The Big Picture · Discussion · Hall of Fame
April 23, 2025/ 96 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan
Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan open on the 'Weapons' teaser, then spend the first half on Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners': the one-crazy-night structure, genre as vocabulary, a vampire framework with no crosses, and the box-office noise around Coogler's 25-year ownership deal. Then they build a ten-film Val Kilmer Hall of Fame after his death at 65, grading his whole filmography green, yellow, or red. Tombstone, Heat, and The Doors are the three to start with; Spartan sneaks in, MacGruber and The Saint don't.
12 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.
Trailer talk: 'Weapons'the teaser drop
Zach Cregger's 'Barbarian' follow-up, bumped up to an August release and pitched (a framework they expect to regret) as 'Magnolia, but horror.' The hosts loved the 45-second teaser (a town's kids running off into the night, arms outstretched) and its Longlegs-style viral marketing, a late-'90s GeoCities-style maybrookmissing.com site. Josh Brolin and Julia Garner star; Brolin's role was reportedly once meant for Pedro Pascal.
The 'Sinners' surgeChris Ryan's takeaways, plus the box-office discourse
Ryan Coogler's original vampire movie, with Michael B. Jordan in a double role as Smoke and Stack. Chris Ryan came out loving it: a great one-crazy-night movie whose compression films do better than TV, a filmmaker using genre as vocabulary the way Godard and Leone did, and a post-Judeo-Christian vampire framework with no crosses or holy water. Jack O'Connell's Remmick reads as a 'white ally' turned bad, drawing people into a hive mind. The piercing-the-veil sequence and Brittany Howard's 'Pale, Pale Moon' are the peaks. Framed as a possible genre-movie Best Picture play, like Dune: Part Two or Everything Everywhere. Much of the segment is the box-office argument: profitability, streaming and licensing tails, and Coogler's much-discussed 25-year copyright reversion.
The Val Kilmer Hall of Famethe ten inducted films, after grading his whole filmography green, yellow, or red
Green on the first ballot. Chris Ryan's touchstone: the comic timing that could have made Kilmer a Bill Murray or a Cruise, the 'it's a moral imperative' bit, a total cable classic. Martha Coolidge directs.
Going in as Iceman. He goes toe-to-toe with Cruise in the locker-room and volleyball scenes before the last act hamstrings the character. The two were neck-and-neck for stardom for a while.
Yellowed, then promoted to green. Ron Howard's fantasy, a partner piece to The Princess Bride; Madmartigan is a Han Solo-ish goofball trapped in King Arthur's body. Sean saw it in a theater at six and it was his shit.
He literally becomes Morrison: the band said the recordings sounded better than Jim. A wildly flawed movie, but eerie when Val's locked in during the performance scenes. One of three films they'd hand a newcomer.
Sean's favorite Kilmer performance. Only five or so scenes, but 'I'm your huckleberry,' the gun-flipping showdown, and the Johnny Ringo standoff. Both agree it's weird he wasn't nominated.
In as an artifact, not a performance: he played Batman, the first line of the obituary, one of seven men to do it on film. Not a referendum on the movie.
'The deepest, darkest green we've ever had.' Possessed opposite Pacino and De Niro with barely any dialogue; the no-go-sign scene at the end. The best part of the never-made Heat 2.
Sean's one granted pick, and he knows it's divisive. Kilmer sings David Mamet's dialogue ('set that motherfucker to receive') even though the two reportedly clashed, which may be exactly why the performance crackles.
Green with a bullet. His affinity for Shane Black's tone, maybe the funniest performance of his late career, in RDJ's comeback. Makes you wish he'd been in The Nice Guys.
The capstone, made after the tracheotomies and the voice box. One near-wordless scene with Cruise that lands hard. Sean hears Amanda's voice threatening assassination if it were left off.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The finalists left off the ballot Top Secret!ThunderheartTrue RomanceThe SaintThe Salton SeaWonderlandMacGruber
His filmography, weighed and graded red Kill Me AgainThe Real McCoyThe Island of Dr. MoreauThe Ghost and the DarknessThe Prince of EgyptAt First SightJoe the KingPollockRed PlanetThe MissingBlind HorizonMasked and AnonymousStatesideAlexanderMindhuntersDéjà Vu10th & WolfMoscow ZeroSummer LoveFelonColumbus DayDelgoThe Chaos ExperimentAmerican CowslipBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansBloodworthThe TravelerKill the IrishmanTwixtWyatt Earp's RevengePalo AltoSong to SongThe SnowmanJay and Silent Bob RebootA Soldier's RevengePaydirtThe Love GuruHard Cash
In passing — the Sinners conversation BarbarianLonglegsThunderboltsThe Fantastic Four: First StepsThe Mandalorian and GroguNosferatuBlack BagBlack PantherOne Battle After AnotherOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodA Minecraft MovieThe Super Mario Bros. MovieGet OutThe SubstanceEverything Everywhere All at OnceDune: Part TwoAvatarAvatar: Fire and AshAlvin and the Chipmunks: The SqueakquelThe 400 BlowsSophie's Choice
In passing — the Kilmer conversation The Color of MoneyAirplane!The Naked GunThe OutsidersWeird ScienceHighlanderWyatt EarpRed Rock WestThe Last SeductionRoundersReservoir DogsLincolnThe Princess BrideUntamed HeartPump Up the VolumeAwakeningsBoogie NightsMission to MarsMegalopolisThe Nice GuysShot CallerDuneBlue VelvetDogmaClerksClerks IIJersey GirlJay and Silent Bob Strike BackPhantomsRockyGoodfellasTaking LivesTwo for the MoneyDisturbiaEagle EyeThe Disappointments RoomxXx: Return of Xander CageMaryHenry JohnsonThe ShroudsMiller's CrossingKingdom of HeavenLost Soul
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Last of UsRipleyIndustryManhuntBroken TrailWeird Science (USA Network series)The Amazing RaceGore Vidal's Billy the Kid
Video games OutRunSpy Hunter
Ads / podcasts American Express Business PlatinumStarbucks FrappuccinoSonic BoomThe TownJubilee