Taxi Driver 1976
Sean's anchor: Travis Bickle as the damaged, dangerous character study that TV, not movies, now specializes in.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
Movies Vs. TV in 2023: What the ‘Succession’ Finale Says About Storytelling Now. Plus: A Pointless ‘Little Mermaid.’
May 30, 2023/ 97 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda use the Succession finale to ask why prestige TV became the home for damaged people behaving badly while the movies went hopeful. Then a live-action Little Mermaid nobody needed, and an interview with Cristian Mungiu about R.M.N.
10 films across 3 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.
Movies vs. TV in 2023storytelling after the Succession finale
Tár 2022
The kind of interpretive character study Sean says movies can still make, though he laments its weak box office.
Top Gun: Maverick 2022
Cited as the comfort-and-nostalgia product that now moves the movie business.
John Wick: Chapter 4 2023
Sean's favorite of a thin year so far: big historical moviemaking in a modern key.
The Little Mermaidthe live-action remake
The Little Mermaid (2023) 2023
Rob Marshall's remake: 2h15, a sludgy CGI ocean, Les Poissons cut, a bad new Lin-Manuel Miranda song. Halle Bailey hits the high note; Melissa McCarthy and one-scene Jessica Alexander stand out; Javier Bardem is on autopilot. Sean's verdict: crass, pointless, and somehow the best of Disney's recent live-action batch.
The Little Mermaid (1989) 1989
The 83-minute animated original they keep measuring the remake against, where the songs and the saturated color are the point.
Cristian Mungiu on R.M.N.
Cristian Mungiu on
R.M.N. 2022
Built from a real Transylvanian town-hall vote against foreign workers; Mungiu on the 17-minute single-take meeting scene and shooting without coverage so you feel time pass.
Cristian Mungiu on
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 2007
His Palme d'Or abortion drama, cited as the earlier film whose local-but-universal method R.M.N. extends.
Cristian Mungiu on
Pacifiction 2022
His last-great-thing pick: Albert Serra taking risks, which he says is how cinema actually progresses.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Best Picture winners, cited as evidence The Shape of WaterMoonlightEverything Everywhere All at OnceSpotlightGreen BookCODA
In passing Pulp FictionThe Super Mario Bros. MovieFast XBlack Panther: Wakanda ForeverAvatar: The Way of WaterThe FarewellRenfieldPhantom ThreadThe GraduateJohn WickStar WarsReturn of the JediMad MaxCitizen KaneSingin' in the RainThe Rescuers Down UnderSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV SuccessionBarryMad MenHomelandBreaking BadGame of ThronesThe Handmaid's TaleThe CrownThe WireFleabagAtlantaTed LassoYellowstoneFalcon CrestThe SopranosThe Ultimatum
Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition
Ads NOS EnergyNetflixCarvanaPeyronie's disease (TalkAboutPD)Boar's Head