Ink
Danny Boyle; the one big title playing Venice, TIFF, Telluride and New York, but announced before Netflix acquired it.
The Big Picture · Discussion
The Summer Movie Mailbag
July 23, 2026/ 103 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
The summer mailbag: Venice's thin lineup and the ArcLight's 2028 return up top, then 600 reader questions on IMAX, Nolan after The Odyssey, and girl-dad cinema.
55 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 news: Venice, the ArcLight, Days of Thunder 2before the mailbag
Wild Horse Nine
Martin McDonagh; Malkovich, Rockwell, Buscemi. Effectively the festival's biggest movie this year, which says a lot.
Prime Time
A24, Lance Oppenheim; Robert Pattinson as a Chris Hansen figure. Dated Sept 25.
Bunker
Florian Zeller; Bardem and Cruz.
Bucking Fastard
Werner Herzog, starring the Mara sisters; one more Venice title in a thin year.
Look Back 2024
The Venice title is a live-action remake; Sean pushes the 60-minute anime on Prime instead.
Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger
Reunion-tour concert doc; the only major-studio movie at the whole festival.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019
Cliff Booth drives past the Cinerama Dome, the theater Alamo Drafthouse is now restoring for 2028.
Pride of the Yankees 1942
Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig; a stiff but good original now that Linklater and Simon Rich are doing a Gehrig biopic with Glenn Powell.
Days of Thunder 1990
Tony Scott; Cruise is now five years older than Duvall's coach was, but he'll be in the car, not coaching.
Days of Thunder 2
Jonathan Levine directing, Cruise back. Do we need it? Because people like cars going fast.
Baby Boom 1987
Amanda's on-air correction: Sam Shepard's character is a veterinarian, not a pediatrician.
The Wackness 2008
How most people know Jonathan Levine.
Snatched 2017
The Schumer/Hawn comedy, also Levine.
F1 2025
The obvious reason Days of Thunder 2 exists.
The mailbag600 questions, sifted by Jack Sanders and Lucas Cavanaugh
The Odyssey 2026
The through-line: IMAX 70mm scarcity, Zendaya's Athena as conscience rather than literal goddess, the missing penises, top-five-follow-up talk.
Avengers: Doomsday 2026
Dec 18, same day as Dune. 'Marvel is cooked' means creatively; it'll still make a billion dollars.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day 2026
Like Batman, always interesting; a one-protagonist movie versus Doomsday's everything-at-once.
Dune: Part Three 2026
Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune Messiah; opens against Doomsday. Won't win the box office, likely wins the awards.
Project Hail Mary 2026
Near-lock for a Best Picture nomination alongside The Odyssey.
The Invite 2026
Olivia Wilde; the counter-programming awards play: small, one location, strong word of mouth, a Best Picture maybe.
Behemoth
Also Olivia Wilde; keeps her around all season.
Obsession
Box-office horror hit in the Weapons mold; the movie Nolan took his kids to.
The Brutalist 2024
The kind of late-breaking festival surprise that could nudge The Invite out.
Wuthering Heights 2026
Sean's foil for The Odyssey: an adaptation whose changes he couldn't follow.
Eyes Wide Shut 1999
Sean's rebuttal to the Nolan-is-Kubrick comparison.
Sense and Sensibility 1995
Amanda's pitch: Nolan retells it from Mr. Willoughby's perspective.
Barbie 2023
The Barbenheimer template for splitting Doomsday/Dune coverage.
Oppenheimer 2023
The other half of the split-episode precedent.
Dunkirk 2017
The reader's annual hammered-screening, shots when a plane goes down.
Conclave 2024
The cardinal-costume election party the hosts can't top.
Tár 2022
Watch-party pitch: everyone comes as Lydia Tár.
Maestro 2023
Double-featured with Tár, conducting competition, cucumber salad.
Babylon 2022
Durational, ample opportunity to get very drunk.
Regretting You 2025
A Colleen Hoover festival, blitzed.
The Room 2003
The ingenuity of a movie repurposed into a Rocky Horror-style ritual.
The Social Reckoning 2025
Sorkin's Social Network sequel floated as a girl-dad entry / Zuckerberg rebuttal bit.
Tony
Matt Johnson's Anthony Bourdain portrait; Sean's early pick for movie of the summer.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Jack's pick for best movie of the summer.
Girl-dad cinemathe canon, pending Adam Nayman's 'Daughter Theory'
Somewhere 2010
Sofia Coppola, herself the product of a girl-dad relationship; the platonic entry.
First Man 2018
Doubles as the marriage question. Janet, rightly furious he's going to the moon.
One Battle After Another 2025
'Grab the belt.'
Aftersun 2022
The one most people point to.
Trap 2024
'We were there.'
Logan 2017
Figuratively a girl-dad movie via X-23.
Taken 2008
Canonical text.
Clueless 1995
Dan Hedaya's dad knows his daughter has the juice.
Father of the Bride 1991
The forever one.
To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
Atticus and Scout.
Poor Things 2023
Girl-Frankenstein division; Dafoe as dad.
The Nice Guys 2016
Gosling's daughter, a great girl-dad turn.
We Live in Time 2024
Too raw; got Amanda.
Sentimental Value
An incredible, complicated girl movie.
The Descendants 2011
Clooney at his best outside Michael Clayton; overdue a rewatch.
Moneyball 2011
Sean's throw-in.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Best Picture follow-ups The GodfatherThe Godfather Part IIThe ConversationThe Talented Mr. RipleyThe English PatientShutter IslandThe DepartedLawrence of ArabiaThe Bridge on the River KwaiThe Magnificent AmbersonsCitizen KaneGreen Book
Opened the same day Toy StoryCasinoGhostbustersGremlinsVenomA Star Is BornThe Dark KnightMamma Mia!Mamma Mia! Here We Go AgainScarfaceTerms of EndearmentMoonstruckBroadcast News
In passing Joker: Folie à DeuxThe Basics of PhilosophyHere Comes the FloodLa Bola NegraMr. IrrelevantLa La LandA Bigger SplashMichael ClaytonThe HoldoversDigger
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV AndorThe MandalorianHow to Catch a Predator
IMAX / nature programming Turtle OdysseyThe Coral SeaBBC Earth: Wild AsiaLife at Extremes 3DOcean Dreams 3D
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