The Big Picture - 10 Movies We Can’t Wait to See This Fall

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

Sean and Amanda open today’s show by breaking down the weekend box office and highlighting the solid performance of ‘Coyote vs. Acme,’ the continued bulldozing by ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘The Odyssey,’ and the big bomb by ‘The Dog Stars.’ Then, they kick off their fall movie preview by each highlighting five movies they can’t wait to see and three movies they’ve seen and would recommend. Finally, they create the "September Oscars” and select five “guaranteed” Oscar nominations from films that have already been released. (0:00) Intro (0:38) ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ (6:08) ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘The Odyssey’ box office (9:32) ‘Buddy’ (10:38) ‘The Dog Stars’ bombs at the box office (12:20) Anne Hathaway joins the ‘Days of Thunder’ sequel (15:44) Five movies we can’t wait to see this fall (59:11) Three movies we’ve seen and would recommend (1:13:12) The September Oscars (five Oscar nomination guarantees from films that have already come out) Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jack Sanders Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan®. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there®. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennacy. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is the big picture at Conversation Show about the fall movie season. Today on the show, we're delivering our official fall movie preview. We're just days away from visiting a pair of fall film festivals. So before we've seen it all, we're going to share with you the movies we can't wait to see, the ones we have seen and highly recommend and a few wild predictions. Plus, we'll break down some movie news right after this. Okay, Dobbins.

Hey, Big Dog, Big Dog, 6 p.m. flight. Let's go. So you're, we're eight hours away. Well, I'm eight hours from an 18-hour travel day, but yes. Thank you for podcasting today. We appreciate that. Did you get out to the movie theater this weekend? I did. You did?

I did. I saw Coyote v. Acme. No kidding. With my two children. I'm going to be really real with you. I saw 45 minutes of Coyote v. Acme before my younger son was like too scary mama outside. Again, he's not quite two. It was 100 degrees.

We had a cold hit the family. Like a lot of situations I was sold. parenting. So we hit the La Cagnada 8. Knox sat in the seat, loved it. And I was charmed. And then I had to go outside with Cy. Was Knox able to stay or did he also have to leave? At some point, he did have to leave. Again, he was also sick. So I'm not a total expert, but I was there. There were more people than I expected. This was like a 4 p.m. I think on a Thursday showing or Friday. And way more adults than I expected. Right. So I want to talk about. about that. So Coyote v. Acme was the, I guess, the big movie, the big new movie at the box office.

We did an episode about dog stars last week, which bombed terribly at the box office. And we can talk about that momentarily. Many people are talking about the car heart, though. They sure are. Coyote versus Acme has been in the news for three years now. In 2023, the film was dumped by Warner Brothers and I guess David Zazlov has a tax write-off. And there was a lot of social media outrage about this and ketchup entertainment swooped in and acquired the film for reportedly $50 million. And all these years later, the movie, which has become a real cause-seleb online, comes out.

Mm-hmm. And it did $15.5 million at the box office. Okay. Which is... Okay. It's not bad. It's not great. But it's great that the movie got to be released.

Yes. I did see it a couple of, like maybe a month ago. And I watched it with Alice. and I thought it was interesting because it did strike me as something that I have been talking about a lot on the show over the years, which is like it did feel a little bit more like a movie for me than a movie for her.

Yes. And I certainly fell in love with Looney Tunes when I was her age. And Looney Tunes are kind of a primal entertainment. Of course. They're sort of the er minions, right? Yes, exactly. And so I was a little bit befuddled by the movie. Sure.

But that might have just been the circumstances under which we saw it. So a crucial distinction is that Looney Tunes, are in large part visual humor. And I knew that I hid me, not like a miscalculation, but I knew that I had a different understanding of what we were getting into when Wiley Coyote's jokes were all words written on a sign and my four-year-old can't read yet.

So I'm sitting there wrestling a two-year-old. Again, you know, I wasn't the ideal moviegoer at this situation and thanks to everyone at the La Cuniatta 8. But I'm like wrestling a two-year-old and leaning over to a four-year-old to read the signs so that he can understand the joke. And I was like, oh, okay. So not a this-level kid's movie. I think that's right.

I think it's like for somewhere between 8 to 12 is a more appropriate age, where you can read and you get the visual cues and maybe you have a pre-existing relationship with Looney Tunes. But also, you might be interested in a legal comedy because this is truly a legal comedy. And that's cool. And look, Who Frame Roger Rabbit, one of my favorite movies of all time. So the integration of live action and animated, I think. is really, really artfully done in this movie. Sure.

And I do love the Looney Tunes, but the Lino Tunes don't hold a lot of, they certainly don't hold as much, I don't know, interest, I think, generally speaking, for younger kids now than they did say 20 years ago or 50 years ago. Does that seem accurate to you? Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say that there are any, there's like no branded merchandise available. Right. I wonder if that's disallowed because of the way that this film was acquired and who owns the Loonie Tunes

brand. Right. But also I think in the way that you just, my children do know who Mickey Mouse is, but they don't really know any of the Looney Tunes. And they also know who Paw Patrol is, which is just real tough. But because those billboards are everywhere. Yeah, the Dino movie. Yeah.

We've managed to avoid that. Knox can recognize it, but I just explained to him that we don't have Paw Patrol on the big picture. So, and we do not. Well, that's been a fact. Yeah. I did hear from a mutual friend of ours that they really enjoyed the Paw Patrol movie. Okay. And I'll tell you about that.

Off Mike. I think this is a really interesting, it's obviously a fascinating business story. The movie itself, I think, is cool and was kind of destined to be a cult object as soon as Warner Brothers shook it off. I do think it's, it is a little bit, once again, like a reckoning with people who are trying to kind of reprocess the things that they loved when they were young and make it mainstream for younger people. I think my five-year-old and your four-year-old are just a little bit below the cutoff line of interest. But I have heard plenty of people say that they're seven and eight-year-olds really, really had a fun time with it. And movies like this also can be like gateways to more grown-up adult stuff. This might be the first courtroom that, or certainly one of the first, you know, conference room tables across which there is a deposition, you know.

No, there's a courtroom. Yeah, there's a courtroom. Yeah, there's a courtroom. Yeah. I was thinking specifically of John Cena going nose to nose with Hul Forte. You know, just a fascinating artifact to me. And a movie that I would say I soft recommend, it did come in second place at the box office to Spider-Man Brand New Day, which is in its fifth weekend, still at number one. Yeah.

It made $22 million. It's not quite going to get to a billion. It is probably going to get past. And is that disappointing to you personally? No. But it was like something I was curious about. I was like, could a film domestically get to a billion dollars? That's something that's never happened before.

Okay. And it doesn't look like it, but that's fine. The Odyssey came in third place this weekend with $14 million. It's been seven, eight weeks since the Odyssey came out. It's made $560 million in America. Okay. That's good. That's not as much as Oppenheimer made, if I recall?

No, it is. It is. Yeah. No, Oppenheimer made like 980 worldwide. I think this is going to make $1.8 billion worldwide. Okay, good. So that's a lot. Oh, that's good.

I mean, it's very good. Yeah. Spider-Man and the Odyssey represent. like 60% of the box office this summer, maybe more? Maybe it's 80% of the box office? Any thoughts? I think we knew that that was coming, and that's okay. The Spider-Man thing did take me by surprise.

I knew it would be big. I never would have guessed second biggest movie of all time, third biggest movie of all time. I guess I wouldn't have either just because I don't really sit there with my charts as much as you do. I do like a chart. You and the boys saw news and deals. Yeah.

Hello? I'm still not on that. You don't want to be on that. You don't want to be excluded. You don't want to be excluded. I hear reports. You know, I'm like the news and deals therapist. It's like you all come to be individually with your complaints, your questions, your thoughts, and that's fine.

News and deals is a text chain with some friends of our, mutual friends of ours that is primarily about physical media. Yeah, which I don't. And strongly held movie opinions. I don't care about. Anyway, if I'd actually thought about it for three seconds, I mean, no way home was absolutely like a rocket ship and we at the same time were like wow didn't really see this coming and is this going to get a best picture nomination and we should have seen that coming i mean it's spider man people really like spider man and young people really like spider man so i you know i don't think that i could

have predicted the the historical stats but that Oppenheimer and brand new day were going to be the two tent poles of the summer i mean we organized our vacation schedule around that like we had some idea. You're right. We sure did do that. And thank you to my wife for being understanding about that. Thank you to my in-laws. Yeah. I think I would, if you would have asked me to guess, I would have said, that movie will make $1.7 billion or $1.8 billion, not $2.5 or whatever it's going to end up at. And, you know, it sounds like maybe not a big deal if you're not a movie podcaster. But it's, that's a wide chasm. That's a big gap. I mean, making it one of the biggest movies of all time is fascinating. And again, like, I don't think we can say, well, that's just, that was a blue.

flip. No Way Home, at the time, I felt certain that it would be really popular despite COVID because they were doing something that had really never been done before with bringing the previous iterations of those characters altogether. This was just a Spider-Man movie. I mean, it introduced an X-Man, an ex-woman, but aside from that, it was, you know, villains and MJ and Peter and, you know, emotional trauma set against New York City. Yeah. A good version of it. But anyway, I remain fascinated by it. The only other movie, which I assume you did not see or take your children to, that was a note this weekend to me is Buddy.

So Buddy is a new horror movie, independently released horror movie from Casper Kelly, who made too many cooks. And the movie is sort of like a melange of Barney the Dinosaur and Pee Wee's Playhouse. But if it were a horror movie. Well, you know, as if the originals aren't. Well, there's something unnerving and creepy about the originals. Pee's Playhouse I adore and was raised on. Barney was a little bit after my time. Is it Daniel Kaluya who's making a Barney movie?

Reportably. But for grown-ups, but you know, you have to imagine. Although I wonder, will that happen now? Because of Buddy. Buddy, which I also did see, which I thought had a very, very, like, sharply drawn and entertaining first two-thirds. And then I thought kind of overstated to welcome a little bit in the third act. It was a cool movie.

It made almost $6 million at the box office over the weekend on like $1,000. and screens, which is honestly a huge success for a movie like this. I just think it's cool, and I just want to know that. That's great. Yeah. People didn't want to see a Lortie and his dog. I mean, it almost made as much money as the dog stars. I know.

I see that. The dog stars made $8 million. It made $19 million worldwide. This is a $100 million post-apocalyptic thriller from the man who made alien. I mean, sort of a thriller. Right. Sure. Yeah.

More of a chiller. Yeah. More of a riddley and chiller. What does this mean for the dog stars struggles here? thing. Ridley's making Treasure Island next. Yeah. I mean, I guess this is like a notable box office failure for Ridley, but it's not like anyone's taken his last three to four movies hugely seriously. It's true.

So I, you know, he'll keep going because as you mentioned, Scott Free is such like a giant production and he is kind of his own universe and can keep funding stuff. Does it mean that the, or is it another reminder that the reinforcement or the support for old school movies starring movie stars made by people who were big in the 90s, no one really cares anymore? Yeah, that's, no one cares. Yeah, it took a little hit. Yeah. It took a little hit, you know. Zendaya, Tom Holland, okay.

Yeah. Jacob Allurety, Margarqualee, maybe not quite there yet. It'd be interesting to see how they react in terms of their careers. I was just watching a film that Margar Pauly starring in this fall just last night that we can talk about when we get back from the fall festivals. Any other news and notes for you? You mentioned X-Men? We didn't really check in on that. Okay.

Oh, well, let's talk about that because X-Men, I guess we have to keep the podcast going till May, 2028 now. Yes. We've agreed to extend the run of the show. But, you know, over the weekend, it was announced that Anne Hathaway would be joining Tom Cruise and Days of Thunder 2. Of course. This is the big news. So now it's June 2020. that we have to keep podcasting. We honestly need one of the countdown boards here where it's just June, you know, 28 and we just keep revising it.

One of the wonderful things about movie fan is even when it comes to a movie like Days of Thunder, I don't really have much of a relationship at all to the original Days of Thunder. I don't think it's that great. It's not one of my Tom Cruise movies. Not one of my Tony Scott movies. A lot of people love it. That's cool. It's being, you know, rebooted for a reason. But, you know, I love Anne Hathaway.

I know. I do too. And I love her going after the brass ring while she can. She's having a huge summer. Well, she's like, I'm cashing my chips in right now. Attach me to your mega franchise, Jerry Bruckheimer. I think it's a smart idea. Nicole Kidman not available, apparently.

What do you think happened there? Well, so she's playing a neuroscientist, right? She did in the original, yes. Or a neurosurgeon, neurosurgeon. That's right. A 24-year-old neurosurgeon. Yeah, I think probably, I don't know, don't you think her brain is like, that neurosurgeons brain is like frozen somewhere in science doing something else.

So you think the character is just unavailable? Do you think she'll be dead in the film? Her character will be dead? I think they won't talk anymore. Interesting. Yeah. Tom Cruise, you think he will be the man behind the wheel, the primary engine, so to speak, of the movie? Or will there be a baton pass?

Will there be a Miles Teller who's involved? And he'll be the Newman? Yeah. Or who's in Days of Thunder, not Newman? Days of Thunder's Robert Duval. Duval, right. And Newman is color of money. I think that he will be driving because he's Tom Cruise and he can't help it.

And, you know, Pitt did F1. And so now he has to also get in the wheel. And I'm sure he'll be at NASCAR events for like 45 years. NASCAR versus F1. What are your thoughts? The people are driving fast. I really honestly, I don't. Sintillating commentary.

I do in general like movies where things go fast. You do. That is a vein of action movie that speaks to me. but there's usually, like, except for in the case of F1, a narrative built around it. And I don't really understand what's going on with F1 and Ascar. I didn't watch the Netflix show. I know everyone who watched the show, it's been narrativized. It does also seem like the F1 culture, which people, Juliet Lippman, for example, is a huge fan.

And she's like, I think this would speak to you. But it has sort of a Vegas feel to it that doesn't speak to me. Okay. So, you know, I know people love it. I wish them well. I feel like it's really more about Monaco and places like that, right? Those are destinations you enjoy. You know, I've never been to Monaco.

Okay. You better get working on that. I guess so. Yeah, Days of Thunder 2, which is going to be directed by Jonathan Levine, a filmmaker who doesn't have a ton of experience making movies like this. Like big action, Ten Polly films. So it would be interesting to see how that tracks over. But happy for Hathaway. Yeah.

She's crushing it. She's got another movie coming out. one month will it be mentioned here on our fall movie preview? Oh, I forgot to put that on there. Yeah. Oh, well, spoiler alert for our list. All right. I know what I'm going to do then.

Okay. Look at that. Whoa. Whoa. Well. Well, we may need to circle back to that title that was just deleted. Okay. Well, let's talk about the fall.

Okay. So it's been a very top heavy first eight months of the year in terms of big ticket releases. And certainly when it comes to the prestige, award season, this is high time, and yet the Odyssey has already come out and taken over movie culture. I think it's reasonable to assume that The Odyssey is going to get somewhere between 11 and 14 Oscar nominations, and I think it is the heavy betting favorite right now to win Best Picture. Absolutely. So this is kind of unusual, because I guess we did have this with Oppenheimer a few years ago,

but by that point, Christopher Nolan had never not gotten over the hump yet with the Academy Awards. And now there does feel like a bit of a foregone conclusion. just in terms of that specific component of the next six to seven months of what movies are people going to see, what are they interested in, and what is sort of like the primacy of movie culture. It doesn't mean that there's not a lot of really interesting stuff coming out. And I'm very excited, not just to go to tell your eye, but to kind of map out this year. It feels a little bit smaller, though, than it does most years. Like, you've been mentioning the Thanksgiving opening, and many people have pointed out. out to us that Grant Theft Auto 6 comes out November 20th. Right.

And that that legitimately will take over a huge portion of like pop cultural hive mind. I think that's very smart to people have noted that to us. And certainly box office. Yeah. People will be staying home and not going out. And it does seem to your point about The Odyssey that the studios, people programming for Oscars, et cetera, have decided, okay, so the Odyssey is the big budget prestige Oscars movie.

We don't have to, we don't really have to compete in that vein. And so if we're going to be going for dollars, which we are the rest of the time, we're going with franchises. And we're like, what is the new meet the fucker is called? Focker-in-law. Fawker-in-law, which is also, I believe, scheduled for Thanksgiving and is just, you know, pure like family counter-programming. And honestly, it looks mildly funny to me. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be entertaining. So, yeah, so that the Odyssey has kind of cleared the board in terms of people trying to compete in the heavyweight.

Yeah. Most of what we've done here in terms of what we're talking about is not quite December releases. It's more the sort of September, October, November stuff, and we'll have plenty of time to talk about that. But obviously, we do have Dune Part 3, which is one of those large franchises that you're talking about, which is also an Oscar contender. That's an unusual circumstance where, in all likelihood, given the fact that it's won some awards in recent years has been nominated for Best Picture. That one will think about it. And we did a Project Hill Mary, which I think is similarly kind of a big tent movie that a lot of people went to go see. And so if you take those three movies, it's like, wow, we've got three pretty

mainstream movies that are serious best picture contenders. So how did you think about five movies you can't wait to see? Just pure primal emotion? Yeah, instinct. I just opened the dock up on my phone and started writing. It's rare that I get an empty slate, right, where you have handed me the outline without claiming things first. I'll tell you what. I was thrilled to see that you filled it in when you did. Okay. I was like, I thought Amanda was solo parenting and busy and She was in the dock on a Saturday. No, I think you'll notice. And that also, I think someone was like in my lap listening to the Elmo song while that happened.

Listen, we've got a kill time somehow. We're doing the best that we can. What's the Elmo song? Sing it for us. No, that's Elmo slide. This is the song. La la la la la. Elmo song.

Yeah. And then it's Big Bird's song and Snuffy's song. Yeah. I just had like a Cruz Madeline moment there. Totally. But just for three years ago when I was watching Sesame Street. song on the This Is Elmo Playlist is the Elmo Slide, you know, step to the left or whatever. You know what we've been getting into is, in my house is Charlie X-C-X.

That's what my daughter wants to listen to. Yeah, party for you. That's her favorite song now. Oh, okay. And we listened to it eight times in a row yesterday, so she could dance. But where is she on music fashion film? Not quite there. A little too hard rock, I would say.

Oh, interesting. We don't want heavy guitars. Well, yeah, but sort of like a faint. Rock music is a faint. Yeah. I know what she means. Chapel and Kate Bush and Bjork and Carolyn Polichick. Like those things, those vibes are kind of like, she's getting into that.

Haley Williams. Do you play Brat for her or is that too grown up? It's a little like, I don't want cocaine references kind of entering her orbit. But yeah, party for you. It was an absolute recital in my house. Anyhow. Why were we talking about that? Oh, Elmo.

And just how you're making a list. Yeah. But I think you'll notice that I only felt. I filled out the top five, and then everything else I came back for later because, you know, life comes at you fast. Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first? You have a great one. You go first because I, like, I co-sign your whole list. Thank you.

I co-signed most of your list. Wow, that's real. So these are five movies we just can't wait to see. Yeah. And I tried to think about this for the most part as movies where I feel like I don't really know a lot. And the other thing is that I've seen a couple of really big ticket really. that I'm embargoed from talking about. Right.

I know that's obnoxious, but I just can't credibly say, I can't wait to see something I've already seen. I was wondering about this because I know you do this and you do a lot of pre-screening. And this is what's called where for, sorry to be annoying and insidery, but for critics, they will show movies that are going to premiere at the festivals before the festivals in case you can't get to the festival or because it can be hectic to see as many movies as you want to see as festival. There's one other reason, too, which is that they're trying to lock down schedules for talent very early in advance. And so if you like a movie and you want to have someone on a show like this, you want to say, like, we definitely want to do this. And so sometimes some studios will show movies to me like that.

And I think most of the movies I've seen will be able to talk about literally a week from now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so they won't be discussed today from my perspective. Right. But I mean, I was just thinking about it. And you pre-screen mostly to book talent. I understand that. But otherwise I was like, wow, this really seems like a hassle to be pre-screening everything.

Because then you can't talk about it. And then you're like the asshole who's like, well, I've seen all these. I'm trying to be honest about that experience because I think it is kind of interesting how it all works. Sure. But it is obnoxious to be like, well, I can't tell you. And I apologize for that. Yeah. Okay, my first movie is Whalefall, which we walked out of CinemaCon in April seeing a five-minute clip of the film, which is written and directed by Brian Duffield and adapted from a very popular novel by Daniel Krause about a man played by Austin Abrams who is swallowed by a whale.

and they showed us the footage of him being swallowed by the whale. And it was very... He was about to be swallowed by the whale. So they did not spoil any of the exciting questions. I read the log line. Sure. You know, the log line is, I get swallowed by whale. Yeah, but we don't know what happens inside the whale.

We have no idea. He doesn't actually make it into the last five minutes of the movie. He doesn't make it into the whale's esophagus. He does not. So which apparently has like 36 shapers. So I'm looking forward to see... Wow, much like Wu-Tang. And Shaolin.

I am really excited for this. I know plenty of people have watched the trailer since it has been really, the two trailers since they've been released. I'm like, nope, can't do that. That's too upsetting. That's too intense. That's too, I don't know. I don't know.

Are people concerned about being swallowed by whales? Is that a fear that people have? I guess it evokes fear in them. Okay. Have you been scuba diving? Have we talked about this? No. I wouldn't do it.

I am not really interested. No, scuba. As you know. As Hank Azare. area once said in a long-game poly scuba? As you know, I love swimming in the ocean, but I want to stay on the surface. I respect the power of the ocean. We don't know very much about the ocean.

I don't have a James Cameron thing where I want to be in a boat driving around. I mean, we all know what happens there. Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't want to be in a submersible. Okay. I don't either. That's terrifying. Listen, and there's, I mean, we don't know anything about like all the creatures down there.

We don't know how far it goes. Yeah, listen. No, but there are things we don't even discovered. Oh, yeah. Yeah, wait until your son is like, can we watch a video about jellyfish? Well, I don't have a son. I know, but he's going to come over and be like, hey, Jean, can I teach you about jellyfish? God, I hope a kid doesn't show up in my door like 30 years later.

Hey, dad, it's me. I, jellyfish are upsetting. Very upsetting. What film did we just see with the? Oh, the Amazon Prime horror film The Devil's Mouth. Okay. Starring Lana Condor. Okay.

And there's just a, and. Is it a man? War? No, it's not a Man of War, but it is a school of jellyfish. I don't know how you would describe them that attack

Catherine Newton, the actress Catherine Newton very violently when she's swimming in Thailand after jumping off a boat. Anyhow, whalefall, to me looks fun. Now, it's interesting

that Josh Boland is apparently playing the same character he played in the dog stars in Whalefall. Sure, yes. Or he's sort of like hard-bitten, masculine man, survivalist figure.

It's unclear, maybe he plays Austin Abrams's his father and he taught him to dive. Right, sure, because there needs to be a trauma and, you know, like something that you're, the reason that you're being eaten by a whale and what you have to learn once you're inside the whale, along with how does gravity work inside a whale? We don't know yet. We're going to find out when we see the film. I'm very much looking forward to it. It is, it's in a sweet spot. I think it's going to be really fun. And we were both very stressed out and also a little bit like, ah, when we saw the trailer. So, and also, I mean, it's a great bit. I love a bit. You know, we need, we need some of this. The film is called whale falls.

Sure. Number five for you. Yeah. Going the other direction here. Making Marie Antoinette, which is the making of, it's like it says in the title. Right on the label. It was filmed on the set of Marie Antoinette, my favorite Sophia Coppola movie, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this fall.

There are a lot of events. Most of this film was directed and filmed by Sophia's late mother, Ellen Coppola, who also, of course, directed Hearts of Darkness, the making of documentary about Apocalypse now. That is one of the greats. Sophia Coppola finished the film after her mother's passing. So, you know, Eleanor Kobala was a great filmmaker and also a great writer and a great chronicler of what it means to make films and also to be a woman in the orbit of making films. So I'm very excited about her perspective on this movie and I'm here for all, Marie Antoinette content.

Do you know is it entirely like Cinema Verite observing the scene? Is there any look back component to it where people are talking about? talking about the experience? You don't know. I don't know. Okay. Interesting. That doesn't totally seem like. It would seem more like Sophia's vibe.

Yeah. And you would think it would be more like, um, hearts of darkness, right? Where it's sort of like all in the moment. But I would also be curious to hear Schwartzman and Dunst and, and Copeland and Sophia and all those people talking now too about what the movie means and how it was received and how it's, you know, been back in the culture. They announced today that they're also, if you happen to be at Versailles, uh, in the next six months, Just in case.

Just in case. You're popping on by. I don't know if you're in Paris. You've been to Versailles? I did. I went on a really bad date to Versailles. Do you know this story? Were you setting me up for this one?

No. Okay. Maybe I do, but I've forgotten. Yeah. So when I was like this summer that I was studying in Paris, I don't know. I was single and I ended up going on a date with a German guy to Versailles. And the thing about going on a date to Versailles from Paris is that like you have to take a long train. I mean, it's an hour.

But still, it's going to a second location with a hippie. but instead it's a German man and then you're stuck at Versailles. German guy. What was that like? He was tall. And so. Okay. Interesting.

But so then you're stuck there and you're like, oh, I don't want to be here on this date anymore with you. But like you're just in a garden at Versailles and you got to get back and you know the French with their lines. And then you're still like taking the train back. Could you tell immediately from the train ride that it was a bust? Yeah, I think so. But I was also 19. So like what did I know about anything? How did you meet?

At a bar, I think. You met in a bar. Sure, yeah. I was in a friend. Yeah. I mean, listen. Strange life you've fled. That's interesting.

Anyway, but they're doing like an exhibit there about the movie and Petitrianae, which was the, you know, is the country home that Marie Antoinette built were the last part of the movie. You've seen the film. It was on our 25 for 25 list. I didn't have the name of the country home. Okay. I mean, country also just means it's like in a different garden in Versailles. Anyway, there will be a lot.

They are making an event of this anniversary. as they should. But so maybe there's a retrospective element to it, but I don't know. We'll see. Is that film playing at Venice? No, which is annoying.

It's playing at the New York Film Festival. Cheesh. Listen. You know, I would love to be there, but I'm a mom, you know? That's it. You're just the mom. I got to be here for size first week of school.

That's right. That's right. I'm just going to be in fucking shambles for that one. He's going to be so loud. I will be able to hear him screaming at me from preschool when I am back home. Okay. Let's go to my next one. Number four is yet another movie that I don't know very much about, which is Elsinor, which I feel fairly confident will be at one of these film festivals that I'll be attending in the near future.

It is a new film starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Coleman. It is directed by a man named Simon Stone. It does not have a ton of film credits is... best known, I think, for his theater and television work. He did do a movie in 2021 called The Dig that I saw that it was just fine. Oh, that's the Carrie Mulligan, Ray Fines,

arch, geology. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not bad. In my wheelhouse. Certainly. The film is about, it feels like in many ways, a kind of spiritual follow-up to Hamnet

because it's about an actor, based on a real-life actor named Ian Charleston, Charlson, excuse me, who portrayed Hamlet at the National Theater while he was seriously ill from AIDS. And Hamlet and all of its heavy meaning colliding with Andrew Scott's seriousness and skill as an actor, I think is very interesting. This is one of those movies that, like, I've had a couple people whispered my ear. Andrew Scott. In nomination incoming.

Andrew Scott, Andrew Scott. I mean, wonderful. Who I love. Who we love. Yeah, who's wonderful, who's a great actor, who's been. and Amazing Things, who is one of the great awards season contenders. Yes. I mean, let's just get him on the party circuit.

Well, just like a great hang as a person. Very stylish, but very thoughtful and sweet. He was on the show a few years ago, and for all of us, strangers. It was wonderful. And is amazing in Ripley, the Ripley television series. So he's just such a terrific actor. He was great in Blue Moon last year. And so I'm very much looking forward to that one.

That's probably the most kind of like downbeat reserved film that I have. on my list, but I wanted to have one because I do think that that is kind of the essence of this season is there, you'll find a lot more historical dramas, you'll find a lot more sensitive portrayals of struggling artists. And that is, that's certainly a signature of telluride. That kind of a film is really prized there. And so, who knows if it'll be there? If I had to guess, I'd say it will be. But we shall see it. And that's a focus movie that is coming out later this year. Well, fingers crossed for you. Thank you. And for the mountains. Okay, what's next for you? A movie I'm seeing in 36 hours. Wow. I got my ticket, Inc.

Danny Boyle drama that we've been talking about a lot. Another biographical drama and maybe not downbeat necessarily, but this is about Rupert Murdoch. And when Rupert Murdoch bought the Sun newspaper in the UK and kind of his invasion of Fleet Street stars Guy Pearce, Jack O'Connell, Claire Foy. I'm just jazzed. This is a little bit that I love movies about newspapers. I love movies starring Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy. And I'm excited. This will be the first movie that I see at Venice. the opening night of the Venice Film Festival. But listen, I'm... The trailer, the poster that looks like there's some energy to it, I'm excited.

I'm really excited about this, too. I think... You know, I think one of Boyle's great movies is Steve Jobs. And so I'm hopeful that it kind of has that same energy, where he brings that kinetic energy in his filmmaking style to a story that in other hands would be, like, flat and dull. But, like, the way that he moves the camera, the way that his films are cut,

the way that he uses music in his movies, You know, we've never had, I've never had Danny Boyle on the show. We've praised his work over the years, but he did go in a little bit of a downturn with yesterday. Yeah, I was like he didn't love that. You know, I wasn't going to ask him to come on for a movie that I don't like very much. But I do, I think he's got, he's got an extraordinary career. Yeah. We could do a whole episode about his amazing run of films.

We should. I look forward to that movie too. Hopefully I'll be able to see it soon as well. My next film is an interesting one to me. it's Resident Evil, which of course is a movie I've had circled on the calendar for a year going back to when right around this time, I guess, I had Zach Krieger on the pod to talk about weapons. And he was saying that he was doing this. It was officially happening.

He was adapting the Resident Evil video game, of which there have already been, I think, seven film adaptations, largely with Paul W.S. Anderson and Miliovovich, married couple who made those movies. And there was a Raccoon City film spinoff like five years ago. You know, they're kind of schlocky, sci-fi action horror movies. Sometimes you say things and I just like nod in my head, but like Raccoon City. I mean, what's happening? Raccoon City. Here's the whole wiki for it.

I mean, I believe you, but it's like... It's a fictional city in the Midwestern United States that appears in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games. People think that I complain and bemoan all of the stuff that you say and that I do have to learn. But like, I just let so many things fly right by, you know? Sure. Well, I mean, there are millions and millions of Resident Evil fans. This one is not that obscure. No, I don't think I just, Raccoon City, yes, of course.

Absolutely. I am jacked for this movie. For obvious reasons, I love Craigers movies. I love the trailers for the movies. This is the second Austin Abrams film on my list so far. Yeah. Seems like it's relatively modestly scaled, if that makes sense. That it's from the perspective of one character, feels like it's over one crazy night

when the zombie apocalypse is starting. And I'm sure it'll be very violent and gross, as there was. and evil games are. But honestly, just to continue to speak from my personal perspective, one of the things I really like about it is I just don't know anything. I haven't seen it. I haven't talked to anybody who's seen it. I don't know what it's screening. I don't know anything about it. It might be one of those movies where it's like maybe you see it the day before it comes out. And there's something kind of exciting about being kept away from me, you know? Getting to be a kid again?

Yeah, exactly. Well, you want what you can't have. I know. Well, that's true. And you can have most things now. But stuff like this. This is such a like box in Blockbuster I wish my parents would let me rent kind of movie. And I was just talking to somebody this morning about that feeling of like the illicit material that is still mainstream. This is a great version of that. So I'm very much anticipating this movie.

And as more time goes by, the more I think that it's going to be a really big hit. I'm not quite sure how big that means, but it feels like anybody who's in this world of horror is like, have you seen it? Have you seen it? What's going on with this? What's going on with this?

So I look forward to it. My number three is my version of this for you. Yes, it is. Which is, you know, the moms can have fun too, Verity. Mm-hmm. The latest Colleen Hoover adaptation, directed by Michael Showalter, our girl Ann Hathway, my girl, Dakota Johnson, our guy, Josh Hartnett. Yep. This looks like the highest level trash.

And if they can really lean into both the high level and the trash, then I will have a delightful time. Is this film, does it have a lot of? a supernatural element, or is that a psychout? I don't know, and I don't want to know. I just want to go see the movie. We were given copies of the books at cinema con. Yeah. And then...

I don't know. Because of a very nice listener and friend, maybe. Did you bring it all the way home, though? I think so. Anyway, as we were walking out with the books, a very nice listener, and now internet friend was like, you're going to hate this book, don't read it. So I didn't. So I don't know.

I'm just going to watch the movie. Interesting. And did you read any of the other Hoover books before doing podcast? I did. I've read snippets of. It ends with us. Okay. Okay. To kind of understand what was going on. But what's the J. Franco, Allison Williams one called, regretting you? Yes. Nope. Dave Franco. What? Dave Frank. Dave Frank. Dave Franco. Yeah. You said James Franco? Yes. Okay. Who's James Franco?

I don't know. I was thinking about James Franco was on my Can Flight. So I'm just excited about who's going to be on my Venice flight tonight. James Franco was on your Can Flight? Yeah, he was like out. At Cannes, remember? He was trying to come back. He was, he did see him at premieres, because he was just there everywhere, glad heading, being like, I'm James Franco and I'm back. He's back. He's back. One thing in Verity's favor is it's written by Nick Antosca, who is mostly a TV show runner who created this great show Channel Zero that I really, really like. He worked on Cape Fear, which people did not like.

I didn't see that show. But that's part of why I ask, like, how real is the supernatural versus the thriller component? And is that something that is in Colleen Hoover's back, you know? Can she do a spooky ghost story in addition to some erotically charged trauma? Dark romance? Yeah. Drama. I don't know.

We'll find out. Michael Showalter? He makes movies. He makes quite a few. Yeah? He makes a very specific kind of movie now. The adapted from a literary sensation. But often told from the perspective of a woman.

Yes. You know? Yeah. Starring. You know, women's pictures is what they called them in the 1950s. Did you see, oh, what fun? I didn't. The Christmas special starring Michelle Pfeiffer, I believe.

You thought? Among others, I did watch most of it. Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer. A lot of wallpaper is my review. Wallpaper. Once again, you're really, beautiful wallpaper. Plumbing the depths with these reviews today.

But, you know, Eyes of Tammy Faye. Spoiler alert was not from the perspective of a woman about a gay couple and one half of that couple gets very sick based on a true story. The idea of you, which I actually loved. You loved? Well, they just let Hathaway cook in that one. Yeah, they did. To me, this was, that movie is the beginning of the run,

where she's like, it's my time now. I'm 40 and it's my time now. I agree. And I, I liked it. I loved it. She looked great in everything. And the line where he's like, I've always wanted to go to Glendale, funny. That was funny.

You don't like Nicholas Gallatin. I don't really think he has it. And I still haven't seen Masters of the Universe. Maybe I'll watch it on a plane because I got some alerts that it's streaming now. Send me a photo of you watching it. Just send me a selfie. I need to know what your face looks like. I thought at CinemaCon when they made him ask everyone to raise their swords up and say the little tagline, what is it?

I have the power! Right. And he looked pretty sheepish, but he did it anyway. And I felt for him in that moment. But that was the first time that I had, you know, I was like, oh, this is cute. He's trying. Technically it's by the power of Grey Skull. Okay.

I have the power, which is a little redundant. He says power two times in the room. So what does Gray Skull do? So that's Jared Lettoe in the movie? No, that's Skeletor. Okay. Gray Skull is sort of like the castle and also imbues him with some powers. It allows him to transform in He-Man.

He's Adam. Okay. You know, he transforms in He-Man. Sure. He looks just like Adam, you know, page boy haircut. huge muscles kind of changes his costume. He's in one of those like, I don't know, whatever. Yeah.

Verity. Yeah, we'll see. We're doing a whole episode about Verity. Is that a good idea? Yeah, we're going to have a great time. I think that's going to be a remote episode. So maybe it'll be some unhinged energy. Oh, because you're...

I'll probably be in New York when this happens. Yeah, and that'll be wild. I will be at home listening to the ice cream to me from preschool. That's exactly right. That's sad. Okay. My number two is a film that has a title. It did not have a title for a very long.

in time. And I'll tell you what, this is a movie I also don't know very much about. It's called the further misadventures of Cliff Booth. It's coming only to IMAX screens, not other movie theaters. So I guess it's only like 500, 300, I'm not even sure how many IMAX screens there are in America. And Netflix is releasing it. It's directed by David Fincher. The screenplays by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Brad Pitt. I learned over the weekend that Peter Weller is in the film because I saw a video on Instagram of him talking about how he appears in the film. as Cliff Booth's father. Okay.

Spoiler alert. We saw a one-minute teaser trailer during the Super Bowl. Yes. That teaser trailer was not officially posted online. Okay. By Netflix. Since then, it's been more or less radio silent. We learned there were some reshoots on the movie that I guess took place over the summer.

Yeah. And that's it. This is one of the least marketed movies starring Brad Pitt based on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. you could ever have. Now, I'm sure there's some purposeful reason for withholding some of this stuff. And it is about to be September, October. Netflix historically doesn't market their movies as aggressively as a Warner Brothers or a Sony would.

But this is a real curiosity thing now where I'm like, what is this movie going to be? I have no idea. The reshoot's news broke while I was on vacation. And so we talked a little bit about it. And at first, you know, the obvious, ooh, outlook not good. And then the more we talked about it, well, like, many movies have reshoots and it's still on track for the November release. And, you know, we were confused that it's not in any festivals for a while. I did think that it was going to be at Venice because Netflix historically has a big presence at Venice.

And ink is being released by Netflix. It was acquired. So I don't, something, it's strange. It's not, it's unusual. Basically, we don't really know what's going on. here and it also doesn't follow the pattern of either a classical prestige release, which you would expect from the three names that you just mentioned. And based on the pedigree of once in time in Hollywood. Exactly. And it also doesn't follow, I guess it's closer to a Netflix release. But what Netflix is doing with it is kind of new and not in the Netflix playbook.

Yeah, it slid into the spot that Narnia was holding when Narnie got pushed back to February, which is interesting. I'm a little bit perplexed on how to cover the movie. because I think it's going to be a hot ticket when it's made available amongst a certain kind of movie crazy person and I presume it will do decent business on a very small number of screens I don't know if Netflix will have to report that business

but I don't know if will enough people be seeing it that we should just be talking spoilers and all about the sequel to one of our favorite movies of the last 10 years I mean that once upon a time in Hollywood I hold in like the highest esteem I think that is absolute top tier Terrence I know. There was a real argument in 25 for 25 of whether it would be in glorious bastards or once upon a time. I love once upon a time. And like a truly magical experience seeing it at the Cinerama Dome on your birthday. And then going to Franken, no, Musso and Franks. I know. Honestly, one of my favorite days in living in L.A.

And then didn't you like leave for Europe that night? I did. Yes. That was just a great, great time. You know what? That's a good memory. That's living hobbies life. And I support you. Thank you. Thank you for that. No, I'm excited to see it. I think that my opinion is that we should just cover it. And, you know, people can... Come what may. Well, and then if you're not able to see it in IMAX, then you can come listen to the episode after the fact. I think we're all adults.

Will it be a month after its IMAX release that it'll be on the service? I guess they want it to be available for Christmas, I presume. Yeah. Anyhow, it's another kind of unusual outlier scenario in these modern times. And I'm tracking very closely how. Netflix releases their films. We have the long window for La Bola Negra. We have the full release for Narnia,

for the magician's nephew, which I've read. Yeah. And I'll be able to bring a really scholarly perspective on the film. We have the full release in February. And then... I think it's a good time to release it. You think it's a good time to release it? I do.

Listen. I just... I know you're nervous. I'm nervous. I know. I'm just like none of the signs point towards something that I am... I feel. I just mean from a business perspective.

Sure. There's going to be a nice little runway there in February. That's completely true. I am just worried about the quality of the film. Yeah, we shall see. Okay. Okay, number two for you. Primetime.

Yeah. See it Saturday night, baby. Yeah, I'm jealous of this one. I'm going to the premiere. I'm so excited. So this is a Lance Oppenheim film about Catch a Predator. And Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen. And it looks weird and upsetting and interesting.

and I believe in Robert Pattinson. I will follow him to the ends of the earth. He's already got another meme just off the trailer. I know. It's unbelievable. So very excited about this. I am too. I really hope I'm going to see this soon.

But I don't know if I am. Okay. And that's okay. And I'll make it through. That movie, if you had to guess, will that be Pattinson's real shot at an Academy Award recognition this year? Not a win per se, but just the nominally. Well, we haven't seen June 3 yet, but he is also playing a villain.

So you have to assume that the villain and the Odyssey versus the villain in June 3 are going to kind of cancel each other out in terms of voting allotment. I still absolutely love the drama, but I think that it is going to be forgotten in the awards race, both because 824 will have other places to spend its time and money in pushing things. and also, I guess it was controversial enough, or edge-lory enough, I should say, that it's not going to... I think the invite is going to take its place. And I also really, really like the invite. But the invite is another A-24 movie that is provocative, but it's sex instead of, you know, spoiler alert, school shooting. I think it's also middle-aged and not 29. And there's a difference there?

Yeah. So I love both movies. I think the drama is wonderful, probably still one of my favorite movies of the year. But I don't think he'll make it in for that. Okay. So by process of elimination, yes, primetime. It'll be interesting. He really is, he's in rare rare right now where there's this.

I think he has both artistic bona fides and a fandom, but he's not bound by his fandom. No. You know, obviously he's still making Batman and that was a very smart move. and that's coming next. But I don't know. Taking on these parts is really, I really respect it. I think it's great. My number one is Digger.

Yeah. I just want to see it. You know, I just, I want to know. What's interesting? I mean, I do want to know, but the question of I, do I want to see it is really, really interesting. I was like, I don't, do I want to see it? I mean, I want to, I want to like it.

Like, I really want to like it. I do, too. I love a strange, lovey and kind of, you know, satirical. big top movie. I love a big bold acting performance. I love Tom Cruise as a movie star and as an actor. I agree with all of this, but I mean, this is what's been interesting about this movie from the beginning and from the first poster. I want it to be good.

I want Tom Cruise to be back. I want interesting, you know, movies. And I just, there's something about it where I'm like, I don't know if I just actually want to sit through it. I do want to sit through it, but that there is something. that's warning signally that's putting me off the experience of it, which is prejudging a movie

which I shouldn't do. On the flip side, my expectations are probably lower than they normally would be for Tom Cruise's great return to non-franchise acting.

So in that sense, maybe my mind is just going to be blown. It's possible and sometimes that can be very beneficial going into a movie. I think this also,

you know, most of the movies on my list are not really festival films. And I think there is something to me actually intriguing about withholding a movie from those spaces and saying, like, well, this, we think this is more commercial, but it's also from an otore and it's more high-minded. Like, that blend is kind of my sweet spot in terms of taste. I'm not an I'm not an innaritu person.

Yeah, I was going to say, when it's Paul Thomas Anderson, that is very much your spot. But when it's Inorritu, I don't know. And it does feel like it's Warner Brothers again. And so they had success with that playbook, and they've been burned by festivals recently in the past. They have. They have. They have. Yeah.

Though you haven't. Which, yeah, though I haven't. So it does feel like they're trying to run the one battle playbook. A little bit. Which is smart business. We'll see. How many days before the movie is released do you think we'll see it? That's a great question.

I mean, have tickets gone on sale yet? Have you bought us special tickets yet? No. I bought us tickets to see. practical magic two. Oh, fun. Because I don't know if we're going to be back in time to screen that. Just the heads up for the team there.

We may need to record that on a Thursday evening. Okay. Oh, man, I land Wednesday night, and then I'm going to be like, sorry, can't do bedtime tonight. Do you land Wednesday night? Yeah. We might be able to get you out before bedtime. Okay. Zach's, I'm, it's too bad.

I'm getting divorced, but that's okay. Maybe I'll just do the practical magic two episodes by myself. No, I want to. I've thought more about their Cinemicon presentation than really anything, any live experience that I've had. Sandy and Nick just being kooky for an hour

on stage. Like in power suits. It was only 15 minutes, but it did feel like an hour. And I found it so aspirational. I want what they have. Yeah. In every way.

Are you Sandy or Nick? Well, I think I'm Sandy. Don't you? Just because of the air? Or just because of your essence? Well, and the dry demeanor. You know, I'm not. But we don't really have a Sandy and Nick energy, you know, so.

I certainly don't have Nicole Kidman energy. I don't think anyone would claim that I do. I certainly don't have her posture. Do you see the interview that she gave? I think it was to British Vogue where she's like dinner at 1.30, then you go out clubbing at 1. I wear a wig. I wear glasses. I just need to be around people.

It feeds me. I want to go clubbing with Nicole Kidman at 1.m. I'm available. I cannot relate to something less than that. I truly don't understand what she's talking about. All right. What's number one for you? Artificial.

Luca, I'll never quit you. Even when you malign Top Gun Maverick, which, you know, I saw that and, you know, smart people can disagree. I've heard two wildly the divergent points of view on this movie. Okay. I'm not going to give anything away other than to say one group of people told me that it plays as a laugh-out-loud comedy. Okay. And the other group of people told me it plays as one of the bleakest films they've seen in a long time. Okay.

Now it's possible that both of those things can coexist. This is also a review of Rachel Cusk's The Life of M. Are you reading that? I read it. Oh. And that's how you feel? I mean, it could be read either way. Interesting.

And in my opinion, neither adds up to a positive experience. So I hope that's not the case for artificial. What is artificial about? This is Luca Guadonino's Simon Rich penned biopic, something we don't know, of Sam Alton. And the rise of AI. So it stars Andrew Garfield. It was supposed to be released by Amazon. It is no longer being released by Amazon for reasons that you can read rumors about on the internet and was reacquired by Neon.

I was hoping it was going to be at Venice. I still think that would be cool. Instead, Luca Guadino has like an eight-hour. I'm not exaggerating Bernano Bertilucci documentary, which I'm not going to be able to see. And I ride for Luca. And, you know, I would prefer to see artificial to the social reckoning at this point. I thought the social reckoning second trailer was a little better. Okay.

And it did have me thinking maybe not a car crash. Okay, good. Good. So that's positive. That's positive. You're just, you're very, you're very open-hearted to the world right now. I want to have a great fall. Okay.

I want to have a great fall. You're setting your intention? Yes. Yeah. What I don't want is to be like, the Odyssey just like dunked on everything this year. I want to have a spirited season of movie going. Same.

I'm ready for some good movies. It did feel like after The Odyssey, we spent a lot of time watching interesting movies and movies that I liked, but movies that were placed after The Odyssey because people knew that they weren't going to, they didn't deserve a whole episode of the big picture. How about that? I don't think that's all they thought about it, but sure. Well.

Okay. What about some honorable mentions? Okay. Do in Part 3? Yeah. I mean, no doubt. I'm excited. Not much to say.

Everything I've seen, I've loved. Yeah, the opening that we saw, dynamite. I'm a fan. Do you want to trade or you want to? Yeah, I'm excited about a couple of fall movies, the debut, which I feel pretty confident is going to be a tell you ride just based on all the delineations around it with other fall film festivals. And that's the Jesse Eisenberg. Jesse Eisenberg's new film.

It's also a musical that is also about the staging of a musical at a local community theater, about a woman who is attempting to, I guess, break into the world of musical theater acting at a later stage in her life, played by Julianne Moore, and the cantankerous director of this community theater played by Paul Giamatti. A lot of my favorites, kind of in a circle, 824 movie. And so I'm pumped about that.

I'm also pumped about Misty Green, which is another 824 movie that is Chris Rock's next film as a director. Yeah. Though I don't know if he's in the film, but it's a movie about a struggling actress who had her moment in the sun and maybe it didn't all totally come together for her. She's played by Rosalind Ellazar,

who's an actress I'm not super familiar with, though, has some bigger credits. But the supporting cast is great. It's Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluya, Anna Kendrick, Tofer Grace. Another movie that I just don't really know anything about other than the trailer, it's playing a TIF, not at any of the festivals

that we're going to. But I am intrigued. buy that one. What's another one for you? Behemoth, exclamation point. I'm excited. I would be more excited were it playing at Venice, the fact that it's in, at New York instead, and the trailer without dialogue. Just, you know, I'm, I'm protecting my heart on that one. You want to hear Tony Gilroy's words. I do. That's why we go to the movies. Yeah. Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Will Arnett, who am I forgetting? I don't know. Yeah.

He plays a cellist In a I guess with a Complicated Professional career Sure Who plays at least we know on film scores And one of the

Ava Victor Oh Ava Victor Yeah I love Ava Victor Yeah Who plays on film scores And we know that Gilroy

Yes signed up nine different composers To write music That is then like implemented Into the story of the movie. Which is very cool.

Should be very cool. Yeah. I had artificial on my list as well. Yeah. We share in the next movie, which is Other Mommy. That's right. You know, show it to me, I guess. Jessica, this is the jump scare trailer of the year for many people who saw The Odyssey.

This ran before the Odyssey for many, many people. I got angry text messages from friends of mine who went to see The Odyssey and then were terrified by this, to which I said, oh, I thought it was funny, which I think just shows real gross on the part of Amanda Dobbins. I couldn't agree more. Very happy to hear that you're in that state. Jessica Chastain plays a mommy and then there's another mommy that maybe some sort of phantasmagorical representation of a demon that takes on the form of a child's mother.

Yeah. You know, the memes write themselves. Sure. We've all been there, you know? The thumbnail for the other mommy episode should just be you and like a slightly paled version of you. Don't put me in it. Right?

Would you say so? That sounds good. Okay. You know what else I'm looking forward to? Tell me. Street Fighter. It was the best of the video game presentations that we saw at CinemaCon. It might be really stupid, but I don't care.

This is the one where I'm going to, like, I'm going to give myself a break. I think also there is something about, like, being what you are and being the best version of what you are. Yes. So if it's a very stupid adaptation of a video game, but, like, is well done stupid. That's okay. Yeah, I really had my heartbroken by Moral Combat 2, which I had been told would be like the realization of what you truly wanted from a Mortal Kombat movie, and it wasn't. And what I want from this movie is just like a series of big fights. Just like recreate the sensation of being in a match while playing the game.

Okay. And based on what I saw, also my Noah Centenio stock going way up. Oh, you're holding it. Well, he's in Union County, the Will Poulter movie. He plays his brother in that movie. He gives a great performance, a very small part, but a great performance. He was in warfare, really good in warfare. And he's playing Ken.

Ken, he's playing Ken in this movie, who was one of the key street fighter characters. But not crossover from the Barbie universe. Not that Ken. Okay. Though, I would imagine he's inspired by that Ken. Because in the game, he has blonde hair and has kind of, you know, chiseled. And his job is Beach. That's kind of his energy, honestly.

So I'm looking forward to that. That was also my job for the month of August. For a couple weeks. Yeah. You came back. An Impossible Love, which you're about to see as well, I think. I sure am. And you have tickets to that as well.

I do, yeah. Which is Li Chong Dong's new film, this first movie since Burning, which is like eight years ago now, that Netflix has that is hotly tipped for a very big award season run. And it seems like it's one of the only non-can foreign language films international features that is really running hard in that race. Yeah. Okay.

So we'll get into the movies we've already seen and recommend. after this. This episode is presented by State Farm. You know the feeling. Long day. Good meal. You finally sit down. And now you're just staring at your screen. Slasher, rom-com, period drama, psychological thriller. But some decisions don't have to be that hard. State Farm is here to help. Like when you choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Bundling, just another way to save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on

rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availantling amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. We've danced around stuff we haven't seen, but we have seen a lot, you know, and if you haven't listened to our can coverage especially, like we have some movies that we can recommend. And also some stuff that I've seen that I feel comfortable telling people that they should see and try to put on their radar as well. Why don't you start us off since I started last time? We've talked a bit about Paper Tiger, but we're getting back into Paper Tiger season, which is James Gray's latest movie starring Miles Teller, Adam Driver, Scarlet.

Johansson, I believe is the opening night of the New York Film Festival. And is a wonderful movie from a filmmaker we like very much, starring one of the generation's great actors in Adam Driver and like the best Miles Teller performance in years. A couple just absolutely electric set pieces. You know, it is, it's a very James Gray movie. Yes. And I mean that as a positive. So we both, we were at the premiere. We loved it.

Excited for more people to see it. Yeah, I really liked it a lot, too. It's interesting. I did this conversation with James for the Little Odessa Criterion Collection Disc. And in that conversation, you know, that film and this film and The Yards, and we own the night,

all have this very kind of loose formulation of two brothers who kind of find themselves entrenched in a world of crime in some way. Right. And loss of trust and family dynamics and what it means to be in a family and New York in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and huge, the kind of looming influence of Coppola and Scorsese

on these movies and a lot of other filmmakers as well. And what he said, I would encourage people to seek it out, especially at the end of that conversation, about his own personal experiences and why he keeps kind of writing through this dynamic. I'd never heard him say before. I've talked to him so many times about this kind of thing, and he never really enunciated it in quite that way.

And so it actually deepened my appreciation for this movie more after we saw it. You also went as soon as the lights went, you know, started. And Paper Tiger, you turned to me and you were like, this is just this is my family. This is where we grew up, you know. Yeah, I mean, it was my grandmother's home. You know, like my family's from Astoria. My dad was a cop. There's a cop.

Like, there's a lot of like, you know, cross-pollinating personal experiences. I wouldn't say that's like the reason that I like it, but I will say that he nailed that stuff, which is not surprising because he's so good at period. that's a great one. Mine is my first one is the only living pick pocket in New York

which I really, really liked that is written and directed by Noah Siegen who people will mostly know as an actor. He's in sort of like Ryan Johnson's company

of actors. He always plays kind of a funny side character in all of Ryan's movies and I know that they're friends and he directed a couple of movies prior to this but this is totally different

than anything else he's done. It's also a movie. It's also a movie about the world of crime. John Totoro plays an aging analog pickpocket in a contemporary New York world, trying to continue to survive while caring for a wife who's become ill and is non-responsive and also just trying to kind of make ends meet.

And it's a real relic kind of man out of time portrait of a guy who's kind of lost connection to most of the things around him. But it's got Steve Bouchemmy, it's got Gene Carlis. Esposito. And it's just kind of like an old dog New York movie. Really, really well-told, really tight, like 85 minutes. Perfect character study. Huge platform for Terturo, who's another one of those people who people are just like,

how does this person not have an Oscar? Sure. You love him and everything. Sure. He was also very present throughout the Knicks run this year. He certainly was. It would be quite a capper on the year. I mean, I don't know if there's a better podcast this year than the old man in the three

episode with him and Landry Shamit about how they were like lost father. and sun. That's some of the great content of 2026. But I really, really liked this movie a lot. And I think it's probably about to hit the fall festival circuit. It premiered at Sundance. I didn't see it there. It wasn't part of the virtual screening program. But I dug this a lot. And I think people will like it

too. Sony Pictures Classics has it. And it'll be in the discussion for the next couple of months. Got it. What's next? Fjord, the Palm Door winner, which is definitely going to be in the award season. This star is Sebastian Stan and the reigning Queen of

Rana Rhyansva and is about a Romanian man married to a Norwegian woman and they move back to Norway for family reasons and then something happens in their family and how their family and their community and the state handle all of these things are investigated and portrayed in sometimes excruciating detail. It's, as you have said over and over again, a political football, people will be arguing about it. People are arguing about it as soon as we walked out of the premiere and can. But I have found myself thinking about it often over and over as you negotiate small things either with a child or with an administration or, you know, seeing something on the internet. It is about parenting and family life and the decisions that you make as much as it is

about Scandinavia, though it is really about Scandinavia. So I... Sweet spot for you. Yeah. You have your doubts. I liked, I thought this was an upsetting and very successful movie. And I'm sure the discourse will become unbearable at some point. But it's going to happen. See it early. See it early. Yeah. And then log off. Yeah. I think that's a good note. Yeah, but I think this will also be in Oscar conversation. I agree. It's interesting, I guess, I mean, I guess it's going to be an international film.

I wonder if Norway will submit it, because it's not necessarily always the kindest portrayal of Norway. But Christian Manjou, you know, long considered a master, had already won the Palm before. But this is certainly more of a mainstream kind of movie. And I think it will be compared to anatomy of a lot because it has a legal component and it's also very divisive and very careful about what it reveals about the incidents in the movie that are discussed in the movie.

And there are people I really respect who are really sharp movie minds who hate this movie. Okay. I loved it. I thought it was probably my favorite movie I can, but I do like a movie that kind of makes you rip up your ideas and think about how you feel about the world and what systems should be in place and why. And I agree with what you said that, like, being a parent and being somebody who's kind of like in this phase where you're sort of like engaging your family into a new era of responsibility and also who is responsible for your children and how is fascinating to me. So how do you engage with the wider world and how does it engage with you and your family? And suddenly you're responsible for another person who doesn't know any of that.

Yeah. And how are you interpreting it? So I liked the provocation. I liked being poked by this movie, but I know that some people won't. It's a great, it will be a great discussion topic for us on the show. My number two is the history of concrete, which I also loved, which comes out in a month, which is John Wilson's feature film debut. He had a TV show How To With John Wilson for a couple of years on HBO.

And this is a movie that is what it says it is. It is literally the history of concrete, the building material, which is some of the oldest stuff in the world. And that sounds boring. And it isn't boring. Because it's John Wilson. Because it's John Wilson. So John Wilson, who sort of narrates his work and has this exploratory verite kind of unusually and humorously edited documentary filmmaking style.

This movie goes to more emotional places than I ever could have imagined. And like a cohort of creative people in this generation, It is like Tim Robinson and Connor O'Malley and Nathan Fielder and maybe the Safty brothers are in there. And there's like this kind of loose collective of comedy people who are very insightful about the way that the world is really working right under the surface. And this is just really good. We're like really entertaining and really good. And John will come on the show later this fall to talk about it. But I just only get it on people's radar because it's a smaller film that also premiered at Sundance.

Okay, what's your number one? Club kid. which is probably my favorite film that I saw at Cannes and is slated for a November release by 824. This is written and directed by Jordan Firstman. And it's really a coming-of-age movie about a club kid, an aging club kid who, through a series of unfortunate events, acquires a son, or has a son, and then a son learns that he has a son. And his son comes into his life. It's sort of baby boom, but with a lot of drugs.

And no Sam Shepard. Though the Diego Calva character does borrow a bit of Sam's energy. Yeah. This is a fun, warm, I guess provocative in the sense that there is sex and club culture and drugs references throughout. But really like a pretty traditional. and beautiful movie that I was just won over immediately. And I saw it in a later screening at Cannes with a bunch of young French people, as best I could tell. It was kind of like an adjunct screening where I think young people in the area show up and just hope to be able to get in and see a movie.

And except for the Balthazar joke, everything landed with them as well, which I think, which was a good sign for something that is emotional and comedy. And specific in that it is yet another great New York movie, but also hoping to be universal. And it does seem like it worked. Yeah, you know, I hadn't seen Tony when I first saw this. But they're kind of an interesting match. And there's something about using like a fructive outsider's perspective and putting them into what ultimately is a kind of warm 90s style movie.

Like it has a little, you know, Club Kid has a little bit of Barry Levinson in it. You know, like a little bit of that, like, traditional or like Penny Marshall or something, you know, where there's like, there's a real sweetness at the core of it, but it's not saccharin. To me, it, like, is Kramer versus Kramer, but the new version. Yeah. Yeah, it's a little funnier than that movie, for sure. Yeah. But I know what you mean. And yeah, it's an interesting one.

I hope people go out to see that movie. I do, too. Very sweet. My number one is all of a sudden, which is Ryska Hamaguchi's new film, which we talked about in our episode as well. which is a three-and-a-half-hour epic about a woman played by Virginie Afira working in an elder care facility, effectively managing an elder care facility. And you might think that that sounds boring. But it is one of the most sophisticated, deep-feeling movies of the year. It's not the most commercial thing in the universe.

It's going to be challenging to get people to watch this movie. But I think it really rewards your attention and your care. Tao Akamoto is also fantastic in this movie. You know, Hamaguchi is kind of obsessed with how people work. Yeah. And this is a movie about how people work and kind of what you need to get your head out of the sand sometimes. And sometimes having your head in the sand can be helpful. And I'm loathe to spoil too much more of it.

But this is also coming out on Thanksgiving. You think it will be a big box office hit? Yeah. And then everyone will buy their own whiteboard. And I mean, the whiteboard of Thanksgiving dinner. we should be playing that lecture for everybody. You know, I think that the world could be healed by playing the whiteboard lecture before every Thanksgiving dinner in America. I'll leave that to you.

Okay. I'm going to go on my own little tour and just re-perform it for people and then you'll perform songs from the debut. I think I could hack it in musical theater. I think I have the presence. You have never been in a musical. Never. Show us something now. No.

What would your audition song be? Would it be? Sandheim, would it be? Well, I love that moment in Lady Bird when she sings. Everybody says don't, which I think is such a... And Harry Gordini, who I think originated that, that's my timbre. That's my tone. Okay.

You know? That's not Sertia Ronan's tone. So it's very funny that she sang that song. I don't know. What would be on my audition song? I just had a flashback, too. I visited my best friend, Stephanie. over vacation, this was when I trips.

And she was putting one of her children to bed. And I just heard like the very clear tones of on my own from Les Miserables, like across the room. She comes out and then it's like, so I have some questions. And she was like, yes, that is, that's one child's bedtime song. None of the other children want it. But one child really wants, yeah. She really gave it her all. Incredible.

You know, I saw some live theater this weekend on Saturday night. Really? Yeah, I went to a small play that was directed by Eileen and our friend Kate, who's a playwright. Oh, wow. That's so cool. Yeah, it was called... Congratulations, Kate. I'm sorry I missed it. Tomorrow game at a theater in North Hollywood. Two amazing performances at the middle of it. It was a great time. I missed the theater. It's the only thing about New York that I'm like, I just wish I had this because I would just be there every weekend. It's one of my favorite things to do. L.A., there's plenty of life theater.

Not as much, not often as good. Okay. Let's talk about the September Oscars. This is the thing I made up this weekend. Okay. This is five nominations that you guarantee from films that have already been released. Yeah. And I've also asked you for one wild prediction. Now, this would be harder in 2015 or 2005. But this thing is happening now. Where you get a lot of early movies.

And it's not just one. It's like three or four or sometimes even five movies that might be dominant Oscar movies. So you did fill this out first and you chose five different. movies. I did. So I also tried to do that, which, and I, and I, and I, I, I did, but I was, I was running, and we have some overlap in the movies, but I did find myself sort of running out of guaranteed varietals, right? Because the Odyssey is guaranteed up and down the board. And there, there are several movies that are represented multiple times here, but I got there. I got to five. Some of these are incredibly obvious. Some of them are slightly risky, but I feel confident about mine. Okay. I'll start.

Mine is obviously best picture of the Odyssey. It will be nominated. If you had to say right now, is it going to win? Yeah, I think so. We don't know anything. Right, but especially once you think, consider preferential balloting, I don't know what's going to come and take all of its votes. I don't know. Yeah, nothing else is as unanimous.

It would have to be something smaller, perhaps? I mean, I did on my travels start meeting, you know, civilians, family members, friends were like, eh, didn't really like it. that much. Sure. Didn't care about it. You know, so we'll be in that phase, but I think they've cleverly timed it. So that'll be September through November. And then come December, we'll reclaim it.

You know, Emily Wilson's working on a new translation, so she's busy. Did you see this? Of the Odyssey? Yes, she's redoing her translation. She's removing some of this. What for? Because did you read in the introduction? She set like a very specific length to the poem.

And it's some other constraints to, replicate like with the original homer. And so then she did the Iliad without those constraints. And so now she's going to redo the Odyssey without those constraints or because she saw an opportunity and is seizing it. Listen, they don't pay academics that much. So I'm not going to make a snide comment. I'm not going to say anything.

And one of my nominations here is in direct response to Emily Wilson, who I still think is one of the world's great shit posters. Okay. What's your first one? Best Supporting Actor, Edward Norton, the Invite. I think this is going to happen? I do. The Academy loves Edward Norton, okay?

Don't forget that he was lightly implicated in the affair of who was the woman that had the surprise nomination because Guineath Paltrow had a party for her. The star of two, Leslie? Yes, Andrea Rysborough. Thank you. Yeah. But he was also a part of that. He's connected in the Academy. He's beloved.

This is an amazing performance. I think the invite is going to be very present. Fascinating group of people here that are on the long list for this race. I do think you're right. Thank you. There's two really interesting contenders in that category. Go ahead. Coleman, Domingo, and Michael.

Ah, okay. And come back to that. Yeah. And Jeremy Strong in the Social Reckoning. Yes. There's a couple of obvious ones, right? There's like Giamati. Everybody loves Giamati.

He's never gone over the hump. He didn't win for the holdovers. he'll run hard in that race. Sam Rockwell and Wild Horse Nine. He's won in this category. He's returning to reunite with the filmmaker for which he won. He dances. Yes, he's...

I love the dancing. He's very charming. Guy Pearce and Inc. Another guy who, you know, has been nominated many times, but is not one or is nominated a couple times. Norton, yeah. I mean, he's due, in my opinion. I would say well overdue.

A thousand percent. Okay, that's a good one. My number four is easy, straightforward. Spider-Man, Brand New Day is getting at least one. nomination for best visual effects. Okay. And some of the best stuff in this movie was the swinging through the city.

Yeah, he looks great. The way that they did it in this where it's sort of like more of a catch and release strategy instead of like the clean line soaring. Yeah. Love the choice. Thought it looked beautiful. Felt more like how I imagined Spider-Man

would move through Manhattan. How much time do you spend imagining? Hmm. Six to eight hours a week. Would you want to be Spider-Man? Is that of all the superheroes? Is that who you'd pick? Um, yes.

Okay. Who do you want to be? Well, I mean, I haven't done that much research. I guess Batman, you know? I thought you were squirrel girl. That was something that you assigned to me. Vanded. Vanded. Van assigned that to you.

Yeah, and he wants to be third chair. I don't know about that. Okay. What's your next pick? Speaking of Emily Wilson, best score, Ludwig Gorenson for The Odyssey. I agree with you. I liked the drums. Could it win?

Yeah. That was me, drumming. Would that be three or four? So that's sinners and Oppenheimer and did he win for Black Panther? He did. Sick. Good for him. Four? Who's got four?

Well, how many does John Williams have? He has like 18. He has less than that. I guess he's going to, maybe he has 18 nominations. Well, he has like 50 nominations, but how many wins does he have? John Williams. One, two, three, four. He's got four wins.

Only four? Wait, no, I'm looking at the wrong thing. I'm just going to say. Am I looking at the wrong thing? No, I'm not. So he has a win for best score for Fiddler on the roof. Okay. He won for Jaws.

He won for Star Wars. He won for E.T. Perhaps you've heard of them. That's four. He won for Schindler's list. Five. Five. He has five wins.

Well. Isn't Ludwig Gornson's like 40? Yeah, but this is also, how old was John Williams in 1984, which is the last time? he won. Very good question. Because they're just like, wow, you're one of the greats and now we don't have to give you anymore, which I think is rude.

John Williams was 62 in 1994. So Ludwig, you know, he's ahead of the curve here if he wins. Yeah, well, he attached himself to Ryan Coogler and Christopher Nolan. That was smart. You can attach himself to them. I mean, they collaborated. They worked together. Well, you're very talented.

And I think. I like this, you know, that there was. This nomination is for sure happening. I like the challenge of. of this, which was that you can't use any modern instruments. You can only use instruments that were available in the time of the Bronze Age. That was just the cool prompt that Nolan gave him and just kind of an interesting cinematic idea. And I like that he responded to it. And I, I enjoyed learning about the various instruments that were played on this score. So that's a cool one. Number three,

Best Cinematography, Greg Fraser for Project Tell Mary. Projecteal Mary, I'm curious to see how it nets out. It seems like there's a little bit of doubt now, maybe, that we're like, it's been six months since it came out? Is that like Gosling blowback? Because he's just, he's Bam Bam? From me, but in general, I don't think from the academy. I think it's more like just how big a player is it going to be. Is Gosling really contending for actor? Oh yeah, I'm not sure about that. Is it definitely like our Lord Miller contending for director? Like you, three months ago, I think you would have said they were very clearly contending because it's a very conceived movie, you know, like the decision to shoot everything practically the way that they did. And it's totally their

perspective and sort of point of view as filmmakers. Like, if it really feels like them. And so, but now that we're getting into the moment where it's like we just listed 20 movies that people got to go see before the fall, like, will it have the same register? I'll do that I do have it in Best Picture because I think with 10 nominations, I think that there will be room for it. I don't have Lord and Miller in Best Director. Okay.

Because that's not a numbers, you know, that doesn't make sense numbers wise, but also I, director always gets so crowded. And the more international, the Academy becomes the more international. Directors are included. So I don't, I don't know. I could probably like six. Yeah, that's, I mean, you know, you're going to get sound. You're going to get visual effects.

You're going to get cinematography. I guess you could get up to 11. How many did Fury Road get? Scores very good. Fury Road, I think, got like 10 or 11. So it could be one of those. Yeah, I guess what the other thing that I'm thinking about is Some of it depends on what shakes out with Dune Part 3

And how many big ticket movies the category can withstand Like last year, we had sinners We had F1 That was really it for really big movies Like one battle and Frankenstein are kind of on another tier there And so the idea of Project Tell Mary and The Odyssey And Dune Part 3 all getting in Is really interesting

I mean, it's very rare for a number of event films to get in all in the same year. So maybe that's where some of the doubt is coming from. But I like that you're putting it out there. So that's one of your predictions. So another prediction for me, best original song, Toy Story 5, Taylor Swift. I knew it. I knew you. I think you should sing this for us now.

I don't know the words. I still have never heard it. I'm on the record. I like it. Yeah. It's just an incredible, I think this was like one week before she got married at Madison Square Garden that you were like now I met on Taylor Swift. I didn't say that. Yeah.

You're like that song. And I love software updates and tablets. No, I didn't say that. I need a new tablet. You do? I haven't gotten an iPad in like 10 years. It's probably got a new one. Yeah.

We resurrected like a hand-me-down, a tiny one from one of the grandparents. That's so old that you can only, you can't use any of the new apps, but you can use Apple TV. So that we just have to, we had to buy everything for. the, for the plane ride. Anyway. What Apple TV shows is Knox watching right now? Is he watching Cape Fear? Is he caught up?

He once opened the Apple TV and I guess like a silo was on it and and he was so afraid. Masks are very scary to him. See. So he saw it and he'll want to avoid onslaught. He ran away from the TV. It was like, who was that person? Good to know. I'm really glad to, about your late breaking Swiftydom.

Congratulations. Okay. What's your... Oh, okay. Best actress, Indy Never Ready. Obsession. Nice. Yeah. Do you think it's going to happen?

I do. Okay. It's a good story. I don't know other obsession is going to happen in Best Picture. But everybody likes a breakout star. Everybody likes the woman in a horror movie who goes for it.

Everybody, Academy voters, like an ingenue, still. And this is a way to give obsession it's due, which you kind of have to. It's the movie story of the year in a lot of ways. Do you think this will be its only nomination? I don't know about only, but I think that I'm not sure about best picture, but I'm pretty sure that, you know, and it's the Amy Madigan and Weapons playbook. So I think it'll happen.

I think so, too. I'm not totally sure. Well, you don't have to have fun. Maybe competing against her will be my last pick, which is Olivia Wilde. for Best Actress in the Invite, which feels maybe not locked in stone, but I feel like she's having such a strong year and has more to come with Behemath, and they're going to find a way to honor her. And I don't know if she's going to be able to get into director. So this would be a way to acknowledge how great she is in that movie.

That would be exciting. Yeah. She's good. I really like that movie. I do think it'll be in Best Picture, but. The Invite. Yeah. I hope so.

That would be cool. Wild prediction time. Yeah. Best actress Emily Blunt, Disclosure Day. I would want for it to happen. Well, you said wild prediction. Also, she is so liked. She's great at campaigning for Oscars.

She and just, and for movies. So I believe she'll get back on the trail. If they nominated her for Oppenheimer, come on. I understand that there was like a big train, but she had nothing to do in that. She's wonderful in this film. Yeah. I feel like the mood is not super strong on Disclosure Day, but I like the prediction. I would agree with that.

But again, it's August. We have a lot of time. The Oscars are not until March 10th, 14th. 15th. Great. The aides of March. What a stupid decision. Whatever.

So that's... Is it the 15th? I think it's 15th. It's six months away. More than six months away. March 14th, sorry. Okay. Well, you know, we go up and down with these things.

We get tired of people. We bring people back. Just think about it. My wild prediction is that Michael, could get it in a best picture. Yeah. Is this, this is the F1 argument?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is a lot of people have seen this movie. It's made a billion dollars. They love it. Yeah.

And we didn't. But it's a huge industry success. Michael Jackson, a more complicated figure than some other music biopics figures that we've seen in recent times. But that particular part of his history is completely elided in the movie.

Yeah. And it is a great thing. spectacle with great music. And Jafar Jackson, people really like his performance. And so I could be wrong. A lot of this is determined by the movies that we're going to see from this episode. But I feel like it could go down. Thoughts? I think it's totally possible. I, you know, I have been listening to a lot of the music of Michael Jackson since I saw this movie. So I guess its purpose was served and will continue to be served. It's not, it's not a movie. Yeah, I mean, it was released.

Sure, that's true. It was released and it made a large sum of money. I'm interested to see what is increasingly a more, I don't know about a progressive academy, but certainly a more diverse academy, more international academy, and one that is willing to honor, you know, a slightly more thoughtful and complex version of world cinema does with a movie like this. How does this fit in with the movie? Project Hail Mary and Odyssey and Dune 3. But do you think there's room for four blockbusters?

I don't, but who knows? Yeah, that's true. I mean, also, who knows what happens with Dune Part 3? Okay. One assumes that we're looking at not the Lord of the Rings narrative, but at least the like, we got to acknowledge this film's greatness, but I don't know, we'll see. Amanda, did you share your number one prediction?

Oh, you didn't. No, no, I didn't. Sure. Diane Warren's got another song, everybody. Diane Warren has written the title for By Any Means, the film starring Mark Wahlberg and Yaya Abdul Mateen the second. Listen, she's trying. She's going to do her best. She's well connected in a nonsense category. So could have, could definitely happen. Yeah. Could definitely happen. She released it. You know, she like did her single. She's on the campaign once again. So can she win? No, I don't think she's going to win for this one.

But I think she said nomination, not wins. So I played to the letter of the law. You did it right. That's it. Any other closing thoughts before you get on a plane? I'm excited. Venizia. I look forward to tell you about this well.

That pretty much does it. Thanks to our producer Jack Sanders for his work on today's episode. Thanks to Lucas Kavanaugh for his production support. Later this week, Chris Ryan and I are discussing onslaught and building the black and chrome action pack. We'll explain what that means when we get there. You sort of explained it at the end of last week's podcast and I wasn't listening. Okay. Thanks for doing that.

But I will listen to this. Have a great trip. Thanks. Bye.