The Social Network 2010
The consensus No. 1 when all three did their best-of-the-decade lists.
The Big Picture · Discussion
500th Episode Call-In Spectacular!
September 9, 2022/ 117 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Bobby Wagner
The 500th episode is a listener mailbag: no reviews, just voicemails and the movies they shake loose, from hometown theaters and first dates to college and the film you'd hand your kid.
74 films across 12 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Favorite episodes and interviewsthe first voicemail
Arrival 2016
Chris Ryan's decade-list surprise; his Villeneuve pick.
The Lost City of Z 2016
Sean's first James Gray interview, the one that made him want to keep doing the show.
A movie you saw your childhood inSkyler asks about Boyhood
Boyhood 2014
The caller's pick, a child-of-divorce reference point.
Lady Bird 2017
Amanda: the mother-daughter, almost-out-of-high-school movie she saw her own brain on screen in.
Creed 2015
Sean's joke answer: rising to power with Philadelphia and Meek Mill behind you.
The Squid and the Whale 2005
Sean: 'this is my personality', mean, a little sad, hopefully funny.
Dazed and Confused 1993
American Graffiti 1973
Network 1976
Sean's real answer: it carved a path forward rather than reflecting the past.
The Devil Wears Prada 2006
Amanda: part of why she ended up in magazines.
You've Got Mail 1998
Working Girl 1988
On the iPad in the hospital after Knox was born.
Skyfall 2012
Also on the post-birth iPad.
A Few Good Men 1992
Ocean's Eleven 2001
Casablanca 1943
The Sandlot 1993
Bobby's answer, the earnest childhood-sports movie that shaped how he approached media.
The theaters we grew up inArnold on hometown moviegoing
The Departed 2006
Casino Royale 2006
Ratatouille 2007
Once Upon a Time in the West 1968
Sean at 15 at the Cinema Arts Center, the first old movie he saw in a theater, eight people in the room.
Avatar 2009
Amanda saw it at the Farmingdale UA.
Minions: The Rise of Gru 2022
Amanda's much-Instagrammed solo-adult ticket at the AMC Phipps Plaza 14.
North 1994
The end of Amanda's Rob Reiner streak, a birthday-party screening.
Jerry Maguire 1996
Sat next to her mother through the sex scene.
Top Five 2014
One of Zach's first trips; her dad asked if it would win Best Picture.
Morning Glory 2010
Her dad also asked if this would win Best Picture.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 2005
A 2 p.m. hooky screening with her dad, the only two people in the theater, neither having seen the first two prequels.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 2016
Sean and Chris Ryan's pick for best Star Wars movie of the last 10 years, cited in the Andor tangent.
The role you'd CGI yourself intoGraylin's transfiguration question
The Talented Mr. Ripley 1999
Amanda: Gwyneth Paltrow's part, minus the murder.
The Thing 1982
Sean would be Kurt Russell, before deciding it doesn't fit the question.
Primal Fear 1996
Callback to the biopic-casting bit: Edward Norton as Sean.
Fight Club 1999
Where the Norton/Fincher casting joke lands, as Sean descends into IKEA-catalog fatherhood.
The Natural 1984
Bobby would be Redford. Dingers.
Scarface 1983
First-date movie storiesLogan asks for date-night disasters
At First Sight 1999
Sean's pre-Eileen movie date: she called it one of the best movies ever, and they were doomed.
Enemy at the Gates 2001
A high-school first date wrecked by hours of clammy hand-holding.
The Wrestler 2008
Amanda fought about the ending and broke up (with Adam Driver).
What's Your Number? 2011
She and Zach met outside this screening.
Margaret 2011
Their first real date, a 9 p.m. Lonergan screening that ran to midnight.
500 Days of Summer 2009
Bobby's first-ever date, eighth grade; he lost his wallet.
The movie the other person sold you onthe movie-swap premise
Sense and Sensibility 1995
Sean's movie-swap watch. He liked it more than the podcast tension let him admit.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018
The other half of an early movie swap.
Lady Chatterley's Lover 2022
Played Telluride; Sean skipped it.
Far from the Madding Crowd 1967
Schlesinger's pre-Midnight Cowboy adaptation, an 'Amanda movie' Sean loved before the show.
Midnight Cowboy 1969
Sean had been watching a documentary on its making.
Triple Frontier 2019
The one they all saw together and liked while no one else did.
The quintessential college movieCaroline, off to school tomorrow
Kicking and Screaming 1995
Amanda's first thought: aspirational Baumbach, with Elliott Gould as the dad.
Animal House 1978
Sean went to Dartmouth, the Animal House college.
Shithouse 2020
Sean: the rare movie that admits college can be lonely and quiet.
Everybody Wants Some!! 2016
Bobby's pick, in the Dazed and Confused vein.
The Rules of Attraction 2002
Roger Avary's Bennington-adjacent provocation; James Van Der Beek against type.
Grease 1978
The End of the World 2022
Matt Tyrnauer's Bennington documentary Sean caught at Telluride: Donna Tartt, Bret Easton Ellis.
One movie to send your kid off to college withBen's gift question
Seabiscuit 2003
Chris Ryan's running gag gift to both kids.
Iron Man 3 2013
Chris's other gift to the children.
Up 2009
First Reformed 2017
Sean's deadpan option: how God rejects nature.
Sullivan's Travels 1941
Singin' in the Rain 1952
Marathon Man 1976
Sean's joke, since Knox is 'very interested in teeth.'
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964
Bobby's real answer: to build the sense of humor he wants his kids to have.
Favorite running gagJacob wants Thanos back
Rango 2011
The show's long-running bit, the movie Chris Ryan claims never to have seen.
What we'd wear to Cannesthe dress-code voicemail
Inglourious Basterds 2009
Sean and Amanda as the tuxedoed Italian-accent guys at the end.
Movie things that don't exist in real lifeGreg on commandeered cars and cutting in
So I Married an Axe Murderer 1993
Charles Grodin refusing to let his car be commandeered: Sean's hardest-ever laugh.
When Harry Met Sally... 1989
Where the caustic enemies-to-lovers turn starts, per Amanda.
His Girl Friday 1940
The remarriage comedy that at least makes sense to Sean.
Tár 2022
A rare accurate on-screen text exchange, central to the story.
The next 500 episodesMarco on what's ahead
Free Guy 2021
A watch-along Sean found sad, since Amanda was very pregnant.
Zack Snyder's Justice League 2021
Sean: some of the best podding they've done.
Outlaw King 2018
Bobby's first episode, back in November 2018: a Chris Pine talk on Netflix and the awards race.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Coming next summer BarbieOppenheimerMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
In passing Star WarsThe Empire Strikes BackAvengers: EndgameTop Gun: Maverick
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV AndorNew GirlThe CrownRussia 1985-1999: TraumaZone
Ads GamblersTremfyaCarvanaFanDuelFIFA World Cup (Netflix)Boar's HeadAthletic Brewing