The Big Picture · Discussion · Review
May 21, 2024/ 98 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Charles Holmes
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins bring in Ringer critic Charles Holmes to work through a grim May weekend: three movies that don't land (John Krasinski's 'IF,' the Amy Winehouse biopic 'Back to Black,' and Jerry Seinfeld's Netflix Pop-Tart comedy 'Unfrosted'), plus the chaos at Cannes and an argument about whether moviegoing is in real trouble.
15 films across 5 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.
A May movie massacrea bad box-office weekend against the noise from Cannes
The Coppola movie the critics are 'pocket watching' at Cannes. It's still without a distributor, so the hosts fear it could be months or years before they can see it. Live interactive experiences at the premiere and combative press conferences fuel the divisiveness.
Coralie Fargeat's body horror, which Amanda flagged on the most-anticipated episode. The Cannes split she reports: every man called it the best movie he'd ever seen, every woman called it garbage. Filed as a Demi Moore Oscar-campaign movie in the making.
Kevin Costner premiering Chapter One at Cannes 'openly weeping with nine beautiful women on his arm,' cited as peak divorced-man energy.
Grouped with Furiosa and the other Cannes titles as movies where 'decisions were made,' bold swings the hosts are stuck watching from afar.
'IF'a $100M imaginary-friend movie for nobody in particular
John Krasinski's original film about a 12-year-old (Cailey Fleming) whose mother has died and whose father (Krasinski) is facing vague surgery; she starts seeing forgotten imaginary friends and teams with Ryan Reynolds to rehome them, with Steve Carell voicing the big purple 'Blue.' The trio saw it at a 10:50 a.m. La Cañada screening surrounded by single-ticket adults. Their read: it opens with a 15-minute 'Up'-style dead-mom montage, then can't decide if it's for toddlers or teenagers or the adults who get the pop-culture jokes. Sean finds Krasinski unintentionally one of the creepiest dads in recent movies and the world-building incoherent; Charles picks apart the croissant subplot and the plot holes; Amanda teared up at the ending anyway, blaming Michael Giacchino's score. Opened to about $34M against a $40M projection. Shot by Janusz Kamiński.
'Back to Black'an estate-approved Amy Winehouse biopic that removes all the blame
Sam Taylor-Johnson's Amy Winehouse biopic (really a 20-to-27 slice) starring Marisa Abela (Industry) with Jack O'Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil, Eddie Marsan as father Mitch, and Lesley Manville. It bombed at about $2M in the US. The panel's charge: it plays like an estate exercise in resetting the narrative, offloading blame from Mitch and Blake and from Amy herself. It barely shows her writing or recording (Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi appear for seconds), recreates the 'Back to Black' lyrics literally, has hard drugs simply 'appear' with no context, and closes on a peppy Grammy-set cover of 'Tears Dry on Their Own.' Charles, a former music critic, faults it for missing her jazz roots and sensitivity; both call Abela miscast despite loving her on Industry, and point to Asif Kapadia's documentary as the far better portrait.
'Unfrosted'Jerry Seinfeld's feature-length Pop-Tart origin skit
Jerry Seinfeld's directorial debut on Netflix: a fictional 1963 Michigan corporate war between Kellogg's and Post to invent the Pop-Tart, built as a cameo-stuffed, Zucker-Abrams-style spoof crossed with the fake-corporate satire of 'Barbie.' Cast includes Melissa McCarthy, Hugh Grant (as Tony the Tiger), Amy Schumer, Peter Dinklage, Christian Slater, Bill Burr, and James Marsden. Verdict: an SNL sketch stretched to 90 minutes that isn't funny. The panel liked only the trash-eating 'dumpster kids' and a stoned-alien NASA bit. Shot by Bill Pope (The Matrix). Springboards a long tangent on Seinfeld's post-'Seinfeld' irrelevance and Hugh Grant's improbable late-career run.
Are movies going to be okay?Charles won't trust the critics until they stop overrating everything
Charles's line in the sand: he refuses to see it in a theater and won't let the hosts hype it, blaming critics for overselling the summer. Sean explains its fast 17-day VOD window as a consequence of missing $50M opening weekend.
Charles's example of a movie critics oversold; 'not a good movie, and you could hear that on The Big Picture.'
Charles gave it three and a half on Letterboxd and calls it 'a Saturday afternoon TNT' movie people are treating as high art, which Sean frames as the mismatch between Luca Guadagnino's art-house instincts and a mainstream package (Zendaya, Trent Reznor).
Agreed to be 'huge,' with a running bit about the Midnight Boys crossing over to review it, and Charles offering to bring Sean's son Knox as a plus-one.
Sean's most-anticipated movie of 2024, which he came back from CinemaCon evangelizing, used as evidence he's 'in the pocket of big movie theater.'
Floated as a potential unifying event movie: Ridley Scott back, Denzel Washington, and Paul Mescal, whom Charles is bullish on.
The recent benchmark for the theatrical experience they're chasing, alongside 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer.'
Floated as another possible Charles crossover; he's in for children's entertainment about anxiety even without children or emotions of his own.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The lineage 'IF' is chasing Anchors AweighMary PoppinsThe MaskTronMars Attacks!Who Framed Roger RabbitImaginaryUpA Quiet PlaceJerry MaguirePocahontasMoanaSleeping Beauty
Music biopics, for contrast AmyNowhere BoyThe DoorsLast DaysAll Eyez on MeNotoriousBohemian RhapsodyRespect
The 'Unfrosted' cast, elsewhere BarbieBee MovieComedianGridlock'dThe MatrixGlass Onion: A Knives Out MysteryThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.Florence Foster JenkinsPaddington 2The GentlemenOperation Fortune: Ruse de GuerreThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly WarfareDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesWonkaLogan
Also in the mix Furiosa: A Mad Max SagaOppenheimer
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV SeinfeldCurb Your EnthusiasmComedians in Cars Getting CoffeeEverybody's in LAFriendsInside the NBAX-Men '97BlueyFoster's Home for Imaginary FriendsBlue's CluesJack RyanGame of Thrones
Games Fortnite
Podcasts The TownThe Midnight Boys
Music The Mixtape About Nothing