The Big Picture · Review · Discussion · Interview
April 4, 2022/ 90 min/ Sean Fennessey · Van Lathan
Sean Fennessey and Van Lathan review 'Morbius,' then run down their favorite vampire movies. Later, Sean talks to Charlie McDowell about his one-location noir 'Windfall.'
28 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.
‘Morbius’Sean Fennessey and Van Lathan
Sean thought it was flat-out bad: thin characters, laughable effects, a hard-R comic book movie without wit or sensuality, built around post-credits stingers that barely connect to the film itself. Van walked in with rock-bottom expectations and came out defending it. He liked the body-horror scene of Morbius reverting to his sickly human form, and says the disease-and-cure angle taps something vampire movies rarely explore.
Talking Vampiresfavorites and formative viewing, not a strict ranking
Van's first vampire movie, tied to a family story about his grandmother knowing star Calvin Lockhart.
Terrified Van as a kid. Sean calls it one of the great vampire performances in movie history, directed by Tobe Hooper, even though it's technically a miniseries.
Part of Van's childhood vampire-movie pipeline.
Sean's touchstone for the Morbius comparison: Brad Pitt's cursed, self-aware vampire. Van respects it but prefers stories that pit vampires against humans rather than dwelling entirely inside vampire interiority.
Francis Ford Coppola's "heady, amazing" entry, per Van.
Nicolas Cage going "so over the top, it's crazy."
Jim Carrey's early vampire comedy, part of Van's backdrop of basic vampire movies.
Sean's shoutout to the Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi original, one of the movies that hooked him on film as a kid.
One of Sean's favorites: a great action movie and a great vampire movie at once.
Van calls it one of the most important movies ever made. Sean notes it's the film's 100th anniversary, with new Dracula/Nosferatu films reportedly coming from Karyn Kusama and Robert Eggers.
John Carpenter's, and Van's actual favorite: humans hunting vampires, both fearless, James Woods and Daniel Baldwin, with Thomas Ian Griffith (Karate Kid Part III's Terry Silver) as the vampire lead.
Van says the Will Smith version tilts more zombie than vampire.
The earlier Charlton Heston take on the same story, closer to actual vampires per Van.
Abel Ferrara's black-and-white Lily Taylor movie, which Sean just rewatched for the first time in 20 years: a Cypress Hill and Onyx soundtrack, Fredro Starr in the cast.
Sean's pick, "a perfect 80s film," and Joel Schumacher's vampire movie.
Eddie Murphy playing it straight as a vampire didn't land for audiences at the time, per Van, but he says it holds up as a vampire film.
Van's honorable mention, a low-budget horror movie written and directed by its star James Bond III, shot by Ernest Dickerson, with Samuel L. Jackson. Set during the AIDS crisis; scared Van as a kid and still does.
Sean's number one: Kathryn Bigelow, Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton, with a Tangerine Dream score and a bar-massacre scene Sean still calls messed up.
Charlie McDowell on ‘Windfall’
His Netflix noir, shot in one location with Jesse Plemons, Lily Collins, and Jason Segel, all three cast against type, including Segel as a genuine asshole.
His low-budget debut, one location and two actors, which he rewatched while prepping Windfall's blocking.
Rewatched for how a single inciting incident ripples outward through a relationship.
Polanski's three-hander he studied for blocking a triangle of two men and a woman in one space.
Lily Collins was shooting this during their relationship. Watching the finished film, he was struck by how much she'd been carrying that he hadn't seen at home.
Praised for friends Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, who he calls two of the greatest actors in Hollywood.
Paolo Sorrentino's film, "weird and funny," mood-dependent.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Spider-Man extended universe VenomVenom: Let There Be CarnageSpider-Man: HomecomingSpider-Man: No Way HomeSpider-Man 3The Amazing Spider-Man 2Uncharted
MCU tone check Iron ManThorAnt-Man
In passing Coming 2 AmericaBatman ForeverThe ClientA Time to KillBatman & Robin8MMThe Unbearable Weight of Massive TalentPoint Break
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Tales From the LoopThe OAEmily in Paris
Podcasts Recipe ClubMidnight BoysHigher Learning
Ads Boar's HeadNetflix (FIFA World Cup Launch Edition)Botox