The Big Picture · Discussion
October 27, 2020/ 77 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda bring on The Press Box's Brian Curtis and David Shoemaker for Borat's election-season return, then close the month with two remakes nobody asked for.
6 films across 2 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.
‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’with Brian Curtis and David Shoemaker of The Press Box
Sacha Baron Cohen revives the character for the Trump era. Maria Bakalova, as daughter Tutar, draws real Oscar talk, and the Rudy Giuliani hotel scene, already spoiled by pre-release publicity, dominates the conversation. The panel pegs it at 70% scripted framing, 30% stunt, an inversion of the first film, and splits on whether that's a downgrade.
The Larry Charles original, an Oscar-nominated adapted-screenplay comedy phenomenon that grew out of Da Ali G Show. The panel uses it as the roughly 70%-stunt benchmark the sequel flips.
The other new releasestwo remakes to close out the month
Ben Wheatley remakes the Daphne du Maurier novel (marketed as 'not the Hitchcock') with Lily James and Armie Hammer. Amanda: it fails on its own terms, all exterior where the book is interior, with the only spark a late Cairo scene.
Hitchcock's gothic original with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, held up as one of the greatest films ever made and an impossible bar for the remake.
The Robert Zemeckis / Guillermo del Toro / Kenya Barris reworking on HBO Max, relocated to 1960s Alabama with a young Black lead. Anne Hathaway's Grand High Witch is the standout and, for Amanda, the thing that's too much for kids.
Nicholas Roeg's Jim Henson-produced adaptation with Anjelica Huston, a cult creepy-classic the hosts argue didn't need redoing.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Ben Wheatley's other films A Field in EnglandHigh-RiseFree FireKill List
Zemeckis, then and now Back to the FutureThe Polar ExpressBeowulfAlliedWelcome to Marwen
Roald Dahl on screen MatildaJames and the Giant PeachCharlie and the Chocolate Factory
In passing Return of the JediSuspicionJane EyreCarrieEnola HolmesThe Kissing BoothDon't Look NowForrest GumpI'm Thinking of Ending ThingsFour Weddings and a FuneralAliens
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Da Ali G ShowWho Is America?The Daily ShowPrimetime Glick
Web series Between Two Ferns
Ads TremfyaFanDuelBoar's HeadNetflix FIFA World Cup gameTalkAboutPDCarvanaBlinds.comStorm energy