The Big Picture · Discussion
August 27, 2021/ 100 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean is back from parental leave with two months of half-remembered notes on Roadrunner, Black Widow, and Space Jam. Amanda walks him through the discourse, then they compare what was actually worth watching this summer.
27 films across 9 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.
Roadrunner and the ethics of AI in documentarythe Anthony Bourdain doc
Director Morgan Neville used an AI voice model to re-create three lines Bourdain wrote but never recorded, and mentioned it almost offhand in a New Yorker interview. Sean interviewed Neville for the show and didn't know about the AI or the decision to leave Asia Argento out entirely.
Corporate synergy and Space Jam: A New Legacy
Sean watched 20 minutes, called it absolute trash, and mostly softened after hearing Chris Vernon's 'it's a kids' movie, don't overthink it' take on The Mismatch.
Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson, and a lawsuit that reset how deals get made
Underperformed relative to other MCU entries but held up fine against the summer's overall box office. The real story is Johansson suing Disney over the simultaneous Disney+ release cutting into her backend.
Emma Stone quietly settled her own backend dispute with Disney about a week after reports she was considering suing too.
The House of Gucci trailer, and a stacked Thanksgiving weekend
The trailer alone lifted Sean's mood for the whole summer: the accents, Jared Leto's costuming, Lady Gaga playing Italian-American like she's doing Rasputin.
Peter Jackson's six-hour Fab Four documentary, arriving one day after Gucci. They're counting all six hours as a movie.
PTA's next film, known here only by its production-era working title, 'Soggy Bottom.'
Stillwater, Amanda Knox, and a strange Matt Damon performance
Amanda Knox objected to the film's resemblance to her story after press coverage tagged it the 'Amanda Knox saga.' Sean: absorbing for the first hour and forty-five minutes, a disaster after.
The Suicide Squad bombs in theaters — maybe not on HBO Max
90% on Rotten Tomatoes and reportedly one of the year's biggest theatrical bombs. Sean liked it for lacking the 'we're all friends here' Marvel sheen.
Uh-oh movies: a fall logjam and one very quiet bombrelease dates and a $2 million opening weekend
Its trailer became the most-watched in movie history, which may be why Venom keeps getting nudged around the release calendar.
An $80 million Hugh Jackman sci-fi film released day-and-date on HBO Max that made $2 million in its opening weekend.
The best movies of the summersmall stuff, mostly
Amanda spent $60 renting it three times after streaming and 4K problems; admired it more than she enjoyed it. Sean calls it a four-star movie, the best-made thing of the summer.
Sean watched it on an iPad in a hospital recliner within 24 hours of his daughter's birth. Rebecca Hall carries a genuinely upsetting film.
Nicolas Cage as a reclusive former chef hunting down whoever stole his truffle pig, not the revenge thriller the premise implies. Sean calls it one of Cage's best performances in years.
Amanda disliked it out of Sundance, then rewatched it after having a baby and cried. Formulaic and manipulative, and it worked on her anyway.
A Sparks musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, directed by Leos Carax. Sean admires the ambition and can't get past the songs.
Domino-art documentary that won the SXSW jury prize Sean sat on this year.
Val Kilmer's self-shot archival documentary about his own career, assembled after losing his voice to throat cancer. Moving, but noticeably incurious about his on-set reputation.
Amanda's late add: adapted from the viral Twitter thread, and the movie she's heard the most about from people who don't otherwise follow movies.
The not-so-good list
Sean's most animated take of the episode: cynical and recycled, undercut by its own third-act cameo dump of Marvel and Star Wars props.
A kids'-movie version of The Lost City of Z, per Amanda, buried under CGI despite an action director.
A formulaic, two-and-a-half-hour Aretha Franklin biopic. The studio-session scenes land; Jennifer Hudson's rendition of the title song doesn't clear the bar Franklin set.
M. Night Shyamalan's beach-trap thriller: strong for the first 100 minutes, undone for both hosts by an ending that isn't really a twist.
Nia DaCosta's continuation, produced and co-written by Jordan Peele. Sean: every character explains the movie's themes out loud, which makes it play more like an essay than a horror film.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing Hillbilly ElegyThe Sparks BrothersPrisoners of the GhostlandThe Lost City of ZMolly's GameCasablancaKing Arthur: Legend of the SwordMurder on the Orient Express
Looking ahead to fall DuneJackass Forever
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Call My AgentThe SopranosM*A*S*HDallas
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