someone like Aaron Sorkin, he didn't train as a film director, and a film director is an artistic craft. Craft. And I find that he's a little bit lacking stylistically. To those who have worked on his films before, there's also just, like, something going on with the marketing and primacy of the one guy or the one girl. And like, movie studios have latched onto this very wisely, where it's like, this is a Christopher Nolan movie. And that is the selling point, as

A (97:33)

our friend David Sims wrote recently. I mean, and as we have been discussing, you know, movie stars are long gone, replaced by Batman and Spider man and Harry Potter. And so David observed that now it is the director that gets sold as like, this is the. It's a star vehicle, but it's a star vehicle for Christopher Nolan or Greta Gerwig or Jordan Peele.

B (97:56)

This is not a mistake. This is something that movie studios have learned through market research and looking at, at the audiences, because as movies get smaller, the people who go consistently are sickos. And they are signing up for brands, and those brands are not as frequently stars. They're much more these people who create. It's like being really interested in an author and buying any book that they write. It's the same kind of fandom. I'm obviously one of these fans too, so I relate to it. But it has come at the expense of the stock and trade screenwriter. And that's a little sad.

A (98:24)

Yeah.

B (98:25)

What's next?

C (98:28)

Next question comes from Raina. After watching the studio. I rewatched the Player, and I was wondering, what are some of your favorite Hollywood satire movies?

B (98:39)

There are a lot.

A (98:41)

I know you made a long list of many of the classics. I added a couple.

B (98:46)

The top three classic Hollywood editions of this are Sullivan's Travels, Singing in the Rain in Sunset below. Presumably, if you're listening to the show, you've heard of those movies. They're three of our favorite movies. We talk about them all the time on the show. They all, I think, operate in a different register of satire when it comes to Hollywood and achieve their ends in different ways.

A (99:07)

We should also say that since the Player was mentioned in the question, it's not also on the list. Which would be. It would be a top four. It would be a Mount Rushmore situation.

B (99:15)

No question. Handful that I thought of. Hail Caesar, Tropic Thunder, the Hollywood Shuffle. The Loved One is a little bit of an underrated one. It's a Tony Richardson movie from the 1960s that is a lot of fun. Albert Brooks is the muse. Bowfinger. Speaking of Criterion, there's a great addition of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, starring Jayne Mansfield that I think is very funny. Stayton Main. Blazing Saddles. Especially like the last 20 minutes of blazing Saddles when it becomes clear that they're inside of a movie. Been thinking about Blazing Saddles a lot, because I'm thinking about Mel brooks, who's turning 100, and, you know, his career really deserves as much acclaim as it can get while he's still with us. What else did you add?

A (100:00)

Speaking of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman adaptation, which is the satire of many things, but screenwriting is certainly one of them. And then Nodding Hill, which may have a sweet ending, but is pretty acidic about movie stars and certainly about Alec Baldwin as a movie star.

B (100:17)

Yes. Did we. Did we ever do an episode about Hollywood satires?

A (100:22)

Mm, I think so, but maybe during the pandemic. Okay, but we could go back.

B (100:29)

Okay, let's keep going.

A (100:31)

Are we gonna talk about Hoppers?

B (100:33)

Yeah, let's keep buzzing. We're gonna do two more questions.

A (100:35)

Okay.

C (100:35)

Should I make one of them? Life advice.

B (100:38)

Yes.

C (100:39)

Okay. Last movie related question comes from Kyle. What films really capture the people or culture of the city or state you grew up in?

B (100:50)

There's a whole history of Long island cinema, many of which get it very, very right. No movie gets it more right than the Wolf of Wall Street. Yeah, which doesn't take place entirely on Long island, but it captures the Long island aggro, bro, better than any movie I've ever seen. Married to the Mob and Goodfellas are sort of antecedents for this. They are like, like much more in the sort of, like the production design, the vocal intonations of people, the relationships that they make. First half of Married to the Mob, second half of Goodfellas, you know, sort of like when they're in the suburbs, moments of those movies. Steve Buscemi's film Trees Lounge is an all time Long island classic. And as somebody who spent a lot of time in bars with his dad as a kid, that's what it's like to be in a bar. Hal Hartley's Trust. It's unforgettable. It was. Frank Oz's In N Out, starring Kevin Klein, was shooting in Northport, which is one town over for me when I was a teenager. And there was a huge flurry around that movie when I was a kid. And I remember it very well. And it takes place on Long island, no Hard Feelings, in Montauk, which I think is a really good. The locals in the beach town, you know, in the tourist town representation. Eternal sunshine of the Spotless mind. A lot of Long Island Railroad in that movie. Final Destination 1.

A (102:14)

Yeah.

B (102:15)

You know, just sad jets fans getting annihilated by death. And then the cinema of Ed Burns.

A (102:24)

Sure.

B (102:24)

You know, especially the brothers McMullen.

A (102:26)

Have you seen the family McMullen?

B (102:28)

I haven't, but I will watch it. I'm a Burns completist.

A (102:32)

I'm a fan of the Family. No, of Ed Burns.

B (102:35)

Oh, yeah, okay.

A (102:36)

Yeah. And of his choice to marry Chrissy Turlington. Good job.

B (102:40)

I'm a fan of that choice as well. They put Tracee Ellis Ross in the mix there too. She's joining the McMullen team.

A (102:45)

Oh, wow. Okay. I'm gonna see it.

B (102:47)

I'm intrigued. It's on hbo, Max. Okay. What's Atlanta?

A (102:50)

So the thing about Atlanta is that now every movie is filmed there, but not that many good movies are set there.

B (102:57)

Yep.

A (102:59)

So to get the vibe and to movies actually that represent Atlanta, I'm sorry to say that Gone with the Wind represents. Well, listen, it happened there. And Atlanta is like. Has been.

B (103:12)

And you feel that was when it

A (103:13)

was at its best can be a very racist city. And then the other historical one I thought of was Selma, which obviously is in Alabama, but Dr. King was from Atlanta. Like a very important part of the. The fabric and history of Atlanta. And also John Lewis is featured pretty prominently in Selma. And that was our congressperson for many years growing up. And like a absolute Atlanta legend. So those are Atlanta historical. Then present day. Drumline.

B (103:43)

Yeah.

A (103:44)

You know, and the like. HBCUs and I believe that it's like a made up one in Atlanta. Nick Cannon Contagion. Which the cdc, back when it existed.

B (103:55)

Yes.

A (103:56)

CDC is important. It's there. I went to summer camp near the CDC for many years and I'm healthy and thriving and I believe in vaccines.

B (104:03)

Yes. And you have many friends and close loved ones. Yes.

A (104:07)

And then. I mean, every Marvel movie, I guess. I don't know. So Black Panther starts with a heist at the High Museum of Art. And I. It's not identified as the High Museum of Art, of course. Course, I grew up two blocks from the High Museum of Art and I went there all the time and played in the. The front lawn all the time. And then the library where I went to story time was right across the street.

B (104:32)

Wow.

A (104:33)

So I didn't witness any heists in my time, nor did I meet any superheroes.

B (104:38)

Okay. But Eric Killmonger, not exactly a superhero. Right.

A (104:41)

Well, thwarted, I guess, you know, and he's angry about it. He's trying to steal it back.

B (104:46)

That's true.

A (104:48)

I don't know. Atlanta, I. It's good. It's good and it's bad.

B (104:52)

Okay.

A (104:53)

You had a tough experience, but you weren't properly in the city of Atlanta, so.

B (104:56)

No, Long island is. I feel the same way. Yeah. It's good, it's bad. It's like any place. Okay, what's our last question before chatting Hoppers a little bit?

C (105:04)

Last question. Live life advice with Dustin. He writes in. I recently ordered an engagement ring for my longtime girlfriend, but I've been struggling to come up with a fun and meaningful way to propose. We're both cinephiles and are going to TIFF for the second year in a row this fall. Should I work our love of cinema into my proposal?

B (105:25)

What do you think?

A (105:25)

I mean, yes, absolutely. It's like, I don't think. Where are you on a public proposal?

B (105:33)

It's not what I would do.

A (105:34)

It's not what I would do either. It's not what happened to me. And I don't think I'm a big fan of tiff. Excited that you guys are going, but I like, we shouldn't be trying to rent out like a screen, you know, know to do some sort of will you marry me? Public sort of thing. I just, I wouldn't. I couldn't. Let's just.

B (105:49)

Let's just game it out.

A (105:50)

Well, I don't know. I've never been to tiff. Right. I've never been to Canada.

B (105:53)

You book a friends and family only mass screening of Maggie Gyllenhaal's the Bride, the greatest love story ever told. And then you and your gal come out, you introduce the film. You know, you say, hey, my name's Dustin, this is Maggie Jr. We're madly in love with each other. This is an expression of our love. Two monsters trying to make their way across the United States of America. Or Toronto, I guess. Toronto and Canada. This is a Canadian story. And I guess Niagara Falls figures prominently in the film mcrah.

A (106:26)

Oh, yeah, that's right. That looked real fake.

B (106:28)

And after the film is over, stick around. We've got a special surprise for you all.

A (106:34)

No, no, know, I mean, what you have to do is you either have to get in touch with Jesse Buckley's people and. Or film your. Film your own, drop in, and instead of Here Comes the Motherfucking Bride.

B (106:47)

Or wait, you want to. You want to cut the film?

A (106:50)

Yeah. And then you either. Listen, you've already rented out a friends and family screening for the Bride in Canada. I can't recommend any of that. No, I don't. You know, I. I don't know. I don't think public. But what's like a small thing that you could do for movie night? I mean, let's see. I don't. I don't.

C (107:10)

I.

A (107:10)

Honestly, it's great that you have shared interests, a gimmicky proposal. You don't really have to do it. Do something from the heart. I still don't remember anything my husband said to me during the proposal because I was so surprised and I, like, sort of blacked out.

B (107:26)

Wow.

A (107:26)

Um. He says it was nice. I'm sure that it was. I said yes.

B (107:30)

Did you fear dying alone?

A (107:34)

No, I didn't.

B (107:36)

But, you know, me neither.

A (107:37)

I just, you know, the story of this is that we didn't really. We didn't have a conversation about it. It's not like I picked out a ring or anything. We had one conversation about my very ambivalent feelings about the institution of marriage because of, you know, previous events, childhood, divorce, World War II, like.

B (107:57)

I don't know. What do you mean? Sure.

A (107:59)

All of that and. And like. And nothing happened. And six months went by and then just like out of nowhere. So I didn't remember. And that was nice. I thought it was very romantic. The. One of the most romantic things that you can do. Even though I think marriage is like a. A pretty weird institution and it's primarily a business arrangement. One of the most romantic Things you can do is ask someone to marry you. So just do that. Just do it, like, do it meaningfully. Probably not in public. I don't know if you need a photographer hidden, but that's up to you. And then you can go see a movie.

B (108:35)

That's good advice. Let's leave it there. Thank you for all of these wonderful questions. We had a bunch more, but we just didn't have time to get to them. We will be doing another mailbag immediately after the Academy Awards, so maybe some of these questions can float into that mailbag.

A (108:47)

That will be about the Oscars though.

B (108:48)

Almost entirely. Yeah. But, you know, maybe we'll just sprinkle in some other stuff for, you know, just to keep it loose. How are you feeling about your 2027 Oscar picks? It's only 11 and a half months away.

A (109:02)

It's going to be great. Hoppers, have they announced the date for the 2027 Oscars?

B (109:07)

Yeah, it's July 18, 2027, which I think is a really good idea and they should keep pushing it back. Hoppers is directed by Daniel Chong. It's his first feature for Pixar, though not his first feature film. It's written by Jesse Andrews and the story is by Chong and Andre. The voice cast includes Piper Kurta, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimi and Dave Franco. The story is as follows. When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, Mabel uses the new technology to uncover mysteries of the animal world that are beyond anything she could have ever imagined. What did you think of Hoppers?

A (109:50)

I had a nice time, as did my four year old son. A little convoluted, is it not?

B (109:57)

It is.

A (109:58)

It's a little. And it is, I would say the most succinct review was delivered by my son 20, maybe 25 minutes into hoppers when he just said very loudly, this is not Hoppers. Because he had not seen any of the animals advertised on the billboard just yet. Yet. And very shortly thereafter, King George, the beaver and, you know, and all the other animals of the animal kingdom showed up and he was very excited. I don't think he could tell you reliably anything that happened in the film Hoppers afterwards. But spending time with animals and trying to, you know, be a force for good in the world. I'm pro.

B (110:43)

Mm, yes, I'm with you. I like this movie.

C (110:47)

Yeah.

B (110:47)

I thought it was perhaps the most laugh out loud funny Pixar movie in a long time. I thought it had really good jokes. It had a couple of real gasp moments, there's one in particular where one character is eliminated that I was like, oh my.

A (111:00)

Oh, that was funny.

B (111:02)

It was great. It was a great moment. There's a handful of moments like this that are.

A (111:06)

And played for laughs.

B (111:06)

Surprising and played for laughs. Yeah. And the slapstick of it is very good. I think the voice performances are great in this movie. I thought Dave Franco and Meryl Streep in particular were excellent. It's crazy to just be saying Meryl Streep and Hoppers, but she's in there. It is ornately plotted and I would say. I don't want to say it's challenging for a little kid, but I'll tell you this in the same way that Knox had a reaction 20 minutes in about an hour in, in Alice, who I would describe as a high level plot understander, given that she has a real mastery of the Star wars universe at four and a half years old, turned to me one hour in, she said, dad, what is this movie about? And I couldn't answer that succinctly and quietly for her in the movie theater. But I think. And you know what? Maybe for eight year olds it's super easy to understand, but because of the experience that we find ourselves in as parents going to see these movies, I'm watching it through her eyes a little bit more. And it's okay for them to not understand every plot detail, but this is a wacky plot.

A (112:12)

Yeah. To be fair to Hoppers, my son can't really recount the plots of anything that he sees. But it is. It's a hat on a hat on a hat on a hat on a animatronic beaver or a robot beaver. You know, I don't want to get the technology wrong.

B (112:29)

It's a robot with the power to accept consciousness.

A (112:32)

In a real battle with my son over whether robots are good or evil and really about drones and whether drones are good or evil. I'm obviously anti drones in, in all cases, but. And he has a contrarian opinion. Is just like drones. Yeah, I'm into it. I like them. You don't like them, but I do because I think he likes that. When they're flying around at the park, of course. And then robots. He's very interested in Siri. That's very complicated. You know, he likes to talk to Siri. So I didn't love it when robots were lionized in this film. But, but, but it was so confusing. It like it was a. It was a robot for such a short period of time that I think it really just passed over Knox's head.

B (113:18)

I didn't, I personally didn't find the actual plot confusing to understand, like as an adult. No, I don't think it's. I think most people will understand the movie. I think for young kids it's a lot, it's just a lot of information.

A (113:27)

It's just a lot of jumps.

B (113:28)

Yeah. And it's also, I mean it's like, it's also a few different kinds of films. Like it is kind of a body swap, body horror movie in a way. It's also like a conservationist comedy. You know, it's very thorough. Ralph Waldo Emerson in terms of how it thinks about like the transcendental relationship to nature and how fulfilling and powerful that can be for the young Mabel character and her relationship with her grandmother. I found that to be very touching. Yeah, very classical Pixar, you know, very similar to.

A (113:54)

I mean there's a 10 minute, very moving prologue about loss.

B (113:58)

Yes.

A (113:59)

That animates the. Sorry, that does animate the rest of the film.

B (114:03)

Literally.

A (114:03)

Pun intended. I guess. I also like, especially young Mabel. I loved. I really would have liked a whole movie about young Mabel. Then she turns into a teenager, which I guess you have to be to have access to the research lab where they're turning into. I get it from a plot, but I was really into angry 7 year old Mabel trying to free all the reptile pets in her classrooms.

B (114:28)

Yeah. I think there's something interesting too about how old is the kid in the story that you're telling for a Pixar film. You know, in Elio, I think he was maybe like eight or nine in this movie. Mabel is a teenager.

A (114:40)

Yeah, she's 19.

B (114:41)

She's an activist teenager and that has got to be the oldest lead.

A (114:48)

She's living on her own movie short

B (114:49)

of soul, I guess.

A (114:50)

She goes to school, she goes to college in Beaverton. She doesn't always attend her classes, but she's college age.

B (114:57)

Yeah. And so that choice I think leads to kind of a naturally little bit more elevated experience where this kind of like this collision of science and the real world and politics. Initially, the villain of the film is a Gavin Newsome esque mayor named Jerry, voiced by John Hammond, who is up to no good. He's trying to build a bridge and in doing so he is sending the wildlife racing away from their natural habitat. And so that's really what Mabel is trying to preserve. And there's like a couple things about this movie that I didn't totally click with. Clearly, like Mabel is Trying to make some chaos, to transform the human world, to let the animals return to their safe place, because she believes that they should have their own sanctuaries, and. And they shouldn't be disrupted by humans. And also, she has this emotional connection to her family and the way that she kind of came to understand herself and be more at peace by being in that world herself. So then she's, like, kind of setting up an animal plot to undermine the humans, but then she accidentally kills the queen of the insects, and when she does so, all the creatures want to go kill a politician and Mabel, and they go on a mad spree. And then one of the butterfly's son grows up to be an evil butterfly king.

A (116:22)

Titus.

B (116:23)

Yeah, Titus. And then he goes into the robot body of Jerry. Once they've been ca. Like, it's a very. Like, it's just going in a lot of places, and it's a lot of. It's a lot of plot in the final 40 minutes of the movie. And then the movie has a naturally, like, sweet conclusion. Like, the bad guy was eliminated and the other bad guy learned a lesson. And then we're gonna clean up this place after a forest fire, which is a little.

A (116:50)

That was tough. Yeah. I was thinking about when they finished script development on this, because, I mean,

B (116:59)

these movies take years to make, obviously, but just, we're a year out of the wildfires here in Los Angeles, and that was unfortunate to see. My wife said something to me about it immediately afterwards. And then Jerry's just, like, cleaning up the forest, and he hasn't lost office, despite all the terrible things that he's done. And it's like, okay, we got this, you guys. We can conserve the environment. I don't know. I was left a little, like, I guess this is solved then. Thanks, Hoppers.

A (117:26)

And you get a job at the local research thing. But we can't be animals anymore. So instead, the professor has a whole whiteboard of other ideas of things. So science continues, but, like, in harmony with nature. Yeah, I don't. I don't. I don't know. I mostly just laughed at the animals, like. Like my child did.

B (117:45)

Yeah. The jokes are good.

A (117:46)

Yeah.

B (117:47)

And it's very entertaining.

A (117:49)

Like, in the. I did think it was notable that, to me, the funniest joke was about an iPhone and about using voice. Like voice to text. Or text to voice.

B (118:01)

And emojis.

A (118:01)

And emojis. But we've, you know, a lot of. Yeah, like. And not. That's the only thing that Knox remembers. As soon as I start going Beaver, beaver, beaver. He remembers the potato punchline. So it works. I thought Bobby Moynihan was really funny. It was a. And the, like, the George character has the classic, like, I would buy, you know, a stuffy merchandizable. I'm rooting for this person. Very funny. Endearing. I thought the ways that their expressions, but their. And their eyes changed depending on whether they were like, talking between animals.

B (118:36)

I love that.

A (118:36)

Yeah. And so the thing, the innate child thing of. Wouldn't it be fun to be an animal and be able to talk to animals, which, you know, all children or most children do feel, I thought they realized really well. I just. Everything else was. I say that, but we sat next to like two grownups on a date to see the Pixar movie in the middle of the afternoon, which is really cool. And I was mostly nervous about making sure that my child, you know, behaved appropriately.

B (119:05)

Yes.

A (119:06)

But it did remind me that these movies have the burden of, like a much wider audience now.

B (119:12)

They have to support both audiences. Yeah, they really do. It's a very good point. Yeah, I think so. Chong shared a kind of like 2D animation preview of what the film looked like at an early stage. And it was a pure Miyazaki style hand drawn experience of two beavers going up the river. And it was beautiful. And we don't know how the movie would have poured it over in that way. But I do think that there's something in the hyper mania of kids movies and that extends to good kids movies like this, like Zootopia 2. These are pretty good movies, but there's something really antic about them that you don't find in a Miyazaki movie. And I wonder what this movie would have been if it had removed a little bit of the robot chaos mania and been a little bit more ground level, a little bit more Ponyo. If it would have been a better movie and frankly, if Chong might have been almost more well suited to that. I can kind of feel just the like poptimist Pixar stuff going on in the film at times. It's not like it doesn't make it bad, but it did make me wondering about the alternative.

A (120:23)

Well, you can feel it in the pacing and it both just. It does have jokes every few minutes, but it's almost like it's the kid version of the Netflix. Make sure that you have something that you have to look at the screen at every five seconds because people are going to be looking away. And so it's just over here, over here, over here. And it worked. You know, my kids sat happily, but it felt overstuffed. And it kind of just. You can really feel the divide between, okay, we're putting this stuff in for the bigger kids and the grownups. And we're putting this stuff in because we know we have to get a new, younger audience. They are not cohesive.

B (120:59)

Yeah. I find with a lot of these movies, I can hear the noises of 15 adults in a room, like, negotiating between what's gonna work at what time in the movie. And that's just a product of having seen every single one of these multiple times and really liking a lot of them. But it's very hard to go back to a more innocent viewing experience of seeing Toy Story for the first time, where, even though I was probably 13 at the time, there just felt something extraordinary that had never been done was happening. But just the use of that 3D animation style at that time felt so novel. And now that has been the experience we've lived in for 30 years as animation consumers. And so when I saw that 2D image, I was like, there's a reason why a Miyazaki movie still feels special and still feels different, and there's a reason why Spider Verse still feels special, because that's different than this. That is that the texture of those movies is unlike just what every Pixar movie looks like. You mentioned Luca earlier. Luca is one of the few Pixar movies that looks totally different. Like, the visual palette is so dramatically different. I don't mean to dump on the movie. I think it's, like, very good, and I'm glad that it's successful and doing well. But I had some. And I've seen it twice now, so I, like, I had some time to kind of mull it over and kind of work through, like, how much did this really follow through on all of its intentions?

A (122:19)

Yeah, I don't know that it has real lasting power in the mind of the people in my house either. Like, I don't. It has not been brought up several times, but, like, once since we saw it. But Mandalorian and Grogu lives rent free. And I did also forget that the movie theater we went to had, like, Zootopia 2 popcorn buckets still out. They just have them all. They're making popcorn buckets for everything, apparently. Yes, they do.

B (122:46)

Yeah. And about to get that skinamarine popcorn

A (122:49)

bucket, my son was, like, begging me, like, please, please, can we have this, please? He was holding it, you know, because it's just a friendly snake, and that's.

B (122:58)

And you did it.

A (122:58)

That's where he is? No, of course not.

B (123:02)

No.

A (123:02)

Where am I gonna put that?

B (123:05)

On his head. After consumption, we got popcorn and then when the movie ended, Al said, can I have M and Ms? So we just got M and Ms. After the movie.

A (123:14)

Oh, that's really nice. Knox kept trying to buy me peanut MMs because he knows I like them.

B (123:18)

That's true.

A (123:19)

And he kept being like, mama, I really want to get these for you. Mama, can I get them? And I was like, this is a generous act. Yeah. But it's self serving. But I appreciate the creativity of trying to think that he can buy it for me and then, you know. Yeah, it's smart. Anyway, he had a nice time.

B (123:34)

How did you feel our live experience went? Did this break? Two minutes in and we don't know, Jack?

A (123:40)

No, it's good.

C (123:41)

It's all good. Nothing broke.

A (123:42)

We're still on Netflix.

B (123:43)

Who's watching? My mom, my girlfriend, President Trump watching.

A (123:48)

Okay. I really, really hope this has been

C (123:51)

a great episode of the Big Picture. Thank you to Jack Sanders, Lucas Kavanaugh.

B (123:58)

Yeah. Thank you to our producer, Jack Sanders for navigating these live waters. Thanks to Lucas. Thanks to everybody here at Spotify who helps make this happen for us. We appreciate it. This was a road test.

A (124:07)

Yes.

B (124:08)

For next Sunday's episode.

A (124:10)

Sunday night.

B (124:11)

But that's not our next episode. Our next episode is on Thursday. We're going to be making our final Oscar predictions.

A (124:18)

You're going to wait till Thursday to put it up. Are you sure you're not going to say put it up as soon as it's ready, Jack? Because I want my wisdom to.

B (124:24)

There's a reason why I can't do it that. That I will reveal to you.

A (124:27)

Okay.

B (124:28)

On the episode.

A (124:29)

Okay. How exciting.

B (124:31)

Jack, how'd you feel about this? Good Home run. Okay. Come see us on next Thursday. Thanks. Thanks to everybody for watching at home, all dozen of you. We'll see you next time. Foreign. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra, that's the OG it kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing, but Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise in Vice, Guava, and they all bring the Monster Energy punch. So if you've been living in the

A (125:22)

White can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe,

B (125:26)

and every single one is Zero Sugar.

A (125:29)

Tap the banner to learn more.