Tenet 2020
Opened to about $20M domestic over Labor Day weekend with New York and Los Angeles theaters still closed and rooms at 25–50% capacity. Sean and Amanda drove to a San Diego drive-in to see it; the full breakdown is held for next week.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
Did Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Experiment Work? A Binge Mode Investigation
September 9, 2020/ 75 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda hand the $29.99 Disney+ Mulan remake to Binge Mode's Jason Concepcion and Mallory Rubin, who grew up on the 1998 cartoon, to work out what the live-action version loses: the songs, Mushu, and the message that an ordinary girl is enough. Plus Tenet's soft reopening weekend, a Chadwick Boseman tribute, and a look ahead to the Cruella and Little Mermaid remakes.
18 films across 4 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.
Movies Came BackTenet's reopening weekend
Remembering Chadwick Bosemanhe was 43
Black Panther 2018
Sean rewatched it the night after Boseman's death: a movie he carries on his shoulders, one that met impossible anticipation and lived up. Amanda cites a 2018 video of kids at Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy dancing to see it as what the film meant to young Black audiences.
Da 5 Bloods 2020
This year's Boseman role, in the Spike Lee film, offered as evidence of his eye for parts and the weight of representation.
Marshall 2017
Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, one of a run of real-figure roles the hosts credit to his sense of complexity over easy dignity.
42 2013
Boseman as Jackie Robinson, another of the biographical parts they single out.
Get on Up 2014
Boseman as James Brown; Sean calls taking on a figure of pure talent and real complexity a bold act.
Mulan, With Binge Mode
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
Mulan 2020
The $29.99 Disney+ premiere. All four find it handsome but empty: no songs, Mushu swapped for a silent Phoenix, and Mulan handed magic chi powers Mallory argues gut the original's point that an ordinary girl is enough. Donnie Yen and Jet Li are wasted, Gong Li's witch dies so only one strong woman survives, and the only moment that lands is Mulan casting off her armor. Shot in Xinjiang and led by Yifei Liu, whose Hong Kong-police tweet drew a #BanMulan campaign, it became a lightning rod.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
Mulan (1998) 1998
The animated original three of them grew up on — Mallory's third-favorite Disney cartoon, I'll Make a Man Out of You her favorite Disney song. Its music, humor (Eddie Murphy's Mushu, the cricket, the grandmother) and 'you are already enough' message are exactly what the hosts say the remake drops. Sean watched it for the first time on Disney+ and enjoyed it.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
The Lion King 1994
Amanda's benchmark and the reason she calls herself the world's number one Elton John fan; the songs here are the standard the Mulan music can't reach.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
The Lion King (2019) 2019
The live-action remake the hosts couldn't find a reason for beyond money: a near-duplicate that kept the songs and jokes without iterating on anything.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
Aladdin 1992
The animated one; A Whole New World comes up as an all-timer, and the genie's baked-in innuendo fuels a running bit.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
Aladdin (2019) 2019
The other inert remake; its on-the-nose horniness is the trap the hosts hope the Little Mermaid remake avoids.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
Beauty and the Beast 1991
Named in the golden-age run; Something There ranks, by Amanda's count, about fifth-best among its own songs.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
The Little Mermaid 1989
Part of Your World is the song Amanda holds up as doing exposition and broad yearning at once; both hosts put it top-five Disney.
Jason Concepcion & Mallory Rubin on
Robin Hood 1973
Jason's actual favorite Disney songs, all written by Roger Miller — Oo-De-Lally first.
The Coming Disney Remakeswhat's in the pipeline
Cruella 2021
Emma Stone as a young Cruella de Vil who becomes obsessed with dog skins; six screenwriters (including Jez Butterworth and Tony McNamara), directed by Craig Gillespie. The hosts are baffled by who it's for but sold on the cast, and Sean floats a Rocky Horror camp read.
The Little Mermaid (2023) 2023
Rob Marshall's remake with Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Javier Bardem as Triton, and Daveed Diggs as Sebastian; the Diggs casting makes them hope the songs survive.
Peter Pan & Wendy 2023
David Lowery's remake, flagged as further out; he had already done the live-action Pete's Dragon.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Wuxia and Asian American cinema Rumble in the BronxBetter Luck TomorrowCrouching Tiger, Hidden DragonHeroHouse of Flying DaggersIp Man
Star Wars and its sources Star WarsStar Wars: The Last JediStar Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerSeven SamuraiThe Hidden Fortress
Other touchstones MaleficentThe Silence of the LambsThe Rocky Horror Picture ShowWhale RiderNorth Country
Comps for the coming remakes The FavouriteI, TonyaMary Poppins ReturnsPete's Dragon101 Dalmatians
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Game of ThronesERThe GreatHarry Potter (TV adaptation)
Podcasts Binge ModeThe WatchSound Only
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