The Sound of Music 1965
Plummer as Captain von Trapp, the role that made him and the one he spent a career pushing against. Sean finally watched it this weekend and found Maria a mystifying lead; Amanda grew up on it.
The Big Picture · Hall of Fame · Discussion · Interview
A 'Malcolm & Marie' Meltdown With John David Washington and Sam Levinson. Plus: 'The Sound of Music,' Finally.
February 9, 2021/ 95 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
A Christopher Plummer tribute (with Sean finally watching The Sound of Music), then Sean and Amanda fight about Malcolm & Marie before its makers show up to answer for it.
21 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.
Remembering Christopher Plummerand a first watch of The Sound of Music
Beginners 2010
His Oscar came here, playing Ewan McGregor's father, who comes out late in life. Mike Mills film Sean loves.
The Insider 1999
Michael Mann's 60 Minutes drama. Plummer plays Mike Wallace without impersonating him. 'Who told your chubby little fingers they could edit me?'
The Silent Partner 1978
A clever Canadian bank-heist thriller. Plummer is one of the most evil men Sean's seen on screen.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 1991
A Klingon general who quotes Shakespeare; better than it has any right to be.
Murder by Decree 1979
Bob Clark's Sherlock Holmes, played more open-hearted than the usual preening addict.
The Last Station 2009
Plummer as Tolstoy; his first Oscar nomination, in his late 70s.
Inside Man 2006
Spike Lee heist movie Sean rewatches constantly. Plummer playing in the Sound of Music shadow.
Malcolm X 1992
A small role in the Spike Lee world.
Knives Out 2019
The murdered patriarch; a late-career classic.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011
David Fincher; not a 9 a.m. rewatch.
Syriana 2005
Dolores Claiborne 1995
All the Money in the World 2017
Replaced Kevin Spacey at the last minute and got an Oscar nomination for it.
The New World 2005
Terrence Malick. Great directors liked him and he liked them.
A 'Malcolm & Marie' MeltdownSean and Amanda on the Netflix two-hander
Malcolm & Marie 2021
Levinson's quarantine-shot two-hander, black-and-white, Zendaya and John David Washington fighting through a night after his premiere. Critics savaged it; both hosts liked it. The knock: it detours from the relationship into film-criticism monologues, and a white writer routes them through a Black director.
Assassination Nation 2018
Levinson's prior film, and the source of the movie: he forgot to thank his wife at its Sundance premiere. The LA Times critic Malcolm rages at is widely read as its reviewer.
The makers answer for it
Sam Levinson & John David Washington on
Malcolm & Marie 2021
Written by Levinson at Zendaya's behest when Euphoria shut down; he read Washington the first pages aloud over the phone, playing both parts. Shot handheld after they threw out the first days of dailies.
Sam Levinson & John David Washington on
Pieces of a Woman 2020
Washington's last-great-watch. The birth sequence 'was insane.'
Sam Levinson & John David Washington on
Mrs. Miniver 1942
Levinson had been rewatching a piece of it the night before.
Sam Levinson & John David Washington on
The Graduate 1967
Levinson, astounded by the editing: the ten seconds of black after Benjamin shuts the hotel-room door.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Christopher Plummer, also mentioned The Wizard of OzBlack Christmas
Malcolm & Marie comparisons Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?FacesShadowsA Woman Under the InfluenceTapeThe Lighthouse
Levinson's black-and-white touchstones La NotteThe ServantBunny Lake Is MissingThe Forty-Year-Old Version
In passing TenetBlacKkKlansmanMankAll About EveJudas and the Black Messiah
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV EuphoriaBreaking BadBallers60 MinutesThe Challenge
Stage Death of a Salesman
Ads Boar's HeadNetflix FIFA World Cup Launch EditionWhite ClawNespressoUber