Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 2024
The soft opening that set off the doom talk; Amanda saw it advertised as 'Bleu & Co.' on posters in Paris. Sean says the business has changed and everyone knows it, which is depressing but done.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Hall of Fame · Interview
The Richard Linklater Hall of Fame
May 31, 2024/ 122 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan
Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan go film by film through Richard Linklater's catalog and settle on a 10-film Hall of Fame. Plus: Sean talks to Ron Howard about 'Jim Henson: Idea Man' and his run of documentaries.
32 films across 4 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.
Before the shrine: a box-office check-inFuriosa, Anyone But You, and Edward Norton's deck company
Anyone But You 2023
The rom-com everyone admits isn't that good but watched anyway; its run is chalked up to Sydney Sweeney TikTok. On the plane it was the movie everyone but Sean chose.
Challengers 2024
Made $86 million; cited as the reason to wait a beat before declaring the year a disaster.
The Fall Guy 2024
More people wanted it last Tuesday than the Tuesday before, ten days into digital, which nobody can explain.
The Richard Linklater Hall of FameThe 10 inductees
Slacker 1990
The Austin breakthrough and the totem of underground culture that hooked a 12-year-old Chris. In on the first ballot as the origin point.
Dazed and Confused 1993
Sean's six-star classic and the hangout template every later Linklater keeps chasing. Locked.
Before Sunrise 1995
The Vienna walk-and-talk; a sincere movie about being 23. The first of the trilogy, in.
School of Rock 2003
His biggest, most conventional hit ($130M on a $35M budget), written by Mike White. The 'from the director of' calling card. Green.
Before Sunset 2004
The group's near-consensus favorite: a sequel that elevates the original, with the 'you go by, you go by' car scene and one of the best endings in movies.
A Scanner Darkly 2006
The rotoscope they kept over Waking Life; Philip K. Dick surveillance paranoia with Downey, Keanu, Harrelson, and Ryder. The one animated slot.
Before Midnight 2013
The hard, brave one: a perfect couple gnawing at each other a decade on, the hotel-room fight and all. Oscar-nominated screenplay, only now becoming resonant for Sean.
Boyhood 2014
Shot over 12 years; an aimless-by-design experiment that won Patricia Arquette an Oscar and should have been Linklater's year. Absolutely in.
Everybody Wants Some!! 2016
The under-seen college-baseball hangout the show evangelizes; a spiritual Dazed follow-up that turns out to be about much more than busting balls.
Hit Man 2023
The Glen Powell / Skip Hollandsworth story; a recent film is hard to induct, but they call it a brave choice and expect it to keep rising past the rotoscopes and Bernie.
The ones left outDebated film by film and cut
SubUrbia 1996
The dark side of Dazed, from Eric Bogosian's play; Ribisi and Steve Zahn are good, but it's too misanthropic for a filmmaker with an earnest core. Out, with respect.
The Newton Boys 1998
His big Hollywood period-gangster swing, with Altman's Thieves Like Us in its DNA; the movie of his that works least well. Out.
Waking Life 2001
The first rotoscope experiment, a reel of filmed conversations and ruminations reuniting Wiley Wiggins. Lost the animated slot to A Scanner Darkly.
Tape 2001
The real-time one-room Steven Belber play with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman; a fascinating experiment that hasn't aged as well as you'd want. Red.
Bad News Bears 2005
A rare complete miss. The original is perfect; Billy Bob's fine, but the remake is the red-meat end of one-for-them. Out.
Fast Food Nation 2006
The Eric Schlosser adaptation and polemic, sprawling and Altman-esque; noble, bracing in spots, but it doesn't land. First of four Glen Powell collaborations. Red.
Me and Orson Welles 2008
Overlooked old-Hollywood charmer with Christian McKay as Welles and a strong Zac Efron; pretty good, not Hall of Fame. Nearly skipped entirely.
Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach 2008
His rare documentary, on Texas's Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in college baseball history. Not in.
Bernie 2011
The Texas true-crime dark comedy with Jack Black, McConaughey, and Shirley MacLaine, carried by its small-town Greek chorus. From another Skip Hollandsworth story; a yellow that just missed.
Last Flag Flying 2017
The downbeat Amazon road drama with Carell, Fishburne, and Cranston; his Manchester by the Sea that doesn't quite work, maybe a casting problem. Red.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette 2019
The Cate Blanchett adaptation critics savaged; the hosts found it fine, even charming, more a Billy Crudup movie than a Blanchett one. Out.
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood 2022
The Netflix rotoscoped memory piece about a Houston kid and the moon landing, with Glen Powell; overlooked, and the hosts admit they were a little too kind to it on air. Red.
Ron Howard on 'Jim Henson: Idea Man'
Ron Howard on
Jim Henson: Idea Man 2024
Howard's Disney+ documentary; he opens on a melancholy Henson photo shoot and leans on a late-arriving Jane Henson audio tape and Lisa Henson's high-school photos to build the family story alongside the Muppets origin.
Ron Howard on
Thirteen Lives 2022
His Thai cave-rescue film, which he says the doc work directly shaped: less theatrical, more observed. He thinks it didn't find its audience because of when it came out.
Ron Howard on
Eden 2024
The cautionary true-crime thriller he'd just finished shooting while cutting Jim Henson: 'a schizophrenic creative year.'
Ron Howard on
Rebuilding Paradise 2020
His documentary on the Paradise, California fire; the raw emotion his cameras caught there informed how he staged the parents and divers in 13 Lives.
Ron Howard on
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years 2016
The touring-years doc; on the last day of interviews, Lynn Oliver's account of the Beatles refusing to play a segregated concert changed the whole structure.
Ron Howard on
Harlan County U.S.A. 1976
His 'last great thing,' Barbara Kopple's 1976 labor documentary, which he finally watched all the way through on a Delta flight and found still 100% relevant.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Still to come from Linklater Nouvelle VagueMerrily We Roll AlongGod Save Texas
Ron Howard's filmography, in passing Apollo 13Frost/NixonCinderella ManSolo: A Star Wars StoryThe Da Vinci CodeThe PaperBackdraftRushParenthoodRansomHillbilly ElegyWillowSplashCocoonHow the Grinch Stole Christmas
Named in passing RoundersA Complete UnknownThe HolidayShoahThe Zone of InterestThe BeekeeperFerrariBull DurhamJFKThere Will Be BloodThe MasterManchester by the SeaSpotlightBarbieOppenheimerThe RaidThe Big LebowskiThe Sound of MusicForrest GumpHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1Black or WhiteThe Dark CrystalLabyrinthThe Night House
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV ShogunHomelandDownton AbbeyThe BearSesame Street
Promos Ringer Movies