A 400th Episode "Ask Us Anything" Mailbag Extravaganza

Licorice Pizza 2021

The trailer dropped that morning; Sean watched it nine times with his daughter. Bradley Cooper as producer John Peters, plus Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim in the leads.

Shakespeare in Love 1998

Cited as the precedent for a supporting Oscar off little screen time: Judi Dench won for roughly eight minutes.

Network 1976

Beatrice Straight's two scenes and one speech, the other short-role benchmark.

Boogie Nights 1997

Licorice Pizza reads like a prelude to it: same San Fernando Valley, five years earlier.

Call Me by Your Name 2017

Chalamet's nomination, in the who-hasn't-won-yet debate alongside Saoirse Ronan.

Legally Blonde 2001

Amanda's 180: she dismissed it at 17 as a Harvard-bound nerd, now says it holds up completely.

Slacker 1990

Sean's 180: he rented it from Blockbuster, thought it had no story, later understood Linklater's independent-film logic.

Dazed and Confused 1993

The Linklater he'd already seen and loved before Slacker clicked.

West Side Story 2021

The retire-it-from-remakes anxiety case: Spielberg and Kushner, but without Jerome Robbins's choreography.

Casablanca 1942

Their pick for a film that should never be remade; Bobby hasn't seen it, promises to for episode 500.

The Goldfinch 2019

Evidence of how hard the beloved-novel adaptation is: the Donna Tartt failure.

Jaws 1975

Good book, great movie: the mediocre-novel-to-great-film pattern.

The Stepford Wives 1975

Another good-book, cool-movie example from the '70s.

The Notebook 2004

Plot-first source material that still works on screen.

Hidden Figures 2016

Theodore Melfi, raising nerves about his announced DeLillo adaptation.

The Starling 2021

Melfi's just-released one, judged 'okay.'

White Noise 2022

The DeLillo book Sean keeps wishing onto the screen: a then-upcoming Baumbach adaptation.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004

Bobby's rewatchables suggestion; cuts too hard for him to want on the mic. Sean argues they've never done right by Jim Carrey.

Midnight Run 1988

Bill's long-standing rewatchables obsession.

Thief 1981

The Michael Mann title the three of them converge on.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall 2008

Craig Horlbeck's pick; Bobby's stated generation.

Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994

Amanda was promised it and it got taken away: nobody else at The Ringer wants to do it.

Sleepless in Seattle 1993

A rom-com they've somehow never covered.

When Harry Met Sally... 1989

You've Got Mail 1998

Amanda's fall rewatch, for the freshly-sharpened-pencils line.

Apollo 13 1995

Amanda's most-rewatched film and her rewatchables wish.

Pulp Fiction 1994

Among the classics held on ice for the feed.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021

Only the 16th-biggest MCU movie but a real theatrical success, unreleased in China at the time.

Ant-Man 2015

The MCU floor Shang-Chi cleared.

Halloween Kills 2021

Universal's straight-to-Peacock gamble, the how-do-you-measure-success question.

Dear Evan Hansen 2021

The theatrical flop the discourse tried to reframe as a streaming success.

Dune 2021

Villeneuve as the other big-screen absolutist; a Denis interview teased for October.

Free Guy 2021

Sean hated it; the scene he flagged had a moment on Twitter that weekend.

Wonder Woman 1984 2020

In the 'piled-on but not actually garbage' bucket.

Malcolm & Marie 2021

Same: overly maligned, not garbage.

Mank 2020

One of the few films from the pandemic stretch they actually liked; Sean and Amanda are among its defenders.

Trolls World Tour 2020

The early-pandemic sense-memory of a barren release calendar.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019

The 2019 run they miss: a big movie for both.

Parasite 2019

Marriage Story 2019

Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019

The Power of the Dog 2021

The best of what Sean had seen so far that year.

The Last Duel 2021

Just seen; opinion embargoed but not negative.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage 2021

The 'a Venom movie's coming Friday' counterweight to the prestige slate.

Phantom Thread 2017

Bobby's last big theatrical feeling; made $47M with Daniel Day-Lewis.

Ford v Ferrari 2019

Bobby's dad-gearhead pick; Sean's shrug.

A Christmas Story 1983

The example the question was built on, though not a Sean tradition.

The Muppet Christmas Carol 1992

Sean's wife's mandatory Christmas Day watch.

There Will Be Blood 2007

In Sean's once-a-year personal rotation.

The Sound of Music 1965

Amanda's yearly watch, on ABC with the commercials.

Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018

The joke Thanksgiving tradition for the kid.

Faces of Death 1978

The joke Halloween pick for the kid.

The Wizard of Oz 1939

The one film Sean insists his daughter must see; the mind-expander.

Bambi 1942

The parental-death question: how early to expose a kid to the difficult stuff.

Star Wars 1977

The childhood-imprint film for Amanda's husband.

Mary Poppins 1964

Among the movies presented to Amanda as a child.

Goodfellas 1990

What Bobby's parents sat him down for at 16, telling him 'here's your culture.'

The Maltese Falcon 1941

A film worth being credited with, in the time-machine authorship game.

Avengers: Endgame 2019

The 'take the money' answer to the same game.

Ocean's Eleven 2001

Sean's pick: universally liked, and it makes you Soderbergh.

The Godfather 1972

The framing example: you become Coppola at its release.

The Thomas Crown Affair 1999

Bobby wants to be Pierce Brosnan's lifestyle in it.

American Gigolo 1980

Sean's revised answer: one of Schrader's lonely men.

First Reformed 2017

Another Schrader lonely-man option.

Cat People 1982

Light Sleeper 1992

The Card Counter 2021

Bringing Up Baby 1938

Amanda's Katharine Hepburn fantasy; the screwball register they don't make anymore.

Man on Fire 2004

Bobby's half-joke answer for the film that built a recognizable world.

Mad Max: Fury Road 2015

Adventureland 2009

Bobby's real answer: Greg Mottola is from Long Island like him, and the setting scratched his brain.

Almost Famous 2000

The one that made Bobby want to be a rock journalist.

Something's Gotta Give 2003

Amanda's No. 1 Nancy Meyers kitchen: the pre-renovation Santa Barbara version.

It's Complicated 2009

The archetypal Hamptons kitchen; Amanda insists it should never be expanded.

Father of the Bride 1991

The lived-in '90s kitchen.

Baby Boom 1987

Meyers on writing only, but the Vermont cabin kitchen counts.

The Holiday 2006

Real-estate-forward; the Cotswold cottage kitchen isn't functional.

The Intern 2015

Amanda's lowest-ranked kitchen: too HGTV-makeover.

Saw 2004

Bobby's answer for 20 years of rooting for the Mets.

The Road 2009

Sean goes bleaker: Hillcoat's McCarthy adaptation as the Mets metaphor.

Moneyball 2011

Bobby's Criterion wish; the rewatchables entry he and Amanda missed.

Visions of Eight 1973

The Criterion title they actually recorded a commentary for.

Inherent Vice 2014

Amanda's PTA-minded Criterion wish: lots to unpack even if you don't love it.

Margaret 2011

The first date Amanda still talks about: the three-hour Lonergan tragedy; they married anyway.

Grindhouse 2007

Sean's most-fun four hours at the movies, alone.

Death Proof 2007

Tarantino's half of the Grindhouse double feature.

Planet Terror 2007

Rodriguez's half.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights 1993

The one that sticks out: Sean at 11, his dad taking him and five friends, first sight of Dave Chappelle.

The Producers 1967

The Mel Brooks portal that opened after Robin Hood.

Blazing Saddles 1974

Spaceballs 1987

The Many Saints of Newark 2021

Teased at the close: the Sopranos prequel film driving the next episode.

What's Your Number? 2011

The terrible Anna Faris film outside whose screening Amanda met her husband.

Space Camp 1986

A recurring Amanda reference, invoked again in the rewatchables talk.