The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
October 18, 2019/ 84 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda ask whether four new political-minded studio movies actually mean anything, then Ruben Fleischer explains ten years of Zombieland: Double Tap.
9 films across 2 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.
Movies in a state of political anxietyMaleficent, The Laundromat, Jojo Rabbit, and Zombieland: Double Tap
A Disney sequel that stumbles into a border-war, us-versus-them allegory. Michelle Pfeiffer's Queen Ingrith plays as a straightforward authoritarian, and Sean and Amanda can't tell if the movie knows how dark it's gotten.
Soderbergh's Panama Papers anthology, structured after Wild Tales, with Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas. It premiered to middling festival reviews, but Sean and Amanda liked it more than most; they think its nihilistic ending is exactly what turned people off.
Taika Waititi's Hitler satire won the audience award at Toronto. Amanda finds the emotional material, the kid, the Anne Frank figure, works better than the comedy, some of which lands on Jewish people rather than at the Nazis' expense.
Ten years later, the characters are still named for the cities they're from, which is either a comment on tribal identity or nothing at all. Sean mostly just thinks it works as a zombie comedy.
In conversation
Ten years in the making. An earlier draft with human villains missed the tone of the original entirely and got shelved.
Never a box-office giant, but it became a cable-and-DVD family staple. Woody Harrelson pushed the studio to cast an unknown Jesse Eisenberg.
Fleischer's reference point was An American Werewolf in London. He wrapped it two weeks before release, took a week off, then went straight into Double Tap prep.
His dark comedy, made in the gap between Zombieland films.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Also political-minded this year Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MissouriGreen BookJokerParasiteUsBombshellViceThe Big ShortWild Tales
Soderbergh, elsewhere The Informant!Erin BrockovichTrafficHigh Flying BirdUnsane
Disney and family-film precedent Mary PoppinsMary Poppins ReturnsThe Wizard of OzAladdinThe Lion KingKung Fu Panda 3Frozen
Zombie and genre lineage Night of the Living DeadAn American Werewolf in LondonThe UntouchablesPanic RoomNational Lampoon's Vacation
Waititi's other films Thor: RagnarokWhat We Do in the Shadows
Maleficent's cast, elsewhere Control
Ruben Fleischer's filmography Chuck & BuckSuperbadLeave No TraceDeadpoolDeadpool 2
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV SuccessionGame of ThronesThe Walking DeadThe Bold TypeStumptownDawson's CreekPeople Just Do NothingCheers
Podcasts Number One Boys
Named without a specific film Star Wars