The Big Picture · Review · Roundtable · Interview
June 13, 2025/ 100 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda review Celine Song's 'Materialists' and Mike Flanagan's 'The Life of Chuck,' rank their favorite movie love triangles, and Flanagan stops by to talk the King adaptation.
13 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.
‘Materialists’Celine Song's Past Lives follow-up
Dakota Johnson plays a New York matchmaker torn between an ex (Chris Evans) and a wealthy new bachelor (Pedro Pascal). Both hosts admire Song's writing and craft, from the needle drops to the wealth-and-class staging, but split on the leads: Sean can't buy Johnson carrying the emotion, Amanda finds Pascal miscast. The height-surgery reveal lands; the upstate ending gets loose.
The Top Five Movie Love Triangles Sean and Amanda's separate ballots, one shared No. 1
No. 2: the blueprint every other triangle is built from.
No. 3: Hawke vs. Stiller, and which one you pick tracks your age.
No. 4: Lee Chang-dong on losing to a rival who just has moves you don't.
No. 4: a 'maybe she should've chosen the other guy' movie, thanks to Keanu.
‘The Life of Chuck’Mike Flanagan's Stephen King adaptation
A non-horror King novella structured backward across three acts (an apocalypse, a street dance, a childhood) that won the TIFF Audience Award. Sean, a Flanagan and King believer, lets it have him; Amanda is charmed despite herself but fights the audiobook-length Nick Offerman narration. Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamill, Mia Sara.
In conversation
Flanagan on adapting the least cynical thing King's written, keeping the structure intact, and walking the line between corniness and sincerity with no minor key in the score.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Around ‘Materialists’ Marriage StoryKicking and ScreamingFrances HaGreenbergA Bigger SplashSuspiriaSense and SensibilityAmerican PsychoWhen Harry Met SallyMust Love Dogs
Around ‘The Life of Chuck’ Doctor SleepGerald's GameOculusHushStand By MeThe Shawshank RedemptionThe Green MileIt's Such a Beautiful DayCover GirlWest Side StorySingin' in the RainAll That JazzCabaretSteve JobsFerris Bueller's Day OffLegendMinority Report
In passing BottomsMamma Mia!Girls State
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Haunting of Hill HouseMidnight MassThe Fall of the House of UsherSuccessionBeverly Hills, 90210Batman: The Animated Series
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