The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2023
Amanda took a spring-break matinee full of kids yelling 'Goomba' and came out thinking it's a fine ride for seven-year-olds, though she and Sean got into it over what a kids' movie owes a kid beyond distraction.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
The Two Best Movies of 2023 So Far, and 10 More We Missed. Plus: Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt!
April 11, 2023/ 93 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda name the two best movies of the year, then race through everything from the first quarter of 2023 they haven't gotten to yet. Plus: Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt on their fourth film together.
21 films across 6 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 Super Mario Bros. Moviea $377 million opening weekend
Showing UpMichelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt's fourth collaboration
Showing Up 2023
Sean's favorite movie of the year so far: Michelle Williams as a Portland ceramicist making work to show to the same small crowd over and over, funnier and lighter than the director's other films but with the same ache underneath.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
How to Blow Up a Pipeline 2022
Adapted from Andreas Malm's nonfiction manifesto into a tightly wound heist thriller about young climate activists. Sean's other favorite of the year: Ocean's Eleven's structure played for tension instead of fun.
The Ones We Missedcatching up on the first quarter of 2023
Rye Lane 2023
A day-in-London rom-com with David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah. The best of this batch, per Sean.
The Five Devils 2022
A French mother-daughter mystery about a girl with a preternatural sense of smell. Sean called it a scarier, more grounded Petite Maman.
Boston Strangler 2023
Keira Knightley as the reporter who broke the case. A handsome, overqualified programmer that can't touch Zodiac.
One Fine Morning 2022
Mia Hansen-Løve's latest, with Léa Seydoux. Sean liked it less than her Bergman Island.
Pacifiction 2022
Albert Serra's 165-minute slow burn about a French bureaucrat in Tahiti, reportedly David Fincher's favorite film in years.
Sharper 2023
A con-artist thriller with Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan. Good premise, B-minus execution.
Tori and Lokita 2022
The Dardenne brothers' latest, about two young African immigrants surviving in a Belgian city. Well made, familiar ground for them.
Missing 2023
A screen-life thriller in the Searching mold, Storm Reid hunting for her missing mother.
Murder Mystery 2 2023
Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston's sequel, half of it shot on what looks like green screen. A few laughs, not much else.
A Good Person 2023
Zach Braff directs then-girlfriend Florence Pugh through an opioid-addiction story opposite Morgan Freeman.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods 2023
Amanda called it flat-out awful: bad CGI, none of the first film's charm. It got pulled to VOD after three weeks in theaters.
Tetris 2023
The 'true story' of the video game's Cold War rights battle, staged like Ocean's Eleven minus the fun. Amanda watched the whole thing anyway.
Coming Up: The Movie Swapa preview of Friday's three-way swap
Casablanca 1942
Amanda's pitch to Bobby, who's somehow never seen it.
Spy Kids 2001
Bobby's pitch, reportedly his fiancée's dad's favorite movie.
The In-Laws 1979
Sean's pitch, one of the funniest movies of the '70s.
In conversation
Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt on
Showing Up 2023
Their fourth collaboration after Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff, and Certain Women. Williams spent weeks with Portland ceramicist Cynthia Lahti to learn to work the clay on camera.
Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt on
The Passionate Friends 1949
Reichardt's last great thing: a David Lean melodrama with Claude Rains, caught on Criterion.
Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt on
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind 2022
Reichardt's other pick, Ethan Coen's then-unreleased documentary, seen 'in a secret way.'
Also mentioned raised along the way
Kelly Reichardt's filmography, discussed with the guests Wendy and LucyMeek's CutoffCertain WomenFirst CowNight Moves
In passing AirThe FabelmansZodiacBridge of SpiesThe Battle of AlgiersOcean's ElevenThe KillingThe Banshees of InisherinCamSearchingUnfriendedMurder MysteryGarden StateThe Boston StranglerBergman IslandGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3PassagesThe Death of Louis XIVLibertéPetite MamanThe Worst Person in the WorldDecision to LeaveM3GANTárTop Gun: Maverick
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV SuccessionIndustry
Podcasts What About Your Friends?WTF with Marc Maron
Games Super Mario KartTetris (the video game)
Ads Nas EnergyBoar's HeadFanDuelCarvanaNetflix (FIFA World Cup Launch Edition)