The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview

‘Michael’ Wants to Start Something It Can’t Finish. Plus: ‘Mother Mary’ With David Lowery!

April 24, 2026/ 108 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Yasi Salik

Sean, Amanda, and Bandsplain's Yasi Salik review two music movies, the Michael Jackson biopic 'Michael' and David Lowery's 'Mother Mary,' then Lowery joins Sean live from Vidiots.

26 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.

The Newsbefore the movies

Miami Vice

The announced Joseph Kosinski reboot with Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler as Crockett and Tubbs, dated for 2027.

F1 2025

Kosinski's last picture, cited as his current form.

Top Gun: Maverick 2022

The other Kosinski hit; a third one is 'what the streets are saying,' not official.

21 Jump Street 2012

Floated as the meta-comedy model a Miami Vice movie could steal.

Caught Stealing 2025

Austin Butler was 'kind of funny' in it, the group decides.

Paper Tiger

James Gray's new one, acquired by Neon and headed to Cannes; Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Miles Teller.

Victorian Psycho

Zachary Wigon's new film heading to Un Certain Regard; Maika Monroe, Jason Isaacs, Thomasin McKenzie, Ruth Wilson.

Obsession

Curry Barker's May horror release; Barker was also hired to reboot The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974

The 1974 original, up for another reboot.

Strange Darling 2023

JT Mollner's last film, a Yasi favorite.

Carrie 1976

The other formative one, 'quite an ending.'

Deliver Me From Nowhere 2025

The Springsteen film Yasi last visited; would 'Bruce' have sold better?

‘Michael’Antoine Fuqua's Michael Jackson biopic

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by John Logan, with Jafar Jackson as the adult Michael and Juliano Krue Valdi as the child. The performances and staged numbers are uncanny; the group agrees the movie recreates the tape without getting under the surface. It ends around 1988, after 'Bad,' since a scrapped third act addressing the abuse allegations was cut for legal reasons. What's left is a sealed hagiography that skips over Janet and anger, leaning on Bill Bray's reaction shots for its emotional spine. Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy, Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe, Miles Teller and Mike Myers in small parts.

‘Mother Mary’David Lowery's pop-star fantasia

Mother Mary 2026

A two-hander about a Madonna-coded pop star (Anne Hathaway) and her estranged costume designer (Michaela Coel), talky and chamber-bound before it turns into a gothic ghost story. Songs by Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff; supporting turns from Hunter Schafer, FKA Twigs, Kaia Gerber, Alba Baptista, and Jessica Brown Findlay. All three loved it; Yasi most of all for how much it leaves open.

David Loweryrecorded live at Vidiots

David Lowery on

Mother Mary 2026

Seven years in the writing, begun on the set of The Green Knight during a dark, feverish night; shot largely in sequence, with one circle scene budgeted for two days that ran seven.