The Big Picture · Discussion
June 18, 2019/ 69 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda both took solo trips to 'Men in Black: International,' then use its flop to argue about whether 2019 is really the worst summer at the movies ever, or just another year with a few good ones and a pile of bad ones.
56 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.
'Men in Black: International'
A re-origin with no Will Smith, no Tommy Lee Jones, no Barry Sonnenfeld: F. Gary Gray directs Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson. It's not offensive or a disaster, just a mess. The CGI (Kumail Nanjiani's six-inch alien) replaces the tactile Rick Baker creature charm, and Hemsworth is miscast as the institution man when his gift is playing the wisecracking outsider. Made $30 million on opening weekend, a bomb.
The Will Smith / Tommy Lee Jones original the hosts keep measuring this against. Everyone plays the aliens straight except Smith, the audience's Fresh Prince proxy, and it ends on a song. Amanda remembers Vincent D'Onofrio's bug and not much else.
How much does it owe the original Men in Black, or does the first Men in Black owe the Guardians comics? Same fun, goofy, family-friendly alien tone.
The reboot analogy: this is the Andrew Garfield to Tobey Maguire's, a redundant restart barely a decade after the last one.
The mega-blockbuster register the first Men in Black was a tonal break from.
The movie-star problemHemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and whether you can open a movie without a comic book
Hemsworth's stylish noir swing. Bombed; maybe better than it looked at the time.
The horse-soldiers war movie. Bombed.
Fraught release, but both hosts agree Hemsworth is fantastic in it.
They handed him the franchise off 'Snow White and the Huntsman.' Bombed.
The seafaring historical epic. Bombed.
Fine.
His Michael Mann crime movie. 'World-historical mismanaged bomb.'
The racing drama. Bombed.
Bombed. The rundown proving Hemsworth has never worked outside of Thor.
Part of Tessa Thompson's indie run.
Thompson's steady body of work before the franchises.
Another Thompson indie the hosts rate.
The role that made her well-known.
A bomb, and she wasn't even really the lead, though it's her biggest non-Marvel movie besides Creed.
Chris Pine's 'comic book of its own kind,' the exception that mostly proves nobody strings together non-comic-book hits.
Pine's smaller-movie, indie-route success.
Pine delightful as the supporting man.
Leonardo DiCaprio's occasional miss. He's otherwise the last star who reliably opens a non-franchise movie.
Sandra Bullock as the closest thing to Leo, though the hosts argue Netflix and the memes made it a phenomenon as much as she did.
The weekend at the box office
Tim Story's reboot bombed even harder than Men in Black: about $7 million. Two Black filmmakers had the two biggest wide releases of the weekend, both flops.
The John Singleton one grossed $117 million; this new one made a fraction of it.
The Adam Sandler / Jennifer Aniston Netflix comedy, an Agatha Christie cruise-ship setup caught between parody and the real thing. Amanda, a devoted Christie reader, was extremely disappointed; Sean thought it was fine. Written by James Vanderbilt.
Scorsese's Bob Dylan documentary on Netflix, the movie every man in Amanda's life told her about. Sean's dad's review: 'interesting.' Sean's: 'it kicks ass.'
Sean's dad saw it and 'Rolling Thunder Revue' the same weekend, a blessed Father's Day.
Did worse than 'Booksmart'; will play better on Amazon Prime, which paid $13 million for it at Sundance.
Around $20 million, actually not bad, though it was hyped as the 'Superbad' phenomenon that never quite arrived. Should have opened in August.
Precipitous sequel drop. Amanda would happily watch it as three-minute phone clips.
Out Friday. Sean calls it absolutely brilliant, and the movie that cooks 'Secret Life of Pets 2.' Amanda will not watch it.
As old-school an A24 hit as there can be: great word of mouth, slow platform rollout from four theaters up.
The board-game movie that actually pulls off mocking the mystery genre while being one, the bar 'Murder Mystery' fails to clear.
Also written by James Vanderbilt, which is why 'Murder Mystery' theoretically should have been smarter.
A head-on documentary about the novelist. Not a 'wow' movie, but 'an excellent iTunes rental,' where a lot of good films are headed.
The state of the summer moviewhat makes a good summer, what's still coming, and a decade of good-and-bad rundowns
The high-concept, low-execution movie-for-everybody the hosts hope will fill the out-of-nowhere slot. Sean's had the premise conversation with strangers at parties.
Ari Aster's 'Hereditary' follow-up. Sean's excited; Amanda won't be going.
The one they trust to be good 'in the container in which it comes': John Watts back, Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, a fancy Italian school trip.
The summer's plausible sneaky Oscar contender.
Coming August 2, strange and, by the same token, clever timing.
The best actual summer movie so far: bigger than the last one, does exactly what its fans want.
Floated as a retrofitted-Oscar broad-appeal contender; nobody's sure it counts.
The 1995 slate's proof that a third installment can rule. It was built from a non-'Die Hard' script called 'Simon Says,' and it put Samuel L. Jackson to work right after 'Pulp Fiction.'
The 2010 'good' column: Oscar-nominated then, quietly reappraised as lesser now in the wake of 4.
Big summer hit; Sean thinks it's very flawed, which once made everyone mad at 'The Rewatchables.'
Edgar Wright, way ahead of its time and mis-marketed into a non-hit. 'Fuck yeah.'
George Clooney's slow, beautifully shot assassin drama: little seen, a Sam Donski classic.
When YA still mattered at the movies: the rare one without a fantasy hook, and the one everybody wept through.
Took on cult status after the fact.
An actually good sequel.
The great film in the 2014 good column.
Jon Favreau making the movies we think JJ Abrams is trying to make. Sean's uncomplicated favorite, filed last.
The sneaky-Oscar-contender ideal: basically does everything a great summer movie should.
One of the recent sneaky Oscar contenders a good summer needs.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Summer 1995 Toy StoryApollo 13GoldenEyePocahontasBatman ForeverSe7enCasperWaterworldJumanjiBraveheartPulp FictionDie HardDie Hard 2
Summer 2018 — the good Incredibles 2Mission: Impossible - FalloutAnt-Man and the WaspCrazy Rich AsiansMamma Mia! Here We Go AgainBook ClubSicario: Day of the SoldadoWon't You Be My Neighbor?BlacKkKlansmanHereditary
Summer 2018 — the bad Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomDeadpool 2Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer VacationThe MegOcean's EightThe Equalizer 2SkyscraperTagMile 22Uncle DrewThe Happytime Murders
Summer 2014 — the good Dawn of the Planet of the ApesX-Men: Days of Future PastNeighbors
Summer 2014 — the bad MaleficentTransformers: Age of ExtinctionThe Amazing Spider-Man 2Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesHerculesLet's Be CopsInto the StormA Million Ways to Die in the WestThe Expendables 3Jersey Boys
Summer 2010 — the bad Iron Man 2The Twilight Saga: EclipseDespicable MeShrek Forever AfterThe Karate KidGrown UpsThe Last AirbenderThe Other GuysSaltRobin HoodThe ExpendablesSex and the City 2Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeEat Pray LoveThe A-TeamKnight and DayDinner for SchmucksThe Sorcerer's ApprenticeGet Him to the GreekTakersLetters to JulietPredatorsKillersCats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty GaloreThe Last ExorcismVampires Suck
Also in the conversation War for the Planet of the ApesSpider-ManSnow White and the HuntsmanStraight Outta ComptonThe Fate of the FuriousRide AlongBridesmaidsGirls TripAtomic BlondeBaby DriverThe ShallowsYou're NextJobsFruitvale StationThe Bling Ring20 Feet from StardomFrances HaSuperbadForgetting Sarah MarshallThe Twilight Saga: New MoonVampire's KissThe Naked GunPokémon Detective PikachuAladdinMaThe HustleUglyDollsGodzilla: King of the MonstersAnnabelle Comes HomeJumanji: Welcome to the JungleGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Big Little LiesWestworldVeronica MarsGame of ThronesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 series)
Ads Big Little LiveThe Mina Kimes Show Featuring Lenny