The Big Picture · Review · Top Five · Interview
November 22, 2021/ 90 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda review two new releases, get wrecked by a third, and each count down five feel-good movies. Plus, Sean talks to Mike Mills.
17 films across 6 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.
'Ghostbusters: Afterlife'
Jason Reitman's legacy sequel to his father Ivan's franchise, with McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard as kids who inherit the old farmhouse. Amanda calls it a fine movie for seven-year-olds; Sean is bent out of shape by the fan service and the Stay Puft-at-Walmart product placement. The blue blob Muncher is the one thing that made them laugh.
'Tick, Tick ... Boom!'
Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial debut, with Andrew Garfield as 'Rent' creator Jonathan Larson working up an earlier, unfinished musical. Sean will follow Garfield anywhere; Amanda never connected with the songs or the musical-theater world they come from.
'C'mon C'mon'
Mike Mills's black-and-white film with Joaquin Phoenix as a radio producer minding his nine-year-old nephew (Woody Norman) cross-country. The movie that actually made them feel good; Sean's highest recommendation.
Amanda's Feel-Good Fivecounted down 5 to 1
No. 1 - the one she saves for when she's really down; watched it the night before surgery. 'It's like medicine every time.'
No. 2 - a personal pick; she was the same age in New York at the same time. The pirouette to 'Modern Love' is what falling in love feels like.
No. 3 - Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn screaming kindly at each other while a leopard runs loose; screwball at its gleeful, smart best.
No. 4 - Tom Hanks's one-hit-wonder band movie, seen 75-plus times. Love, art, and the single greatest pop song ever written for a movie.
No. 5 - Ivan Reitman's Kevin Kline body-double comedy; an uncomplicated belief in the goodness of humanity.
Sean's Feel-Good Fivecounted down 5 to 1
No. 1 - Tim Burton's debut, co-written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman. The movie that taught Sean you can do anything in a film; way ahead of the curve on parody.
No. 2 - a perfect five-star movie; the big movie rainbow, where he can't stop grinning.
No. 3 - his only animated pick; Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli film, the one he'll start his daughter on.
No. 4 - Bill Forsyth's Scottish oil-town comedy with Burt Lancaster; watched it deep in quarantine and simply felt better.
No. 5 - Penny Marshall's Tom Hanks fantasy, seeped into the concrete of his life like Led Zeppelin IV. Four of his five picks are from the '80s.
Mike Mills on 'C'mon C'mon'
Why the caretaker is an uncle, not a father - it condenses the whole novice-parent feeling into every scene, 'like a Buster Keaton movie.' The kid interviews grew out of a SFMOMA video piece asking Silicon Valley children about the future.
His 'dad film,' drawn from his father; strangers still recommend it to him without knowing he made it.
His 'mom film'; the Greta character is based on one of his sisters. Subject of Sean's first-ever interview for the show, five years earlier.
One of his two last-great-things - Farhadi's film, which he calls patient and expertly made, with an ambiguity that lingers.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The Ghostbusters lineage GhostbustersGhostbusters IIGhostbusters (2016)
Jason Reitman's filmography JunoTullyThank You for SmokingYoung AdultThe Front RunnerLabor DayMen, Women & ChildrenUp in the Air
Andrew Garfield roles SilenceUnder the Silver LakeThe Eyes of Tammy FayeHacksaw Ridge
In passing Star Wars: The Force AwakensBilly Lynn's Long Halftime WalkThorGodzilla vs. KongTwinsDear Evan HansenRentThe MasterJokerNow and ThenHis Girl FridayGregory's GirlBig Top Pee-weePee-wee's Big HolidayYou've Got MailApollo 13Working GirlAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged MeCasablanca
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Stranger ThingsPAW PatrolBob's BurgersThe Real GhostbustersPee-wee's PlayhouseThe Pee-wee Herman Show
Radio / podcasts This American LifeRadiolabThe RewatchablesThe Letterboxd Show
Ads Plain EnglishBoar's HeadNetflix FIFA World Cup