Top Gun: Maverick 2022
A Skydance high point Sean cites for David Ellison's studio.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
Paramount Wins Warner Bros. Now What? Plus: ‘Scream 7,’ ‘Heat 2,’ and ‘Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie’ With Matt Johnson!
February 27, 2026/ 131 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan · Amanda Dobbins
Sean Fennessey on what Paramount's win over Netflix for Warner Bros. means for movies. Chris Ryan on the Heat 2 cast and a Scream 7 he calls the worst of the franchise. Then Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie with Amanda Dobbins and Adam Naiman, plus an interview with its director, Matt Johnson.
32 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.
Paramount Wins Warner Bros.Sean's monologue
True Grit 2010
The other Skydance credit in the studio's favor.
Heart of Stone 2023
Filed under Skydance's forgettable big-budget streaming action.
The Adam Project 2022
Same bucket, the low end of Skydance's output.
Heat 2 Watchwith Chris Ryan
Heat 2
Christian Bale joins Leonardo DiCaprio; the guess is Bale as Vincent Hanna, Leo as young Neil McCauley. Chris, the book's real lead, remains uncast.
Heat 1995
The Mann original the sequel-prequel is chasing, and, they worry, partly retreading.
The Godfather Part II 1974
The De Niro/Pacino precedent for finally pairing Bale and DiCaprio.
Mad Max: Fury Road 2015
Alex Ross Perry's comp: a long-running property recast decades on, and pulled off.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1999
The other comp: same world, new actors, but a more complicated legacy.
Miami Vice 2006
Where the Chris strand of Heat 2 overlaps Mann's own back catalog.
Blackhat 2015
The other Mann film the Chris material effectively retreads.
The Bride! 2026
Bale's imminent turn as Frankenstein's monster for Maggie Gyllenhaal; Sean's seeing it Monday, hears it's not good.
Scream 7with Chris Ryan, spoilers ahead
Scream 7 2026
Chris's least favorite Scream: flat and self-serious, plays like a vigilante-justice movie on Paramount+. Neve Campbell back center-frame; Kevin Williamson returns to write. Killers: Ethan Embry and Anna Camp.
Scream 1996
Still the best: Craven's control of space, the mystery, the Nick Cave 'Red Right Hand' town-shutdown Sean got chills at as a 13-year-old.
Scream 2 1997
The film-class sequel; the Randy surrogate explains the rules.
Scream 3 2000
The Hollywood one, about the Stab movies and how you'd tell the story. Chris rates it above 2.
Scream 4 2011
Sean's favorite cold open: the Russian-nesting-doll of girls watching Stab, plus Mikey Madison's unhinged energy.
Scream (2022) 2022
The requel Sean rewatched. Jack Quaid's killer, the start of the new trilogy Barrera and Ortega led.
Scream VI 2023
Chris warmed to on revisit: stabby, giallo, not the NYC movie he wanted. Scream 7 takes several pointed shots at it.
I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025
Williamson's other reboot, straining just as hard to feel contemporary and coming up short.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Moviewith Amanda Dobbins and Adam Naiman
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie 2025
Sean's favorite movie of 2026 so far: a chaotic Toronto buddy comedy from Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll that turns the CN Tower into a Mission: Impossible-meets-jackass prop. A time-travel movie about not making progress.
BlackBerry 2023
Johnson's breakout; the Matt-ness compartmentalized into his own performance. Easily one of Sean's five favorite conversations on the show.
The Dirties 2013
Johnson's first feature: an edgelord school-shooter movie Adam calls frightening, and the mean-spirited root of the Nirvana project.
Operation Avalanche 2016
The one where they broke into NASA; Johnson filmed himself shaking hands with Kubrick.
In conversation
Matt Johnson on
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie 2025
Built backwards out of one old DV clip; twice as effective, he argues, on people who know nothing. A last-chance movie made only with friends in Toronto.
Matt Johnson on
Back to the Future 1985
The film the characters treat as scripture; movies as the new religious language.
Matt Johnson on
Streetwise 1984
His last-great-thing: the doc he watched over and over to steal its far-away, wide-lens shooting style for public scenes.
Matt Johnson on
F for Fake 1973
Watched on a tiny computer and felt was made just for him: 'literally instructions for me.'
Matt Johnson on
Whiplash 2014
His example of the light going on: 'that's true,' real even though it didn't happen.
Matt Johnson on
The Talented Mr. Ripley 1999
The homage behind the first, abandoned version of the movie, shot for two months in New Orleans.
Matt Johnson on
Tony 2026
His next film, for A24: a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, with Dominic Sessa. A deeply personal movie, and a hard shoot away from his Toronto crew.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Christian Bale's recent slate The Pale Blue EyeAmsterdamFord v FerrariThor: Love and ThunderViceThe Boy and the Heron
Leo and Mann, in passing J. EdgarBody of LiesTitanic
Scream's touchstones HalloweenFriday the 13th Part VII: The New BloodThe BabadookStar Wars: The Force AwakensMidnight Cowboy
Nirvana's lineage and comps Goin' Down the RoadNobody Waved GoodbyeTowerScott Pilgrim vs. the WorldThe HangoverJackass: The MovieBorat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of KazakhstanIn the Heat of the NightResident Evil
Also mentioned Babe: Pig in the CityThe OdysseyThe Naked GunProject Hail MaryThe Lost Daughter
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Landman1883WednesdayDawson's CreekIndustryAndorNirvanna the Band the Show
Ads Google AI Professional CertificateState FarmVolkswagenMint Mobile
Games Magic: The Gathering