The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
September 27, 2024/ 91 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins on 'Wolfs,' the Clooney and Pitt reunion Sean finds handsomely empty, and what it says about Apple's package-deal way of making movies. Plus: five things to watch this month, and Sean interviews 'Transformers One' director Josh Cooley. Amanda's last episode before parental leave.
34 films across 5 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.
Coming attractionsThe 'Sinners' trailer and the Christmas corridor
Ryan Coogler's first original film since 'Fruitvale Station' and his first outside a franchise in over 12 years. Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers; Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo co-star. Sean is fairly sure it's a vampire movie. As with Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,' Coogler negotiated eventual ownership of the film from Warner Bros. Out March 2025.
The pre-recorded review is coming next Tuesday; Amanda thought she was going into labor during the taping.
The kind of December release Sean dreads having to talk about; still dated for Christmas.
Dated December 20 opposite 'Nosferatu,' which Amanda points out makes for a seven-hour double feature.
Robert Eggers' Christmas-corridor entry; Amanda floats bringing her daughter, who is into Halloween.
The Christmas release most likely to actually be a hit, on the strength of the kids.
The Robbie Williams biopic that renders the pop star as a digitally animated monkey.
The Bob Dylan movie with Timothée Chalamet, pegged as one for the dads.
The Olympic boxing movie in the crowded six-day Christmas corridor.
Directed by Barry Jenkins, and quiet since the trailer dropped.
The Almodóvar entry rounding out the Christmas slate.
'Wolfs'With Amanda Dobbins
Written and directed by John Watts, his first film since a decade of Spider-Man movies. George Clooney and Brad Pitt, in their seventh collaboration, play rival fixers thrown together over one night cleaning up a New York DA's hotel disaster; Amy Ryan and Austin Abrams co-star. Sean's verdict: not bad, worse than bad, nothing. 'So mediocre it's appalling.' It's a comedy that isn't funny, a crime movie without a crime, and fixers who don't fix anything. The only bit that landed for either of them: two lingering close-ups of the stars on a subway at the very end. On Apple TV+.
John Watts' Kevin Bacon indie, the film that got him the Spider-Man job. Josh Cooley later names it as his last great watch too.
The Clooney fixer movie 'Wolfs' can't help evoking, and comes up short against. Sean's point: Clayton is in over his head but actually fixes things.
Cited (via Zach) as a movie with a better conspiracy than 'Wolfs' built on a similar two-stars setup.
The other Apple two-hander, Damon and Affleck; Sean had more fun with it ('it has more going on') and jokes 'Wolfs' is its junior.
The Apple originals ledgerGrading Apple's movie run, 2023 forward
Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan; the genre-y, pass-the-time movie Sean liked, the kind Netflix now makes more cheaply without stars.
Taron Egerton spending two hours trying to buy the rights to Tetris; Sean says it didn't work.
Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. 'A catastrophe of a romantic comedy' with actual continuity problems.
The Beanie Babies movie neither host had much to say about, beyond a Jerry Garcia bear tangent.
John Carney's sincere one with Eve Hewson and a YouTube guitar teacher played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Sean thought it was alright.
Christos Nikou's love-test premise with Jessie Buckley; a 'cracked' movie that didn't land.
One of the Mark Wahlberg streaming movies, apparently shot between 4:30 and 7 a.m.
The Scorsese masterpiece that shows up on the docket next to 'Ghosted' and the Beanie Bubble. With his Jesus and Sinatra films now shelved, both hosts wonder if it's his last.
Ridley Scott's, which Sean liked from the start; the lamb-chop-by-divine-right line is among his favorites of 2023.
Matthew Vaughn's, which Sean calls 'genuinely a nightmare'; Dua Lipa is in it for two minutes.
Erica Tremblay's Sundance film with Lily Gladstone; okay, not the achievement some claimed.
A near-miss that would have made more sense as a TV pilot than a feature.
Steve McQueen's, one of the two Apple films coming next after 'Wolfs.'
The Apple-financed Brad Pitt racing movie, shooting on location for longer than Amanda's pregnancy; Sean suspects 'Wolfs' bought Pitt time on it.
Five Movies You Need to See This MonthSean's recommendations
Based on Peter Brown's children's novel; a robot, Roz, bonds with an orphaned gosling. Sean's reason to go: it's one of the most gorgeous studio animated movies in recent memory. Chris Sanders ('Lilo & Stitch,' 'How to Train Your Dragon') directs.
The Sundance documentary in which Will Ferrell and his longtime friend Harper Steele take a road trip after Steele comes out as trans. Sean liked it most in the quiet, unspoken moments in the car; there's something in the closing credits he loved.
Azazel Jacobs' drama with Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters gathered as their father enters hospice in his New York apartment. Very Edward Albee, full of monologues, a deliberate stylistic choice that takes a while to settle into. Sean found it ultimately successful. On Netflix.
Josh Cooley on 'Transformers One'
The animated Cybertron-set origin story of Optimus Prime (Orion Pax) and Megatron (D-16), pitched by Cooley as an almost biblical friends-to-enemies tale. Chris Hemsworth voices a younger Optimus (an American accent, the gravitas without the wisdom yet) rather than franchise mainstay Peter Cullen. Cooley on the challenge: no humans and no cars means no built-in sense of scale, so Orion Pax becomes the scale character, a trick he carried over from 'Toy Story.' Voice cast includes Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In the 'Sinners' talk Fruitvale StationCreedBlack PantherOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1The Substance
In the Apple talk Bohemian RhapsodyRocketmanDeadpoolMidsommar
Josh Cooley's filmography Toy Story 4Inside OutRiley's First DateThe IncrediblesCarsRatatouilleWALL·EUpToy Story
Cooley's touchstones and influences Who Framed Roger RabbitPeter PanAlice in WonderlandLady and the TrampThe Transformers: The MovieBoogie NightsChinatownStar WarsSonic the Hedgehog
In the 'Will & Harper' talk My Dinner with AndreWings of DesireEasy Rider
In passing Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire SagaDespicable Me 4Harlan County U.S.A.Top Gun: MaverickIron Man
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Mr. McMahonThe Perfect CoupleG.I. JoeThunderCatsHe-Man
Theater Dear Evan HansenMerrily We Roll AlongWait Until DarkDeathtrapA Few Good Men
Brands CasamigosNespresso
Ads The Ringer NFL ShowGrow with GoogleWhite Claw