Clue 1985
The Tim Curry butler standard Sean holds the Bateman/Reynolds reboot to.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
'Star Wars' Goes Marvel, 'Judy' Goes for Oscar, and J.Lo Goes Running to the Super Bowl
September 27, 2019/ 85 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
A grab-bag of movie news, Kevin Feige's move to Star Wars, a 'Judy' review that turns into a full biopic taxonomy, and an interview with Daniel Scheinert on 'The Death of Dick Long.'
69 films across 6 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.
Movie News Grab BagClue reboots, J.Lo campaigns
Trailer Talk: Uncut Gems, The Irishman, and Spoiling Yourself
Uncut Gems 2019
Sean's watched the trailer seven times; Amanda's avoiding it on purpose.
The Irishman 2019
Premieres today at the New York Film Festival; its trailer gives away plot, unlike Uncut Gems'.
Pain and Glory 2019
Amanda went in cold on Almodóvar's film and was glad she did.
U-Turn 1997
Sean revisited the trailer chasing a 15-year-old memory of it.
The Social Network 2010
Runner-up in the Ringer's old trailer bracket.
Inception 2010
Won the trailer bracket.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015
Trailer-bracket final four.
The Wolf of Wall Street 2013
Trailer-bracket final four; Sean argues Scorsese basically invented the form.
Top Gun: Maverick 2022
Its teaser had Sean 'jacked and pumped,' per Bobby's report.
Kevin Feige Goes to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019
Out in two and a half months; closes the Skywalker saga.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2017
Made $1.3 billion: successful, but $700 million short of The Force Awakens.
Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018
Made $350 million worldwide on a $250-300 million budget; the fraught production Sean blames partly on Alden Ehrenreich.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 2016
Did well but had its own complicated production.
Avengers: Endgame 2019
The comparison point for how to retire a decade of characters.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 2017
Amanda: taken for granted.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 2019
Sean calls it a sleeper Best Animated Feature contender for Dean DeBlois, who's since moved to The Micronauts.
The Micronauts
Dean DeBlois's next project, adapting the 1980s toy line; in pre-production, no release yet.
Judy
Judy 2019
Rupert Goold's Renée Zellweger-as-Judy-Garland biopic. Both hosts agree: formulaic, oversells the childhood-flashback theme-explaining, but the closing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' still got Sean crying before it started.
The Anatomy of a BiopicJudy Garland's back catalog, Renée Zellweger's career, and a full taxonomy of the genre
The Wizard of Oz 1939
Both hosts' first Judy Garland memory.
A Star Is Born 1954
Home to 'It's a New World,' Sean's favorite Garland vocal performance, a song he says only seven or eight people on earth can sing.
Meet Me in St. Louis 1944
Where 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' debuted as a Garland song, not a Sinatra standard.
Chicago 2002
Zellweger's other Best Actress nomination, proof she can actually sing.
A Price Above Rubies 1998
Zellweger's post-Jerry Maguire indie detour.
Nurse Betty 2000
A Neil LaBute film Amanda calls underrated and half-forgotten.
Cold Mountain 2003
Zellweger already has an Oscar from this one, which complicates the inevitability of a second.
Bridget Jones's Diary 2001
Amanda's caught Zellweger slipping into the British cadence mid-Judy Garland impression.
Bohemian Rhapsody 2018
Rami Malek's win is the counterexample to the Academy usually rewarding disappearing-into-a-role over impersonation.
Ray 2004
Cradle-to-grave category.
Malcolm X 1992
Cradle-to-grave category.
Ali 2001
Cradle-to-grave category.
Evita 1996
Cradle-to-grave category.
Milk 2008
The tragedy category's most famous example.
I'm Not There 2007
Impressionistic category: the Dylan movie.
Vice 2018
Impressionistic category.
Jackie 2016
Impressionistic category.
Marie Antoinette 2006
Impressionistic category.
Walk the Line 2005
The hagiography category; Sean wishes it were nastier given how dark Johnny Cash's life actually got.
Joker 2019
Scuttlebutt has Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor frontrunner.
Julie & Julia 2009
The 'famous person through a normal person's eyes' category.
The Queen 2006
Two-hander category: equal weight to Elizabeth and Blair.
Frost/Nixon 2008
Another Peter Morgan two-hander.
The Special Relationship 2010
Peter Morgan's Blair-and-Clinton two-hander.
Catch Me If You Can 2002
Unreliable-narrator category.
A Beautiful Mind 2001
Unreliable-narrator category.
Amadeus 1984
Unreliable-narrator category.
Steve Jobs 2015
The 'snapshot' category: one week standing in for a whole life, Sean's favorite style.
Lincoln 2012
Manohla Dargis comparison point for narrowing a life to representative moments.
Rocketman 2019
2019's biopic crop.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile 2019
2019's Ted Bundy biopic.
Fighting with My Family 2019
Amanda's not sure a WWE biopic even counts as one.
Tolkien 2019
Amanda calls it one of the worst movies she's seen this year.
Dolemite Is My Name 2019
Both hosts just saw it together.
Ford v Ferrari 2019
Still to come this year.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 2019
Another one they've just seen.
Sylvia 2003
Amanda's go-to for when the format goes wrong: Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath opposite Daniel Craig's Ted Hughes.
In conversation
Daniel Scheinert on
The Death of Dick Long 2019
Scheinert's solo feature (his writing partner Dan Kwan sat this one out) from a Billy Chew script, shot in Alabama on a shoestring.
Daniel Scheinert on
Wet Hot American Summer 2001
Turned him off in high school, then became a favorite once he caught up to its jokes.
Daniel Scheinert on
Human Centipede 2009
The kind of provocation-for-its-own-sake he says he doesn't aspire to.
Daniel Scheinert on
Lolita 1962
The kind of 'this is incredible but it shouldn't be' filmmaking he does aspire to.
Daniel Scheinert on
Election 1999
Referenced via a documentary about its production and a school that regretted letting it film there.
Daniel Scheinert on
The Sixth Sense 1999
Sean jokingly "spoils" it after Scheinert's Dick Long spoiler tangent.
Daniel Scheinert on
Midsommar 2019
His answer to 'last great thing you've seen': saw it twice, loved a couple fighting behind him the second time.
Daniel Scheinert on
Sweet Home Alabama 2002
His example of Hollywood's go-to bad Alabama, shot in Georgia with everyone talking like Gone with the Wind.
Daniel Scheinert on
Easy Rider 1969
The other bad-Alabama touchstone: a trucker shoots people and the credits roll.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Next week's preview Diego Maradona
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV OzarkStella
Ads M&M's Hazelnut Spread Chocolate CandiesLost at the SmithsonianMasterClass
Unmade/hypothetical Everything Everywhere All at Once (in development, joke-titled 'Hot Dog Hands')How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 2049 (joke pitch)