The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
November 29, 2022/ 104 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda work through the pile-up of everything that came out over Thanksgiving week, then clear out a backlog of 2022 titles they never got to. Sean closes with Luca Guadagnino on Bones and All.
56 films across 12 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 State of the Box OfficeGlass Onion, Strange World, and a Thanksgiving-weekend crisis about what counts as a movie anymore
Opened in 600-plus theaters over Thanksgiving as a one-week stunt before its Netflix release a month later. Made an estimated $13-15 million, a strong number for the screen count but, per Amanda, a success only because Netflix didn't have to fight for it. Neither host knows a single person who saw it in a theater.
Disney's original animated release, on 3,000 screens over the same weekend, did poorly. Sean calls it one of the smarter Disney movies he's seen in a while but isn't covering it here; he and Charles Holmes plan an animated-2022 episode later in the year.
Spielberg's new film opened on only about 700 screens, which Sean thinks let Glass Onion eat into its Thanksgiving audience. Built for the old platform-release-then-awards-push playbook, but a 17-day theatrical window means it's already headed to PVOD in about 12 days.
‘Bones and All’Luca Guadagnino's cannibal road movie, seen by almost nobody over Thanksgiving
Sean blackmailed Amanda into seeing this, by his own admission. A sensual, elevated-genre take on a cannibal story starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, set in the 1980s and based on Camille DeAngelis's novel. Both liked it a lot: the first 30 minutes are the most physically grim, then it settles into a road movie with real Badlands DNA. Amanda calls it lovely despite going in squeamish.
‘The Menu’a feast-film double feature partner for Bones and All
A high-end-restaurant thriller directed by Mark Mylod, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, and Ralph Fiennes as the celebrity chef, with Janet McTeer, John Leguizamo, and Hong Chau rounding out the guest list. Both hosts liked it as a thriller even though its eat-the-rich messaging is broader than its restaurant-culture satire.
‘Devotion’Glenn Powell and Jonathan Majors as Korean War wingmen
Based on the true story of Ensign Jesse Brown, the first African American aviator to complete Navy flight training, played by Jonathan Majors opposite Glenn Powell. Sean calls it perhaps the most average movie of the year: strong chemistry between the leads and a couple of good set pieces, but familiar and undercut by a script that doesn't fully trust Majors's internal performance. Directed by JD Dillard.
JD Dillard's Blumhouse debut, cited as Sean's introduction to the director as a very early Big Picture guest.
‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’Laura Poitras's documentary on Nan Goldin, still in very limited release
Laura Poitras's portrait of photographer and activist Nan Goldin, weaving her work exposing the Sackler family's role in the opioid crisis with her own history. Both hosts were struck by it; Sean says it's brushing up against his top five of the year.
Cited as evidence Poitras is far from a conventional documentarian, which makes the deliberately plain opening of All the Beauty and the Bloodshed land as a choice, not a limitation.
‘The Inspection’Elegance Bratton's autobiographical Marine boot-camp debut
Elegance Bratton's directorial debut, based on his own experience enlisting in the Marines as a gay man seeking structure. Jeremy Pope stars; Gabrielle Union produces and co-stars. Both hosts liked the boot-camp section but felt the film's opening and closing don't fully cohere into one arc.
Amanda's comparison for the basic-training stretch of The Inspection, which both hosts thought was the strongest part.
Cited for Raul Castillo, who plays a drill-sergeant type in The Inspection alongside Bokeem Woodbine; Sean calls Castillo's turn as Dakota Johnson's boyfriend maybe the best part of that earlier film.
‘EO’an 85-minute journey through the eyes of a donkey
Jerzy Skolimowski's loose remake of Au Hasard Balthazar, following a donkey across Europe. Sean calls it sweet and beautiful, and expects it in the Best International Feature conversation at the Oscars.
Robert Bresson's film, the direct model for EO's donkey's-eye-view structure.
Andrea Arnold's documentary about a cow's life, Sean's comparison point. It shares EO's animal's-eye view but none of its winsome verve; he calls it the most punishing film he's seen in five years.
‘The Son’Sean's strongest anti-recommendation of the episode
Florian Zeller's follow-up to The Father, starring Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern as parents of a teenager, played by Zen McGrath, going through depression and suicidal thoughts. Sean hated it: he finds it manipulative and tonally reckless about a subject he takes seriously, and thinks McGrath is miscast in a role the film barely lets him narrate.
Zeller's previous film, which won Anthony Hopkins an Oscar. Sean says his frustration with The Son clarified why The Father, which he was in the minority on, never worked for him either.
‘The Wonder’Florence Pugh on Netflix, a soft recommend from both hosts
Sebastian Lelió's film, set in 1860s Ireland, about a nurse sent to observe a girl who claims to have survived without food. Both hosts single out Florence Pugh's performance and are impressed by newcomer Kíla Lord Cassidy. Amanda calls it well-made but not essential; the ending goes somewhere she found genuinely off-putting.
Amanda's comparison point, set in the same historical Ireland. She thinks it's the more accomplished script of the two.
Adapted from another Emma Donoghue novel; Amanda notes The Wonder, which Donoghue co-adapted, is recognizably from the same writer.
Amanda's reference for Florence Pugh carrying a movie on her shoulders. She thinks The Wonder is the more effective film of the two.
Cited as a recent Netflix period piece the hosts didn't think worked, offered as contrast to The Wonder finding a real lane for the streamer.
Part of Lelió's filmography as Sean makes the case for him as an accomplished arthouse director.
Lelió's earlier Chilean film, also cited in the filmography rundown.
Lelió's own English-language remake of Gloria.
Also cited among Lelió's prior films.
Coming Attractionseverything still on the calendar before the end of the year
In theaters now but not streaming on Netflix until December 2.
Not on Netflix until December 9.
In theaters now, on Netflix December 16. The hosts plan to cover it with Adam Naiman.
Amanda dreads the runtime; Sean is thrilled by early reviews calling it overstuffed. Compares it to how he felt going in on Amsterdam.
Neither has seen it yet; Sean is already hyping the underwater sequences.
Briefly mentioned after Sean's coverage from the New York Film Festival; a full episode planned once it hits Netflix December 30.
Sean watched James Cameron's disowned directorial debut as prep for Avatar: The Way of Water. Cameron reportedly only shot half of it.
2022 Misses: The Speed Rounda backlog of everything else from the year
Both hosts disliked it. Amanda thought the green-screen Egypt looked offensively fake, though she singles out Emma Mackey as a find.
Sean's favorite of the earlier Agatha Christie adaptations, shot on location with an all-star cast including Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis. It's the point of comparison for how artificial the 2022 remake looks.
Adrian Lyne's attempted erotic-thriller revival with Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck. Sean has little more to add beyond wanting whoever directed the last 30 minutes to apologize.
Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg's treasure-hunter adaptation, directed by Ruben Fleischer, made $400 million worldwide. Amanda thought it looked cheap and CGI-heavy despite one strong airplane set piece.
Sean's real three-star pick: a Channing Tatum vehicle he compares to something Burt Reynolds would have made in 1978, and a reminder Tatum is a genuine movie star.
Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Brad Pitt's Bullet Train cameo add up to what Sean wishes had just been one movie starring all three. Amanda calls it a fun, low-stakes date movie in the Ticket to Paradise mold, and both marvel that Bullock is 58.
Sean's second-favorite theatrical experience of the year, watched at his mother's house over the holidays. He preferred it to the first film and calls it, warmly, a very good TV movie.
Sean's most-hated film of the episode. Adapted from Delia Owens's bestselling and controversial novel, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones; he calls the murder-mystery ending a cop-out and the entire cast miscast for a story about poverty in the marsh.
Damien Leone's crowdfunded slasher sequel, centered on the killer clown Art the Clown. Sean's strongest non-recommendation for Amanda: gorier than anything he's seen in a while, though he respects it as a genuine indie box-office phenomenon that found its audience.
Sean's benchmark for how much worse Terrifier 2 will land for Amanda than this Danish horror film did.
Aubrey Plaza plays against type in a tight 90-minute thriller about student debt. Amanda liked it and thinks it points toward a real dramatic range for Plaza.
Amanda's Dustin Hoffman comparison for Emily the Criminal's ex-con-gone-straight structure.
In ConversationSean talks to Luca Guadagnino about Bones and All
Guadagnino traces the project back to a September 2020 call from screenwriter Dave Kajganich, and describes shooting on a monthlong scouting drive through the Midwest before production. He talks through casting Taylor Russell off Waves, working with Mark Rylance to make an unsettling character legible, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's score.
The film that convinced Guadagnino to cast Taylor Russell, after being blown away once the story shifts to her character.
Cited as the earlier, deliberate turn toward genre that Guadagnino says people wrongly read as a surprise from him.
The film Guadagnino says boxed him in as 'the singer of Italian sunshine' in some critics' eyes, a framing he pushes back on.
Guadagnino's next film, a Zendaya-led tennis comedy of manners, which he describes choosing deliberately as the opposite of Bones and All.
One of three films Guadagnino had his actors watch to prepare, alongside Vagabond and A Man Escaped.
Agnès Varda's film, part of the same viewing assignment for Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet.
Chantal Akerman's film, also part of the actors' prep list.
Robert Bresson's film, the third title on the actors' viewing list.
Deá Kulumbegashvili's film, shot by Arseni Khachaturan, whose cinematography on it led Guadagnino to hire him for Bones and All.
Guadagnino names James Gray's film as his favorite of the year and the last great thing he's seen.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing Knives OutBlack Panther: Wakanda ForeverBarbarianTicket to ParadiseEverything Everywhere All at OnceTarTriangle of SadnessSmileHalloween EndsTerrifierBarbieZombielandMagic Mike's Last DanceBullet TrainRomancing the StoneBurn After ReadingAmsterdamDownton AbbeyMars Attacks!White Nights
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The White LotusSuccessionWe Are Who We ArePaw Patrol
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