The Physical Media High Council Reconvenes!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Physical Media High Council Reconvenes!

The Big Picture, The Ringer | May 7, 2026

Host: Sean Fennessey
Guests: Amanda Dobbins, Chris Ryan, Timothy Simons, Tracy Letts

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Episode Overview

In this enthusiastically irreverent and deeply knowledgeable roundtable, Sean Fennessey reassembles "The Physical Media High Council" — Chris Ryan, Timothy Simons, and Tracy Letts — to dissect the current state of physical media (Blu-rays, DVDs, 4K, and more), share recent essential pickups, discuss viewing and collecting habits, and answer listener questions. The crew mixes humor and devotion, wrestling with issues of film preservation, corporate apathy, boutique label triumphs, and the deep personal satisfaction that comes from owning and sharing physical movies.

Tone: Warm, nerdy, self-mocking, and surprisingly earnest

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Key Discussion Topics & Insights

1. State of Physical Media—Optimism vs. Corporate Retreat

• Dissonance in the Market: There’s a thriving niche, led by boutique labels like Arrow, Radiance, Vinegar Syndrome, Second Run, AGFA, etc., releasing high-quality, obscure, and cult favorites. But major studios are slashing home entertainment arms (e.g., Disney layoffs, 08:00), making the future of studio-centric physical media uncertain.

  • Sean: “It feels like...the boutique side is getting very big...interest from the big studios is getting pretty small.” (08:02)
  • Tracy: “Boutique labels seem to be thriving...And the big boys, they still put out the big releases on 4K...But there just does not seem to be an interest beyond whatever outside company says we want this title.” (09:24–13:49)
  • Timothy: On attempting to stream “Cockfighter” only to find a terrible transfer, “It was honestly like watching a 480p snuff film...we’re not going to watch this in this condition.” (11:31)

• Licensing Reality: Big studios now license out deep catalog titles rather than author their own releases, echoing old Disney "vaulting” strategies.

• Generational Surge: Physical media is no longer solely for older collectors—young enthusiasts are discovering it through vinyl, VHS, imported horror, and more, often because of streaming limitations.

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2. How the Council Watches (and How They Organize)

Viewing & Programming Habits

• Making Time: “You really do have to make time when you spend money on these things to respect, appreciate, and enjoy them. If you don’t, you’re just stamp collecting.” —Sean (24:00)
• Social Movie Nights:
  • Timothy: Weekly Tuesday night programming group (extremity and cult cinema favorites). “We call ourselves the programmers.” (29:33)
  • Tracy: Creates viewing schedules for wife and nanny, often keeping the movie a surprise. Watched “In the Realm of the Senses” with the nanny — “It was quite a night for the two of us. We both enjoyed it a lot.” (20:05–20:33)
• Recency Bias vs. Completionism
  • Chris: “Most of my buying has not been blind, but it has been on stuff I haven’t seen...It entices me to stay on top of my purchases a little bit better.” (21:45)

Shelf Organization

• Systems Vary: Some alphabetical, some by director, some by label. Ascendant labels get their own sections. Some declare their current system is “wrong” and are reorganizing. (100:59–104:54)
  • Notable story: Tracy’s nanny, unable to locate a 4K version of “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,” watches a DVD and Tracy is “enraged.” (102:19)
• AV Men & Home Theater Tech Worship: Tracy’s home cinema described with audio extravagance and an “AV man” (“He was Milos Forman’s AV man...”). Complete with projection, surround sound, and a control system — “If you want to upgrade, get an AV man.” (117:09–121:19)

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3. Recent Acquisitions: Deep Dives

Each council member brings a selection of their latest prized pickups, sparking lively discussion:

Highlights (w/ Quotes)

• Chris:

  • Takashi Miike’s “Underworld Chronicles” (Radiance): “Deadly Outlaw Rekka is an insane film and features the greatest opening five minutes to a movie I've ever seen...” (27:03)
  • “At Close Range” (Cinematographe): “Gives the film itself a different context or a different kind of weight...” (39:22)
  • “Excalibur” (Arrow): “First time I ever saw people have sex on screen was in this movie...Gabriel Byrne has sex in full armor.” (71:55)

• Timothy:

  • “Thriller: A Cruel Picture” (Vinegar Syndrome): Applauded with friends, “Five men standing applauding a rape-revenge film at 11pm...” (32:02, 33:16)
  • “Going Places” (Cohen): “[A]nother one that could just go away. Streaming services aren't going to host that...hard to find, but there's a lot of amazing stuff in there." (40:38)
  • TV miniseries “000” (import Blu Ray): Not streamable anymore, “I kind of think this is going to end up being something that we'll be looking into in the future..." (73:03)

• Tracy:

  • “Network” (4K): “It just feels like mana that this would be out on 4k...All are encompassed here in this American classic.” (34:20)
  • “Cutter’s Way” (Radiance): “The fact that this is available on 4K...I have to assume by this point a lot of people have heard of it. But if you haven't, check out Cutter’s Way.” (43:58)
  • Hammer Films’ “Curse of Frankenstein” box: Massive, lavish packaging—live unboxing on the episode! (90:53–94:02)

• Sean:

  • “The Movie Orgy” (AGFA) by Joe Dante: “A really cool artifact of movie history...it’s an unusual way to show what your skills and interests are.” (36:10)
  • John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy (Criterion): “This gives such definition and shape to what the Criterion class should be and can be.” (68:11)
  • “Radical Japan” Nagisa Oshima box (Radiance): 7 films from the radical Japanese director, "some of the most confrontational, politically and socially aggressive movies..." (95:35)

Note: The group frequently jokes about the “line” between collecting rare films, extremity, and outright perversion—Tim’s notorious Tuesday night selections, Russ Meyer sets, and the show’s running “Bosom-mania” gag.

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4. Listener Q&A—Timestamps & Memorable Moments

Organization

• How do you organize your shelf? (100:33–104:54)
  • Tracy: “I do it wrong. And I'm about to undergo a massive reorganization.”

Anticipated Releases / White Whale Discs (105:13–110:03)

• “Near Dark,” “The General” (Buster Keaton, Eureka), “Hud,” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “The Outfit” (Arrow), “Moneyball 4K” (109:03).

Film/Director Box Sets That Should Exist (110:18–115:08)

• Tracy: “Paul Mazursky is one of my favorite directors and he's wildly underserved on physical media.” (111:00)
• Sean: “Mike Nichols...a much more hallowed and legendary filmmaker. But when you go back and look at all of the movies that he made, especially his movies in the 70s and 80s, a lot of them are not available on anything beyond DVD.” (112:13)

Starting a Collection—Which Director? (129:47–133:32)

• “I think that the Criterion Collection has issued every single Charlie Chaplin feature film...if you wanted to have the totality of Charlie Chaplin’s feature filmmaking...”

Physical Media as Relationship-Builder (and Wedge Issue) (140:39–143:47)

• Dominic, Gen Z: “After hearing the last convening of the council, you all awoke a nostalgia within me...I have now basically given up going to the bars to fund my 4Ks and vinyl collection. [But]...not once has one [date] asked me about the 4Ks.”
• Sean’s advice: “Getting physical media does not mean that you’re shutting out the rest of the world...go to repertory theaters, experience films with people...That’s kind of one of the magic of movies.” (142:23)

Wedding Registry & Gifting Recommendations (146:49–149:39)

• “Blu rays and 4Ks are totally appropriate for a wedding registry,” suggest the council. Big box sets recommended: Fellini, Bergman, Capra, Wong Kar Wai, Godzilla, Herzog, and more.

Most Wanted “Grail” 4Ks (150:17–157:59)

• Chris: “A Canterbury Tale” (Powell & Pressburger)
• Tim: “The Devils,” “Sunshine,” “The Candidate”
• Tracy: “The Conformist,” “California Split,” “Heartbreak Kid,” “Lonely Are the Brave,” “Year of Living Dangerously,” “Sherman’s March”
• Sean: “Handmaiden,” “Sexy Beast,” “Waking Life,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “Tragedy of Macbeth,” “Barbarian,” “Speed Racer” (since released)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Boutique Labels’ Role:
  “Arrow will be putting out the ‘80s and ‘90s action adventure movies that we have pretty much forgotten about for the next 10 years...they’d rather not think about it.” – Sean (13:49)
• On Film Collecting as Addiction:
  “You have to make time when you spend money on these things to respect, appreciate, and enjoy them. If you don’t, then you’re just stamp collecting.” – Sean (24:00)
• On the High Absurdity of Cult Favorites:
  “Five men standing applauding a rape-revenge film at like 11pm on a Tuesday...it sounds bad and it’s going to sound worse when I tell you that...there is a hard cut to close up anal sex in this movie...” – Timothy on "Thriller: A Cruel Picture" (33:16)
• Tracy on Film Obsession:
  “This is my job. I used to be a playwright and actor. Now those are hobbies, sidelines next to my full time job of podcaster and physical media collector.” (04:06)
• On Relationship Movie Night:
  “The nanny and I watched ‘In the Realm of the Senses’ together. It was quite a night for the two of us.” – Tracy (20:05)
• On Upgrading Tech and the “AV Man”:
  (After Tracy’s lengthy AV description) “If you want to upgrade, get an AV man.” (121:19)
• On Drinking, Sober Living, and Collecting:
  “I have 12,000 discs...I've also been sober for over 30 years. If I do the math of how much money I haven’t spent on booze and drugs and other vices...that’s why I have 12,000 discs with money left over, I might add, from what I saved from, you know, getting off the dope. Get off the dope.” – Tracy (158:51)
• On Coolness and Collector Identity:
  “I feel like I’ve always kind of been myself. I’ve kind of always been, like, really into the stuff that I’m into to the potential alienation of others. But I think when you have a lot of enthusiasm for stuff, it can be infectious.” – Sean (161:13)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [08:00] — Discussion of Big Studios Leaving Physical Media, Disney cuts
• [11:31] — Streaming limitations, “Cockfighter” streaming story
• [14:00] — Disney vaulting, boutique licensing logic
• [20:05–20:33] — Tracy’s “In the Realm of the Senses” nanny anecdote
• [29:33] — Timothy describes his Tuesday “programmers” group
• [32:02–33:16] — Applauding “Thriller: A Cruel Picture”
• [39:22] — Chris on “At Close Range” as a disc as a context shifter
• [71:55] — “Excalibur”/first onscreen sex discussion
• [90:53–94:02] — Tracy unboxes Hammer’s “Curse of Frankenstein” live
• [100:59–104:54] — Organizing the home collection (alphabetical? by director? by label?)
• [117:46] — Tracy’s AV man and total home theater setup described in full
• [129:47–133:32] — Which director should a new collector start with?
• [142:23] — Advice to “Dominic” on balancing collecting, bars, socializing
• [146:49–149:39] — Wedding registry recommendations: the case for box sets
• [150:17–157:59] — Council’s “white whale” grails for 4K, essential missing titles

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Closing Thoughts & Running Themes

• Community and Connection: Despite the jokes about “stamp collecting,” physical media for this group evokes enormous personal and communal meaning — facilitating ritual, deep focus, programming, and discovery.
• Physical Media as Rebellion and Preservation: With studios deprioritizing, collectors become archivists. Physical releases, especially of “irredeemable garbage” or risky art, are reframed as acts of cultural rescue.
• The Value of Touch, Ownership, Artifact: While tech might always advance, the crew sees physical media as an “anchor” to their tastes, memorabilia, and a creative/social lifeline amid endless digital impermanence.

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Final Words (Tracy):

“I like myself more as a dork with a huge physical media collection than an asshole at the end of the bar...get off the dope.”

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This episode is recommended for:

• Passionate movie fans & collectors
• Anyone curious about the art and culture of boutique physical media
• Listeners seeking inspiration (and permission!) to embrace their quirks and passions

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Produced with Amanda Dobbins as Executive Producer (“Bosom Mania Episode”), Jack Sanders (production/robes). Next Council convening: possibly Christmas 2026.

Transcript

[Sean Fennessey]

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[Amanda Dobbins]

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[Sean Fennessey]

It is I, Sean Fennesee, Grand Maester of the Physical Media High Council. And this is the big picture, a conversation show about that physical media. I am honored to be joined by the three lords, the three leaders, the three guiding lights of this endeavor, of course, Igor, Chris Ryan, here to help us with his chemistry.

[Chris Ryan]

Just let out of my room in the basement.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's right. The first knight, Timothy Hitmaker Simons Sire, and the king of physical Media, Tracy Letts.

[Tracy Letts]

Please, please.

[Sean Fennessey]

Gents. Thanks for reconvening today. This is a semi annual tradition. Yeah, this is the second time this quartet has come together for this endeavor. As you can see, we're taking it very seriously. Chris, how are you feeling about how you look right now?

[Chris Ryan]

I'm worried that I either look like a chronic masturbator, public masturbator, or some kind of like guy who got the wrong Big Lebowski robe on ebay but is still going with it. What do you think?

[Timothy Simons]

I I masturbator, I think is the answer. When you take the robe off, you still don't also look like a public masturbator. Like, oh, shit, it wasn't the robe.

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you have under the robe?

[Chris Ryan]

I do, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, good, good. Tim, how are you feeling?

[Timothy Simons]

I'm feeling great. As I texted many times, I'm like, really? I've really been looking forward to this. Yeah. Off mic just a moment ago, I was saying. And Tracy, I don't know if this happens to you. Like, I feel like we've both done like public work that people have seen, but I feel like I get recognized so much just for this episode. Like, people coming up to me asking me, like, what are your grails like in public? I have been asked that question. Has that been happening to you?

[Tracy Letts]

It does happen to me. I don't go out in public much, but Carrie was just doing my play bug on Broadway and she would go out and sign programs after the show. And she said every night there was one person, There was like one guy. Yeah, I loved. Wasn't always a guy.

[Sean Fennessey]

How exciting.

[Tracy Letts]

Loved the physical media podcast. Love the, you know, love listening to the big pic, blah, blah.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, that's great.

[Sean Fennessey]

How wonderful. How are you feeling about this project? You feel like at home? You feel safe? You feel like you're in your kingdom?

[Tracy Letts]

I feel like I'm doing my job. This is my job. I used to be a playwright and actor. Now those are hobbies. Those are sidelines next to my full time job of podcaster and physical media collector.

[Chris Ryan]

I think we can all safely say that nothing you've ever written stands close to what your physical media collection is.

[Tracy Letts]

Safely, we can safely say it.

[Timothy Simons]

Are we going to hash out the third chair fight today or is this just going to be ongoing?

[Sean Fennessey]

It's not for me to answer. I think there are two gentlemen here.

[Chris Ryan]

So you want to see open combat?

[Timothy Simons]

I want to, yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

This is not. Honestly not my king. My king would do things differently.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, this is the real king here, so you can speak with him.

[Tracy Letts]

You know, this isn't the forum to address that question.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, I see.

[Chris Ryan]

This is about and sharing.

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you think you could grow a beard the way that Tracy has? Because that's actually under consideration for third chairdom.

[Timothy Simons]

No.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, obviously, like, yeah, I'm flickularly challenged when it comes to that. No, I have like, actually it's just very faint, but I was growing a little bit of. I've been in watching Takashi Miike movies for three days. Stubble. But I guess it didn't really translate.

[Sean Fennessey]

We gotta get you a beard cam so we can get a close up on all that transparent hair on your face.

[Timothy Simons]

Like the. Like that Eagle's Nest live cam.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Watch this. Bear font for Salmon Chris. Day nine.

[Tracy Letts]

He grows a beard.

[Timothy Simons]

He sure does grow a beard. It's got. I've been avoiding it because I've got these gray streaks in it. You know what I mean? Like right here, I got these sort of. Wolverine.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, you gotta let it go, man. You look like a 1970s pitcher.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Or like Ted Nugent.

[Tracy Letts]

No, the gray straight. Believe me. Trust me.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's the thing.

[Timothy Simons]

I almost want it to be all gray or it's just these weird patches. I don't know.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm having a bit of a crisis where the beard is effectively white and the hair on the top of my head is not yet white.

[Chris Ryan]

You gotta go just for men, but for beard. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, I was watching a film yesterday, last night.

[Tracy Letts]

Stop dyeing your hair.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't dye my hair. And how fucking dare you say that? I was watching a film with an actor, an esteemed actor and filmmaker.

[Chris Ryan]

You were watching it with that person?

[Sean Fennessey]

No, he was in the film. I saw him on screen. And he's a man. I'd say he's in his 60s. George Hamilton was not George Hamilton. And there's no way that that's his hair color or beard color. There's just no way. And he's playing a man in his late 60s. And what are we supposed to think about that as viewers? Are we supposed to accept that. That this man is lying to us in that way?

[Chris Ryan]

You think there's unfair beauty standards for men?

[Tracy Letts]

It's always been the case. You know, HD has helped reveal Bogart's hairpiece, Jimmy Stewart's hairpiece. Right. Movies where you thought, oh, he's not. Oh, no, they were wearing hairpieces long way back.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. Shoe polish in the hair, too.

[Timothy Simons]

There is a thing, though. I also feel like the. I don't know if it's the technology or just the implementation. I have noticed from movies in the 80s where it was like, oh, this actor is maybe a little bit older, but they've dyed their hair. I think the implementation of it now is much more subtle and there's some nuance to the hair color that makes it look. Not like it's a shoe polish, hair dye. But I've noticed in some 80s movies recently that I'm like, oh, they went for it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And they should have left a little in there.

[Sean Fennessey]

This person had reddish auburn hair at the age of like, 65. Just did not. Just. Just jumped out at me. I'm not going to name that person. But he'll be in a film soon. That's all that I'll say.

[Tracy Letts]

All right.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

Let's talk about physical media properly.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm going to take off this rope.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. So we gathered last fall and we talked about a whole range of issues and we've asked for a whole range of.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it was like straight up Hormuz.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, it was like that Republican presidential debate when there were 16 men on stage yelling at each other about important political matters. This time around, we've asked for questions from listeners of the show, men and women who enjoy physical media and are interested in this endeavor. But before we do that, I thought we could once again just talk about the state of the art. I thought it was actually quite an interesting conversation last time around because this thing that you and I started talking about is it four years ago when we first did an episode about it and that you and I have been talking about the last couple years and that you in the last year or so have really gotten interested in. There's probably some self selecting bias going on here, but something's going on, right? It feels like the industry in the boutique side is getting very big. And it feels like the interest from the big studios is getting pretty small. There was a news story last week that Disney Home Entertainment's entire staff was let go. And so there's no longer people overseeing the production of that work. It's all being outsourced, I think, to Sony at this point. So there's this weird dissonance right now with this fun hobby that we love that feels like it's simultaneously thriving and noisy and fun. And there's a young generation of people collecting, but then also the people who own the rights to the stuff and who technically manage all of the property seem completely disinterested in this. What do we make of that dissonance?

[Tracy Letts]

I don't know. I don't have the slightest idea. I mean, it seems like exactly what you describe. The market seems to become more specialized, the prices go up as a result. But these boutique labels seem to be thriving, or I mean, enough that they're keeping their doors open for the most part and continuing to do great work. And the big boys, they still put out, they're still going to put out the big releases on 4k. They still get enough attention. I mean, I hope that eventually the market drives the interest, drives the marketplace forward and we continue to have this. It doesn't seem like it's going the other direction. It doesn't seem like it's just continual, constant diminishment.

[Sean Fennessey]

It doesn't. I mean, I feel like even from when we first kind of like almost offhandedly recorded an episode that was like, how awesome is this? It's just gotten a lot bigger. Or like the culture of it has gotten a lot bigger. Do you feel that?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, no, like, I've definitely noticed that just in like the amount. It feels like a much less niche conversation and something that more and more people are getting into, whether it be like, you know, obviously vinyl has been a thing for a while, but then people start collecting cassette tapes. I know there was a question in there about vhs. Like, I know that it's much more in the ether. The idea of like, what we initially talked about, the idea of like, oh, we actually own that thing and it like, looks great. And just as a side note, we were going to watch like last Tuesday we were going to watch. Is it Warren Oates, his film Cockfighter?

[Sean Fennessey]

Sure.

[Timothy Simons]

And we tried to stream it.

[Chris Ryan]

We do you mean you, the family?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, me and the family were going to sit down, just watch Cockfighter and.

[Tracy Letts]

Terrific movie, by the way.

[Timothy Simons]

I can't wear. Actually the. Everybody's coming over tonight. I got the Blu ray.

[Sean Fennessey]

Who's like your extended family?

[Timothy Simons]

No, like the Tuesday night movie group

[Chris Ryan]

that I had, the Parent Teacher association coming over.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is it Monty Hillman, Cockfighter? Yeah, sure.

[Timothy Simons]

I have like a group of neighborhood friends and every Tuesday night we get together and we watch these kinds of movies. And so Cockfighter I had to order from the uk, but like, it was like, oh, it is available to stream on Amazon or whatever. And it was honestly like watching like a 480p snuff film. Like, you couldn't even make anything out. And somebody even called it out, like, we're not watching this. Like, we're not going to watch this in this condition. And so I ordered it that night. It was a couple weeks ago, it arrived yesterday. But no. Anyway, that just seems to be much more in the conversation to the point where I was surprised to hear that one of the largest companies had completely shut down that division. Only because it just seems like there is. Look, I'm not a fucking businessman, but it seems like there's money there and it seems like you guys used to make a lot of money on this and why not maybe try to foster it a little bit? Like, you can see that there's a little bit of a groundswell of interest in this in physical media broadly. Like, why not try to foster it rather than cut it off at the Knees, but I don't know.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's the. I could see it from both sides on one hand. If they're trying to keep Charlottesville over here.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Many good points from Bob Iger and his new CEO.

[Chris Ryan]

Working in the business development decision, I could see if you were like, one of our main business interest is the streaming service.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

So why would we give somebody an excuse to spend 150 bucks on the five movies that they like or the seven movies that they like and then cut the streaming service? On the other hand, special, specifically, Disney has always had like, one of their crown jewels was always like their home, their home video department and the way in which they would, you know, put things on shelves and then take them off. And it would be like, hey, man, next week, for an indefinite amount of time, Cinderella no longer available. And people would rush out and get it. So it's confusing. I was curious whether or not you felt like the major studios are like, looking at this and they're thinking, like, we're gonna start licensing our stuff to these boutiques to make these special editions of these films, or do you think it's just something that, like a business model major studios haven't figured out yet, but aren't willing to give up?

[Sean Fennessey]

I think it's because when you have a division, it requires employing a lot of people. And this is like a very low priority on the totem pole ultimately. And so they feel comfortable saying, well, we'll just license to Arrow. And Arrow will be putting out the 80s and 90s action adventure movies that we have pretty much forgotten about for the next 10 years. And like, Arrow has just been doing incredible work with that band of movie over the last couple of years. And so they'd rather not think about it. But what you were describing specifically about Disney's home video strategy is, I don't know if it was revolutionary. It actually was sort of taunting to fans where it was like, don't tell me you can't make more video cassettes of the Little Mermaid. Like, I know that you can if you just make an effort to. But they were kind of stoking a very similar level of limited edition feeling that I think a lot of the Blu ray companies and 4K companies pursue now. Like, I was in the video store with my daughter over the weekend and we were looking at the Disney live action films, not the remakes of animated movies, but just the films from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and I was looking for a copy of the remake of the Parent Trap because I wanted to show her. That movie, the Lindsay Lohan movie. They had the Hayley Mills version. They didn't have the Lindsay Lohan version. But then I was looking at, like, Return to Oz. The video store had Return to Oz on Blu Ray, which I think on ebay is like 300 bucks. It's hard to find. The fact that there's demand for something like that means that there's probably demand in the broader world and that they could probably just have at least a modest business remaking those things. But there just does not seem to be an interest beyond whatever outside company says we want this title. We want. I don't know what's a good example. Red sun, the Charles Bronson Toshiro Mifune movie, is coming from Arrow in July. There had to be some guy at Arrow who was like, you know what I. You know, we need to do? We need to get Red sun out there. Like, that's one that really needs to exist in a beautiful $50 edition. And so they just don't want to employ people to do that work, which I do kind of understand because of the streaming concern that you're talking about, and there's a million other businesses that these capitalized mega corporations have to consider. But it does feel like leaving a $50 bill on the ground a little bit. And maybe that's just our own personal interest speaking, but something feels not quite. Quite coherent.

[Tracy Letts]

We're not going to know. They're not going to pull the curtain back and let us know what's driving those decisions. Meanwhile, I'm having a hard time keeping up. I mean, there's a lot of releases happening every week, and if I go a few weeks and then try to catch up, it's stuff. It's like, suddenly the mailbox is really jammed.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, that's totally. Part of the dissonance is I feel completely overwhelmed, and I have way too many unwatched movies going right now, and I don't know how to make sense that. Maybe we'll get into that a little bit.

[Chris Ryan]

Can I ask a little bit about, like, watching habits? Because obviously you're watching for all new releases, pretty much all, like, releases from a year. You're going to try and see 99% of those. You guys are both very busy men, but, like, have to watch stuff, I'm sure, adjacent to your work. Whether it's like, I want to watch something from a filmmaker that I might work with or a writer or whatever. Are you making special time to watch the things that you've bought? Do you have, like, a System for three times a week, twice a week, I'm gonna make sure I. I get something from the unwatched pile. And then maybe like an old chestnut, like, what. What's, like, your habits.

[Timothy Simons]

Right. These days, I tend to. Because I'm the, Like, the. The night owl of my family, we have a general system worked out where because my wife wakes up early, she kind of, like, will get the kids up and get them breakfast, and then I sort of wake up a little bit later, handle some of the morning, get the kids to school. But that also means cockfighter. And then, you know, I watch Cockfighter. 9am Your morning Constitutional. You get it? But that means that I sort of take the nights so that because she goes to bed on the earlier side, I take the nights. I deal with bedtime, I get them settled. And I have made a point this year of being like, I have a lot of unwatched discs, and I am, like, not gonna do the thing where I'm just like, oh, I'm gonna. And I say this, and I have watched Sicario again, where I'm not gonna, like, watch the. The comfortable thing that makes me feel good. I'm gonna be like, no, I'm gonna crack this open. And like, a recent example of this was like, I've had a copy of the Ascent. The. Like, the Russian war film.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And I've probably had it for four years and was just like, I'm just kind of going with, like, the A's just starting there. Being like, oh, the Ascent. I haven't watched that yet. And I'll throw that on.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's a real mood brightener, that movie.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'll get your Monday going.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And so that's sort of what I do. The kids go to bed, and I'll watch something. And I am making an effort to watch the things that have just kind of been there. Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm programming for my wife and for our nanny, who will from now on be known as the Nanny, my wife and the Nanny. And I'm either programming for my wife or the nanny or my wife and the Nanny. And so a lot of what I'm programming is based on what they've seen or haven't seen. And I'll give them an occasional quick survey. Have you seen this? Have you seen this? So I know what I can choose from on the night, and then I make that choice, and they don't know what I'm putting. I try to not even tell them. Show them the disc. They're sitting in front of the screen,

[Chris Ryan]

it just says Monty Hellman feel.

[Sean Fennessey]

So you don't offer any enticements. I know you're a fan of this person.

[Tracy Letts]

Not at all.

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you think that they have any interest in what the disc looks like?

[Tracy Letts]

But you're looking at it when the movie's over.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, that's nice.

[Sean Fennessey]

It'd be like a lending library. That's nice.

[Tracy Letts]

And by the way, again, this isn't the way I want it. This is the way they want it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, okay. That's very democratic.

[Chris Ryan]

And it's exciting because Tracy, he's a little shy, but he has a new play coming out called My Wife and the Nanny.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yep. A searing political farce.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm really excited about that.

[Timothy Simons]

It's just two people sitting down and watching.

[Chris Ryan]

And at the end of the play, they look at the disc box and

[Sean Fennessey]

your nanny is Fran Drescher or.

[Tracy Letts]

No, she's not Fran Drescher. She's an actress from Los Angeles. And when we get super busy, she comes and she stays with us for a time and she actually lives in with us for a while. So, like the other night, the nanny and I watched in the Realm of the Senses together. It was quite a night for the two of us.

[Sean Fennessey]

Are you serious? Had you seen it before?

[Tracy Letts]

I had not seen in the Realm of the Sense of the.

[Sean Fennessey]

I just saw it for the first time this year, too. Not a movie I would watch with my nanny.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, watched it with my nanny. We both enjoyed it a lot. To talk about.

[Sean Fennessey]

Ohshima will come up later in this episode, actually, interestingly enough, how do you choose?

[Chris Ryan]

I tend to be a little bit of a victim of recency bias. So it's like the most recent thing I buy is the one this happens with books too, is I'll be halfway through a novel and then I make the mistake of going to Skylight. And then I'm like, well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to read 20 pages of this. And then all of a sudden I can't remember who's who and what book. This is a particularly hard part of the year because of basketball. Playoffs still are like, of a personal and professional interest to me. So it's like hard to like then at the end of a two game night, put on, you know, a Yakuza movie. Yeah, but, you know, we all make choices in this world. We all make compromises. I've been. I've been really excited though, recently. I think most of my buying has not been blind, but it has been on stuff I haven't seen. So the stuff that I've been buying recently is usually not like. And then of course, I've watched that 50 times in my life, but now I have a good copy of it. It's more like, oh, I've never watched a movie by this director, so this is very exciting. I find it entices me to stay on top of my purchases a little bit better.

[Timothy Simons]

This is slightly off topic, but I just want to shout it out because I think I may have texted you this and I wanted to do on a mic. When we were here last, CR talked about Fun City Editions. Welcome to Fun City. And number one, he mentions it and it sells out immediately.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yep.

[Timothy Simons]

I have to email the Fun City Editions guy to be like, I will buy this, but just. Do you have any.

[Chris Ryan]

I was next to him when he said it.

[Timothy Simons]

So yeah, I was like, I actually really do. And I. I am not kidding. I have never found a better thing because, like, trailers will have. Usually will have a Blu Ray player and a television. Sometimes there's a cable box hooked up to it. I have never found a better thing to put on in a trailer than just five hours of like, here are movie trailers in from 1976.

[Sean Fennessey]

You mean when you're preparing to do your work as an actor in a trailer?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, sometimes you lock in and then you can fade away and you can, like, look at your lines. But just to have the background.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's a vibes machine.

[Timothy Simons]

That whole disc, it is incredible.

[Chris Ryan]

Is the downside that you, like, walk out of your trailer and you're like, I think I'm going to bring a kind of Martin Balsam quality.

[Tracy Letts]

Hey, guys.

[Timothy Simons]

Kind of feeling like this scene had a little bit of a street walking vibe.

[Chris Ryan]

Have you gotten any of your colleagues to like, come by and hang out and watch a little Fun City?

[Sean Fennessey]

Why are you watching nine consecutive Taxi driver trailers?

[Timothy Simons]

Because it rules. I think they were hesitant. I mean, like, they understand the nerdy parts of my life and I think they're supportive of them. But it was nice to. When I would have it on and they'd swing by to just see their eyes kind of go toward it and then become sort of engrossed in it. And that was nice to be like, see, it's not just me. This actually feels good. You know what I mean?

[Tracy Letts]

It would be nice to have friends.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, you've replaced them with disks. Except when you come here. I don't know how to deal with what I haven't. How to choose anything anymore. Tracy and I are preparing for a Robert Duvall hall of Fame episode that we're gonna record this week. And the man made 95 feature films. And so that endeavor that I created thoughtlessly, when we were talking about people like Tom Hanks, for whom I have seen every single movie, I'm like, yeah, I could do Duvall. And then I'm seven weeks into trying to conquer his filmography, and I've acquired, I don't know, 70% of his filmography on physical. And I just can't get through it. And so what I don't have now because of this stupid job that I invented for myself, is the time to just be like, personal curiosity. I'd like to watch this thing that I bought two years ago that I was really interested in when I bought it. And I know in my heart is actually how I would spend my time if I were free from my own prison. But so I'm kind of trying to cope with that a little bit. And that's, like, a very specific concern. But I think you really do have to make time when you spend money on these things to respect, appreciate, and enjoy them. And if you don't, then you're just stamp collecting. Then you're not really doing the thing that this is the purpose of this experience.

[Tracy Letts]

I think when the nanny showed up a few weeks ago, I said to her, it's all Duvall in 1976. She said, Great. You know, so we. Every night, it's a Duvall movie or a 1976 movie in the realm of the census. 1976.

[Sean Fennessey]

It sure is. Yeah. Again, amazing choice by you. We're gonna circle back to that. You know, I asked you guys to bring some new acquisitions, some things that you're excited about. You traveled across the country to do. So you drove from 18 minutes from here.

[Timothy Simons]

I did take the raw. I wasn't paying attention, and I made it a little bit longer. Cause I went north on the five out of, like, sort of habit.

[Tracy Letts]

I made a similar mistake on the way here.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

And yet you guys both made it. Miraculously, CRU took your private helicopter and you land. You landed on the pad on the roof. Did you bring your stuff?

[Chris Ryan]

I did.

[Sean Fennessey]

Of course you brought your stuff. I brought some stuff on your behalf as well.

[Tracy Letts]

Who's going to start?

[Sean Fennessey]

I think Chris should start because you were the faun. You were the baby bear last we spoke.

[Tracy Letts]

Which is he? Is he a fawn or is he a baby bear?

[Sean Fennessey]

He's an anthropomorphized, gorgeous little. Little guy.

[Chris Ryan]

I mentioned Takashi Miike earlier. So the first one I want to talk about is Underworld Chronicles.

[Tracy Letts]

Where's the camera?

[Sean Fennessey]

See, hold it up right to your camera.

[Chris Ryan]

Aren't I three? There you go. This is from Radiance. It's a trio I want there, I suppose. Loose trilogy. I wouldn't necessarily say you need to understand one to get the other, but they're all Takashi Miike movies, yakuza movies, Japanese crime films from his V Cinema era, and a lot of people. So there's three films. There's the new generation. There's Agitator, which is his 200 minute epic. And then there's the one I want to talk about, which is Deadly Outlaw Rekka. Deadly Outlaw Rekka is an insane film and it features the greatest opening five minutes to a movie I've ever seen, which I will describe starting now, if that's okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

Please do.

[Chris Ryan]

Starts with an old yakuza chieftain talking about wolves. And then it cuts to the incredible Flower Band, which is an early psych rock band from Japan going. And then a dude running down a street at full speed while an old man crosscut is walking up some steps. And it turns out that this dude running full speed down the street is going to jump over a wall with two gun in his hand while this psych rock is playing and gunned down the old man, thus setting off a yakuza war. But it is the most electrifying, adrenalized opening five minutes of a movie ever. I cannot recommend this more highly. It is a fucking weird, crazy movie that is, you know, cascades of blood and intense violence and then interspersed with like Jim Jarmusch scenes of guys just eating rice and talking. It is a bit confusing in terms of telepathic connections to other yakuza leaders. And like, you can feel the pain of other people. There's some strange stuff going on in here, but I highly recommend it. And I highly recommend this box I am not in. McKay complete is. It's a new. It's kind of like I obviously seen the big ones like Audition and Ichi, but like, this is. This is a whole new world and I'm excited to be there.

[Tracy Letts]

And it's a big filmography. Right?

[Sean Fennessey]

He's huge.

[Chris Ryan]

Like he was making three, four movies a year at some point.

[Sean Fennessey]

He is still extremely active. Well, he released a film last year. I think he has a film at Cannes this year.

[Chris Ryan]

Bad lieutenant.

[Sean Fennessey]

Bad lieutenant Tokyo.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

These are from 94. Like 01 and 02. So just extraordinary pieces of action filmmaking. So I highly recommend it for great and From Radiance. Our Boys.

[Sean Fennessey]

So when you did you buy that blind, you were just like, I want.

[Chris Ryan]

I have a subscription for Radiance.

[Sean Fennessey]

So when you got the box.

[Timothy Simons]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

What made you choose that out of the three in there? Since you hadn't seen those three?

[Chris Ryan]

I did a little bit of research, but I also watched the trailer that they put out for. For this set, and the footage from Rekka from Deadly Outlaw was like, whoa, what is this? If you want to hear the aforementioned scream, you can just watch the trailer for this collection.

[Sean Fennessey]

75%.

[Chris Ryan]

You're still fucking. You're like, what happened?

[Sean Fennessey]

75% of my YouTube subscriptions, the things that are actually in my feed, are just physical media companies posting trailers to movies that I want to buy. And it's a nice way to.

[Chris Ryan]

And it's Flower Traveling Band, not Incredible Flower Traveling Band mixed up with Incredible String Band. My bad.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, Tim.

[Timothy Simons]

So I went with. I went with. So I talked about it before. There's, like, this Tuesday night thing that I've had going for. For probably three and a half years now.

[Sean Fennessey]

Cockfighter Tuesdays.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's now expanded to, like, five people. Me and my friend Johnny, who was very happy the night that you guys met at the screening of. Of Dynamite, House of Dynamite, when you were introduced, you went, oh, Tuesday nights. And he was like, that's so cool. But we do call ourselves the programmers. Like, we talk about the programming. And I was really happy to hear you say that earlier. This idea of, like, can I ask,

[Chris Ryan]

do you call yourselves that to anybody else? We.

[Sean Fennessey]

Now.

[Tracy Letts]

To the world.

[Timothy Simons]

We announce the world. I mean, like, when.

[Chris Ryan]

At the barista.

[Sean Fennessey]

Barista.

[Chris Ryan]

Like, are they like. And your name is. And you're like, the programmer.

[Timothy Simons]

Programmer. Well, no, I have to put a hit maker on for that one.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

I. When I'm taught. When we're talking to our wives, they'll be like, hey, what do you guys have coming up, like, this Tuesday? What are you doing? Because there are nights where I'm like, annie, you shouldn't. You actually shouldn't even walk through the living room on this one. Like, you're not. You're gonna want no part of this one.

[Tracy Letts]

But I'm curious what that would be.

[Timothy Simons]

Solo was one where I was like, you just don't want any part.

[Chris Ryan]

That's why. It's just for the guys.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Just for the boys.

[Timothy Simons]

For the dudes.

[Tracy Letts]

I don't.

[Timothy Simons]

I just.

[Tracy Letts]

I disagree.

[Timothy Simons]

Annie's. No, I. I think. I think it's less it's for the boys and more. I know what would upset my wife in movies. And there are things that she can engage with and things that she is just like. I. I don't like. I don't like seeing that, like, whatever experience that is, I don't like that experience.

[Sean Fennessey]

And it does seem like the Tuesday nights here are in pursuit of extremity.

[Timothy Simons]

Sometimes we are very much in pursuit of extremity. And. And so I kind of chose things based on, like, from this lens of. I'm happy that this exists in, like, an elevated form because this feels like the kind of thing that could just go away. That a streaming service is like, we are not going to host that on our platform. So those are the choices that I made. And I'll start with Pull it Out.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm weirdly excited.

[Timothy Simons]

The suspense is with a thriller, a cruel picture.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Christina Lindbergh.

[Timothy Simons]

We definitely go with themes sometimes. You know, we'll have, like.

[Chris Ryan]

It feels bootleggy, but it does.

[Timothy Simons]

But it's not.

[Sean Fennessey]

Who makes that disc?

[Timothy Simons]

Who made this one?

[Chris Ryan]

Vinegar.

[Tracy Letts]

Vinegar Syndrome. In fact, there's a nice slipcover box in the limited edition, maybe Slip cover.

[Timothy Simons]

I think this is just the standard. So this.

[Chris Ryan]

It feels like the chick with the eyepatch would get invited to Tuesday nights, though.

[Timothy Simons]

100%. And so we have these themes. Like, one time we did, like, underseen Tangerine Dream soundtracks. We did that for a month.

[Sean Fennessey]

Great idea.

[Timothy Simons]

And. And then, like, we did like a giallo run last October for how, like around Halloween. And this was sort of like in a accidental. But in that world of extremities, there's a lot of rape revenge. So, like, this was one. And it was one. At the end. We all stood up and actually gave this movie a standing ovation. Like, this happens when there is a particularly good one at the end. We stand up and we clap and there are like. And I know that there might be families that are listening to this.

[Sean Fennessey]

Five men standing applauding a rape revenge film at like 11pm on.

[Chris Ryan]

They're not allowed to walk through the room.

[Timothy Simons]

Clerks. It sounds bad and it's going to sound worse when I tell you that no pun intended. There is a hard cut to close up anal sex in this movie. Hard cut to just all of a sudden. And it's like that kind of thing where I'm like, this shouldn't exist. Yeah, we shouldn't be watching it.

[Tracy Letts]

But.

[Timothy Simons]

But now, like, in perpetuity, no matter what corporations do, it exists. And I think that's why I brought.

[Chris Ryan]

You are on a watch list now.

[Timothy Simons]

100%.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm glad that me salivating at a dude jumping over a wall with two nines and killing a Yakuza chieftain is not the weirdest thing that's happened in this.

[Sean Fennessey]

First is all. Are all five discs that you brought in this vein.

[Timothy Simons]

One is not, but all the others are legendary shit.

[Chris Ryan]

One is the parent trapping.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't know how you're going to follow that up.

[Tracy Letts]

There is no way to follow it up. Going to class it up.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay.

[Tracy Letts]

Network, baby. Selected because out on 4K, which those of us who love this movie just. It just feels like. It just feels like mana that this would be out on 4k also. I selected it because it is the. It's at the intersection of what we're doing this week.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's right.

[Tracy Letts]

Robert Duvall, 1976. Physical media. All are encompassed here in this American classic.

[Chris Ryan]

It's a big titted hit.

[Tracy Letts]

It's a big titted hit. That's all I got to say about it.

[Timothy Simons]

I just watched it probably for the. Maybe the third time, but not. Honestly, probably not since I was in college and was pretty blown back by how relevant it stays. And I don't know, it really was like, oh, fuck, man, they did it. There's a reason everybody talks about this one in those glowing terms. It's fucking fantastic.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. At the risk of tipping pics, it is one of my absolute favorite films ever. And maybe the first movie that made me feel like there was a world beyond the world that I was exposed to and whether or not it's actually true. And maybe at that point it wasn't as true as it is now, but. But it grew me up, I would say, in an interesting way. Okay, that's a great pick. That disc in general looks very nice and the features on it are very good as well. All right, so how do I create.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, this is an interesting buffet that you have to choose from vibe wise.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think I have stuff that represents all those different ways somewhere.

[Timothy Simons]

Should we somehow.

[Sean Fennessey]

So this is the movie orgy.

[Tracy Letts]

Oh, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

A blind buy for me that I have not checked out yet.

[Sean Fennessey]

So something that I've always wanted to see and I had never seen before. Despite some of this discussion here, it does not actually feature an orgy. It is in a somewhat similar vein to welcome to Fun City. It is a kind of like recombinant mashup movie. It's like a collection of stray cultural film, television ephemera that is all smashed together in this the runtime is 276 minutes.

[Timothy Simons]

Jesus Christ.

[Sean Fennessey]

It is directed by Joe Dante, the legendary movie maker behind Gremlins and many other classics. One of my favorite directors of all time. This is something he did in the late 1960s, 1968, as like kind of a real project that showed off his editing skills. He also worked as an editor under Roger Corman, worked with Alan Arkosh. And this is like, if he could get his brain on film, like, all the things that he saw that he loved and was interested in, that tried to represent this massive tapestry of like schlock genre, weirdo, side door culture that informs, like all the movies that he made in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s. And it was just not available for the longest period of time. And it would pop up on YouTube and then come down. It was like a rights issue forever. Agfa. Agfa released this edition. They release a lot of really cool

[Tracy Letts]

stuff like this American Genre Film Archives.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's right.

[Tracy Letts]

Is that right?

[Sean Fennessey]

And it's just a really cool artifact of movie history that as recently as three years ago, I was like, we'll never get this and I'll never get a chance to see it. And now it does. Like I said, it operates in that similar way. We can just kind of pop it on and if you want to just fast forward an hour, you're not like missing the narrative in any way.

[Chris Ryan]

It's just like, give me like, what's a 20 minute section of that?

[Sean Fennessey]

Like, it moves very fast. So it'll be like a crazy monster movie about giant ants. And then it'll be like, you know, what seems like a comfortable drama that has like a hard left turn that reveals that it's actually like a movie about like a possessed kid, you know, like, and it just kind of constantly reveals the ways in which these stories are being told over this period of time. It's a lot of fun. It's very strange. And it is like, it's an unusual way to show what your skills and interests are. It kind of reminds me of like, it's like a Pinterest board from 1968. That's cool. Yeah, it's just a really cool.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, check that out.

[Tracy Letts]

I own it. Haven't watched it, but I will same cr.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm still in the A's and B's. I gotta get to the M's.

[Sean Fennessey]

M is far.

[Chris Ryan]

One of the cool things about this experience so far of starting to buy this stuff is that occasionally I buy something because I already love it. Sometimes I buy something because the production of the disc, the production of the film for home physical media is such that it gives the film itself a different context or a different kind of weight. And that's how I feel about this. At close range from Vinegar syndrome. This is 1986 movie,

[Amanda Dobbins]

actually.

[Chris Ryan]

Is this from cinematography?

[Sean Fennessey]

It's cinematography, which is Vintage interpreter.

[Chris Ryan]

Right. 1986 James Foley movie set outside of Philadelphia. Kind of like a rural noir with Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. This has maybe my favorite Sean Penn and Christopher Walken performances. Individually, it's a really, really beautiful movie. And this is one that I feel like I'd seen on VHS or streaming over the years, but takes on a whole new weight with the 4K and has a lovely hardcover book, kind of like the kind of thing that you'd find on your dad's shelves. You can pull on out. And great contextual information about the making of the movie. And just a lovely, lovely package that gives a kind of. I wouldn't say forgotten, but moderately admired genre movie from the mid-80s. And now I'm like, God, this thing has heft. And it definitely has grown, in my kind of estimation, because of the production of the film.

[Sean Fennessey]

Can I tell you something? The film celebrates its 40th anniversary this week.

[Tracy Letts]

How about that rip? James Foley.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, that's right. Arguably his best film.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm gonna. I'm a fan. Good pick.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm going with Going Places, which is another tease.

[Sean Fennessey]

You're really pushing it.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm really pushing it. I feel like the one's, like, one more that pushes it and the other two don't really tell us about it. But Going Places is Gerard Depardieu, and I believe this is the movie that, like, made him a movie star. And I don't know how to describe it other than it's like two French sexual harassers drive around France and are bad people. But.

[Sean Fennessey]

Bertrand Blier. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Any hard cuts to anal sex in this one or.

[Timothy Simons]

No, but they do approach a breastfeeding mom on a train, and one of them ends up breastfeeding from the woman.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

Who among us.

[Timothy Simons]

Who among us has not found ourselves in this situation? This is one of the reasons I feel like I'm not successful in this business is that now when I go,

[Sean Fennessey]

guy with the hitmaker name says thing that is not true.

[Timothy Simons]

Or maybe I could have moved the push the stone up the hill a little more if I wasn't going into, like, general meetings and being like, hey, I had an idea for a show. Has a few aspects of this, but Also, have you ever seen Going Places? Because now, like, the content is up for discussion. But there is no denying that I think this movie might have one of the funniest edit runner I've ever seen of these two men approaching a situation. Like, the director puts all the elements together of something that's happening, and then it smash cuts to them running away while the event is like, God, the aftermath of the event is in the back background. Yeah. And it is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. And you can't believe that you go through this movie. I think the magic trick of this thing is that these are two of the worst people you've ever seen, and yet they are not really portrayed as heroes, but they are sympathetic or you are empathetic to them. Like you. You find yourselves wanting. You find yourself wanting them to do better, and they don't. And then the final. Like the final shot of the movie then kind of tells you why. It's called Going Places. And I don't know, it was like another. Another one. And again, hard to find on streaming services. I can understand why nobody wants to host it, but there's like, a lot of amazing stuff in there.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is it Cohen who put this out?

[Timothy Simons]

It's Cohen. Yeah. And I think this had to come from. I think this was another out of country one.

[Sean Fennessey]

I haven't. I haven't seen that before. It is a very controversial film. It was a huge hit in its timeline.

[Timothy Simons]

Huge hit and like, minted both of them as mov movie stars.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

I think Gerard Dep are due to a much larger extent, internationally.

[Tracy Letts]

Well, then Patrick Dewar was a big movie star too, but he killed himself.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

Kind of at the height of his career too.

[Sean Fennessey]

Ebert writes, despite its occasional charms, Going Places is a film of truly cynical decadence.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

I would broadly agree. I think when we stood up and applauded at the end, I think that's one of the things that we admired about it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, Tracy, what's next?

[Tracy Letts]

Cutter's Way from Radiance. This is one of my favorite movies ever. It's on my list. It's on my top whatever list. I love this movie. The fact that this is available on 4K is just one of those. Again, it's just like, I didn't think I would live long enough to see something like this available on 4K. If you haven't seen this movie, don't read about it. Don't. Don't look at a trailer. Don't want to. Don't. Just. Just get this and watch it. It's a great, great. It's a great film. Great Jeff Bridges performance just at his hottest. And John Hurd, just doing some. Some amazing work in this thing. Ivan Passer, great Czech New wave director. It's a great film, great noir. Check it out.

[Sean Fennessey]

Go ahead.

[Timothy Simons]

I have not seen that and I'm going to take that advice of just getting it and watching it.

[Sean Fennessey]

My favorite John Hurd performance. The thing that's funny about this one is I completely agree that it's fascinating that it's on 4K, but I think this is the third time a boutique distributor has put this movie. I think Twilight Time put it out many years ago and then Fun City put a version out on Blu Ray. I think I had the first five years ago. And then now Radiance is putting out this edition, which is the best one that's come out yet.

[Tracy Letts]

I bought them all.

[Sean Fennessey]

It has been the same too. It's one of those things where like, so there is definitely a market of people who are like, I need to keep buying Cutter's Way.

[Timothy Simons]

I need to keep discovering how many times I bought Hind Hearts and Coronets, the greatest Tracy Letts quote that has ever existed.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's so funny though that, like, there are these. There's a lot of movies that are not available and may never be available, and we'll probably talk about them shortly. But, like, there are also movies that just keep coming out and new additions and we're like, well, I just gotta upgrade.

[Tracy Letts]

Hunter's Way is funny in that it's. It for so long kept appearing on these lists of the greatest movies you've never seen. The greatest movie you've never heard of, it's always on that list. So I have to assume by this point a lot of people have heard of it. But if you haven't, check out Cutter's Way.

[Chris Ryan]

Great novel too.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, it is. Newton Thornburg. Yeah, pulled that out of my ass.

[Chris Ryan]

Way to go.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, I'm going to get a little fusty. So.

[Timothy Simons]

What? No, yeah, me, I know.

[Tracy Letts]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So Frederick Wiseman passed away recently, the great documentarian, or perhaps the greatest American documentarian of all time. And I've seen some of his films, especially all of them made in the last 15 years or so. But the films that he became extremely well known for, they're not hard to find, but they were collected by BFI some years ago. And so when he passed away, I immediately raced out and bought this. And now it's a little bit harder to find than it Was it's called Cinema the Films of Frederick Wiseman.

[Tracy Letts]

I thought this was fairly new. I mean, I do.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's in the last year or so. And it features. I think it's his first five features, which is Titicut Falls High School Hospital, Juvenile Court and Welfare. And the reason those films have those titles is because that's what they're. They're explorations in documentary form of institutions. That's the thing that he did over his almost 60 year career where he would go into spaces and train his camera on a mental health institution or recently City Hall. He spent a year chronicling Boston City hall and how their local government operated. He recently did one about a French restaurant. And some of these films are incredibly durational. They're like four hours long and they have no narrative, no into camera conversation. They are just observational and edited in a very discreet style to show you how these worlds work in a kind of. With an unobtrusive camera. But the first films made a lot of noise because they seem to reveal some of the decay that was happening in some places like the institution or in high school or in hospital. And they're not like, you probably won't stand and applaud in quite the same sicko way that you would when you get through Thriller with your boys. But they're just tremendously important pieces of American art. And I hope that they like. I hope BFI continues to collect his movies and puts them all out. Even though I think there's more than two dozen films that he made over his career. But he's just such a huge and important voice and it's a great set.

[Tracy Letts]

I think Titicut Follies was kind of instrumental in shedding light on mental hospitals and the condition of those. I think a lot of changes happened as a result of that film being distributed because people had simply never. Most people had simply never seen what went on inside those institutions before that film.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's definitely true. And I think that there's a. Like, documentary is not journalism. But sometimes it can be.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessey]

And some of these movies are cases where that's the case. So anyway, that's a little bit of seriousness.

[Timothy Simons]

Do those have the same kind of vibe as like street wise or is streetwise a little bit more narrative to camera?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, like in Streetwise, they're asking people, like, when did you start working on the street? This is. It's really more like the camera sits back and people are like having a meeting in a room and the camera's just looking at their meeting.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

And so it feels like you are spying in a way, and it's usually in a very public kind of forum, but it also feels like you're not supposed to be in the room and so you're gathering information. And also sometimes it's quite dull. Sometimes it shows how boring life can be and how a lot of functionaries work throughout the world. And sometimes it can be beautiful and explosive and interesting. But anyway, that's Frederick Wiseman.

[Chris Ryan]

I will go. I wonder if one of you guys also brought this. Go with Stuntman, which just came from Transmission a couple months ago. I think one of their first releases. I believe that's the second release they did. The Transmission's a sub label of Radiance. Stuntman is maybe my favorite film about making movies. It stars Peter o', Toole, directed by Richard Rush. Barbara Hershey's in it and wait, gosh, what's the stuntman's name?

[Tracy Letts]

Steve Rails Back.

[Chris Ryan]

Steve Rails Back. And maybe one of my, like, favorite opening hours of a movie. Like really, like before, you know, they have to end it. Like there. There is a magic to this movie. There is a. A kind of mixture of cynicism and wonder that I really adore. And this is an incredible package. So not only is it a fantastic, just like reference, I don't. Reference quality. I don't even know if I. If I am qualified to say so,

[Sean Fennessey]

but Tracy is, so he can weigh in on that.

[Tracy Letts]

I approve.

[Chris Ryan]

Fantastic piece of movie preservation. And then it comes with a fantastic book booklet with it. But then you get these awesome postcards which I can't bring myself to actually use, but are really dope.

[Sean Fennessey]

You should just send one to me. Just write me a letter. Hey, was watching Stuntman thinking of you. Hope you're well. See you at the office tomorrow.

[Tracy Letts]

That sounds sweet.

[Chris Ryan]

And a dope poster. So really awesome package. Really excited about Transmission and. And this is exactly the kind of movie that deserves this kind of production.

[Tracy Letts]

Have you watched it since you got. Yeah, I watched it too, recently. Showed it to the wife and the nanny.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Thumbs up.

[Tracy Letts]

Thumbs up. Definitely. Barbara Hershey. Man. Underrated. Great, great actress. Underrated. Feelings were mixed about Steve Rails Back, though. I think he's great in film.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's one of those. I don't know who I would replace him with in that movie, but I like him in in the Line of Fire, which is really the only other Rails Back movie I can think of.

[Tracy Letts]

Well, Helter Skelter.

[Sean Fennessey]

Helter Skelter, Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

I really like Stuntman. I think it's a great movie. And the great mystery of Richard Rush and why he didn't have a bigger career.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. There are some sequences in this movie where you're like, this guy's Spielberg. This is nuts. Like what? He's like a helicopter is flying across, and then the crane shot is going around this, and he's shooting a crane shot.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's a fascinating. I mean, he was in the same lineage of many of the movie Brats, where he made a bunch of biker movies for Corman and had a lot of success. And then in the 70s, he makes getting Straight Freebie and the Bean and then Stuntman and then nothing until color of night 15 years later.

[Timothy Simons]

Is that the Bruce Willis? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's maybe for you and the boys one day.

[Timothy Simons]

I mean, it might be for me and the boys.

[Sean Fennessey]

Similar energy.

[Timothy Simons]

Controversial.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think the anal is on screen

[Timothy Simons]

in that film with the dicks on screen.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, that's right.

[Timothy Simons]

So that's good.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Timothy Simons]

That's good. Definitely. It would be a contender for programming. Oh, I also want to shout out, Tracy, I think you brought this one in last year, that Fun City Lifeguard, the Sam Elliot Lifeguard movie, which we ended up watching on a Tuesday night and is a fantastic.

[Tracy Letts]

Just a great movie.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. And it's kind of presented as like a sort of like, bikini beach party, but then it's a tone poem on aging.

[Sean Fennessey]

Totally.

[Timothy Simons]

Like, it's wild how good that movie is.

[Chris Ryan]

It kind of reminded me of the books that McMurtry wrote about the Last Picture show characters. Like, after Last Picture show, it's just like aging out of youth and trying to figure out who you are. It's really good.

[Timothy Simons]

I. At the Actor Awards, formerly called the SAG Awards, this year, I was at a table close to. I was close to Sam Elliot. Sam Elliot. And I just said it, and I went over and I did. I was like, excuse me, sir. I'm so sorry to interrupt. I just need to let you know I recently saw Lifeguard, and I think it's a fantastic film, and you were incredible in it. And he said, oh, thank you very much. I don't think he was expecting, hey, man, I saw you in Lifeguard.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And so I think that was a good. Like, it caught him off guard in a good way. And then I didn't. I didn't belabor, but I felt it was. I felt it needed some singing.

[Chris Ryan]

Was he like. Did he. Did he have anything to say about Lifeguard? Or is we just like, keep it moving.

[Timothy Simons]

I. I kept it moving. Yeah, I think he was like, oh, thank you very much. You know that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, thank you. That was pretty good. Is that something? So I was. I was with a. With an accomplished person yesterday, and not like.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, not like today.

[Sean Fennessey]

To pivot to your perspectives imminently. And he was telling a story about how nervous he was to talk to somebody who he really admired. And like, will you guys do that? Will you go up to people frequently that you really. If you really like what they've done in their careers, the way that you just described. Is that common for you to go up to someone like Sam Elliott and say, like, hey, I love that you did this also. I'm on this show.

[Timothy Simons]

It is. I would say it's common, but I try not to belabor it, you know, Or. I mean, honestly, more often than not, I try to engage in conversations that have nothing to do with the business. You know what I mean?

[Sean Fennessey]

Like, I like that hat.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Or, you know, like, you know, I got to meet, like, I met, you know, in passing Oscar Isaac at, like, an after party or whatever. Like, dude's been dressing really well recently. He's been going with, like, the, you know, the sort of.

[Sean Fennessey]

You have, like, a drip off with Oscar Isaac where, you know, if there

[Timothy Simons]

was a drip off, he would have won, but. But it was, like, nice to talk to him about, like, hey, man, the pants. You're fucking killing it with the pants. You know what I mean?

[Tracy Letts]

Now here's Oscar Isaac, who probably would like to be complimented about his work as an actor as opposed to the clothes somebody else gave him to wear.

[Timothy Simons]

Nice pants.

[Chris Ryan]

What's your favorite deck part of the movie?

[Timothy Simons]

I mean, I. I guess you want

[Sean Fennessey]

to do a going places, me and

[Timothy Simons]

you, I think, where we just take

[Chris Ryan]

our big pants off.

[Sean Fennessey]

You ever go up to a gal on the train, breastfeeding your child and try to nudge in there?

[Timothy Simons]

Guys, I. I should only be complimenting the fans because that is the shit I would say. And then I'm gonna be asked to leave the party. No, I think I try to do it if I'm gonna have that conversation. I try not to do it in circumstances like that where it's. That's probably the majority of what you're hearing. And especially at, like, any event like that, you're so in a different brain that it's hard to even just have a regular conversation. So if I'm gonna have that one, I try to do it in a. In a more subdued circumstance. I don't know about you.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, I'll go up to somebody and say something. I, you know, I, I like it when people say something nice to me. You know, I, I will tell them I admire their work or what their work has meant to me, but again, yeah, I'm selective about it, and I. Whatever it is, I make it. I keep it brief. Unless they want to extend the conversation, I keep it brief. Like, I'm not gonna bother you, you know?

[Sean Fennessey]

What about pants?

[Tracy Letts]

I have never discussed their pants.

[Timothy Simons]

You got to get in there.

[Tracy Letts]

There. I guess so.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Try it out.

[Chris Ryan]

I know.

[Timothy Simons]

I, I, I think that's right. Like, if somebody wants to continue talking. Like if I was talking to Oscar Isaac and he was like, hey, I'd actually really like to talk about inside Lew Davis, I'd be like, yes, let's take a seat. Because I have.

[Sean Fennessey]

Now, that would be weird if he said, thanks for the compliment about my pants, but can we please discuss my performance?

[Timothy Simons]

I would be all for it. But I definitely, like, Yeah, I try to keep it brief.

[Sean Fennessey]

What. What bundle of depravity do you have for us next?

[Timothy Simons]

Okay, so this one is actually.

[Chris Ryan]

You're hiding it, which makes me really nervous. Like, maybe we can't see it.

[Timothy Simons]

So this was actually after our aborted cockfighter. I did say, well, that's somebody recommend. And I just bought death game.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Which I don't think is as depraved as the other two, but is. I feel like it has had a few different remakes, including a Eli Roth Remini.

[Sean Fennessey]

Eli.

[Timothy Simons]

Knock, knock. The conceit of it is incredible. This was released by Grindhouse. Releasing now.

[Tracy Letts]

She's wearing brassiere and no panties.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, that's right. That's Colleen Camp. I believe in that photograph.

[Tracy Letts]

Oh, Colleen Camp. Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. And.

[Chris Ryan]

And you should go to Colleen Campbell.

[Tracy Letts]

I said brazier. Like she has 1948.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, I spy that lady that. That gentle. Neither neither interested in pants nor seems to care that she isn't a brassiere.

[Sean Fennessey]

She doth protest to thine undies.

[Timothy Simons]

So an incredible conceit of a movie of, like, a happy family man who, good luck with this, Ends up fucking two.

[Sean Fennessey]

Jesus Christ.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay, so they. They say that they're teenagers. We don't know if that's the truth, but there is, like, an extended scene in a bathtub.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know if it's the key. We can't be sure.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, the actors were not teenagers when

[Tracy Letts]

they made famous last words.

[Chris Ryan]

I have to do my own research.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is a tough one because I love this movie. So I kind of want to be on Tim's side here.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm also just like hyperventilating, imagining Tim going up to Colleen camp. It was like I watched you in Death Game and did you know on the COVID you're wearing a brassier brasier but no panties.

[Timothy Simons]

But no panties.

[Sean Fennessey]

Keep it moving.

[Chris Ryan]

Great pants on you now, though.

[Timothy Simons]

Great pants on you now. Who takes the brassiere off before the panties? You like the you Seinfeld bit.

[Sean Fennessey]

You're making it seem like people who are interested in this hobby are like afraid to buy porn, but will get to the absolute edge of porn and say click. But they can't put me on any lists.

[Chris Ryan]

The weirdest thing is before we started, we were walking in and I was like, sometimes I worry that people get the wrong idea about me because of the movie psychic.

[Sean Fennessey]

I had no idea what he was gonna do. This one's worse in the description than it is in the execution.

[Timothy Simons]

In the execution. And so. But ultimately what I. What I love about this movie. And again, this got a standing ovation, especially because of the end. And I think the reason that this was recommended to me is because I was talking about the movie pieces. Now that has the best ending to a horror movie that I've ever seen. And they were like, well, have you seen Death Game? And I said no. And we watched this and when I saw the ending, we. We absolutely were fucking floored by it. But I think this also exists in this world that I don't know that we have anymore where people that are over qualified for the material are taking it on. So I am now for, of course forgetting the actress's name. Yeah, Sandra Locke. Yeah, and Colin Camp. Definitely. And Sandra Locke. Certainly it is clear how good of performers they are. And Cinderlock elevates this to some level like. Like where it has like a feeling of like Marat Saad or like this is somebody who like studied theater and is bringing something to this that shouldn't be there but is because of their own talent. And I don't know that we have that as much anymore. And so there is something again, it's. This feels like a piece from a different time that I am glad exists. I am showing my ass to the entire world today.

[Sean Fennessey]

No, I think this is a great pick. I don't know if you remember this, but I gifted you this film as of like because I was. I think I told you about Grindhouse releasing and I sent you a couple of discs. This was one of them. It's been called a couple different things over the years. I think The Seducers is another title for the movie. Seymour Cassel is the male lead in the movie. I mean he's an amazing actor.

[Timothy Simons]

Apparently hated the director, refused to do adr, which is why there is all this very awkward adr.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's not his voice, it's barely his voice, something he's been dubbed over, which is very strange. But you know, this is the same year that Sandra Locke made the Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood. Like it's 1977. It's. She's about to become a very well known person in Hollywood and it's like a pretty. It's like a sexy, weird, almost psychedelic at times. Like, like torture sex movie. It's fascinating.

[Timothy Simons]

And that is the thing is that like you at its basest level, that what it is, that's what it is. But at the end when she's playing a judge, it has like this sense of theatricality to it that just. That goes so far beyond the material, you can't help but be impressed. Buy it and buy her.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This episode is brought to you by Apple and at&t. Scroll long enough and you'll hear it all. Miracle diets, fitness trends, you name it. But with iPhone and Apple Watch, you get meaningful insights from a very trusted source. Your body. You can track sleep quality, cardio, fitness and more. Then unpack all the information in the health app on iPhone to get a picture of your overall health. These health insights are developed with clinical experts from start to finish. Find out [e-mail] health Apple Watch is not a medical device and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice.

[Tracy Letts]

The gambler yeah, Cinematograph, Cinematograph, Radiance, all getting a lot of love here. Gambler. My dad took me to see this in 1974. I was nine. So dad took me to see this in the movie theaters when I was nine. And I remember it, I remember seeing the movie and I remember like asking the questions when the movie was over. Like daddy, why did he, why did he.

[Chris Ryan]

Why did he sacrifice so much for so little?

[Tracy Letts]

I do. What I really remember from it is the sense of dread. You know, the, the just that, that sense of dread when you're. When you're in over your head and you're making it worse. That compulsion to, to. To make it worse. Great movie. Carol Reese movie. Great again. I've had a bad DVD of this on my shelf for 25 years.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is a big one. This was a long desired one that people wanted forever. I wonder if this is a bit of a keystone to some of your writing. Oh, the Gambler, which is about a character who's a very sophisticated, well read person who is also kind of trapped by base desires, addictions, obsessions. It's a movie about sports, gambling, famously remade with Mark Wahlberg, a film that Chris and I think is fascinating.

[Chris Ryan]

I admire Corey this.

[Tracy Letts]

It really.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

I thought it was just considered a total misfire.

[Sean Fennessey]

It is considered that by most.

[Chris Ryan]

But there's a lot going on in there.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, I don't think it has a

[Timothy Simons]

kind of like cruel or a cruel picture. There's a lot going on in there.

[Tracy Letts]

James Caan, man, he's the greatest. James Caan, such a force. You know, we recently did a Godfather and Godfather 2 rewatch, which we'll probably get into later in the week. 2. Really, Mrs. Khan. He's such a force of nature, you know, he's such a. Such a. A whirlwind. Just a charisma machine. He's just a tractor beam. He's really something to watch.

[Timothy Simons]

I. That's something I've sort of realized recently is that I don't know that he obviously, like, it's not like people don't know who James Kahn is, but the more I've gone back and watched earlier movies like this one, I am like, oh, he should be spoken in the same breath as De Niro and Pacino. Like, he has that level of charisma and ability and his choices are incredible. Like he. And it's an incredible. Also an incredible movie about.

[Chris Ryan]

It feels dangerous too.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Which is maybe why he's not thought of like those guys. Like, he has like an edge to

[Timothy Simons]

him that maybe they were like. Is that just what he's like?

[Chris Ryan]

He feels authentic rather than studied. Where maybe like De Niro is like studied.

[Sean Fennessey]

Read it.

[Chris Ryan]

But like James caan Playing Jake LaMotta is like a different animal than De Niro.

[Timothy Simons]

Maybe.

[Chris Ryan]

But it's. You're completely right there.

[Timothy Simons]

And there is also something I love a movie having a part of my brain that understands that thankfully I've never seen, but that understands that level of like going on tilt or the attraction to making it worse. I'm always very. I always really respond to movies that have that thing that really gets you to feel like what it is like to go on tilt. Like Uncut Gems, I think is a really good example of this California Split. Those movies that are just like, why didn't they just stop? Or the last moment of California Split with him being at the apex of everything he's been looking for and then being like this is it. This is the thing. It didn't do anything like, oh, fuck, this is bad news. You know what I mean? I love that. I love films that examine that idea.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think one of the reasons why he's maybe not held in the exact same esteem is because he, De Niro and Pacino also have quieter 1980s, and then they have these big comebacks in the 90s, and Khan never quite got that. But there's some really good Khan performances in the 80s, obviously thief first and foremost. But Gardens of Stone, I think, is like the opposite of what we're describing. Like a very internal, quiet Coppola movie that, like, not a lot of people have seen that I always point to to be like. There's different shades to these directors, to these actors and these guys from this period of time, looking at that sense of mortality that I think they're all starting to feel at that period. One of my faves, you know, all

[Tracy Letts]

those guys at some point started to kind of trade on their Persona for comedic purposes.

[Timothy Simons]

Right.

[Tracy Letts]

And Khan did that earlier than the rest of them, where he did become a kind of Bada Bing, you know, this kind of guy, sometimes to good effect. I'm not saying it wasn't, but I wonder if it didn't rob him of some opportunity or maybe he just wasn't getting the kind of opportunities those guys were getting. Yeah, because he certainly seemed to make the most of them when he did get those opportunities.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, he worked a ton in the 90s.

[Timothy Simons]

I mean, the program rules.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, but, like, he did. Like, he did it in Mickey Blue Eyes, for example. That was a movie that, like, he was kind of trading on that, but it didn't quite have the same, like, Meet the Parents level. Explosive hit quality. Anyway, we're talking a lot about James Caan. My pick is John Singleton's Hood trilogy from the Criterion Collect collection, which is really fascinating. Of course, you would expect the Criterion Collection to pick Boyz n the Hood for the collection because it's one of the landmark 90s films, one of the most important black American movies ever made. A beloved movie that launched John Singleton into a huge career in Hollywood. What I love about the choice is that it also features Poetic justice and Baby Boy, which are two of his best movies that I think to a certain segment of the audience that was tuned into what he was doing at the time, they really care about, but are really underserved historically by places like the Criterion Collection. Baby Boy especially, which I think for the longest time was only available on dvd.

[Tracy Letts]

I've never seen it.

[Sean Fennessey]

I haven't seen Baby Boy. Such a good movie. Tyreese, a phenomenal Ving Rhames performance in the movie. It's like a real classical melodrama in a lot of ways, but also a really funny movie. And I wish that Higher Learning was in this set as well because that's the other film of his that I watched over and over again as a kid. And I really love the outsize, almost like Douglas Serkian quality to a lot of his movies. He really does old School, dramatic, 50s Hollywood style productions. But in the world of these characters and they're just not. There are hardly any movies in this la Milieu in the 90s and 2000s. So it's like you might think that they're attempting to class up something, but it's the opposite. To me, this gives such definition and shape to what the Criterion class should be and can be. And they're also like, they're studio movies. They're meant to be crowd pleasing and entertaining and interesting. Like Poetic Justice. Is Janet Jackson and Tupac on like a road trip. On a road trip and like giving I think their two best performances. I just think that this is like signals a path for where we can go once we get past like the Janis films hundred year history of international cinema. Like there's a lot that's happened in the last 30 years that needs to be like mined and supported and lifted up.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

So it's also a really good job of. Of contextualizing three movies that maybe everyday people don't associate with each other. Like they know that he directed them, but they don't think of it as a piece of work like that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Exactly. That they're connected in a way. In the same way that like we think of like Tarantino's movies as being connected to each other. Anyway. Next pick, Chris.

[Chris Ryan]

John Boorman's Excalibur.

[Tracy Letts]

Nice.

[Chris Ryan]

Which just came out in this deluxe Arrow edition. It's a movie from 1981. It's about. It's John Borman's big swing. I'm gonna make a King Arthur movie. And it is something that like my dad showed me when I was a kid that was like an object of like complete obsession for me. But because I was more into King Arthur and like Arthurian legend and the idea of the sword from the stone and all that stuff. It's like that really interesting thing that happens with some movies from your childhood where you remember, like you watched it a lot because you cared about what it was about. And then all Of a sudden, somewhere along the line, it becomes because you care about the movie, you know, and because you care about the director or because you care about the actors in it. That's happened with this. Some notable people in this. Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Nicole Williamson plays Merlin. It's really cool performance. Pretty hammy. This is something that didn't look this fucking good when I was a kid. Obviously, we had boxier TVs and VHS that was of dubious quality. This is almost a reimagining of the movie to my eyes. And it kind of took me back to, like, seeing it for the first time. So.

[Tracy Letts]

So you've w. You have watched this?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's intense. It's beautiful.

[Sean Fennessey]

You have been talking about it for, like 10 years, though, as a movie that you love, but don't.

[Chris Ryan]

It's also notably, the first time I ever saw people have sex on screen was in this movie.

[Timothy Simons]

Gabriel, buddy, do I have some films for you.

[Chris Ryan]

But Gabriel Burn has sex with a woman while wearing a full suit of armor, which I still haven't quite figured out the mechanics of that I've been

[Sean Fennessey]

attempting to recreate for years.

[Tracy Letts]

It happened.

[Sean Fennessey]

It happen.

[Chris Ryan]

But, yeah, this is. This is a wonderful pickup.

[Timothy Simons]

My last one might be controversial because I'm on the big picture, but I think it brought it to.

[Chris Ryan]

You did.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay, it is. But I think it speaks to something that we talk about, and that is. I believe this is the. Is this Italian? No, this is from the UK. It's 000. It's like the Blu Ray of 000, which I don't believe this is an

[Chris Ryan]

important thing to talk about.

[Timothy Simons]

I don't think you can stream this.

[Chris Ryan]

It was a Prime Video original that is no longer on Prime Video. It does not. It is not available for streaming.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm delighted to say I've never heard of this. I don't even know what this is.

[Timothy Simons]

This is eight episodes, limited series. Limited series that kind of came out. I think it came out during the pandemic, during COVID And so it got a little bit. Covid Memory hold has incredible. It's about the cartel and their cocaine business, the shipping. And the shipping company that is attempting to get it to the Italian mafia. And it is those three stories told over the course of eight episodes. Andrea Reinsborough, Dane DeHaan, Gabriel Burns, speaking of in a. In a suit of armor and a gentleman whose name I can't remember, but who plays like the guy who tries to take over the crowd.

[Tracy Letts]

Michael Pierre.

[Chris Ryan]

No, it's a guy Who Mexican actor who gives do a lot.

[Timothy Simons]

Honestly one of the best performances I've ever seen and also one of the most terrifying. It is. It's incredible. It is something that even as I was watching it during COVID especially during COVID I was to have this feeling of I don't know that this will ever get made again. The amount of actual location shooting they were doing, doing landing helicopters on shipping, on shipping vessels in the middle of the ocean, the level of violence that's in it. It is an unbelievable series that you just can't see anymore. And from what I understand there is an Italian cut.

[Chris Ryan]

There is, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

That doesn't do as much hand holding for the audience.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I haven't seen that. I read about it when I bought this disc. This is this crazy period of Amazon where they were just kind of throwing money around. This is also the time period that produced Too Old to Die Young, the Nicholas Wending Refn Miles Teller thing which is just a complete fever dream. Stefano Selima directed a bunch of these episodes who did Gamora and did Day of the Soldado. Just an awesome, awesome TV series.

[Sean Fennessey]

I watched the first two episodes as I have with most shows that Chris has recommended, enjoyed it and thought I'll get back to that at some point. But that was exactly what I was going to say which is it's just an artifact of a very recent history in artists racing towards opportunity and taking advantage of corporate circumstances in very interesting ways.

[Timothy Simons]

And I do think that as we talk about film preservation, especially in a streaming era where stuff can just be pulled off and like memory hold and no longer found. I kind of think this is going to end up being something that we'll be looking into in the future of.

[Chris Ryan]

I had this one gave me kind of chills when this came off of Amazon and prompted me to think differently about picking up stuff like it series is like that that seem like international co pros that got bought by a streamer for a finite amount of time that if it's available I'll grab it if I loved it because you just really never know if the right come up again if anybody's going to bother.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, like I do have a copy of Station 11 on 4K for that reason. You know, who knows?

[Tracy Letts]

Am I up?

[Sean Fennessey]

You're up.

[Tracy Letts]

All right. I'm going to dive into the. This is from my friends at Second Run which is a UK label. This is a trilogy of films by Isvan Jabo. I'm sure I'm not saying that correctly.

[Chris Ryan]

Sounds pretty close.

[Tracy Letts]

They all star, Klaus Maria Brandau. They're all on Blu ray. One of them perhaps on Blu ray for the first time. If I were making Mount Rushmore for film performance. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Mephisto is on it. I think it's one of the great film performances ever filmed.

[Sean Fennessey]

Can you tell people what the setup for that film is? Because it's a really interesting movie.

[Tracy Letts]

It's basically a F story about an actor in Nazi Germany who's, you know, selling his soul in order to be a successful actor in Nazi Germany. And it's based on a true story and it's horrible and heartbreaking and fascinating and brand now. It's just amazing in it.

[Timothy Simons]

And do you think there are any current day comps to what that might feel like? I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Tracy Letts]

No idea what you're talking about. I can't think of any.

[Sean Fennessey]

I've not seen those other two films. Mephisto is amazing.

[Tracy Letts]

You should see him. Honussen is pretty great.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. Do you want company in the perverted category?

[Timothy Simons]

Yes, please. God, Sean, I'm out here on an island.

[Sean Fennessey]

So this comes from the fine people at Umbrella Entertainment, which is a Australian company. This is what has been defined here. And I don't know I had ever seen it described this way as the day of the woman set. This is I spit on your grave. And I spit on your grave. Deja Vu. Now I'm not yet seen. I Spit on youn Grave. Deja Vu, which is a follow up to the original film.

[Chris Ryan]

Please tell me it doesn't document the same characters.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh God.

[Chris Ryan]

Deja Vu.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'll find out when I see the film. I Spit on youn grave is a 78 movie directed by Mir Zarki. It is one of the er, rape revenge texts. It has been studied far and wide. It is a very violent, scary, sad movie. But it is a movie that really centers a woman taking revenge on the people who assaulted her and features incredible performances, especially Camille Keaton as the star of the movie. The movie's been remade a couple times. It was remade in the 2010s, but when you're trying to understand the history of violence on screen, I feel like this is an essential movie. There are lurid thrills in the movie and that you can see. The movie was made with that intention, but that the filmmakers are also subterraneously doing something socially with what it's trying to portray and do. And this is another movie that was hard to find for a while. You can find it on vhs, you can find it in video stores for sure. And was passed around amongst sickos discovering horror movies over time. But this set is pretty crazy and. And there's just a tremendous amount of work that's been put into it. Similarly has, like, a huge booklet with several essays. If you've ever wanted postcards featuring Day of I actually. Do you want those?

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, so maybe I'll send you a stuntman one and you send them.

[Tracy Letts]

That's really sweet.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's a good idea.

[Tracy Letts]

That's nice.

[Chris Ryan]

We should send more postcards.

[Timothy Simons]

There is a. The postcards that come in these books. I remember talking to a friend of mine about. They had, like, given me, like a nice bottle of wine for a birthday or something, and they asked if we'd had it. I said no, I'm, like, saving it for a special occasion. They told me, and this is gonna be way too heavy a story when it comes to postcards that come in Blu Ray boxes. But they were like. I actually recently had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and he was a wine collector and they had all this wine and because he had limited time left, they were just like cracking bottles at breakfast because he had never and was not going to have the opportunity to taste these. And really, like, what it came down to was drink the wine. Don't wait for a special occasion. Just drink it. And so I think. I think I'm just saying that I apply that same sort of thing to those postcards. It's like, oh, I got to keep those in there. Those are special. Put a stamp on them. You know what I mean? This is how we make friends as adult men. You got to get in there, Tracy, with those postcards. You program them.

[Tracy Letts]

I didn't know this was coming. Coming my way.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, we're sharing postcards so you guys can share postcards.

[Timothy Simons]

And then you mention has a job. You know what? I met somebody and I wanted to talk to them more and we didn't have the opportunity. And I'm going to send them a postcard. You know what I mean? This is how we make connections in the modern world.

[Tracy Letts]

Nice.

[Sean Fennessey]

How are you feeling about making friends at this stage of your life? You've made a couple of references here.

[Tracy Letts]

Dear friends around this table. It's really lovely.

[Sean Fennessey]

Chris, you're up.

[Chris Ryan]

It's the day of the woman man.

[Sean Fennessey]

Don't worry about will be momentarily.

[Chris Ryan]

Actually, my last one is.

[Tracy Letts]

Oh, not that one.

[Sean Fennessey]

Was that one too perverse?

[Chris Ryan]

No, it's just like kind of repetitive with some of the other stuff. I grabbed Red Rooms, which is.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, I didn't get this.

[Chris Ryan]

One of the best movies of this decade I think. And one of the most relevant movies of this decade. It's from Utopia. I know that this is another example on the flip of the 000 conversation. A film that a French Canadian like horror thriller that Sean and I both loved that you really can't. Cannot speak enough about. Because I think this is. Pascal Plant is a very, very powerful filmmaker and I cannot wait to see what he does next.

[Sean Fennessey]

Who put that out?

[Chris Ryan]

Utopia.

[Tracy Letts]

Utopia.

[Sean Fennessey]

Utopia. Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

And not a lot of special features nor do you need them. It's a great looking movie and I just wanted to make sure it didn't fall through the cracks. I was going to ask you guys how you approach buying recent releases. Do you think, okay, I gotta get Oppenheimer or whatever, like as soon as it hits 4k. Do you wait for something special to come along in terms of it's an addition? Because I'm sort of like in my head about like do I need to buy a movie that I saw 18 months ago or 24 months ago? And this feels so much more historical and archival. And then when I buy something from 2023 I'm like, I'm glad I have it. But this was just one. I was worried about it falling through the cracks of streaming.

[Sean Fennessey]

I have an answer to that question. I'm obviously trying to collect complete filmographies of many filmmakers at this point. And so I was thinking about do I need to be spending money on Begonia, which is a movie I liked but didn't love. Wasn't like in my top 10 or anything like that. But I'm just interested in Yorgos Lanthimos and interested in having a stack that just is all of his movies. And I'm like, am I going to spend $45 on a steelbook of Begonia, a movie that I like. Maybe we'll watch one more time before I die. And the answer's no. But I am going to get it at some point. And the movies like that, to the point about big studios putting movies out, I'm like, I'll just wait until this movie is on sale at some point in the next two years and it will happen. It'll be $11.99 and I'll get it at that point for my sake of completism. And that's been my strategy with newer stuff unless it is in the be one battle after another sphere where I'm just like, yeah, I'm just auto pre ordering it, no matter what, I'm gonna pay top dollar. Like, I just want matters to me in a way that like a movie like Begonia does not.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I was kind of thinking this would fall almost more like, do you buy the Christophers as soon as it comes out or something? Because it's like a Steven Soderbergh movie. And in any case, if you guys don't know about Red Rooms, if you missed me and Sean talking about it before. Sean and Naming talking about it before I found out about it because of Sean and Adam, him. If you like Fincher, if you like Olivia Sayas, if you like Lynch, I would highly recommend Cronenberg for sure. It's just, yeah, incredible.

[Tracy Letts]

We watched Carrie and I watched it. We didn't know anything about it was one of our favorite movies of the year. We watched the Utopia Disc too. And I, you know, I don't buy everything new. I don't have a consistent. I mean, I did buy Begonia because it's like, well, I'd rather see it in 4K than watch it on the Academy streaming app. I'd rather give it a more of a shot than that. You know, one battle after another. We really wanted to see on the big screen, but timing in our lives, we weren't able to do that. And so we have a big screen in the house. But again, I wanted to wait for the 4k to watch it as opposed to the Academy streaming app. So some of them I buy, some of them I don't. I've made some bad decisions over the years doing that, but I live with it.

[Chris Ryan]

That's how I wind up with his copy of Wrath of Man.

[Timothy Simons]

That's a good point.

[Sean Fennessey]

One weird thing I just want to say very quickly before we get away from Red. I watched this movie, Mile and Kicks recently. Chandler Levesque movie. And Julia Guareppi is in that movie, the Woman from Red Rooms. And it was like seeing, like, Freddy Krueger in like, a comedy. Like, it just didn't. Because that actress is so singular in that movie that the idea of, like, seeing her in another environment was Lena

[Chris Ryan]

Gore from Eastern Gate is in a Charlie XCX movie coming up soon. And I was just like, this doesn't feel right. You're supposed to be shooting your boyfriend in the face.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sorry, I interrupted you.

[Timothy Simons]

Well, no, I was just going to say I was very rudely looking at my phone a moment ago because I don't know if I. This is a. Like a tweet that I saw a couple years ago that I love that I may have actually read the last time and if so, I apologize. You can cut this out, but it is a joke where it's like essentially a conversation between a filmmaker and Vinegar Syndrome filmmaker. This is my worst movie. Beyond reclamation. Serious, but only for true sicko completists who will never see the light of God. Not even I will watch this again. Vinegar Syndrome now available in limited edition $40 media book slip case with 40 page booklet. And there is so much of this that of what we do that is summed up in this like this is irredeemable garbage. And also I have the nicest presentation of that irredeemable garbage possible. That is from somebody named Ashley Nuff nufftul on Twitter.

[Sean Fennessey]

I believe this episode is brought to you by LinkedIn ads. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first but didn't live up to the hype? Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great. Impressions reach and reacts. But when they don't show revenue, well, that's a not so great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bull spend. Instead, why not invest in what looks good to your CFO? LinkedIn Ads generates the highest roas of all major ad networks. Reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. You can target by company, industry, job title and more. So cut the bull. Spend advertise on LinkedIn, the network that works for you. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com thebigpicture that's LinkedIn.com thebigpicture Terms and conditions applied.

[Timothy Simons]

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[Chris Ryan]

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[Timothy Simons]

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[Timothy Simons]

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[Chris Ryan]

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[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, so you, you've all done all five now.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So you're.

[Tracy Letts]

You're up now and I cheated. I got a couple more extras. This is also from Umbrella. This is suicide club on 4k. You haven't seen this.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is this the.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

Have you seen the show?

[Timothy Simons]

I have, yeah, but not in a long time.

[Tracy Letts]

It's upsetting, it's hilarious, and ultimately, surprisingly, it's very moving. For my money, it treads some of the same ground as audition, but I think I prefer Suicide Club to audition.

[Chris Ryan]

I'll check it out.

[Tracy Letts]

I'll just describe the opening to the film. There's a busy train station in Tokyo and you just see people milling around almost documentary style. Busy train station there, all different types. And these school girls arrive at the train station to take the train and 54. And they're sort of sailor suits. 54 schoolgirls step forward in the train and as the train is approaching, they. They hold hands and jump onto the train tracks and are immediately massacred. Suicide Club.

[Chris Ryan]

What's wrong with us, man?

[Tracy Letts]

As long as we're pervin out, I think I should mention Russ Meyer. Some of his work has become available on 4K. Yeah, thanks to the good people at Sevan and I. I really like Russ Meyer and Carrie likes Russ Meyer. I've shown her a couple of these movies now and she's really enjoyed them. They're very funny and we really enjoy the film. The presentation of these movies is absolutely gorgeous on the 4K. You never thought you would get it. I've even got both Carrie and the Nanny, Russ Meyer Buzamania T shirts that severen and they wear them and they're great conversation pieces. I love wearing their Russ Meyer shirts.

[Chris Ryan]

School pickup wearing.

[Sean Fennessey]

Russ Meyer is like a perfect saint for this conversation because as a filmmaker, one of the most impressive and accomplished independent directors in American history and also a guy who just loves a big rack. Like all of these movies are just like, these gals are stacked and I am into it and I'm not afraid to talk about it and show it to you explicitly. Also watch me move the camera. And cut. Like Steven Spielberg. It is an amazing weird collision of like, I'll say heterosexual impulse.

[Tracy Letts]

And, you know, there's been an argument ever since these movies first came out about the feminist impulse. And Carrie and the Nanny can speak on that because they're not simply. It's not a simple matter.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's not complex.

[Tracy Letts]

Something else going on there.

[Sean Fennessey]

I didn't know that this was going to happen, but I'm, I'm. I'm not mad that it happened.

[Chris Ryan]

He seemed to be going through something collectively.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, hold on.

[Tracy Letts]

I got one more. Oh, you got one more.

[Sean Fennessey]

Go ahead. Oh, yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

So this is the good fellow who bought Hammer films. He bought it a couple of years ago. And they've started releasing these Hammer films. I mean you've got dictionaries at home that are not as big as this edition of the Curse of Frankenstein. Now you'll notice that this isn't opened because I thought we'd have a little unboxing. Unboxing boy scene. Right? This is titillating. I'm Jebediah Unboxing.

[Sean Fennessey]

You've just set off the smoke alarm.

[Chris Ryan]

Department of Homeland Security.

[Timothy Simons]

Bill Simmons fucking heard part of this recording and pulled.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think the FBI is coming through the doors for Tim. Please evacuate the building by the nearest exit. Jack. How does this keep happening?

[Timothy Simons]

There has been an unboxing boy emergency in the building.

[Chris Ryan]

Jim Simons tried to revive Gerard diperge.

[Tracy Letts]

All right. So I am. My name is Jebediah Unboxing. And I am the unboxing boys older brother.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't think I've given the unboxing boy a first name. If you're Jebediah, maybe I'm Rutherford.

[Tracy Letts]

Look at this.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh that is. That is nice.

[Sean Fennessey]

Gorgeous vintage poster.

[Tracy Letts]

Yes. Yes. What do we have inside here? We just bought.

[Sean Fennessey]

I can't believe you did this for us and not your son.

[Tracy Letts]

The Books of Frankenstein Volume 1. A very replete booklet. Here's the Curse of Frankenstein. The horror classic. Classic as a graphic novel.

[Chris Ryan]

Ooh.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's cool.

[Chris Ryan]

Postcards.

[Timothy Simons]

Postcards.

[Tracy Letts]

Maybe I'll send some of these to my friend. Sweet poster.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is that French poster? Italian.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

French. There you go. I don't need to unwrap this goddamn poster. And then look at the discs.

[Chris Ryan]

How many we got there?

[Sean Fennessey]

My goodness.

[Tracy Letts]

What?

[Chris Ryan]

12?

[Sean Fennessey]

6.

[Chris Ryan]

6.

[Tracy Letts]

The widescreen UK theatrical version full screen as film version widescreen US theatrical Arkansas widescreen UK theatrical version full Screen as film version widescreen US Theatrical AR special and two discs of special features.

[Chris Ryan]

You gotta get a padded room if you watch all of those.

[Sean Fennessey]

How much could a person love this film?

[Tracy Letts]

My son loves it a great deal.

[Sean Fennessey]

Will he watch all of these versions right now?

[Tracy Letts]

He wouldn't know the difference between the versions. Right? But maybe he'll get to that point. Anyway. Hammer is putting out just these delicious boxes thanks to a guy who has a lot of money who bought a company and decided that this is the way he wanted to spend his money. As opposed to some asshole who buys social media company and decides that's how he wants to spend his money.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's right.

[Chris Ryan]

Sam Altman. Just fucking release.000.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's right. Step it up.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah. Do something good for the world.

[Timothy Simons]

Can I throw out a take. And we don't have to belabor it because I know there's a time constraint that I don't think is going to rival Tracy's trench run take.

[Sean Fennessey]

Here we go.

[Timothy Simons]

I don't know if I give a fuck about Frankenstein.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow.

[Timothy Simons]

I think there's just a part of me that my entire life I've watched all these Frankenstein movies, including last year, and it has nothing to do with the film or the filmmakers I just

[Chris Ryan]

saw or Oscar Isaac's book Pants.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, there's.

[Tracy Letts]

There's an essential problem with Frankenstein and I love Frankenstein. I'm there. But there is an essential problem. This guy has discovered how to bring dead people back to life and they're just going to like kill him and throw him out of the village. He's got to like, find equipment and build it. Why would you not like, give this guy a.

[Sean Fennessey]

A big grant?

[Tracy Letts]

Why would you not let Frankenstein cook?

[Sean Fennessey]

It's a fair point. Obviously, the original intention is a fear of science. Right. In a God fearing community, the man who has control over life and death is dangerous and not to be celebrated.

[Timothy Simons]

It feels like also that that take might be sort of like when Meghan McCain is posting pictures of Bob the Butcher being like, all this is all of America this weekend. And it's like, shit. Did you watch the same movie? I think that was the bad guy. Where you like. There's a little bit of this, like, here's the thing about Frankenstein is that he played God and nobody rewarded him.

[Sean Fennessey]

We're both sides in Frankenstein. Okay, two more for me as well. You mentioned you watched in the Realm of the Senses. This is a set I've not had a chance to dig into yet, but I'm very excited to. Which is called Radical Japan. It is Cinema and State. It is seven films directed by Nagisa Oshima, the Japanese director of in the Realm of the Senses, who made some of the most confrontational, politically and socially aggressive movies in Japan in the 60s, 70s and 80s into the 90s, I believe. And this collects seven of his movies. A couple of them are fairly well known. Death by Hanging specifically is in the Criterion Collection. But a lot of these films are not often seen. The man who Left His Will on Film Boy, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief that are like, all effectively looking at different aspects of Japanese society and training a very intense lens on them. I'm very excited to dig into this. I wanted to give it a shout. It is now sold out, as I understand it, at Radiance, but hopefully they will Print up some more and let people discover these movies. Cause in the Realm of the Senses split my head open when I saw it earlier this year.

[Tracy Letts]

Fantastic film. It really is. He's also the director of one of my favorite movies of all time, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Yes, it's a great movie. Available in the Criterion Collection.

[Sean Fennessey]

The last one I want to shout out comes to us from our friends at Fun City. It's called, ladies and gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, which is one of the best movies about music and bands. This is a fake band led by Diane Language. Another movie that I think was, like, very much a cult classic for many years and now has been restored majestically to 4K.

[Tracy Letts]

How did I not get the box? I don't. I'm pissed off. I apparently got a standard edition when I definitely would have liked a limited edition.

[Sean Fennessey]

It also features a post, but it does not feature any postcards.

[Tracy Letts]

But this is no postcards. How are you supposed to have any friends?

[Timothy Simons]

You can't make friends.

[Chris Ryan]

Postcard sending me.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't know. But Long live Tony Thrills. And. Yeah, that's that. Those are our top five, six sevens. And some of these stories respect women and understand women.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Some don't.

[Timothy Simons]

Some a little less, some less.

[Tracy Letts]

So Russ Meyer is in the respect category.

[Sean Fennessey]

I agree. Speaking of women, there. There. We have. There's. A woman is present. A woman is.

[Chris Ryan]

But she has not been present the entire time.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. Does that woman want to be naked? Named.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I thought it was going to be funnier if I just said, the first question is from John. You know, you blew. It's okay. The first question is from John. I'm here. I've sort of been listening. I've also been doing my expenses and preparing for other podcasts. I've learned a lot about you all, and I think you're very respectful towards the female form.

[Chris Ryan]

Thank you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In. In physical media and in all other forms. Okay, I'm here to ask questions. The first question is from John. Your soul is being transferred onto Blu Ray and you will be put on your shelf with the rest of your collection. You get to choose where on the shelf you will live for an eternity. Will you wedge yourself between two beloved films or hide away in a far corner what will be your eternal resting place?

[Tracy Letts]

Well, that's a totally normal question.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's actually Cronenbergian. The idea of your final form from existing in one of these boxes. I have such little love and respect for myself that there's no way I would wedge myself between two filmmakers who I really, like there's no chance. I think even if I was on disc form, I'd still want to be buried somewhere, is how I feel about this.

[Timothy Simons]

I think ultimately, and this is maybe more for my family, but is also a little bit of like, we all want to be remembered. I would get one of those little stand up things and on the shelf or above the fireplace, it would just be placed on the little stand up thing.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, yeah, like a Mickey Mantle rookie card.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, like a little Mickey Mantle rookie card or whatever. Just like, fuck. Like a war boy. Like witness me, you know what I mean? That's what I do.

[Chris Ryan]

I think I would just be happy to be slid into a bunch of Friedkins, you know? Oh, just the book of cr, Just like the book of Frankstein, you know, and just between Bug and Killer Joker. Yeah, sure, man.

[Tracy Letts]

Nice. I. I'll go buy the Russ Meyer collection and then my. When my kids come to check that out later in life.

[Sean Fennessey]

Uhhuh.

[Tracy Letts]

I'll be right there. It was like, oh, there's dad.

[Chris Ryan]

Dad.

[Sean Fennessey]

But there's also

[Timothy Simons]

Vixen bosoms. Don't be mad when they pick that one. Like, I'll. I'll unbox dad in a minute.

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you have a favorite Meyer vixen?

[Tracy Letts]

You mean troupe actress?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

No, I don't have a favorite.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, I do.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's Erica Gavin. Next question, please.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Understandable, this is totally normal so far. The next question is from Ian. How do you organize your Blu Rays? Personally, mine are in chronological order by release date because I'm a psycho. On a side note, a woman I'm dating picked a movie from my collection for us to watch after a date last week. She went with Total Recall. She's a keeper.

[Sean Fennessey]

Ian, congrats on dating a woman.

[Chris Ryan]

I'd love to know what her other choices were, though.

[Sean Fennessey]

We haven't discussed this.

[Chris Ryan]

I just go alphabetical by title. I don't have. I'm not putting up the numbers yet to be like filmmaker or genre or anything like that, but I would love

[Timothy Simons]

to get there once I'm alphabetical. At one point on the shelves, the Criterions were by spine number. But when it started spilling into the next shelf, I was like, I just gotta go alphabetical. I. I would love to. I just don't know that I have the executive function to be able to find anything if it were somehow by filmmaker. And then what if you only have a movie? That's. You only have one movie by that filmmaker.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Where does that go?

[Timothy Simons]

You know, where does that go?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Then you're doing alphabetical and other things just go alphabetical.

[Chris Ryan]

I like putting all the radiance discs together. Like I. I think there's an ARG to be made for by label. But how do you do it wrong?

[Tracy Letts]

I do it wrong. And I'm about to undergo a massive reorganization. I think because it's wrong. It's mainly by label. Stuff that isn't on interesting labels is alphabetical. But the nanny recently watched Spy who Came in from the Cold and she didn't watch the 4K. And I was enraged by this because it was so poorly organized. She didn't know There was a 4K video.

[Chris Ryan]

She allowed to make a selection for herself. This was not programmed.

[Tracy Letts]

Oh my God. I mean like she, you know.

[Sean Fennessey]

Right.

[Tracy Letts]

She's picking movies for herself right now. So. Yeah. The fact that she watched Spy who Came in from the Cold and didn't see the 4k hurt me.

[Sean Fennessey]

I like what she's cooking though by just choosing that film. That's a great choice.

[Timothy Simons]

I also am.

[Tracy Letts]

She's a good nanny.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Wild to me that this person is still in your employ. Yeah,

[Sean Fennessey]

I've spoke of this before. I organize by director, sort of by preference of director. But then that was something that was started more than a decade ago and I've changed living environments multiple times through that strategy and I have to rethink it completely.

[Chris Ryan]

And then there is the looming Amanda

[Sean Fennessey]

reorg which oft threatened but unfollowed through on, I think. Cause that's like a nine day project and Amanda just doesn't have the time. So she knows deep down she bit off more than she can chew. But I gotta figure something else out too because I also do not. I'm fully in double stacking era like I am now. Now it's beyond the beyond.

[Tracy Letts]

I am investigating with my AV man putting movies on a server. He's going to start putting it aside. I've given him a couple of stacks of stuff that is not watched much to put on a server. And he's going to show me sort of a prototype for how this would work.

[Sean Fennessey]

Like a plex situation.

[Tracy Letts]

Like I don't know that it's that.

[Sean Fennessey]

But like is this a private technology that's been developed for you?

[Tracy Letts]

You? Not necessarily though. I have a very good AV man. You know, he was Milo Forman's AV man. A lot of people don't know this, but Milo Schwarman was a collector. Was a physical media collector and had quite an extensive collection.

[Chris Ryan]

How will you decide whether or not there's any degradation by moving it to digital.

[Tracy Letts]

He insists there's not. I'm. I can tell. I can tell. Obvious changes. I can't tell. I'm not. I don't have that thing right. I. I can tell when it looks

[Timothy Simons]

like a reference quality. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Does your AV man travel?

[Tracy Letts]

He probably would. You want to. You want to bring my AV man out?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know if this works though. I don't know if you guys building your own streaming libraries is really honoring the physical media.

[Sean Fennessey]

I would never give up the discs. That's my thing.

[Tracy Letts]

It's not like I'm throwing.

[Chris Ryan]

Then you would pack them away. Maybe.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah. Some things that I. That don't necessarily warrant display. Yeah. Would get packed into a storage area.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, man.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Tracy Letts]

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Chris Ryan]

It would be great. You should have the AV man on the next episode.

[Sean Fennessey]

The good idea. I don't know if I can do what you're describing, but I do need a new system entirely. I need a new space.

[Tracy Letts]

I asked him, by the way, if he wanted a shot on the show and he said, you know, we only

[Sean Fennessey]

work by appointment only. Yeah, by recommendation.

[Tracy Letts]

Recommendation.

[Sean Fennessey]

No kidding.

[Timothy Simons]

Wow.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow. He's like a drug dealer. Okay, what's the next question?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I promised that I wouldn't insert my own opinions into this, so we're just gonna keep going.

[Timothy Simons]

I never believed that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I did. Sean said that this had to be a safe space, so I love you all and I support you. Johan from Sweden, what is your most anticipated release that's been announced for 2026?

[Sean Fennessey]

I thought we could quickly talk about the Near Dark situation.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, yeah. And that was one of the Tangerine Dream lesser known soundtracks run that we had.

[Sean Fennessey]

And how did you watch it? Did you just rent it?

[Timothy Simons]

I honestly, I don't even know if it's available for rental. Oh, okay.

[Tracy Letts]

I have a Blu ray. It's not great.

[Sean Fennessey]

And is it a us produced?

[Tracy Letts]

It is us produced, but it's old.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. There was an announcement maybe a year ago that this was in process. And then on April Fool's Day, I want to say it was. Was it Severen who announced that they had been working on it and then people could not figure out if it was a joke. If it was a joke or not.

[Chris Ryan]

What a weird thing to joke about.

[Sean Fennessey]

I know. But to our community, Near Dark is one of the precious few kind of lost to physical masterpieces. Right. Like Kathryn Bigelow's earliest films. We've talked about it multiple times on the show and I still don't really have answers on, like, that news that came on April 1, if it's real or not or if we're being fucked with. But there's a fairly elaborate communication from the owner of a physical media company about the process that they're exploring. It seems fake to me, but then there were some who suggested, well, it seems like a bit, but it's actually not a bit. So I'm a little bit confused about it. But that's one that if it were happening, I've had that circled in red pen for 10 years. Any others?

[Tracy Letts]

The General Buster Keaton coming out on 4k from Eureka just next month. I'm very excited about that. The outfit, 4K coming from Arrow. We'll talk about that on the Duvall draft. Hud from Criterion. Long. Right. That's been a white whale for a long time. Hud. And Alice doesn't live here anymore. Also from Criterion. Those are some biggies. There you go.

[Sean Fennessey]

In the same year, we're getting Boxcar Bertha and Alice doesn't live here anymore, which I think. Are they the final two Scorsese films that were not available on blu ray or 4k? I think they are.

[Tracy Letts]

Makes sense.

[Sean Fennessey]

Any for you, Tim?

[Timothy Simons]

I don't have the executive function, really, to keep track of things that are coming up, but I am excited about the outcome, which you told me and then I forgot and now I'm remembering, and that's great.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't mind sharing that my owning a DVD copy of the outfit was my earliest in with Quentin Tarantino. When I met Quentin, he was like, have you seen the outfit? And I sent him a photograph of my DVD copy. And I think that that was like, oh, okay, you're cool. Nice. Because that movie, which is directed by John Flynn, who also made Rolling Thunder, which is one of his favorites we've talked about many times, is just an absolute stunner of a crime thriller from the 70s.

[Chris Ryan]

What do you anticipate, like, Tim, I'm not trawling for release dates. I let the game come to me.

[Sean Fennessey]

Interesting. I like that attitude. I don't understand it, really.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, it's just I can't also be on top of that. I feel like I'm kind of like almost early 27, knowing what's coming out on TV. So it's like you can't keep on

[Tracy Letts]

top of that because he's first chair on the watch because he's trying to be first chair on the rewatchables because he's maybe spread a little thin.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's true. It's true.

[Chris Ryan]

That is an absolute dirty pool and I don't respect it. I'm not going to dignify it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Can I tell you the movies that I have on pre order right now?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Moneyball 4k. My beloved was supposed to be arriving in my house April 28th. That's today. It got pushed back by Amazon on to May 12, and I'm not happy about it, but arriving on May 12 as well. Fight Club 4K. Steelbook.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, yes, that one.

[Sean Fennessey]

Extremely excited about that.

[Tracy Letts]

You got to try to get off the Amazon pipe. It's hard, but you got to try.

[Sean Fennessey]

But with those releases, there's not a

[Chris Ryan]

lot of politics or because of like just they screw over the release dates

[Tracy Letts]

and they're because of politics because of. It's terrible.

[Sean Fennessey]

I generally agree with you. Speed Racer 4K, May19, the Cars that Ate Paris and the Plumber, 4K, the Peter Weir films. And then along with that bundle I ordered from the atomic movie store, Benedetta 4K from Paul Verhoeven.

[Chris Ryan]

There you go, brother.

[Timothy Simons]

Benedetta fucking rules.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, great movie.

[Timothy Simons]

Fucking rules.

[Sean Fennessey]

Great movie. Yeah. And the one Battle Steelbook, which I still don't have. I'm still waiting.

[Chris Ryan]

Is that delayed or something?

[Sean Fennessey]

It was delayed to June 2. So I sit here quietly.

[Tracy Letts]

Wait a minute. Do I have the Steelbook or do I just have a regular?

[Sean Fennessey]

Presumably you have the regular edition.

[Tracy Letts]

Looks good.

[Sean Fennessey]

By the way, Question reader, would you want to be identified by name?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Whatever you think works.

[Sean Fennessey]

Are you the executive producer of this episode? Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

You want that credit on your CV forever?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do. Because once again, I think that you guys have been really respectful to women and to cinema. You know, you lift us up every day.

[Chris Ryan]

There's women in red rooms.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is the Bosom Mania episode executive produced by Amanda Dobbins.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So you know as like any good girl boss. I'd like credit for that. The next question is from Gabriel. Who are some directors or actors whose history feels like they are being forgotten by current generations and could use an Arrow or Criterion, et cetera, box set to help regain a new generation of viewers?

[Tracy Letts]

Well, I'll jump in here. I had this listed on my White Whales as well. Well, Paul Mazursky is one of my favorite directors and he's wildly underserved on physical media. Harry and Tonto. My God, just release it. So I. All these fucking people bitching about Al Pacino not winning the Academy Award can see that Art Carney was cooking. Bloom in Love, Alex in Wonderland, the Tempest. Next Stop Greenwich Village. This his whole 70s run, almost the entirety of his 70s run is not available even on blue, much less 4k. Really? What the hell, man?

[Sean Fennessey]

We've talked about this before. Next top Grenadiers. Village does have a Twilight time, I think. But all of those other titles are not even available on Blu Ray at all. It's kind of a mess. And it's, you know, some of his films like Moscow on the Hudson, there's a nice indicator, right? There's a couple of titles that have. But you know, in that realm of like kind of second tier auteur comic voices from that period of time, like working in the mold of like a Woody Allen time type and like these movies are kind of forgotten.

[Tracy Letts]

Or Hal Ashby, who's very well represented and yet I think of Ashby and Mazursky in the same sentence.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's like it speaks, I think, to the way that like some people just get canonized and others don't. And there's the other example that I think of all the time. And we mentioned this Amanda, when we talked about Meryl Streep is Mike Nichols, who is considered a much more sort of like hallowed and legendary filmmaker. But when you go back and look at all of the movies that he made, especially his movies in the 70s and 80s, like a lot of them are not available on anything beyond DVD or if they're available on Blu Ray. Like there are very limited runs of Blu Rays. So like Silkwood and Heartburn and Bloxy Blues I think just came from Shout select in the last couple years, but that was not available for a long time.

[Tracy Letts]

Catch 22 just came out on a Shout select as well, which is underrated movie as far as I'm concerned.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I think last time we were all together we talked about carnal knowledge and that coming from two different places. And like it's, you know, in 2025 they're kind of finally getting around to a bunch of these movies. So he's one I think of all the time. And it's kind of inexplicable. Like these were big studio movies and then they just never got that attention. I think is Postcards from the Edge. Is that also not available on Blu Ray?

[Tracy Letts]

I don't think so.

[Sean Fennessey]

I mean that's crazy.

[Chris Ryan]

Are you serious?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. So there's a. I don't know if there's anybody else that you guys are thinking of that you think.

[Chris Ryan]

No, not really. I mean, like, you know, when I first got into this, I was like, oh, there's no way. Like these 10 VHS classics from my childhood will ever have like Deluxe. Really? And they all have, you know, like there's like a deluxe edition of rad. You know, like.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

So I. I feel like it would be hard for me to think of. There are directors that I would like to see centered as the sort of principle of the release rather than maybe the title. Like, I would love to like get like a bunch of McTiernan movies that are like, about him and about like what he did. But I don't know. I mean, like, there's. There's plenty of good releases of his movies. It's just really more about the context

[Sean Fennessey]

than what's still not on 4K. There's still plenty of things like that that are just kind of no brainers, that are obvious. For example, Disney is waiting to put Star wars on 4K in a set next year to match the 50th anniversary. They're gonna do that. I'll be shocked if they don't do it. And they'll probably.

[Chris Ryan]

Is there any danger of that not happening though? Home entertainment?

[Sean Fennessey]

It's definitely possible. But I was thinking about for the 76 draft, this movie, not a pretty picture. This Martha Cool Coolidge kind of documentary, scripted exploration of sexual assault, which is a really fascinating, interesting movie that was effectively retrieved and saved and reconstituted by the Criterion Collection. Then I was looking at her career and it's like a lot of her movies have been issued in recent years, like Cinematograph to Joy of Sex. Valley Girl is available. Real genius has a 4K. Does the filmmaker, do you think? Well, Martha Coolidge, we need to do more work to protect her. But you know, Rambling Rose, like all these movies have nice editions of them. And then Mike Nichols doesn't have Blu Rays for a bunch of his movies. So it's just a very capricious kind of business. And you don't totally always understand why this happens. Anyway, what's next?

[Amanda Dobbins]

This one comes from Andrew. This is a big one. I hope you guys are ready. I hope you got your Tom Cruise emails ready. My TV just broke. It's time to upgrade. I want to hear from each of you, what is your full AV setup? TV, projector, audio and 4K player seating, lighting. Popcorn maker. Give me the full details.

[Sean Fennessey]

Popcorn maker?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't have a popcorn maker.

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you have a microwave?

[Chris Ryan]

I do, yeah. I barely use it, but I do have a microwave. I have a pretty standard setup. I can't remember how big, maybe my Samsung TV is, but it's Fairly large. And I bought the Sony that Sean had recommended before that, which is sort of like the starter kit for multi region DVD viewing. There's really nothing remarkable about my setup though.

[Timothy Simons]

I think I have a Sony OLED. I think I went into the 80s for that, like 80, like it's big, it feels nice. Have a soundbar, Sonos soundbar I think. And then yeah, like a region free 4k player. The only thing I think in this question that I, I think PlayStations and Xboxes can play 4Ks, but I feel like Xbox specifically, which we do have, has like kind of can't play the larger storage versions of 4Ks, which is sort of, which is why I went to the region free 4K Sony player, the one that you recommended, just because like I think it's like if it's a hundred gigabyte disc, Xbox can't play it. And I was having trouble with that because then I wouldn't be like well fuck, I gotta watch this Blu Ray. That's lame. The whole thing is lame. But if you want to, you know, if you want to just parse it out, playing the Blu Ray when you have the 4k is lame. So yeah, that's sort of the setup that I have.

[Tracy Letts]

I asked my AV man what I have.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'll just say before you pull it up very quickly if you want to upgrade from that Sony that I recommend, which is the one that I usually recommend to listeners of the show because it's like 200 bucks and it does most of what you need. Occasionally you'll meet a 4K where you can't handle the bit rate and it's too strong. But if you want to upgrade, I think the Panasonic DPUB820, which is a region free Blu ray player, is very powerful and can do most of what you need. Okay, what do you got?

[Tracy Letts]

We have a flagship 7.1.4 immersive environment meticulously architected with a full monitor audio array. This High Fidelity 11 channel layout is driven by the reference grade silicon of the Marantz.

[Chris Ryan]

What?

[Tracy Letts]

Delivering a seamless Dolby Atmos soundstage that marries British acoustic precision with legendary musical warmth. The auditory experience is matched by a monumental 150 inch canvas illuminated by a Sony Premium 4K laser projector. Under the unified orchestration of a Crestron control system. These elements serve as the exhibition stage for broadcast tv. High bit rate streaming and a bespoke master tier digital library. The Cinema Athena.

[Timothy Simons]

Him.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm sorry, did he write you this text message?

[Tracy Letts]

He did.

[Chris Ryan]

Holy shit.

[Timothy Simons]

He also ghost wrote Bug.

[Chris Ryan]

Is that the setup that you watch? You're going to watch Kyler Murray on British acoustics.

[Sean Fennessey]

Quinn, check in on that. How you feeling?

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, feel good, baby. Skull. Skull, baby.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow. You're feeling good, Skull.

[Tracy Letts]

The draft is. We're going to see. We took a couple of big swings. We're going to see.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Tracy Letts]

I would have worn my Cubs hat. I am aware it's baseball season, but my, my wife looks too it. She stole it. She stole my cub's head.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's adorable. Well, that was informational.

[Chris Ryan]

You don't stand on that. Like, can you beat that?

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you do. No. I, but, but I'm but a popper relative to Mr. Letts. I I It almost.

[Chris Ryan]

It's weird how like our setups are commensurate with our station in the High Council. Like, I'm like, I'm a tv. Like I haven't seen sunlight in years. This fucking guy's got like.

[Tracy Letts]

I will take you this rule British about your setup. Well, first of all, let me say this. Get an AV man. Get an AV man.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, get a chauffeur.

[Tracy Letts]

No, it's not a chauffeur. It's a, it's worth, you know, maybe if you're a bit of a tech head and you know how to hook everything up and do all that stuff. Great. I can't hook up. I can't do.

[Sean Fennessey]

Critical question you, Democracy falls. You gotta get out of this country immediately. Maybe something for us all to consider. You can only bring one person with you. Your AV man or your nanny. Who's coming with you?

[Tracy Letts]

The nanny.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, I have a critical question about this. What's the remote control setup like? Is this something that you need to have like high level understanding of different channels and all this other stuff like, or can you just hit play and

[Tracy Letts]

it goes, my kids can operate remote control. Well, yeah, my kids. Both my kids can operate the remote control.

[Chris Ryan]

Is it like an iPad that you have? Like, kind of like it's no, it's

[Tracy Letts]

just a big ass remote control. But they can get around on it.

[Chris Ryan]

That's often the. We have some disagreements in my home about how complicated the remote controls have gotten.

[Tracy Letts]

So the first thing is get an AV man. And the second thing is whatever you spend on your visual, you should match in the audio. If your TV and your player cost $600, you should be spending $600 on your sound system.

[Sean Fennessey]

I love a philosophy. That's nice. Okay, what's our next question?

[Amanda Dobbins]

This comes from JD and let's be clear that I'm channeling the voice of JD Here. Greetings, gentlemen. I am humbled to be addressing Tim Hitmaker Simons, Tracy Playmaker Letts, and Chris Haymaker Ryan in the esteemed Council of Physical Media. Thank you, Grand Knight Fen Fantasy with noble Squire Sanders at your side for assembling this round table to tout the tangible, rebuff buffering and elevate classics new and old to their 4k glory.

[Tracy Letts]

Holy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And of course, Lady Dobbins, who probably wants no part of this allegory. Correct. But we all owe you a Negroni. My question deviates from substance and instead focuses purely on the aesthetic. Do you remember a film you purchased purely for the box? Art, heft or style?

[Tracy Letts]

No.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, this it. I don't really have a lot of examples of this. It does raise a question about buying things in person versus ordering online. Over the weekend I went to the video store in part so that my daughter could pick some movies out and also to see if there was anything I wanted to buy to bring here today. And it just so turned out that at this video store, which I love, Video tech in Highland Park, I just didn't. There wasn't anything that really appealed to me. But I will occasionally if I see something, I'll just grab it and say like, what the heck, I'm gonna try it out. But nothing sprung to mind because I don't do a ton of in person shopping at this point in my life.

[Chris Ryan]

Life far more likely to do this for books than a movie.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Just from COVID art.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Like I love going through used bookstores and it's like if there is a tableau that I am interested in on the COVID art, I'll be like, this is really good. Sometimes even just the title of the book, I'm like, that sounds really compelling. I'll scrap it if it's like a $5 paperback or whatever.

[Timothy Simons]

I kind of agree that most of these are based on emotion or recommendations. So there isn't. Isn't, you know, like I have a connection to the movie or I love it or it was seminal from when I was growing up or you guys have recommended it, that kind of thing. But I don't know that I've ever gotten something just because it sort of like looked nice. You know what I mean? I've definitely gone with like blind buys. But again, that's just sort of by recommendation.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Or it's the label and. Or, you know what I mean? Like, it'll be like, I'm happy to do that. Like I, I. The Radiance subscription is one of the best purchases I've made in years. But I don't know that I would necessarily just walk into a video store and just grab something like that because I like that.

[Tracy Letts]

I'll double up. I will occasionally double dip and buy a movie that I've already got because there are some bells and whistles that I'm interested in. I'm buying the John Woo movies on Arrow in addition to the Shout.

[Sean Fennessey]

So I almost brought the stack of Shout out out John Woo's just to kind of put a circle around. All of these films are available now or like, you know, Tsui Hark's the Blade just came from Criterion. Like that wave of Hong Kong cinema, like all of it is now coming to physical which is so crazy because it was among the most desired stuff forever. But why you just want to have. You want to see the different transfers or you want to see the different features.

[Tracy Letts]

I think they're essentially going to be the same transfers but the, the special features are going to be wildly different. Some of the bells and whistles are a little different. But I don't buy it because of the box.

[Timothy Simons]

Right.

[Tracy Letts]

I don't buy it because the heft of the box or anything. I bought both Carnal knowledges. Right. Thought that was worth. And those transfers are very different. They both look great, but they're both. The color correction on them is very different from each other.

[Sean Fennessey]

Interesting.

[Timothy Simons]

I've been intrigued by the idea of the Halloween that was going to come. The Halloween box that was going to come in a pumpkin or the Unboxing Boy Chainsaw Massacre. But it really then I get like, do I love those movies enough to have it take up that amount of space? So I end up sort of pulling back from that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. I don't really want toys. Really.

[Tracy Letts]

I don't really want the toys.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm much more. If, if there's an elaborate box, I'm open minded about that.

[Chris Ryan]

It might be something you're interested in.

[Sean Fennessey]

I could, I could dabble quite an elaborately phrased question as well. Thank you for that. What's next from Will?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, hallowed council members, can you explain the differences between standard blu rays and 4k blu rays? Also, more importantly, how confident are you that there won't be a new updated medium in 20 years that will render 4Ks obsolete like DVDs and VHS have become?

[Timothy Simons]

I think I'm only qualified to handle the second one and even then a little bit hesitant. My understanding is that if you go up to 8k. The human eye can't actually tell the difference.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's my understanding as well.

[Timothy Simons]

You know, talk to us in five years when we're around the. Hey, guys, new 8K release of I Spit on youn Grave. And I picked it up and you know what I mean, Kind hearts and coronets, 8K. Tracy got it on pre order.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's possible that happens. I don't get the impression that there's going to be a pivot anytime soon technologically just based on how a lot of these companies are operating. The difference between blu ray and 4k is fairly legible by just saying there's more information in the technology so that you're just getting more pixels effectively. So you're getting brighter color, deeper blacks. You're getting sometimes a different aspect ratio depending on how the transfer operates. It's just. Just a. It's like a bigger piece of machinery that you're consuming with the film. You know, sound is improved. Often it's just better, clearer. Not always. I think there are some films, there's like a human eye component to. Relative to how the films are remastered. We talked about the James Cameron movies and how, like, they don't really look the way that the James Cameron movies look on screen.

[Chris Ryan]

I've been having this issue recently with toying with the settings on my television in terms of. Of matching them to what I think that, you know, there's the standard kind of like what is recommended for watching a 4k on my kind of television. But you can get in there and start to adjust it from, like, warm one to warm two. And some things come out, like, a bit brown, I think, I find. So it's like, I'll mess with it because I'm like, I don't think Excalibur is supposed to look like this. And you can, but that sort of gets into like. Then like you're playing Dr. Frankenstein with your movie. And it's hard sometimes to like, exactly identify that perfect thing. My thing with the. If they do come up with an 8K and they're like, now you could buy these movies again. I would probably say to Tracy's point earlier, that the more money you spend on your setup, you'll probably get more out of your movies that you already have than worrying about some new technology coming along. And I would imagine at a point, Tracy's AV guy is probably right, that there is going to be more and more. More work done on, like, having a private server and having all this stuff backed up so that you have like a digital copy of it as well.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think that's right.

[Tracy Letts]

You know what'll help with your remote control investigation?

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Tracy Letts]

AV man.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay,

[Sean Fennessey]

what's next?

[Tracy Letts]

I do think that, yeah, sure, something will come along that'll replace it. Just like something came along that replaced DVDs. But not everything gets replaced, right? I've. I've got the outfit on DVD and I'm glad I've got California Split on dvd. I'm glad I've had those to go to until something better comes along. So maybe my 4Ks will be the thing I have until something better comes along. I'm glad that the technology has advanced as far as it has, but sure, something better always. You know, we, we don't know what the world is going to look like in 20 years. It's probably just going to look like a whole of us, you know, grubbing for food.

[Timothy Simons]

It's going to look like the beginning of Fury Road with Elon Musk. A bunch of fake metals turning on the water and telling us not to become addicted because we will mourn its absence.

[Sean Fennessey]

At least I'll have these, you know, they won't, hopefully won't degrade by then. What's our next question?

[Amanda Dobbins]

They won't because they're made of plastic. The next question is from George. Georgia. It is I, Georgia, one of the dozen of women who collects physical media. I, Georgia, am new in my journey and looking to grow my collection this year. What is one director you recommend buying their whole body of work or as close to the whole body as possible?

[Tracy Letts]

Russ Meyer. That's a tricky question, right?

[Sean Fennessey]

Because suppose I what kind of movies does Georgia like?

[Tracy Letts]

Well, that's just it. It's like you don't want to, I don't want to sit here and say, well, Georgia's gonna like movies directed by women. And it doesn't necessarily follow the nanny. For instance. Her favorite movies are action movies. And she's the one who's made us watch all those goddamn Mission Impossible movies. We've watched them because of the nanny.

[Sean Fennessey]

Let's try this again. Say the same thing. Remove the word God damned from the sentence and then we're okay.

[Timothy Simons]

And maybe add, thankfully.

[Tracy Letts]

So different people have different tastes. My, my wife tends to not like the action movie. She can. She, she. If you asked her one thing about the Mission Impossible movie, she couldn't tell you one thing that's happened in those films. She likes a more personal story. So it's hard to know where to start.

[Chris Ryan]

I will just say that the Filmmakers who I've had the most fun collecting their titles. I think I have all of them, up to a point, is the Coen Brothers. And I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say, if George is listening to this show, she probably likes them. But these are, I think, relatively economical purchases. You know, you can get the full breadth of two of the great filmmakers of this era, and I find that having those as. Having those as physical objects is really satisfying. And you can follow their. And there's a bunch of different kinds of additions of them, and you can mess around with that, but I think that's a good place to start.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, no, I don't really have, like, what director do you like? And then go get all their movies and watch them in chronological order and see them develop. And see, like, man, why did they make this weird choice? And it was like, oh, because they were a cokehead and they ran out of money and they needed to take a job. You know what I mean? Like, see it in order would probably be interesting.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think there are some simple signposts to direct people to. For example, I'm fairly certain that the Criterion Collection has issued every single Charlie Chaplin feature film. So if you wanted to have the totality of Charlie Chaplin's feature filmmaking criticism career, you could just get all 10 of those discs and just say, well, here is a pretty dramatically important phase of filmmaking. And that if you watch these movies and this is, like, the totality of their filmography, which spans, like, 40 years, you can get a lot out of that. If you were just starting a project and you wanted to say, well, let's say there are 100 important filmmakers. That's one of the first 10 that would probably get named in your standard 101 film class. But most directors, I would venture to guess no other directors shy of Bergman have a complete collection from one distributor. Most of them are kind of dotted across, and so it's, like, harder to find even the Cohens. Like, there is no Blu Ray of the Ladykillers.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't think there's 4k of raising Arizona, like, that kind of thing.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. So, you know, you have to think hard about which are the ones that you can get in totality. But you know what, Georgia, write back.

[Chris Ryan]

Let us know who you like.

[Sean Fennessey]

What are your five favorite movies? And then maybe we can help direct you in the future.

[Chris Ryan]

Enjoy all this Charlie Chaplin movies and

[Sean Fennessey]

thank you for your womanhood and your insightfulness.

[Tracy Letts]

Oh, my God. You just thanked her for her womanhood.

[Timothy Simons]

We're not beating any of Amanda's allegations.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The next one is long, but it's incredibly worthy, so buckle up. It comes from Luke. Hello, High Council. My name is Luke and I'm a librarian down in Florida who runs our movie science section. I want to sing the praises of the High Council. Most of our patrons don't have Internet or can't afford to go to the movies. So physical media is their only way to watch these films and shows. It's the only way most people get to experience film. So I'm thankful for y' all's passion and obsession, y'.

[Timothy Simons]

All.

[Tracy Letts]

Points for y'. All.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Thank you. Well, you know, I come by that one personally. To honor the High Council, I would love to put together a High Council picks collection. These are usually five to six movies picked by the city staff that I, that we think go together or carry similar themes, genres. I would love to have a reason to explain to my boss, who Tracy lets cr the Hit Maker and Shaar.

[Sean Fennessey]

So we'll start with Thriller, obviously.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, put that in the kids section for the family.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is a big, big ask.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, I, I, I maybe don't understand the ask. What is the ask?

[Chris Ryan]

They want to have like a basic list, like what are, what are recommended

[Sean Fennessey]

by the High Council.

[Chris Ryan]

Recommended by us, but like a little shelf.

[Timothy Simons]

Recommended by the High Council.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. What's a thematic quintet of films that we would select to represent our tastes and interests and speak highly of physical media?

[Chris Ryan]

Australian new wave horror films.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's the thing is like, I think that the, the, the craft of physical media has, is really peering down like exploitation horror, you know, these extreme subgenres. So you're not thinking as much of like, Forrest Gump is Now available on 4K, but a lot of that stuff is also available. So what represents this project?

[Chris Ryan]

Should we keep it generic and pick one Criterion movie each?

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, I was gonna say wanna do one samurai movie, one Italian crime movie, 1. We can say, what are the kind of pet interests of each council member?

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, I'll pick an Italian crime film. I'll just do one that I have in my bag that I, well, I grab it actually.

[Sean Fennessey]

Look at you holding out on us.

[Chris Ryan]

Illustrious corpses. Nice Radiance. Luna Ventura. And it's about a bunch of Supreme Court justices in Italy getting murdered, and this guy's got to get to the bottom of it. But it's really like a meditation on corruption and institutions and it's from Radiance and it's fantastic. And I think actually would, would still play, you know, like I, if you're just like, hey, I'm coming in. I'm just picking up a little slow

[Sean Fennessey]

maybe, but fabulously bleak ending on that movie.

[Timothy Simons]

I wouldn't know. I don't know that I would, like, put this in my, like, top five movies of all time, but I think it might be a good thing, like if you're at the library, you're interested in movies. I'm just going to go off the Coen Brothers thing and be like, throw Miller's Crossing.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Because you. It might not be the Coen brothers movie that you've seen, but. But I've like, weirdly, like, watched it four times in the last couple years and I find it so comforting. And I think it's like. I don't know, I think it's great. And I think if you're just like in the library and you're looking for a good time from a filmmaker that maybe you haven't seen their entire filmography, like, you're probably not. You probably haven't seen that one. I think that'd be fun. It'd be fun to sit down and watch that for the first time. So. Throwing Miller's Cross.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I don't think it's their best movie, but that's my favorite movie by them.

[Tracy Letts]

You go, Sean.

[Sean Fennessey]

My go to is always the Third man, which now has multiple editions that you can find of the movie. I think it's one of the richest and most interesting men. It's a huge influence on Miller's Crossing. I'm fascinated by post war collisions of noir and crime movies. And it's the kind of movie that I think is best appreciated with like, a really high quality edition of the movie because it's a black and white film that has like this amazing cinematography, this black and white photography, and it kind of. It has like an interest in like, perverting perspective, you know, like every time you see a character, the way that they're shot indicates how the film feels about that character. And it's like one of the great powers of cinema is that it's not like watching a stage play or even a television show, which is usually standard on a tripod. The camera's not moving a lot. And it's also just from a kind of writing performance and character perspective feels like the pinnacle of 20th century movies to me. So maybe the studio canal. Most recent 4K of the third man.

[Tracy Letts]

The third man. Illustrious corpses.

[Chris Ryan]

Miller's Crossing.

[Tracy Letts]

Miller's Crossing. I'm going to go with don't look now. Yeah, I'm going to Put Nicholas Roeg's Don't look now in there. A couple of beautiful 4K editions of that, both from Criterion and Studio Canal is the other gorgeous edition of that. So yeah, 4K. Don't look now.

[Sean Fennessey]

Hopefully the fine folks of that Florida library enjoy those movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All right, this one is from self styled Gen Z Dynamic Dominic. Okay, I'm sitting up straight to read this one.

[Tracy Letts]

I. I don't understand what that means.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It means I didn't identify him as Gen Z Dominic. He identified himself as Gen Z Dominic.

[Tracy Letts]

I thought you were saying his. His name was self sty.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Illustrious Council, my name is Dominic.

[Timothy Simons]

There's no way that all of these started like this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Tim, you can't interrupt me on this one right now.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm so sorry.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's okay. It's just. I need everybody to hang on for the ride, okay? Illustrious Council, My name is Dominic and I'm a 20 year old student at the Ohio State University. After hearing the last convening of the council, you all awoke a nostalgia within me for the discs and Blu Rays I had growing up. Editor's note. Five years ago, because I am 28 months later, I have now basically given up going to the bars to fund my 4Ks and vinyl collection. Collection that I have started because you all made me realize the joy and human connectivity we feel towards physical media. I did want to tell you all that any person my age who has seen my collection has taken an actual interest and have expressed interest in starting a collection of their own. But I will say, sadly, whenever I bring back birds from the bar, not once has one asked me about the four case. However, it is quite automatic. After I throw on a tame Impala or the new Bruno Mars vinyl. P.S. yesterday I was able to show a girl I've been seeing Fight Club in theaters for the anniversary screening. And she loved it. She had no idea about Tyler Durden and I was able to see her reaction. My friend then told me tonight that it was crazy to have taken a date to see Fight Club. Is he right?

[Sean Fennessey]

What a roller coaster.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah. I didn't know where that was going.

[Timothy Simons]

I don't. So if the question is, was it crazy? I don't think it's crazy. Just in that way of like. I think you should be radically yourself on a first date.

[Tracy Letts]

Sure.

[Timothy Simons]

And if they don't. If they're not into you, then they're not into you.

[Chris Ryan]

Love me at my Fight Club.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what do you think about that?

[Tracy Letts]

I showed a woman I was going out with a clockwork Orange. And right before Alex's rehabilitation started darts, she burst into tears and asked me to take the movie off. I was like, but, but, but you don't understand. He's about to. There's about to be a. He's gonna get. It's like if you stop now, all you have is horror there. You know, there's.

[Sean Fennessey]

There.

[Chris Ryan]

There's plenty of those to show you.

[Tracy Letts]

Yes, there's another. Yeah, it was not a. Not a great selection, as it turns out. Her dad was in the hospital. Maybe just wasn't a great selection.

[Chris Ryan]

Can I be kidding, Dominic?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I would just say don't necessarily.

[Chris Ryan]

At your young, ripe age where you're still experiencing life, don't shut yourself off from real life experiences, because that's what's going to inform your movie taste in the first place.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, there's a bit of a contradiction in this email which strikes me as bitstream of consciousness where he says that he's basically given up going to the bars to fund his 4Ks and vinyl collection. But then one or two sentences later is talking about bringing back birds from the bars.

[Chris Ryan]

But do you think he's, like, not drinking at the bar, but is still going to nab women to take to Fight Club?

[Sean Fennessey]

That's an interesting use of the word nab.

[Chris Ryan]

Maybe we've been in this room for too long.

[Sean Fennessey]

I.

[Chris Ryan]

This is like going places.

[Sean Fennessey]

I want to say this. Getting physical media does not mean that you're shutting out the rest of the world.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't say that.

[Sean Fennessey]

I know, I know. I'm speaking to Don Dominic as well. I think. Go to repertory theaters and experience films with people as well. That's important. Don't spend all of your money on 4Ks and Blu Rays, despite evidence to the contrary. That's not what I do. I think that it's good to share these things. It's good to experience them with people. That's kind of one of the magic of movies, right, that you can have this communal event. It isn't just. But the collection is more of, like, organizing your feelings around some of these things. That's one of the things it helps with. So I hope Dominic understands that.

[Timothy Simons]

I would, I would. I want to echo that, Dominic, and say that, like, one of the reasons I got into this was because I had gone to see like, a rep screening of out of the Blue in Atlanta and the community around that kind of movie. I was. I felt great about Amanda. What is the name of that thing? Theater.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The Claremont?

[Timothy Simons]

No, the other one. Like one screen revival in Atlanta. In Atlanta.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The. Not the. I don't know, besides the Claremont.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay. Whichever one it is. And it very well might be Claremont, and I might just.

[Sean Fennessey]

Plaza.

[Timothy Simons]

The Plaza. Thanks a lot.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Lived there in 25 years.

[Sean Fennessey]

It is Atlanta's old, oldest continuously operating cinema and a hub for indie films, cult classics, and film.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Like, I would say, like, take the money you would have spent on the bar or maybe spent on a Blu Ray that you think would look good on the shelf but isn't one of your favorite ones, and go to a rep theater and find a community there. You know what I mean? Like, still get out there in the world. We are old as fuck. You still have a life ahead of you. We are on the downswing.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

We close the bars.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And now we buy DVDs.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Tracy's just going to tell him to get an AV guy.

[Tracy Letts]

It's my best advice. And I don't know about all this going out into the world. I can't get behind that. Stay in.

[Timothy Simons]

Stay in and program.

[Sean Fennessey]

Let's read our next question.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Before we may, I have two clarifications. Number one, Tim, I'm sorry, The Clermont is a strip club that is right next to the Plaza.

[Chris Ryan]

So I was confused.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I apologize for that. And hello to everyone in Atlanta still

[Tracy Letts]

in Fulton, especially at the Claremont.

[Timothy Simons]

I want to say two things about the Claremont.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

A wonderful honky tonk bar that also happens to be a strip club. The two times that I have been there. One was with who played the King in the King Speech.

[Sean Fennessey]

Colin Firth.

[Timothy Simons]

I went to the Claremont at one point with Colin Firth, and I know that's a little bit of a name drop, but I just want to say.

[Tracy Letts]

Wow.

[Timothy Simons]

With a large group of other people. But I just want to say that Colin Firth went to the Claremont, and I was there for that. And the other time that I went

[Tracy Letts]

there, I can see the expression on his face

[Timothy Simons]

already imprinted right here. The other time that I went there, I parked and a gentleman came up and said, hey, for $5, I'll make sure that nobody steals your windshield wipers. And it was very clear. He was telling me, if you don't give me $5 to steal your windshield wipers. And I was like, yeah, that actually sounds like a pretty good deal. And I gave him $5. And when I came back, the windshield wipers were there.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, that's wonderful. I do love the idea of Colin Firth in an English manner. He's popped downstairs, having his breakfast and tea, and he's checking out what's Going on with his friends on the Big Picture. What are they discussing today? And he's listening and he's like, oh, Timothy Simons, I know this fellow. I'll listen to this episode. All the way through this three hour digression with him. Had a meal.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

And lo and behold, he reveals. We guys watched women dance together.

[Timothy Simons]

There was a very large group of people. It's very. It's kind of like Jumbo's Clown Room in la. It's not. It's not a sort of salacious place. It's more of like a celebration dance. A celebration?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

A review, a co ed hang and like a good indie bar, Honky Tonk.

[Tracy Letts]

The kind of place Russ Meyer might have enjoyed.

[Timothy Simons]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, I think we have time for two more.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So this comes from Nathan and Emily. Dear esteemed members of the High Council, again, we are getting married at the end of June and have been struggling to think of interesting items to put on our wedding registry. One thing that is a big part of our lives is a massive physical media collection that takes up a full wall of our house. So we ask you, is it appropriate to put blu rays or 4Ks on a wedding registry? And if so, what movies or box sets would you recommend? We ask for

[Tracy Letts]

Criterion, Fellini box, Kurosawa box, Bergman box. Right. I mean, that's a lot of the history of film right there. Those chaplains that he talked about. Again, it depends on the kind of collection you're trying to.

[Sean Fennessey]

So you're saying this is appropriate for them to put blu rays and 4Ks on the red label?

[Tracy Letts]

More than, you know, some be pretty

[Chris Ryan]

funny to put scenes for a marriage in people's gift bags.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, I just love that Nathan and Emily are doing this together. Right. They've sent this email in together, which means that they're committed not just to a life together, but to collecting and supporting film history together.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, I mean, 100%. It's a good thing to throw on there, you know, I mean, do the napkins and all that. Like, you know, if you need some dishware, that's important. You're starting a new life. Life together, you need new dishware. But I think that's like, that's your life. That's your life together.

[Chris Ryan]

Be cool if you could put an AV guy on your registry.

[Sean Fennessey]

Ah, is that a service he's willing to provide?

[Timothy Simons]

I would throw in like that Wes Anderson box too. And I think maybe, I think you're maybe right to keep it to boxes rather than individual titles just because you're probably Less likely to spend the money on a. On a box. And. And it would be fun. And you'll always remember that it was for your wedding.

[Sean Fennessey]

Maybe that Capra Columbia box set. That would be a good one, right? That's a pricey one.

[Tracy Letts]

Wong Kar Wai set from Criterion.

[Sean Fennessey]

Great one,

[Timothy Simons]

that. Godzilla one for their future kids.

[Sean Fennessey]

Godzilla one. Terrific.

[Tracy Letts]

Herzog collections from one of my first

[Sean Fennessey]

big boxes was that set. That's how I got up to speed on all of Herzog's first 20 movies.

[Tracy Letts]

The Zhang Yimou set from.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't have this.

[Tracy Letts]

From Umbrella.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't have that.

[Tracy Letts]

Is it Umbrella? No, it's Imprint.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Tracy Letts]

The Imprint.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, you could get into the Australian and English companies where they're going to be more expensive to import to. You could think about that.

[Timothy Simons]

And I just want to throw this out. And I don't know your plans on having children. When you get to a baby registry, you'll absolutely need burp. Cl. Get more of those than you need. You're gonna need onesies. But you know what? Throw kids movies on that registry as well.

[Sean Fennessey]

Great idea.

[Chris Ryan]

Or Larry Clark's kids.

[Timothy Simons]

Larry Clark's kids.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, there you go.

[Sean Fennessey]

Which is available from Imprint, actually, but not in the United States of America.

[Tracy Letts]

My. My boy right now is really into Time Bandits.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, sure.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. That scared the shit out of me

[Tracy Letts]

when I was a kid. He and his little sister dressing up as Time Bandits.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, he's got great taste.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, he does.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. Will this be the last.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes, this is the last one. It comes from Trevor. A hot topic in the physical media world is the Grail 4K, the 1 movie, above all, you'd like to see. Get a 4K remaster. I'd love to know yours.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't have one that's like a collector's grail. It's one that I just missed the window on, which is a Canterbury Tale. The Powell and Princess Press Burger movie. I watched that for the first time randomly on TCM a couple months ago. Fell deeply, deeply, deeply in love with it.

[Tracy Letts]

Great movie.

[Chris Ryan]

I know. It came out on Criterion. I've seen it used on ebay, I think I've seen a couple of times, like, for 80 bucks, like, unopened on ebay. But I would love, like, a beautiful, beautiful, like, addition of that. And that's, like, one I'm really waiting for.

[Timothy Simons]

The ones that come up for me are. Are. I think at one point, like, the devils might have been in that question. Like, the devils seems to be like. And I. But that's going to be a lot of people's answer. I think the Danny Boyle movie Sunshine, which really only has like a very

[Chris Ryan]

what are we doing?

[Timothy Simons]

I have the Blu Ray of it that I found in a thrift store, but I think it's like finicky and skips a lot. I think that there was like a problem in the production. I think one I mentioned it earlier sort of offhand, but you can only find Blu Rays of Streetwalkin that are used and that are like in the hundreds of dollars. And so it'd be cool to see that upgraded. And then just one of my favorites that I kind of can't believe doesn't have a blu ray or 4k is the candidate, which I think is a phenomenal movie and one of my and has become one of my favorite and it just bums me out that like that performance in that movie isn't more accessible in that format.

[Tracy Letts]

A few the Conformist I don't understand why there's not a 4k of the conformist, which is not only one of my favorite movies ever made, but there's a book or a documentary I think it's called Visions of Light Intermarriage with and the one movie that is consistently referenced by all of them is the Conformist. It's like when they were getting together to make the great movies that they made. They sat down with the director and watched the Conformist. That's the first thing they watched. So it absolutely needs reference level disc. California Split we've talked about really needs an upgrade. It's maybe my second favorite Altman at after Nashville. The Heartbreak Kid I think is a great white whale for a lot of people. I've got a bad old DVD of it, but such a great movie. Lonely Are the Brave, a great movie that's not talked about very much anymore. David Miller movie with Kirk Douglas and Walter Mathau. There's a Twilight Time. Oh and Jenna Rowlands. Also there's a Twilight Time disc of that but that could certainly an upgrade. I just did Year of Living Dangerously on Blank Check. There's terrible, terrible DVD but there is no Blu Ray representation or 4K. And then a sentimental pick because it's the first movie I ever watched with my wife Charmin's March, which is a great, hilarious, wonderful documentary.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'll tell you something. Last Saturday Ross McElwee, the director of that movie, was at the American Cinema Tech presenting that film and they asked me to moderate the Q and A and I couldn't do it. And I was devastated because I Love that film so much. Saw in college. And speaking of documentaries, that cooked my

[Tracy Letts]

noodle for those writing about your nascent relationships with your partners. I have to say Sherman's March got Carrie and I off on the right foot. That was a great movie to start our relationship.

[Sean Fennessey]

If she clicked with it, that's a good sign.

[Tracy Letts]

She definitely did.

[Sean Fennessey]

I made a list about a year ago of 21st century movies that are not available in these formats. Part of it is there are a great many Netflix and Amazon movies that have never been issued and hopefully we're changing that over time. But I'll just go through a handful of them. Some of them, for example, David Byrne's American Utopia, which was only available on hbo. Max for a while. The Criterion Collection put it out, directed by Spike Lee. It's a fascinating capture of the stage show that Byrne put up. But let's look at a couple of them here. The Handmaiden is still not on 4K. Sexy Beast is still not available on 4K. Waking Life I don't believe is available on Blu Ray. Maybe an international Blu Ray. Richard Linklater's film Tick Tick Boom, the Netflix film that Lin Manuel Miranda directed is not available in the Bedroom, is not available on anything beyond dvd, as far as I know.

[Tracy Letts]

I don't think so. I think there's maybe Australian. Yeah, there's an Australian in the bedroom.

[Sean Fennessey]

By the same token. Little Children, Todd Field's other film, I think is also only available on dvd. American Splendor, as far as I know, is not available on Blu Ray. We could go on and I mean, the Tragedy of Macbeth is a Joel Cohen movie that is just not available on physical. Period.

[Chris Ryan]

It's just on Apple, right?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, I think Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes is not available on Physical or maybe just on dvd. How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a recent film that was never issued.

[Tracy Letts]

Terrific.

[Sean Fennessey]

And Physical. One of the big ones on my list for years and years was Birth. And finally Criterion put that out, which

[Tracy Letts]

is wonderful, but still haven't seen it. I mean, I just got the disc, but I've never seen it.

[Chris Ryan]

Is there something up with the Glazer movies that takes a while to come.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't know. I know under the Skin is on Blu Ray. Zone of interest has a 4k from a 24.

[Chris Ryan]

Under the Skin doesn't have a 4k.

[Sean Fennessey]

Does not, as far as I know, does not.

[Timothy Simons]

Just watched Birth last week. Fantastic.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, it's amazing movie. Speed Racer was on this list. That's been since corrected to your point about 000. There's a movie that Chris and I really loved from a few years back called the Vast of Night that Amazon distributed that just may as well be gone. I think it's still available on the service.

[Chris Ryan]

I believe so. Yeah. I checked recently enough.

[Timothy Simons]

You throw the killer on there.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean that's the thing. Is the Fincher Soderberghs of the last 10 years. I don't know. I mean no Sudden Move might have gotten a release when it was from Max.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't think it did. I think many of those Max and Netflix Soderbergh movies are not available. I'm thinking of anything that's not available. The one that Zach Kreger's Barbarian. Not available in any physical format. Period.

[Timothy Simons]

That's wild.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know what's a really weird one is I Heart Huckabees. Which is only on DVD as far as I know. Which was a pretty big film in its time. A lot of big stars. Big director. Director.

[Tracy Letts]

We can get the Lily Tomlin.

[Sean Fennessey]

Put it on the boat. But like wouldn't you want to see an interview with her today about her experience on that film? That would be fascinating. Another weird one is M. Night Shyamalan's the Village. Only on DVD as far as I know. His first few films have now since been issued on 4k. I could do this for like hours. But there's Shattered Glass is one that I think is still only on DVD as far as I know. Know a lot of favorites of mine over the last 25 years. In fact, one of Amanda's favorites Something's Got to Give was only available on DVD for the longest time. And they announced this a month ago that it's coming to 4K.

[Timothy Simons]

Amanda, is that exciting for you?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I look forward to one of you giving it to me for my birthday. And I'll listen. I'll treasure it. This morning I'm not joking. My son went upstairs and found the only 4k I own. Which is the 4k of bring it on, which Sean got me last year. A treasured artifact. Explaining what a 4k is to a 4 year old was interesting. But we're gonna try to make the player work. Or is it 4k? Or is it Blu Ray? Sean, what is it?

[Sean Fennessey]

It's 4K.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Tracy, have you watched that film yet?

[Tracy Letts]

I haven't. I own it. I haven't watched it.

[Sean Fennessey]

But I will.

[Tracy Letts]

I've been watching. I've been steeped in Duval in 76. I told the nanny. I said as soon as I come home, we're going to start watching stuff that's not Duval in 76. She's very excited.

[Sean Fennessey]

How do you feel about all these questions? Do you feel that everyone is normal who really enjoys this experience?

[Chris Ryan]

Who are we to judge what's normal after the selections we just made?

[Tracy Letts]

You know, we talk about. We joke about the people who come up to us, and the people came up to Carrie and say they're offended. It really is great. It really is great to know that people are enjoying this stuff. Especially when I feel that they're diving into some of the older or more obscure stuff and they're starting to expand their vision of what a movie is or how a movie works. I just think it's really cool. And I would say something else about the guy who talked about not going to the bars.

[Sean Fennessey]

Dominic.

[Tracy Letts]

J.C. dominic. I have 12,000 discs. Discs. I've also been sober for over 30 years. If I do the math of how much money I haven't spent on booze and drugs and other vices, and I put that money toward the discs. That's why I have 12,000 discs with money left over, I might add, from what I saved from, you know, getting off the dope. Get off the dope.

[Timothy Simons]

Dope.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think you need to rationalize that with your own personal success.

[Chris Ryan]

We were in Ford versus Ferrari. I mean, you know, like, I don't. Fucking Dominic's guy.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm just saying, hey, little scratch leftover.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm just saying, you have a Pulitzer.

[Tracy Letts]

Get off the dope. That's my advice. Because not only is it a financial question, but the truth is that I like myself more as a dork with a huge physical media collection than an asshole at the end of the bar. Bar who's cynical and, you know, puffing on his cigs and, you know, scales of justice, man.

[Sean Fennessey]

I mean, I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Timothy Simons]

What would have happened if Nancy Reagan had that messaging instead of just saying no?

[Chris Ryan]

Would you have done that as a horde of young men addicted to physical media, been like, it's time for my dork, my dork era. Like, you. You want to go out and, like, you have, like, a couple years of.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't know. I feel like I've always kind of been myself. I've kind of always been, like, really into the stuff that I'm into to the potential alienation of others. But I think when you have a lot of enthusiasm for stuff, it can be infectious. I think this literally did start out as a weird, like, can you just come in and let's hang out. Like, it was not some strategy. And the fact that people responded to it is why it has, like, become this beautiful space where these men and women send us letters about how we're like royalty.

[Tracy Letts]

Well, and to that point, Carrie, also, it's like, I'd rather be. You know, it's not. It's not like she's a scold about my collection. She's like, I'd rather be with a guy who's doing this than a guy who's got some other vice. Right. That is ugly or unmanageable.

[Chris Ryan]

Gambling on college basketball or something. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Are you still, like a little hung up on being cool at this point in your life?

[Tracy Letts]

Me?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Tracy Letts]

No.

[Timothy Simons]

Dude's effortless about it. He's not hung up on it at all.

[Chris Ryan]

I used to be hung up.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, you're kind of circling back to like, what I want to be doing is ripping heaters and picking up chicks at the bar.

[Chris Ryan]

I didn't say. I did not circle back to that. I was saying to Dominic that these years at the Ohio State University are formative and you want to build your own lore. You know, you want to have your.

[Sean Fennessey]

Dominic was in the uk and the other. The Ohio State was a different person.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, well, then it. Yeah, he's fine. I'm just saying I was.

[Tracy Letts]

Let's. Regardless, let's be careful out there.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Everybody be careful. Everybody make good decisions.

[Sean Fennessey]

Be careful with these. With Thriller. You know, if you get Thriller, watch it.

[Timothy Simons]

And that's not a first date movie. Unless you think she's really special.

[Chris Ryan]

She's really, really the one.

[Timothy Simons]

Unless she's really the one. I also. One thing that I love about this is what this all comes back to,

[Chris Ryan]

is she hard cut material.

[Timothy Simons]

She hard cut.

[Tracy Letts]

Wait a minute.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What?

[Sean Fennessey]

Whoa, wait.

[Tracy Letts]

Cut was a little. That cut was a little hard.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's not the only thing that's hard. Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

I think what this comes back to is that ultimately my favorite thing that this opens up is that is that you end up in a conversation with someone and then you're talking about movies, which is what a fucking great thing to do. To just be out in the world and somebody that you don't know comes up to you and then you're just talking about movies for a while. There's nothing better than that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Couldn't said it better myself. This was healthy. This was normal. This was the behavior of mature men.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Our selections reflect incredibly peaceful, interior lives.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. We're not trying to understand anything more deranged or depraved. Within ourselves. We're all in functioning relationships.

[Tracy Letts]

Yeah, Right.

[Chris Ryan]

We trust institutions.

[Sean Fennessey]

Absolutely. We're upholding democracy.

[Tracy Letts]

I'm in a functioning relationship with my wife and my normal.

[Chris Ryan]

It's the great, the romantic square.

[Timothy Simons]

Tracy, his nanny.

[Sean Fennessey]

His AV guy. Is your nanny aware of your AV guy?

[Tracy Letts]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Do you think they would have chemistry?

[Tracy Letts]

No, I don't think so.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

Would you be jealous of your AV guy if you can't have her running off with him? Yeah, because then you'd lose child care. An AV guy?

[Sean Fennessey]

No, because.

[Tracy Letts]

Total nightmare.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. I'd like to thank Amanda Dobbins for her.

[Tracy Letts]

Any words of wisdom?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Amanda Dobbins, I would just say, to go back to Dominic one more time, that the tradition of watching Fight Club with a woman who you're not willingly willing to publicly call your girlfriend is time honored. It's generational, and everyone needs to go through it at least once. So he's gonna be okay, I think, right?

[Chris Ryan]

Is she gonna be okay?

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know what? She has to see it sometime. You know, and that's probably the right context in which to see Fight Club.

[Sean Fennessey]

Fight Club was released the month I started dating my now wife. And we saw the film and we're together to this day. So what more can you say? Yeah, what more can you say about the film? Amanda, thanks for sitting in on this. Really quite a strange choice on your part. I admire it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I have to be honest. I was doing other work here.

[Chris Ryan]

That's the second choice.

[Timothy Simons]

You've been very clear about that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But listen, it'. Multitasking. It's called having it all. Which I, as a woman, can do, despite everything that was just said on this podcast.

[Sean Fennessey]

Thanks to Lucas Kavanaugh for production support. Thanks to Jack Sanders for the robes, for producing this episode, for guiding the council comfortably. How will you be cutting social clips of this episode safely? I mean, we probably have at least

[Timothy Simons]

24 ready to go.

[Sean Fennessey]

We're okay. That's cool. Um, we'll reconvene again.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

This year. Christmas, conceivably. Christmas.

[Timothy Simons]

Ooh.

[Chris Ryan]

I think we need to bring the four Santas together.

[Sean Fennessey]

Like on Christmas Day. You want to record an episode?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, just let your kid know. This is gonna be. This is what it's gonna be like.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sorry, Alice, I gotta go sit with some men. Talk about plastic.

[Chris Ryan]

No, we should do a Christmas like a holiday gift guide.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, I like that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I do not know when this is airing or what episode is next, but I'm sure It will be very good. And we'll see you then.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, wait. Shout out Alex Ross Perry. Who's Anglin?

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, yeah. What do you want to do about that?

[Timothy Simons]

I don't know. That's up.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. Actually, before we truly wrap, there's been some questions about admission into the council. Right. Like, Griffin Newman wants in. Alex Ross Perry wants in. These are men who are longtime collectors of various items. I mean, what are the thoughts?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't feel like I can be possessive here. I'm a new addition to the council also. I think if you want to wanted to create like a high and low chamber of comm. Congress, you know, like maybe an east coast.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

Like you, Tracy, Alex and Griffin could do that. I'm not going to stand the way.

[Timothy Simons]

I mean, the round table was round for a reason. Right. So as to not have a hierarchy. I mean, I feel like if you swap in and out, it's like, you know, we're all one head of a hydra or.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't think Tracy feels that way, but.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, Tracy obviously doesn't feel that way. And he is irreplaceable.

[Tracy Letts]

No.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, that'll do it. We'll see you next time on the big Picture.