The Big Picture · Discussion · Review
June 26, 2026/ 83 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan
Sean and Amanda run through the summer's movie news, then use 'Supergirl' to mark the end of the comic-book-movie era. Chris Ryan joins to send off 'Jackass: Best and Last.'
7 films across 3 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.
The newsdistributors, adaptations, and Tom Cruise
Jesse Eisenberg's A24 follow-up to 'A Real Pain,' which he wrote and directed and for which he also wrote the songs. Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti star; the plot, a middle-aged woman finding herself in community theater, reminds Sean of the Simpsons episode 'A Streetcar Named Marge.' Pegged as a fall-festival, likely-Telluride title.
Luca Guadagnino's Sam Altman movie, with Andrew Garfield, still had no distributor as of June 21: Netflix, A24, and Focus reportedly passed, Mubi and Neon were circling. Sean and Amanda work through which studios are compromised enough by tech money to pass on a negative film about OpenAI, and figure whoever takes it will get a discount, the way a team eats salary to move a bad contract.
Georgia Oakley's new adaptation, with Daisy Edgar-Jones, George MacKay, Caitríona Balfe, and Frank Dillane. Amanda recuses herself: she's too close to the Ang Lee/Emma Thompson 1995 version, her comfort film during the CinemaCon ticketing all-nighters.
Iñárritu's apocalyptic Tom Cruise comedy, out in October. A 3.5-minute clip reel of Cruise highlights got passed around by Glen Powell, J.J. Abrams, and Michael Mann, with maybe 20 seconds of actual 'Digger' footage. Sean's read: they're selling Tom Cruise, not the movie, and that's probably wise.
The Looney Tunes movie Warner Bros. shelved, now rescued by Ketchup Entertainment. Cited as proof of how thin the pool of distributors willing to take on an orphaned film has gotten.
‘Supergirl’the comic-book-movie death rattle
Craig Gillespie directs Millie Alcock as Kara Zor-El, with Matthias Schoenaerts as the villain Krem, Eve Ridley as Ruthie, and Jason Momoa as Lobo; David Corenswet returns as Superman. Loosely from Tom King's 'Woman of Tomorrow.' Sean and Amanda call it tropey, unspecific, and technically poor ('the brownest movie of the year'), and say the best scene is the one where Supergirl doesn't speak. Sean uses it to declare the era when comic-book movies dominated our lives over, though not the genre itself.
‘Jackass: Best and Last’with Chris Ryan
The fifth installment, roughly 40% new stunts and 60% retrospective, and the most scatological of the bunch now that the crew has aged into colonoscopy-prep gags. Knoxville, Steve-O, Pontius, Danger Ehren, and Dave England downshift into what their bodies still allow; Bam Margera returns, Ryan Dunn is memorialized, and Spike Jonze turns up in the control room. All three agree it's barely a movie, but call it one of the best times they've had at a theater this year.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Around the news A Real PainSense and Sensibility (1995)Dune: Part ThreeProject Hail MaryThe Social ReckoningThe HoldoversChallengersQueerAfter the HuntRock of AgesFjordThe Blair Witch ProjectBook of Shadows: Blair Witch 2Blair WitchBackroomsHow the West Was WonThoroughly Modern Millie
The superhero canon SupermanWonder WomanBlack WidowCaptain MarvelCaptain America: Brave New WorldMad Max: Fury RoadGuardians of the GalaxyThunderboltsThe BatmanDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessThor: Love and ThunderKraven the HunterIron ManThe Dark KnightSpider-Man (2002)LoganX-Men Origins: WolverineAvengers: EndgameAvengers: DoomsdaySpider-Man: Brand New DayThe Fantastic 4: First StepsMasters of the UniverseA Minecraft MovieDeadpool 4Spider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseBarbieOppenheimer
Craig Gillespie's résumé CruellaI, TonyaLars and the Real GirlDumb Money
Around Jackass Jackass ForeverJackass Presents: Bad GrandpaDirty GrandpaFight ClubOcean's ElevenMission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The SimpsonsThe BearThe AgencyFear Factor
Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition
Ads Google AI Professional CertificateState FarmWhite Claw