The Big Picture · Review · Rankings · Interview
October 3, 2025/ 101 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Van Lathan
Sean, Amanda, and Van review Benny Safdie's 'The Smashing Machine,' then Sean and Amanda rebuild the Best Picture top 10, and Sean talks to Safdie.
12 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 Smashing Machine’with Van Lathan
Safdie recreates much of the Mark Kerr documentary and keeps the camera outside the ring. Van and Sean read it as a spiritual sequel to The Curse: surveillance-style, alienated, with Dwayne Johnson dropping the wrestler persona to play a soft-spoken fighter. Amanda thinks the approach is undercut by an underwritten, one-note Emily Blunt role.
Best Picture Power Rankingsas of October 1
No. 1 today, though Sean stresses that's not a winner call: an Oppenheimer or a Shakespeare in Love path both leave it at 1 or 2.
Bumped to 3 after listener pushback; the knock is timing (April) and Academy taste, not quality.
Slid to 4. A real wow at festivals, but it didn't hit as hard over the fall.
Got a bounce from its New York Film Festival home game; a Fellini-esque, filmmaker's Baumbach.
The Palme d'Or winner and France's international-feature entry, close to an automatic.
Both were mixed on it, but Bigelow's tension-cranking and its it-speaks-to-the-moment lightness may play in its favor.
New to the list after finishing second at Toronto; the Academy loves del Toro and Netflix gets nominations.
Kept on faith. Big fanbase, no heat yet, and the campaign hasn't started.
In conversation
Safdie on winning the Silver Lion, Dwayne Johnson bringing him the project in 2019, shooting the fights from outside the ring 'as real as it gets,' Nala Sinephro's improvised score, and Herzog's 'ecstatic truth,' inventing scenes that never happened but felt true.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The Rock's filmography The Scorpion KingThe RundownSouthland TalesPain & GainCentral IntelligenceMoanaJungle CruiseBlack AdamFast FiveFast & Furious 6
In the race but off the board No Other ChoiceMarty SupremeAvatar: Fire and AshRental FamilyTrain DreamsSpringsteen: Deliver Me from NowhereIs This Thing On?The Testament of Ann LeeWeaponsCover-Up
Benny Safdie's touchstones and credits Requiem for a HeavyweightFat CityThe Harder They FallRockyRocky IIIRaging BullLicorice PizzaHappy Gilmore 2They LiveCrimson TideNo Way OutLizard Music
In passing The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark KerrOppenheimerGabby's Dollhouse: The MovieEddingtonNightmare AlleyParasiteDuneDune: Part TwoWonka
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The CurseManiacMr. McMahonChad Powers
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