The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
March 22, 2024/ 101 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan
Sean and Chris on Sydney Sweeney's 'Immaculate' and Doug Liman's 'Road House' remake, a loose attempt to define the 'junk fight' movie, and Sean's interview with 'Immaculate' director Michael Mohan.
18 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.
‘Immaculate’Sydney Sweeney's nunsploitation horror
Sweeney as an American nun who takes her vows at a remote Italian convent and winds up at the center of its designs. Sean and Chris call it a lean 88-minute horror movie in the Ken Russell / hammer-horror mold, tongue-in-cheek without tipping into camp, and read it as Sweeney knowingly playing her own persona. She chased the script for a decade and produced it herself, reuniting with 'The Voyeurs' director Michael Mohan.
‘Road House’the Doug Liman remake
Liman's Amazon remake, with Jake Gyllenhaal as ex-UFC fighter Dalton bouncing at a Florida Keys bar. Both hosts have a good-not-great time with a B-movie sent straight to streaming, and spend most of the segment on Gyllenhaal's friendly, alien line readings and on Conor McGregor's heavy, Knox, whom Chris flatly disliked. The complaint that sticks: the whip-pan CGI in the McGregor fight.
The Patrick Swayze original, which Chris recently covered on 'The Rewatchables.' A philosopher-cooler Western played straight; the 2024 version keeps having characters announce that it's a Western.
The Junk FightsChris's garbage-fight canon
Bare-knuckle boxing with a bunch of blimey bros. Like this 'Road House,' it's a self-referential movie about other movies.
Tony Jaa, no wires, no CGI.
Scott Adkins in a fighting tournament inside a Russian prison. Chris's pick for the best of the Adkins run.
The Wesley Snipes / Ving Rhames prison-boxing original the sequels grew out of.
Iko Uwais fighting his way up one building. The first one: the compression is what makes it feel garbagey in the best way. The sequel is too much of a crime epic to qualify.
Timo Tjahjanto's 12-minute closing fight, singled out as one of the great modern sequences.
The runner-up in Chris's Scott Adkins argument.
A purely-fighting original, alongside 'Enter the Dragon,' and the movie the new 'Road House' turns into once the real heavy shows up.
The other bedrock classic on the list.
A Shaw Brothers touchstone; like the Godzilla movies, made only for its set pieces.
The most celebrated contemporary fight movie, though so slick and studio-made that it complicates Chris's own definition of a junk fight.
In conversation
Mohan on turning a decade-old, high-school-set script into a nun movie for Sweeney, shooting the ending in a single take, and building 'gateway horror' that curdles into Nunsploitation. Key inspirations: 'Black Narcissus,' 'The Devils,' and the Sweeney-suggested 'Mother Joan of the Angels.'
His erotic thriller for Amazon, greenlit fast after Nicole Kidman asked Jen Salke why the studio wasn't making erotic thrillers.
His half-million-dollar Sundance indie in the 90s-American-independent mode, which didn't sell and sent him back to hustling.
His $21,000 black-and-white mumblecore-era debut, made with a college roommate over two years.
Also mentioned raised along the way
‘Immaculate’ touchstones Anyone but YouHouse at the End of the StreetWinter's BoneMother!BenedettaThe OmenThe First OmenAntichristThe Rocky Horror Picture ShowSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Jake Gyllenhaal's run NightcrawlerSouthpawEverestDemolitionNocturnal AnimalsLifeOkjaStrongerWildlifeThe Sisters BrothersVelvet BuzzsawThe GuiltySpider-Man: Far From HomeAmbulanceThe CovenantPrince of Persia: The Sands of TimeLove & Other DrugsSource CodeEnd of WatchPrisonersEnemy
Doug Liman's filmography Edge of TomorrowMr. & Mrs. SmithSwingersGoA Fistful of Dollars
Streaming vs. theatrical Triple Frontier6 UndergroundSaltburnRed, White & Royal BlueGhostbusters: Frozen Empire
The alien-trailer take AlienAliensAlien: RomulusAlien: Covenant
The New Bev trailers Play It as It LaysThe Panic in Needle ParkTrue ConfessionsUp Close and PersonalInternal Affairs
Great fight sequences (not junk fights) OldboyDie HardRaiders of the Lost ArkThe Bourne IdentityThe MatrixThe KillerScott Pilgrim vs. the WorldKill Bill: Vol. 1Kill Bill: Vol. 2Saving Private RyanGladiatorEastern PromisesKingsman: The Secret ServiceThey LiveBlazing SaddlesAtomic BlondeCrouching Tiger, Hidden DragonThe Raid 2RRRSherlock HolmesAnchorman: The Legend of Ron BurgundyThe Equalizer 3Monkey Man
Where's the line? Fight ClubMillion Dollar BabyWarriorDiggstownThe BeekeeperEvent Horizon2001: A Space OdysseyLong ShotBallerinaHeadshot
Mohan's inspirations Back to the FutureSuper TroopersSlackerRosemary's BabyBlack NarcissusThe DevilsMother Joan of the AngelsThe Hand That Rocks the CradleThe River WildThe Bedroom WindowTestamentDuelChinatownWalking and TalkingLate Night with the DevilUnfaithfulBottle RocketRushmoreThe Royal TenenbaumsJay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Next week, and a farewell Three AmigosPlanes, Trains and AutomobilesThe JerkSTEVE! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 PiecesBlood Simple
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV & streaming series Euphoria3 Body ProblemEverything Sucks!ReacherJack RyanThe BoysWWE RawThe Real HousewivesJohn Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
Podcasts One Shining PodcastThe Rewatchables