The Big Picture · Draft
November 2, 2021/ 90 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan hand two picks to first-timers Shea Serrano and Van Lathan for a five-person, 30-movie snake draft of 1994: the year of Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption, with Spanking the Monkey and Baby's Day Out still on the board when it ends.
30 films across 1 segment.
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 1994 Movie Draft drafting 1994 movies
First overall pick: $763 million worldwide, nearly $100 million ahead of Forrest Gump. Shay snuck into a screening with a childhood friend and says Rafiki's kung-fu homage was the first time he clocked one movie referencing another.
Turned down a joke pick of Three Colors: Red for Jean-Claude Van Damme instead. Argues Timecop's three rules of time travel are cleaner than Back to the Future's or Primer's.
Dwayne Martin, Tupac, Marlon Wayans, and a young Bernie Mac. Shay notes Suge Knight's Source Awards speech was accepting the award for this movie's soundtrack, not for a Death Row release.
Early Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi, a year before Sandler broke out with Billy Madison.
Ice-T vehicle Shay says taught him two things: don't take a trip with rich white people, and check the barrel of a gun. Sean calls it a letdown after Juice.
The last pick of the draft: Shay says he cares little about it beyond liking Kevin Costner, and that it lives in Tombstone's shadow.
Sean had already bought two books about Quentin Tarantino before this came out. Calls the needle-drop opening credits the moment everything changed for how he thought about movies.
A churn-through-cable classic Sean ranks alongside Shawshank, unsophisticated parts and all.
Luc Besson's Natalie Portman debut opposite Jean Reno and Gary Oldman. Sean says he's built a chunk of his podcasting career quoting it.
Robert Redford's quiz-fixing drama with John Turturro, Ralph Fiennes, and Paul Scofield. Sean says it fed a Jeopardy addiction he had going at the time.
A box-office flop Sean calls a fork in the road for the Coens, the movie that forced the pivot toward Fargo.
William Friedkin's college-basketball drama with Nick Nolte as coach Pete Bell. Sean calls it one of Nolte's best performances.
Van saw it with his father and remembers grown men crying in the theater. Argues that in a redraft of that year's Oscars, it beats Forrest Gump for Best Picture.
Van was 14 when this came out. Credits Tom Arnold's chemistry and James Cameron's pacing, and says it's the first action movie he remembers centering the hero's home life.
Van's most personal pick of the draft, a movie that sent him into a chess phase. He later got to ask producer Lawrence Bender about it on an unrelated shoot, while everyone else only wanted to talk to Bender about Pulp Fiction.
Taken over Wolf, which Van wanted but couldn't slot anywhere else. Calls Jim Carrey too hot at that moment for the pick to go wrong.
Nominated for Best Cinematography. Van calls it "top tier mess" and peak Brad Pitt, ahead of Thelma & Louise or Troy.
Damon Wayans's post-In Living Color superhero comedy, picked over Ace Ventura on principle. Sean calls it one of the worst picks in movie-draft history.
One of the rare movies Chris saw in theaters twice back to back, same category as Training Day and Sicario for him. Ranks Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock's chemistry above Schwarzenegger and Curtis in True Lies.
Chris calls the two clerks' Death Star conversation the actual birth of podcasting.
Nominated for Best Editing, not Best Documentary, a snub Chris and Van needle by naming the four films that actually got the doc nomination that year.
Chris's entry point into world cinema, citing Christopher Doyle's cinematography and still calling it one of the most romantic movies he's seen.
Danny Boyle's directorial debut, introducing Ewan McGregor opposite Christopher Eccleston.
Chris calls it the year's most controversial and most covered production, even while admitting it "comes up really short."
Amanda's introduction to Gen X and Winona Ryder. She says her opinion on whether Winona should end up with Ethan Hawke or Ben Stiller has flipped more than once with age.
Watched it at age 10 on a rental. Calls it her introduction to Hugh Grant, whose Twitter account she recommends.
A family movie-night rewatch pick. Amanda cites "our pets' heads are falling off" as her all-purpose line for when everything's going wrong.
Amanda names 1988 to 1994 as peak Harrison Ford and singles out the "how dare you, sir" Oval Office confrontation.
Credits its box-office success with kicking off the wave of Austen adaptations later in the decade, including Sense and Sensibility. Cast: Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale.
A Whit Stillman film with Chris Eigeman, whom Amanda also flags from Kicking and Screaming.
On the board, undrafted honorable mentions
Also mentioned raised along the way
1994 films mentioned but not drafted The FlintstonesThe Santa ClauseEd WoodBlue SkyBullets Over BroadwayThe Little RascalsAndreInterview with the VampireWolfThree Colors: RedMi Vida LocaCrooklynThe ClientThe River WildThe PaperThe Madness of King GeorgeMiracle on 34th StreetLittle Big LeagueAngels in the OutfieldLittle GiantsD2: The Mighty DucksMajor League IIPCURed Rock WestThe Last Seduction
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Homeland
Ads Higher Learning (show promo)Boar's HeadWhite Claw
Not 1994 releases Working Girl (1988)The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)True Romance (1993)Reservoir Dogs (1992)A River Runs Through It (1992)Clueless (1995)Free Willy (1993)