The Big Picture · Discussion
March 16, 2018/ 38 min/ Sean Fennessy · Chris Ryan
Sean and Chris get back from Austin and run through everything they saw at South by Southwest: Spielberg premiering Ready Player One, the horror trio of A Quiet Place, Unfriended: Dark Web, and Upgrade, Ari Aster's Hereditary, Bo Burnham's 8th Grade, Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You, and a Mr. Rogers documentary that made Chris cry. Then the ones they had to miss.
15 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.
Spielberg, Ready Player One, and the Vibe of South Bythe festival report starts here
Spielberg introduced the surprise premiere by saying 'we did not make a film, we made a movie.' Sean calls it goofy and uneven in places but says it works if you go in without trying to check the book's references off a list. Chris didn't see it but describes the festival-wide anticipation, with an activation and a hovering blimp-style presence around town.
The Horror Slate: A Quiet Place, Unfriended: Dark Web, and Upgrade
John Krasinski's opening-night premiere. Sean says the crowd went dead silent for ten-minute stretches, so any cough or sniffle in the theater landed harder than the movie itself.
A Blumhouse sequel told entirely through screens. Chris found it upsetting more than scary, and both note how much faster its screen-within-screen storytelling moves than the first film.
Leigh Whannell's near-future action-thriller with Logan Marshall-Green as a man who resists getting chipped like everyone else, then ends up in a RoboCop-style predicament. Chris liked that it delivers thrills without requiring a dozen prior movies of mythology.
Hereditary1 a.m. screening, and a car accident on the way home
Ari Aster's debut, about a family unraveling after a matriarch's death, starring Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne. Sean calls it deeply dark and describes 'the single scariest shot' he's seen in a horror movie in years. He also got rear-ended in a rideshare on the drive home from the screening.
New Directors: 8th Grade, Sorry to Bother You, and The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter
Bo Burnham's directorial debut, starring Elsie Fisher as a middle schooler caught between her online persona and real-life awkwardness. Sean calls it possibly the best movie he saw at the festival and singles out Josh Hamilton as her father.
The Coup's Boots Riley directs, starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson. Sean describes a telemarketer whose job spirals into a satire of American life, and says the trailer set off a wave of internet interest right after the South By screening.
Jody Hill directs Josh Brolin and Danny McBride in a comedy shot back in 2015-16 and headed to Netflix in July. Chris enjoyed it but thought it pulled its punches compared to Hill's other work; Carrie Coon and Scoot McNairy show up for one scene apiece.
Won't You Be My Neighbor? and People's Republic of Desire
Morgan Neville's Mr. Rogers documentary. Chris, who says he never cries at movies, teared up for the last twenty minutes and calls it a straightforward but remarkable portrait of Fred Rogers.
Hao Wu's documentary about performers chasing social media fame through live streaming in China. Their colleague Cam Collins, a jury member on the documentary side, called it the best thing he saw at the festival.
The Ones They Missed
Julia Hart's grounded take on a superhero movie, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Chris missed it but says everyone he talked to loved it.
Kay Cannon's comedy starring John Cena and Leslie Mann, out April 6. Chris says nobody who saw it had a bad word for it.
Starring Daveed Diggs, previously premiered at Sundance. Chris missed it at South By too.
A horror comedy with Adam Pally and Rachel Bloom that Chris didn't get to.
Jim Cummings's feature, expanded from his 2016 short of the same name, won the festival's Special Jury Award.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing Atomic BlondeBaby DriverGet OutWhiplashThe Sixth SenseHot Summer NightsMr. RooseveltThe WitchObserve and ReportSicarioCaddyshackThe Cloverfield ParadoxAnnihilationGame Night20 Feet from StardomNeighborsSausage PartyJurassic ParkJawsTrue GritThe Lawnmower ManVirtuosityRoboCopThe MatrixThe TerminatorCaptain MarvelThe PredatorTomb RaiderLara Croft: Tomb RaiderA Wrinkle in Time
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Eastbound & DownVice PrincipalsUgly DeliciousPlease Like MeCrazy Ex-GirlfriendMaster of None
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