The Big Picture · Review · Awards · Discussion · Interview
January 12, 2021/ 116 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda review part one of HBO's Tiger Woods documentary, run down the National Society of Film Critics winners, map thirteen movies to catch up on before Oscar season, refight a stack of Best Picture mistakes, and open the mailbag. Plus: Tiger directors Matthew Hamachek and Matthew Heineman.
107 films across 7 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.
‘Tiger,’ Part OneHBO's two-part Tiger Woods documentary
Sean calls part one 90 minutes of highlight reel married to a father-son story, with Earl Woods playing Dr. Frankenstein to Tiger's monster. Amanda watched with her golf-obsessed husband narrating every shot. Both note it's light on scandal and heavy on golf, and they single out the final shot, a glimpse of the woman whose affair with Tiger becomes part two's story, as the film's best bit of filmmaking.
National Society of Film Critics Awardsthe season's first big critics' prize
The National Society's history of picking the 'cool kids'Sean and Amanda look back at past Best Picture winners
Amanda's example of a National Society Best Picture pick that also went on to win the Oscar.
Another case where the National Society and the Academy agreed.
Same case: both bodies picked the same winner.
The group's 2018 Best Picture, directed by Chloé Zhao, who's now the frontrunner again with Nomadland.
The 2017 National Society Best Picture; the Oscar that year went to The Shape of Water.
Godard's 2014 pick, Amanda's example of how far left-of-center the group can go.
The 2013 National Society Best Picture.
The 2012 pick, in Amanda's rundown of the group's history.
Thirteen movies to catch up on before Oscar seasonSean's playbook for the next two-plus months
Regina King's directorial debut: one long conversation among Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown, and Malcolm X on one night in 1964. On Amazon that Friday.
Writer-director Emerald Fennell and Carey Mulligan were on the show a few weeks earlier; the movie moves to VOD this week after a limited theatrical run.
The new Denzel Washington movie, on HBO Max January 29th. Sean doesn't expect an Oscar push but is rooting for one.
A small Bleecker Street drama with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as two lovers. Sean calls it a nice movie.
Zendaya and John David Washington in Sam Levinson's Netflix two-hander. Sean calls it this year's 1917: the late, noisy entrant nobody had seen until everybody suddenly had. It takes aim at movie journalists, which he expects to be divisive, and he thinks it might be a little overwritten.
HBO Max, February 12th. One of the two late arrivals Sean thinks reshapes the nominations, along with Malcolm & Marie.
Robin Wright's directorial debut, in which she also stars. Theaters February 12th, also premiering at Sundance.
Come up on the show some 20 times already; finally reaches theaters February 12th.
The clear Best Picture frontrunner, per both hosts. Theaters February 19th.
Kevin Macdonald's film about a man imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay awaiting trial for years. Sean thinks the movie itself is just okay but singles out Tahar Rahim's performance as a likely nominee.
The Russo brothers adapting Nico Walker's autofiction novel, with Tom Holland. Theaters February 26th, Apple TV+ March 12th.
Sean saw it at Sundance a year earlier and isn't as high on it as everyone else, though he agrees Anthony Hopkins is a lock for a Best Actor nomination. Sony Pictures Classics, notoriously hard to see.
Lee Daniels's new film starring Andra Day as Billie Holiday, recently picked up by Hulu from Paramount; expected February 26th.
Oscar Do-Oversmailbag: which Oscar win would you correct?
The MailbagSean and Amanda, with Bobby Wagner reading listener questions
Amanda's aside during the Pacino discussion: dread at the inevitable campaign to finally give Glenn Close an Oscar for this one.
Sean's answer for best 50 percent of a movie: the Parris Island first hour, with R. Lee Ermey's drill sergeant grinding the recruits down, is the most-cited great first half in movies.
Amanda's best-half pick: everything up through the first performance of 'Shallow' is dynamite, Dave Chappelle's odd cameo included.
Sean's answer on directors who might get lost to streaming: Preston Sturges's foremost classic, hard to find and with no restoration push behind it.
Sean's runner-up Sturges pick, right behind Sullivan's Travels.
Bobby admits he's seen it once, in college, and it isn't important to him, which horrifies Sean and Amanda enough that they assign it as homework. It resurfaces later as Amanda's ultimate comfort movie.
Amanda's alternate Sturges homework suggestion for Bobby.
Another Sturges title Amanda floats for Bobby to watch.
The third Sturges title on Amanda's list for Bobby.
Named in passing as the film that introduced Mifune's Sanjuro character.
Sean rewatched it recently; part of his answer, alongside Toshiro Mifune, to the favorite pre-1960 movie star question.
Amanda rewatched this Hepburn-Grant screwball comedy the week before; she's partial to the chemistry even if it's not her single favorite performance from either star.
Amanda's pure favorite of Cary Grant's performances.
Named alongside His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby as one of Grant's best.
The listener's question was inspired by the Criterion Cary Grant collection; Amanda notes Holiday had been out of circulation until Criterion picked it up.
One of Sean's favorite Cary Grant performances.
Sean loves this one too, and later picks its French Riviera set as the movie set he'd most like to visit: hanging out with Cary Grant while Grace Kelly is being courted by Prince Rainier.
Sean's evidence that Grant could have been an action star if he'd wanted to be.
One of the wartime-adjacent films Grant made instead of continuing purely as an action star.
The film at the center of a Pretend It's a City anecdote: Fran Lebowitz calls it Penny Arcade, Scorsese corrects her, then claims it was Grant's only Oscar nomination. Sean fact-checks that last part as wrong.
Grant's other Best Actor nomination, which Scorsese forgot: an obscure film few people have seen.
Sean's wife Eileen's favorite movie, by his best guess, and one he'd mentioned back on the show's Hitchcock episode.
Eileen's other longtime favorite, per Sean.
Eileen's unhealthy addiction, rounding out her probable top three.
Amanda's guessed (and wrong, by Zach's account) answer for his favorite movie.
One of the classic films Amanda and Zach watched together early in their relationship.
Amanda and Zach's failed attempt to watch together. They never finished it.
Zach refused to rewatch this with Amanda during their George Clooney Hall of Fame episode and instead reenacted it, yelling 'I am Shiva, the god of death' repeatedly.
Sean's guess for a genuine VOD hit this year, based on iTunes and Amazon charts.
Another likely VOD chart-topper, per Sean.
Named alongside Trolls World Tour and Tenet as a probable VOD hit with no reliable tracking.
Referenced via 'the whole Wonder Woman 1984 meltdown' over the studio not releasing box office or streaming numbers.
Amanda's pick for a movie set she'd want to visit: the Soderbergh version, for the fun of hanging out with 'cool people.'
Sean's pick: a long, secretive shoot with two of his favorite stars in the midst of their own marriage, making a film about a marriage's possible dissolution.
Amanda's most-anticipated Sundance title: comedian Jerrod Carmichael's directorial debut.
Sean's most-anticipated: Rebecca Hall's directorial debut, starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, and Bill Camp, based on the Nella Larsen novella.
Sean's pick: Sion Sono teaming with Nicolas Cage on a wild action movie.
A Nanfu Wang documentary about the pandemic, from the director of One Child Nation. Another Sundance breakout Sean says he couldn't recommend more, though it's devastating.
Amanda's pick: Questlove's directorial debut, produced by her friend Joey Patel.
Amanda's other pick: Edgar Wright's long-awaited documentary about the band Sparks.
One of Sean's ultimate comfort movies, joyful in a way he puts on often.
Another Sean comfort pick, rewatched again that week.
Sean's other kind of comfort movie: not soothing, exactly, but the one he turns to when he doesn't want to think.
Sean watched this constantly from 1996 through 2004; a comfort rewatch.
On Sean's comfort-movie list.
Sean's 1 a.m. insomnia rewatch the night before recording.
Also one of Sean's comfort movies, not soothing exactly, but comforting in the sense that 'they're gonna get the job done.'
Also on Sean's comfort list, alongside True Romance, Clerks, and The Big Lebowski.
Named in passing twice: once as another hard-to-see Sony Pictures Classics release, once in a bit of mailbag nostalgia alongside A Star Is Born.
Named alongside The Wife and A Star Is Born in the same bit of mailbag nostalgia.
Sean's example of how daring Burt Lancaster could be, willing to be hated on screen.
In conversation
The directors describe three months of trust-building to land subjects like Tiger's first girlfriend Dina Gravell and Navy course manager Joe Grohman, the two archival finds they consider most important (Earl Woods's 1996 Haskins Award speech and Gravell's home video of a teenage Tiger dancing), and why they wanted Tiger to have a 'voice' in the film even though he declined to participate.
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Last DanceO.J.: Made in AmericaPretend It's a CityPublic SpeakingWandaVisionThe Queen's GambitThe Year Without a Santa ClausThe Crown
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