The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Hall of Fame · Interview
August 13, 2024/ 130 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda open with Brian Raftery on his Sony-hack series and Tom Cruise's Olympics stunt, review Sean Wang's coming-of-age 'Dìdi' and the Damon-Affleck heist 'The Instigators,' then induct a 10-film Matt Damon Hall of Fame. Sean closes with an interview with Wang.
14 films across 5 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 Sony hack, 10 years onwith Brian Raftery
The Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy at the center of the 2014 Sony hack, and the subject of Raftery's new Peacock series, 'The Hollywood Hack.' A mildly diverting B-tier comedy; its irrelevance, they argue, is what makes the fallout so strange in hindsight.
‘Dìdi’
Sean Wang's semi-autobiographical debut, set in 2008 Fremont: a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy working out friends, girls, and his mother (Joan Chen, in a comeback). Traditional coming-of-age beats made hyper-specific (AIM, the MySpace top 8) and willing to let its kid make mistakes and sit in them. A Sundance Audience Award winner.
‘The Instigators’
Doug Liman's Apple TV+ heist comedy: Damon and Casey Affleck trying to rob the mayor's safe on election night. A very deep 2-star movie, a lights-out supporting cast having fun, riddled with plot holes (see Amanda's Science Corner on the gas-line explosions). A Downsizing and Gerry reunion, and Liman's second straight-to-streaming film of the year.
The Matt Damon Hall of Fame10 inductees
The auto-lock: the movie women love and men aspire to, plus one of the great Oscar acceptance speeches.
Sean's cause; the poker movie he keeps hoping gets a sequel.
Damon playing slimy and off-putting against type: 'lights out.'
The film that made him an action star; kept in even though they concede Supremacy is the better movie.
The representative Damon cameo: shaved head, punk-rock Donnie, 'Scotty Doesn't Know.' Chosen over Interstellar.
His highlight in the franchise: the 'I was in Four Weddings and a Funeral' bit.
The great conniver, back on Boston turf, in the Leo face-off.
The spicy pick and a lead role; a Soderbergh you don't have without him.
Carries the movie solo; the Oscar he lost in DiCaprio's Revenant year.
General Groves, the comic gravitas that gives the film its human stakes.
Sean Wang on ‘Dìdi’
Wang on picking up a camera through skating and Spike Jonze skate videos, reverse-engineering a first feature he could both finance and direct, shooting the internet as 'the pre-technology technology era,' and the Sundance Labs advice (Lulu Wang, Eliza Hittman) that pushed the story from embarrassment toward shame.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The Matt Damon films they walked through and cut Mystic PizzaSchool TiesGeronimo: An American LegendGlory DazeCourage Under FireChasing AmyThe RainmakerDogmaTitan A.E.The Legend of Bagger VanceFinding ForresterAll the Pretty HorsesJay and Silent Bob Strike BackOcean's ElevenThe MajesticGerrySpirit: Stallion of the CimarronConfessions of a Dangerous MindStuck on YouJersey GirlThe Bourne SupremacyThe Brothers GrimmSyrianaThe Good ShepherdOcean's ThirteenThe Bourne UltimatumYouth Without YouthChe: Part TwoPonyoInvictusGreen ZoneHereafterTrue GritThe Adjustment BureauContagionMargaretHappy Feet TwoWe Bought a ZooPromised LandBehind the CandelabraElysiumThe Zero TheoremThe Monuments MenInterstellarJason BourneThe Great WallDownsizingSuburbiconThor: RagnarokUnsaneDeadpool 2Ocean's EightFord v FerrariJay and Silent Bob RebootNo Sudden MoveStillwaterThe Last DuelThor: Love and ThunderAirDrive-Away DollsIFManchester by the Sea
Comps and comparisons The Hot RockLogan LuckyBottle RocketTrapRoad HouseGhostedMr. & Mrs. SmithFly Me to the MoonWolfsNo Way OutThe FirmA Time to Kill
The Sony-hack era Zero Dark ThirtyMoneyballThe Social NetworkSuperbad
Sean Wang's influences and other work Nǎi Nai & Wài PóThe 400 BlowsFruitvale StationShort Term 12I Am Not a HipsterStand by MeRatcatcherLady BirdThe FarewellSearchingSummertimeBlindspottingFremontHagsWhere the Wild Things Are
In passing TitanicSweet Home AlabamaElvisFar and AwayKicking and ScreamingAvatarAvatar: The Way of WaterAvatar: Fire and AshAlien: RomulusPrometheus
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Do We Get to Win This Time?The Hollywood HackAlf30 RockTwin PeaksPresumed InnocentRamyRen FaireJackassThe Challenge
Skate videos Video DaysFully Flared
Podcasts The RewatchablesThe WatchThe Press BoxDeath, Taxes, and Bananas
Ads Athletic BrewingBlinds.com