Dumpuary Is Dead. These Movies Killed It. Plus: The Best Movies at Sundance and the Catherine O’Hara Hall of Fame.

The newsbox office and a Nancy Meyers greenlight

Iron Lung 2026

The headline story: Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) self-financed and self-distributed a $3M submarine horror adapted from the video game, willed it onto 4,100 screens by telling his 39M YouTube subscribers to call their theaters, and made ~$18M in three days. Sean didn't think much of the movie itself (quiet, repetitive, good sound design, a man in a mini-sub crossing a sea of blood), but calls the release one of the most fascinating things to happen to theatrical exhibition in a decade.

Send Help 2026

Last week's No. 1, holding on: the Rachel McAdams/Dylan O'Brien horror that Sean pegs as a top-25 movie of the year and part of the case that January was actually great.

Melania 2026

No. 3 at the box office; $7M, a lot for a doc, though on a $40M budget plus $35M in marketing. Sean argues it isn't really a documentary aesthetically: it's IP with a star at the center. Neither host has seen it and both hope the listener's-choice vote spares them.

The Intern 2015

Cited in the Nancy Meyers time-travel update: Warner Bros. greenlit her first feature since this one (Anne Hathaway/Robert De Niro, $194M worldwide), dated Christmas 2027 with Penélope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Jude Law, Emma Mackey and Owen Wilson. Sean won't believe it until the trucks show up.

Father of the Bride 1991

Meyers's Steve Martin comedy, which also featured a young Kieran Culkin; she introduced an anniversary screening in L.A. and revealed the new project there. Confirmed to have screened at the PTA-curated wedding marathon.

The Catherine O’Hara Hall of Famea tribute after her death at 71

Beetlejuice 1988

Foundational for both hosts. The Day-O dinner-table scene is one of her most memorable moments.

Home Alone 1990

She IS Kevin: the mother whose panicked 'Kevin!' is burned into a generation. Per Sean, she's not funny here at all, which is its own kind of range.

Best in Show 2000

Amanda's demand for the list. 'God Loves a Terrier' is, she says, the hardest she has ever laughed in a film.

Waiting for Guffman 1996

Her and Fred Willard in the Christopher Guest troupe, one of the collaborations that defined the back half of her career.

A Mighty Wind 2003

Another Guest film; she and Eugene Levy sang the nominated song beautifully at the Oscars.

For Your Consideration 2006

The Guest ensemble again: proof of how thoroughly the mockumentary auteur relied on her.

The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993

The voice of Sally, one more foundational credit hiding in plain sight.

After Hours 1985

Only about ten minutes of Scorsese, but hilarious: she torments Griffin Dunne with a phone number he's trying to remember.

Heartburn 1986

Part of the run of auteurs (here Mike Nichols) who got interested in what she could bring.

Dick Tracy 1990

Warren Beatty's comic-strip spectacle, another entry in her stealth-prolific studio run.

The Paper 1994

Ron Howard's newsroom comedy, Sean's example of how many filmmakers wanted her.

Wyatt Earp 1994

Lawrence Kasdan's Western; further range in the dramatic direction.

A Simple Twist of Fate 1994

A slightly forgotten Steve Martin drama in which she plays the surrogate-mother best friend; Sean's deep-cut shout-out.

Orange County 2002

Very funny here too, and tied to the recent John Candy documentary, given her long friendship with Candy going back to Canada.

Where the Wild Things Are 2009

A voice performance for Spike Jonze, the kind of one-of-one casting everyone kept reaching for.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024

The late-career return to the role, and one of the last times the hosts had cause to talk about her before the news.

Sean's Sundancethe last Park City, watched virtually

Josephine 2026

The one great movie Sean saw, and it wasn't close. Beth de Araujo directs Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan and an 8-year-old debut from Mason Reeves as a girl who witnesses a sexual assault on a morning walk and lives through the aftermath. Won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award (drama), a CODA/Minari/Whiplash/Precious double that usually points to Best Picture. Purposefully manipulative and, Sean says, shattering; no distributor yet, headed to Berlin. Compared to 'Adolescence' as a filmmaking-tool showcase.

The Best Summer 2026

The most fun Sean had. Tamra Davis's shapeless, plotless home-movie doc of the 1995-96 Australian tour that put Beastie Boys, Pavement, Bikini Kill, Sonic Youth and Foo Fighters together: Kim Gordon on a couch, Sonic Youth doing 'Bull in the Heather.' 'Sometimes we just want to see the things that we love.'

Carousel 2026

Chris Pine and Jenny Slate in a thoughtful midlife movie about being 43 and wondering what happened to your life. Sean flagged it the prior week; strong performances.

Nuisance Bear 2026

Sean's best doc of the festival: polar bears in Manitoba, a classical nature film woven with an Inuit perspective, produced by A24. Some tough trap-and-relocate material.

Union County 2026

A traditional Sundance drama with a great Will Poulter turn as a young man in a court-mandated Ohio drug program; effective for casting real people from the program.

Seized 2026

The journalism doc, about the raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas: starts as First Amendment sermon, pivots to zippy small-town gossip. 'All news is local news.'

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! 2026

The most crowd-pleasing thing Sean saw: Rinko Kikuchi as a ballroom dancer who loses a partner and finds love, heavily indebted to Dirty Dancing.

Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story 2026

The Maria Bamford documentary, fairly standard for the comedian-struggles genre but a good one; she lives in Altadena, and the fires figure near the end.

Night Nurse 2026

The most fucked-up movie Sean saw. Georgia Bernstein directs a genuinely odd psychosexual codependency between a young night nurse and an elderly resident of the care facility: prank calls, orgies, trouble. Not scary, not sexy, just upsetting.

The Incomer 2026

A quirky Scottish comedy by Louis Paxton: Domhnall Gleeson comes to remove two kooky siblings from a tiny island; Sean was pleased to learn Gayle Rankin is Scottish.

Bedford Park 2026

Flawed but very good, already picked up by Sony Pictures Classics. Stephanie Ahn directs two Korean American strangers (Moon Choi, Son Seok-su) who half-fall for each other; a bit long, terrific performances.

‘People We Meet on Vacation’the Netflix rom-com

People We Meet on Vacation 2026

Brett Haley adapts the Emily Henry bestseller: Emily Bader and Tom Blyth as friends who take one vacation together a year for a decade. Amanda was wrong-footed (she expected an actual vacation movie) and thrown by a failed When Harry Met Sally homage; both agree it's Sparks-adjacent 'book-to-movie' fan service, not a real rom-com, and it isn't funny. Bader is a revelation (a Paula Abdul dance number included); Blyth, per Sean, a zero. Likely the most-watched movie of 2026 so far, and the hosts want more money spent, more locations, more going outside.

‘The Moment’the Charli XCX mockumentary, in four theaters

The Moment 2026

Aidan Zamiri directs, from an idea by Charli XCX (who also stars): a fake documentary about the Brat rollout and mounting the tour, with Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou, Alexander Skarsgård as a Sam Wrench-coded concert-film director and Kylie Jenner surprisingly good. Amanda loved it, calling it the most Amanda movie ever made; Sean found it far more accomplished than expected, closer to In the Loop or The Trip than Spinal Tap, and a savage two-hour Taylor Swift subtweet about what corporate success does to a punk-adjacent pop star.

Jack Fisk on ‘Marty Supreme’the legendary production designer

Jack Fisk on

Marty Supreme 2025

The reason for the visit: Fisk's Oscar-nominated work rebuilding 1950s Lower East Side New York for Josh Safdie. He and decorator Adam Willis and DP Darius Khondji chased a documentary feel over a 'period film' look: a modular street-front system walked onto Orchard Street overnight, roped-and-aged paint, Yiddish signage, a bowling alley three hours out (pre-automatic-pinsetter), a built gas station. The one time he told Safdie no: painting Marty's room white for a Kubrick reference.

Jack Fisk on

Badlands 1973

Terrence Malick's debut, which changed Fisk's life, made him want to do film forever, and introduced him to Sissy Spacek: 55 years together.

Jack Fisk on

Days of Heaven 1978

Shot in Canada with no film industry to draw on: six carpenters brought from L.A., everything built from 2x4s and plywood, and the best fire he's ever seen, wheat cut in 50-foot rows and doused in diesel.

Jack Fisk on

The New World 2005

Where he met Emmanuel Lubezki, who later connected him to Iñárritu; he wanted to make it as a Pocahontas documentary but couldn't.

Jack Fisk on

The Straight Story 1999

A David Lynch family affair: he cast Spacek; Fisk and Lynch went to high school together and moved to California together.

Jack Fisk on

Mulholland Drive 2001

Built as an ABC TV pilot ABC rejected, then rebuilt for Canal+ as the feature now voted among the best films of its era. Fisk's proof that a film doesn't have to make money to be great.

Jack Fisk on

The Revenant 2015

He prayed to 'the movie God' just to see the fort finished as the production nearly shut down; Iñárritu got the money and it never did.

Jack Fisk on

There Will Be Blood 2007

One of two Paul Thomas Anderson films: practical black smoke made by burning diesel fuel in pans, the kind of thing you can't do anymore.

Jack Fisk on

Raggedy Man 1981

His first film as director; he made a few, then decided he'd rather build worlds than deal with studios.

Jack Fisk on

Violets Are Blue 1986

His own directorial work, which Sean had just seen for the first time and loved: non-judgmental, a tone movies don't have anymore.

Jack Fisk on

Moonlight 2016

His answer to the closing question: a world he'd never otherwise see, and the reason he loves film.

Jack Fisk on

Anna Karenina 2012

Joe Wright and Sarah Greenwood's no-money, one-theater design that blew his mind. Wright, he says, is one of our great under-appreciated filmmakers.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Around the box office & news MercyDas BootEvent HorizonA Minecraft MovieTerrifierShelby Oaks28 Years Later: The Bone TempleThe RipAir

Listener's-choice and rewatch talk The StrangersMamma Mia!SaltThe Princess Diaries 2: Royal EngagementThe Devil Wears PradaThe Devil Wears Prada 2

Awards & Sundance context HamnetIf I Had Legs I'd Kick YouSoft & QuietBenjiCODAMinariWhiplashPreciousThe Birth of a NationFruitvale Station

The rom-com canon When Harry Met Sally...You've Got MailThe Shop Around the CornerThe NotebookDear JohnVerityReminders of Him

‘The Moment’ touchstones The TripIn the LoopThis Is Spinal TapSunset BoulevardThe King of ComedyCruel IntentionsThe Fault in Our Stars

Also watched at home K-Pop Demon HuntersZootopia 2Avatar: Fire and AshMickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers

On the February calendar Wuthering HeightsCrime 101PillionGoat

In the Jack Fisk conversation Uncut GemsMessiah of EvilTerminal IslandGrand Theft AutoEasy RiderHamlet

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Schitt's CreekSCTVThe StudioEmily in ParisThe White LotusCurb Your EnthusiasmThe OfficeSeinfeldAmerican IdolAdolescence

Web series A Date with MarkiplierA Heist with Markiplier

Video games Iron Lung (game)Minecraft

Ads American Express Business PlatinumState FarmStarbucks FrappuccinoStitch FixPanda Express