The Smashing Machine 2025
Benny Safdie's Dwayne Johnson MMA drama, a Venice world premiere and a likely TIFF play. Half of A24's Safdie double this fall.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review
'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Is Here. Plus: Our Fall Film Festival Preview.
July 25, 2025/ 80 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda run down the just-announced Venice, TIFF, Telluride, and New York lineups and gauge which titles turn into the fall awards race, then review Marvel's 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' — a movie Amanda hated and Sean found baffling and limp. A Starbucks-sponsored 'Summer Stars' interlude sorts the season's standout performances.
66 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 fall film festival previewVenice, TIFF, Telluride, and New York lineups
Frankenstein 2025
Guillermo del Toro's retelling of the Mary Shelley novel for Netflix, at Venice and TIFF. Sean names it a live Best Picture question mark.
After the Hunt 2025
Luca Guadagnino and Julia Roberts on campus sexual assault, playing out of competition at Venice by Luca's request and opening the New York Film Festival — its North American premiere, which Sean thinks blocks a Telluride jump.
Bugonia 2025
Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone again, at Venice. Sean is hoping it makes the Telluride jump, as 'Poor Things' once did.
Jay Kelly 2025
Noah Baumbach's Netflix film about a fading movie star, with George Clooney and Adam Sandler. One of the titles Sean needs at Telluride to feel calm.
A House of Dynamite 2025
Kathryn Bigelow's return, via Netflix, at Venice.
No Other Choice 2025
Park Chan-wook's new film; Sean says the teaser looks phenomenal and he's still sending emails about it.
Father, Mother, Sister, Brother 2025
Jim Jarmusch's reportedly anthology film, at Venice and set as the New York Film Festival centerpiece — the anthology structure being much to Amanda's chagrin.
The Testament of Ann Lee 2025
Mona Fastvold's new directorial effort, at Venice and TIFF. Filed among Sean's awards-list wildcards.
The Wizard of the Kremlin 2025
Olivier Assayas's film about Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) and an imagined attaché (Paul Dano). Could be silly, could be great.
Dead Man's Wire 2025
Gus Van Sant's first movie in seven or eight years, at Venice and TIFF.
Scarlet 2025
Mamoru Hosoda's animated film, which Sean calls the front-runner for best animated feature of 2025.
The Christophers 2025
Steven Soderbergh's TIFF entry, among the titles they'd already expected there.
Rental Family 2025
A TIFF play they'd penciled in.
Hedda 2025
Expected at TIFF.
Wake Up Dead Man 2025
Rian Johnson's third Knives Out mystery for Netflix, expected at TIFF. Part of what Sean calls a strong Netflix year.
Roofman 2025
Expected at TIFF.
Hamnet 2025
Chloé Zhao's film, announced as a TIFF non-world premiere and, given Zhao's history there, almost certain to launch at Telluride first.
Ballad of a Small Player 2025
The Netflix title that missed Venice; Sean expects it at Telluride, where Edward Berger had 'Conclave' last year.
It Was Just an Accident 2025
Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner, a Cannes holdover now at TIFF and a live contender.
Nouvelle Vague 2025
Richard Linklater's Cannes holdover, playing TIFF.
The Secret Agent 2025
A Cannes holdover in the awards conversation, at TIFF.
Sentimental Value 2025
Joachim Trier's Cannes title, a holdover at TIFF and one of the Cannes winners Sean rates as likely to stick.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere 2025
Scott Cooper's Springsteen film with Jeremy Allen White; Sean floats it as a safe Telluride landing spot and an Oscar-campaign launch.
Ella McKay 2025
James L. Brooks's December release, which could skip the circuit but would fit Telluride.
Is This Thing On? 2025
Bradley Cooper's undated film, which Amanda thinks lands this year; Sean doubts a Telluride slot.
Anemone 2025
Ronan Day-Lewis's debut, notable for bringing Daniel Day-Lewis out of retirement. Sean would love to see it in Colorado but doubts it plays.
Marty Supreme 2025
Josh Safdie's Christmas release, being held out of the festivals. The other half of A24's Safdie double.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey 2025
The Margot Robbie / Colin Farrell film, moved to September but absent from every festival, which reads to Amanda as a warning sign.
The History of Sound 2025
Out right after the fall festivals, currently unpegged to any of them.
The Mastermind 2025
Kelly Reichardt's Cannes premiere, not yet listed at a fall festival.
Die My Love 2025
The Jennifer Lawrence acquisition, out in November; Sean bets it turns up at Telluride.
The Way of the Wind
Terrence Malick's long-in-the-edit film, which missed Venice again. Just keep chiseling, brother.
The Rivals of Amziah King 2025
A South by Southwest winner with no distribution yet; Sean wonders if it surfaces at a fall festival on the strength of its reviews.
Train Dreams 2025
The Netflix logging drama, one of Sean's favorite films of the year, that just got a trailer.
Wicked for Good 2025
A studio tentpole in the Best Picture running that won't play a festival.
Avatar: Fire and Ash 2025
The other studio contender skipping the circuit. The trailer, shown before 'Fantastic Four,' left Sean nonplussed — 'not a lot of fire or ash.'
One Battle After Another 2025
The Paul Thomas Anderson film Warner Bros. is keeping out of Venice, likely to just drop in theaters in September. One of Sean's 25 located contenders.
Sinners 2025
A studio big swing already on Sean's list of located Best Picture contenders.
The Drama 2026
Kristoffer Borgli's film with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, flagged as probably a 2026 release.
Mother Mary 2026
David Lowery's film with Anne Hathaway, likely 2026.
I Want Your Sex 2026
Gregg Araki's film with Charli XCX, probably a 2026 title.
'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'Sean's birthday movie, and a limp one
The Fantastic 4: First Steps 2025
Matt Shakman directs Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner, and Ralph Ineson's Galactus. Amanda flat-out hated it; Sean found it juiceless and baffling, with weak effects and Pascal badly miscast as a charmless Reed Richards. Both credit the in-media-res newsreel open and the retro production design, and both are worn down by the CGI and the 'super mama saves the day' resolution.
Fantastic Four 2005
The Ioan Gruffudd / Jessica Alba / Chris Evans version that producer Jack adored as a kid. Sean thought it trash in college, but the table agrees Evans has chemistry and charisma that Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm lacks.
Fantastic Four 2015
The Josh Trank version Sean never saw, remembered mainly for a Galactus rendered as a cloud.
The Incredibles 2004
Sean's closing argument: it's the Fantastic Four but good, and it has obviated these characters — Violet's force field and invisibility, Jack-Jack's flames, all of it, folded into one family.
Incredibles 2 2018
The second half of the Pixar homage the hosts say makes 'Fantastic Four' a harder sell.
Cut Bank 2014
Matt Shakman's only prior feature, an A24 movie from a decade ago, before he directed every episode of 'WandaVision.'
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 2023
The comparison Amanda reaches for on production design — good textures, in a movie she otherwise didn't love.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 2022
Cited for the Charlize Theron end-credits tease and for the Scarlet Witch turning villain — the kind of marketing hook this movie's stinger doesn't earn.
Eternals 2021
The Harry Styles post-credits reveal, another example of a stinger that Sean's 'dumb lizard brain' falls for.
Thunderbolts 2025
Its end-credits rocket ship with a four on it primed the crossover; Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman are held up as actors who stepped up in a Marvel movie the way this cast doesn't.
Avengers: Infinity War 2018
Half of the payoff Sean says worked because Marvel spent ten years building Thanos — the opposite of this movie's cold start.
Avengers: Endgame 2019
The conclusion Sean calls the real work of art, the push toward the ending rather than any single film.
The Flash 2023
The bar for babies-in-peril: nothing here is as bad as flinging infants out of hospital windows.
Superman 2025
The two-weeks-apart counterpoint. Sean says Gunn plunges an old character into current stakes and starts in media res too — 'Fantastic Four' would have gotten more credit for its open if 'Superman' hadn't just done it.
Apollo 13 1995
Amanda's running gag: the launch, the light-speed docking, and the slingshot-around-a-star escape all echo Ron Howard's film, which is getting an IMAX re-release in September.
Summer Starsthe season's standout performances, presented by Starbucks
The Fantastic 4: First Steps 2025
Vanessa Kirby as the best part of the movie, and a champ on the press tour while expecting.
Thunderbolts 2025
Florence Pugh, whom Sean says the movie can't work without, and Lewis Pullman in a dual role that puts a lot on his shoulders.
28 Years Later 2025
Alfie Williams, the teenage lead the whole movie — and the rest of the franchise — hangs on. Sensational.
Superman 2025
David Corenswet, a relative unknown who wore the cape well; nailing the casting is a big reason the film worked.
Twisters 2024
Amanda's reminder that Corenswet wasn't a total unknown before 'Superman.'
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning 2025
Two small parts that steal the show: Tramell Tillman, electrifying, and Katy O'Brian in the submarine segment.
Jurassic World Rebirth 2025
Jonathan Bailey — Amanda's guy, not Sean's — petting a dinosaur with real emotion. Meant for big things.
Lilo & Stitch 2025
Mixed on the film, sold on Sydney Agudong and Maia Kealoha, both very charming.
Final Destination Bloodlines 2025
Amanda's favorite star of the summer: the flaw in death's design, driving one of the year's biggest box office hits.
Also mentioned raised along the way
As festival-circuit precedent Poor ThingsWhite NoiseNickel BoysFerrariMaestroThe KillerPriscillaChallengersThe BrutalistI'm Still HereThe Banshees of InisherinTárDuneThe Power of the DogCrashGreen BookConclaveUncut GemsSaltburnJoker: Folie à DeuxEddington
In passing (Fantastic Four talk) Good Will HuntingPrometheusLoganSpider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseX-Men: First ClassInglourious BasterdsM3GANI Know What You Did Last Summer
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV WandaVisionHollywood
Games Fortnite
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