‘Dune 2’ Pushed Back, Barbenheimer’s $2 Billion, and Everything We Missed While We Were Out

The news we missedBarbenheimer's $2 billion and the 'Dune 2' delay

Barbie 2023

Past $1 billion and, in Amanda's read, the rare billion-dollar movie that's actually good; the pair debate whether Hollywood learns 'trust auteurs' or just 'make more toy movies.'

Oppenheimer 2023

Headed toward $800–900M, the other half of a ~$2B Barbenheimer that Sean says put him nearer the center of the culture than he'd felt in a decade.

Avatar: The Way of Water 2022

Sean's reminder that it has outgrossed both films combined: a phenomenon with, as they joke, a footprint of having no footprint.

Dune: Part Two 2024

Pushed by the strikes to March 15, 2024 in a mid-recording pickup: the delay guts November and reopens Best Director and Best Picture slots.

Dune 2021

Villeneuve's first, a 2021 Best Picture nominee; the sequel was expected to be a Return of the King-style awards centerpiece.

Three we lostFriedkin, Reubens, Robertson

The French Connection 1971

William Friedkin, a past guest and, per Sean, 'such a fucking asshole from Chicago' in the most loving way, and an essential filmmaker.

The Exorcist 1973

The line-around-the-block hit that let Friedkin overwhelm the culture.

Sorcerer 1977

Among the great undiscovered Friedkins Sean urges people to seek out.

To Live and Die in L.A. 1985

Sean's pick of the later Friedkin films everyone should watch.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure 1985

Tim Burton's first feature and the gateway to Paul Reubens, 'a true one of one' comic mind for an 80s baby.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1992

One of the many other things Reubens was wonderful in.

Blow 2001

Another Reubens turn Sean singles out.

The Last Waltz 1978

Robbie Robertson, Scorsese's consigliere; wouldn't exist without him. He scored the coming 'Killers of the Flower Moon.'

Everything we missed: the moviesthe August rundown

Bottoms 2023

Emma Seligman's high-school fight-club comedy with Rachel Sennott and Ayo Adebiri. Sean laughed harder than at almost anything this year; both grant the plot bends to serve its set pieces. Nicholas Galitzine plays the dim quarterback, with Marshawn Lynch and Kaia Gerber.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2023

The seventh Turtles film, animated, shepherded by Seth Rogen and Point Grey. Both found it charming and a little sad (childhood regurgitated at 40) before the obligatory oversized final fight. Voice cast of actual teenagers plus Rogen, Maya Rudolph, Paul Rudd, Ice Cube, Giancarlo Esposito.

Strays 2023

Josh Greenbaum's talking-dog comedy (Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park). Neither laughed; Amanda found it mean to dogs. The narrating-bulldog bit (maybe Josh Gad) drew the lone real laugh.

Blue Beetle 2023

Ángel Manuel Soto's film with Xolo Maridueña, the first forward-facing Latino superhero movie, all but abandoned in the DCEU-to-Gunn handoff. Strong first 45 minutes (family, George Lopez, Susan Sarandon camping) before the standard noisy CG last hour.

Passages 2023

Ira Sachs' film with Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos; a gay couple's marriage detonates over an affair. Released unrated after refusing an NC-17. One of Sean's favorites of the year, Rogowski a chaotic marvel.

Red, White & Royal Blue 2023

Amazon's adaptation of Casey McQuiston's 2019 novel; the first son and a British prince fall in love. Both bored by its inert romance-novel stakes and Uma Thurman's badly off Texas-accented president. A streaming hit on the book's fanbase and Nicholas Galitzine anyway.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter 2023

André Øvredal's period horror from the ship's-log chapter of 'Dracula.' Well staged, thinly written; Sean wishes they'd hidden the Dracula reveal rather than leading with it. Corey Hawkins, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian.

Sound of Freedom 2023

Angel Studios' child-trafficking thriller with Jim Caviezel, a ~$180M hit on its pay-it-forward ticket scheme. Sean calls the film middling but singles out ten-plus minutes of Bill Camp.

Heart of Stone 2023

Tom Harper's Netflix spy movie with Gal Gadot as a hidden super-agent serving a benevolent AI called 'the Heart.' Both found it astonishingly bad: a twist no one buys and a pro-AI message that lands badly at this moment.

Dreamin' Wild 2023

Bill Pohlad's follow-up to 'Love & Mercy,' the story of the Emerson brothers' rediscovered 1970s record. Casey Affleck, Walton Goggins, Zooey Deschanel, Beau Bridges. Sean liked its portrait of a stuck, un-heroic artist whose music is still great.

They Cloned Tyrone 2023

Juel Taylor's directorial debut (John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx), a blaxploitation-tinged sci-fi cloning conspiracy. Sean's favorite of the Netflix batch; a real filmmaker's movie that sags in the third act.

River Wild 2023

Netflix's side-sequel to the 1994 whitewater thriller (Adam Brody, Leighton Meester, Taran Killam). A gnarly, well-made 'nobody makes these anymore' Sean-and-Amanda watch.

Emma Seligman on ‘Bottoms’

Emma Seligman on

Bottoms 2023

Written with Rachel Sennott and kept deliberately absurd and bloody: Heathers and Jawbreaker by way of Kick-Ass. Cast to play it straight; Marshawn Lynch improvised his way in without knowing why she wanted him.

Emma Seligman on

Shiva Baby 2021

Her personal, one-location debut with Sennott: the grounded, 'traumatic' opposite of the freeing 'Bottoms.'

Emma Seligman on

Smoking Tigers 2023

The coming-of-age debut she caught on a Tribeca jury; her pick for the last great thing she's seen.

Also mentioned raised along the way

In passing TitanicSpider-Man: No Way HomeAvengers: EndgameThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingAquamanAquaman and the Lost KingdomInterstellarTenetNapoleonMaestroWonkaChallengersThe BikeridersAirKillers of the Flower MoonThe MarvelsEternalsGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseThe KillerRebel MoonNotting HillFair GameNixonRenfieldRed NoticeThe Gray ManThe Old GuardExtractionTriple FrontierThe Idea of YouPurple HeartsTheater CampInvisible BeautyFerris Bueller's Day OffMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldWild RoseThe AeronautsLove & MercyThe River WildJerry Maguire

Emma's teen-comedy canon HeathersJawbreakerCluelessBring It OnAmerican PieSuperbad10 Things I Hate About YouNot Another Teen MovieDrop Dead GorgeousSugar & SpiceKick-AssFight ClubAttack the BlockSuper 8The Goonies

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV How to with John WilsonAhsokaThe CrownThe BearGossip GirlPeaky BlindersMurdervillePee-wee's Playhouse30 RockThe Super ModelsThe Last DanceThe Big Bang Theory

Podcasts Do We Get to Win This Time60 Songs That Explain the '90sTrial by ContentThe Town

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