Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc 2025
No. 1 in America, Sony distributing anime the way it did 'Demon Slayer' a month earlier. Sean hasn't seen it; the hosts read the run as proof that fandom, not walk-up discovery, now drives the box office.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
‘A House of Dynamite’ Is Ready to Explode
October 27, 2025/ 105 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda review Kathryn Bigelow's real-time nuclear-attack thriller 'A House of Dynamite,' now on Netflix: a first hour that had them locked in, and a third act (Idris Elba's miscast president, an on-the-nose ending) that lost them. Plus a bleak-October box-office check-in, and Adam Naiman joins to talk Kelly Reichardt's 'The Mastermind.'
10 films across 3 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.
The state of the box officeanime up top, adult dramas going quietly
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle 2025
The other Sony anime hit cited as evidence something is changing about who turns out for theaters.
The Conjuring: Last Rites 2025
Grouped with the horror titles carrying a bleak October.
The Smashing Machine 2025
One of the star-led adult dramas that came and went without word of mouth. Sean says movies are operating like it's 1995.
Roofman 2025
Channing Tatum vehicle used as the example of the lost walk-in-and-discover moviegoing instinct.
After the Hunt 2025
Another adult drama in the October pileup that few loved and fewer saw.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 2025
Referenced back to the show's own episode on it; grouped with the quiet adult dramas.
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie 2025
The eventized-for-kids comparison: a fandom big enough to fill theaters, if only the fans could drive themselves there.
‘A House of Dynamite’great for an hour, then the balloon deflates
A House of Dynamite 2025
Kathryn Bigelow's first film in eight years, written by Noah Oppenheim, on Netflix. A single ICBM of unknown origin flies at Chicago and the movie replays the same real-time 18 minutes through the White House Situation Room, NSA, Pentagon, Fort Greeley and Stratcom. Idris Elba as the president, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee, Moses Ingram. Amanda saw it at Venice and was gripped; Sean saw a Netflix screening and soured. Both agree the first third is superb and the film 'doesn't land the plane': Elba is miscast (a body double takes his jump shot), the Gettysburg and save-the-elephants metaphors are laid on thick, and the abrupt final image (Ramos collapsing outside Fort Greeley) drew open laughter at the New York Film Festival.
Adam Naiman on ‘The Mastermind’
Adam Naiman on
The Mastermind 2025
Kelly Reichardt's new film (the first she's written solo since 'River of Grass') with Josh O'Connor as a dissatisfied 1970 Framingham dad who decides to become an art thief and is terrible at it. Naiman calls the title ironic and the film very funny about male vanity and solipsism, set against Watergate and Vietnam; Sean reads it as Reichardt answering critics who say nothing happens in her movies. All three prefer it to 'A House of Dynamite.' John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Bill Camp, Hope Davis, Alana Haim.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Around the fall festivals, in the mix The Wizard of the KremlinFrankensteinTrain DreamsJay KellyBallad of a Small PlayerA Big Bold Beautiful JourneyDie My LoveAnemoneElla McCay
Nuclear-scare canon Fail SafeDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombThreadsOn the Beach
Cast and comparison points JackieWildlifeJuror #2Past LivesTron: AresMission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningBugonia
The Bigelow filmography Point BreakThe Hurt LockerZero Dark ThirtyNear DarkStrange DaysBlue SteelThe LovelessThe Weight of WaterK-19: The WidowmakerDetroit
The score race One Battle After AnotherSinnersHamnetMarty SupremeThe Testament of Ann LeeF1Wicked: For GoodAll Quiet on the Western Front
The eventizing of moviegoing The OdysseyWeapons
Sean's Criterion haul and nerd tangents Shogun AssassinGhost in the ShellGhost WorldCure
The Reichardt filmography Showing UpOld JoyNight MovesRiver of GrassCertain WomenWendy and Lucy
The Josh O'Connor run RebuildingWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out MysteryLa ChimeraChallengersThe History of Sound
Reference points for ‘The Mastermind’ The Big ChillBadlandsInside Llewyn DavisEternalsThe Substance
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Night AgentThe White LotusThe StudioThe CrownThe Simpsons
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