The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
November 14, 2023/ 112 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Joanna Robinson
Joanna Robinson joins to talk through The Marvels, the box-office disappointment and the post-Endgame wobble it caps off, then Sean sits down with Kristoffer Borgli on Dream Scenario.
30 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 Marvels’with Joanna Robinson, author of MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios
Co-written and directed by Nia DaCosta, the sequel to Captain Marvel. Delayed from summer to November after Quantumania's reception, then visibly recut around Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan. Sean grades it a B-minus to C-plus; Joanna a B; Amanda says she genuinely couldn't follow much of the plot. Opened to $46.1 million domestic, the lowest of any MCU film.
The billion-dollar 2019 original this is a sequel to, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Amanda remembers almost nothing about it beyond Annette Bening and a villainous Jude Law.
Its poor February reception is what Joanna says triggered the aggressive recutting of The Marvels.
Cited as a recent MCU movie less visibly hacked up in post.
Also cited as less mangled than The Marvels, and referenced again below for its Charles Xavier and Mister Fantastic cameos.
Sean's line for the floor: he doesn't think The Marvels is worse than this, which he calls an objectively bad movie.
The other movie Sean ranks below The Marvels, calling it 'aggressively fine.'
Discussed at length via Joanna's book: Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., and Gwyneth Paltrow essentially improvising the film into existence on a loose outline, the opposite of the current 'hackathon in post' method.
Sean's counterpoint on weak villains: Lee Pace's Ronan, in a cowl that barely let him act, was worse than Dar-Benn.
The box-office benchmark The Marvels is being compared against for a second-weekend hold.
Cited for its own steep second-weekend drop, despite opening to nearly double The Marvels' number.
Amanda notices the same mismatched-eyebrow continuity issue in Brie Larson's close-ups here as she spotted in this film.
The stinger, the X-Men, and 2024Kelsey Grammer's Beast, Deadpool & Wolverine, and next year's slate
The only 2024 MCU release. Expected to be a nostalgia tour through Fox's X-Men properties, with Hugh Jackman returning as Wolverine and Jennifer Garner rumored as Elektra.
Sean's pick for a top-three X-Men movie: 'just hot X-Men.'
Sean's other top-three X-Men pick.
Rounds out Sean's top three X-Men movies.
Joanna's favorite Star Trek film, offered unprompted mid-tangent about the franchise's influence on Marvel's current cosmic era.
Joanna's number two; Sean argues it should be number one.
Joanna's number three, the Christopher Plummer entry.
One of three Sony superhero movies on next year's five-film comic-book slate.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the Spider-Man villain, directed by J.C. Chandor. Sean, a Chandor fan, says the trailer looks dreadful.
Dakota Johnson in the title role, with Sydney Sweeney playing a character the hosts expect to eventually become Spider-Woman.
The lone DC entry on the 2024 comic-book slate, and one of Sean's most anticipated films of the year, sight unseen.
James Gunn's DC relaunch, name-checked as still on track despite the 2025 release date.
In conversationgrowing up in Norway, dream logic, and working with Nicolas Cage
A24 film starring Nicolas Cage as a mild-mannered professor who begins inexplicably appearing in strangers' dreams. Cage told Borgli he related to the script and handed him creative control; Borgli calls it a genuine collaboration rather than deference to a star.
Borgli's prior Norwegian film, funded through European grants, about factitious-disorder narcissism. He calls the lead character's arc 'chillingly American' despite the Norwegian setting.
His breakout short film, a semi-autobiographical comedy about a failed musician rationalizing quitting, made while Borgli worried he couldn't call himself a director.
An obscure hybrid mockumentary-reenactment about a real Norwegian energy-drink ad campaign gone wrong. Borgli admits he invented most of the underlying story to get Norwegian Film Institute funding, and confesses on air that he lied about it to the Norwegian press for years.
The last great thing Borgli says he's seen: a rare 35mm rewatch at the New Beverly, the film he credits with making him obsessed with Dylan Baker, who appears in Dream Scenario.
Its packed, enthusiastic Beyond Fest crowd is what got Borgli excited to screen Dream Scenario for the same audience a week later.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing The AvengersBlack PantherDoctor Strange
Borgli's influences The Idiots
Coming up next episode Napoleon
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV / streaming series WandaVisionLokiMoon KnightSecret InvasionMs. MarvelHawkeyeAhsokaThe CrownMuppet Babies
Disney+ specials Werewolf by NightThe Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Podcasts House of RThe RewatchablesTrial by ContentThe Midnight Boys
Ads Netflix FIFA World Cup Launch EditionPeyronie's disease (talkaboutpd.com)FanDuelCarvanaBoar's Head