The Big Picture - 10 Way-Too-Early Oscar Predictions and the Best Movies at Telluride and Venice

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

After their respective trips to Colorado and Italy, Sean and Amanda convene to discuss the movies they watched at Telluride and Venice Film Festivals, including films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and more (1:00). Then, they share some early Oscar predictions based on the quality and buzz surrounding the films coming out of the two festivals (1:10:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Football is around the corner and we are ramping it up over here on the Ringer NFL feed in the month of August. Every week, Ben Solak and I will be bringing you not one, but two extra point takings. That's right. Double the trouble as we predict, debate and analyze our way through camp and the preseason every Monday and Friday. But that is not all. Stephen Ruiz and I will be coming to you every Wednesday. We'll talk about everything in the world of the NFL. And who knows, maybe Stephen will even have something nice to say about your favorite squad. Though, frankly, I wouldn't count on it. Subscribe to The Ringer NFL Show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

And be sure to follow The Ringer NFL on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, at Ringer NFL. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit Superstore.ca to get started. I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins.

And this is the Big Picture, a conversation show about our journeys to the fall film festivals. That's right. I once again visited Telluride, Colorado for their intimate annual celebration of cinema. While Amanda finally achieved her dream of a European film fest in the form of the 80th Venice International Film Festival. We'll talk about our favorite films at those festivals that you can see later this year. We'll talk about the Academy Awards race. We'll talk about seeing new movies

from Michael Mann, Bradley Cooper, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Yorgos Lanthimos, Alexander Payne, Jeff Nichols, so many more.

Amanda, welcome back. Thank you. How are you? I'm great. Tell us about your life. I went to Italy to the film festival. Holy shit. Listen, it was amazing. Tell us about your life. I went to Italy to the film festival. Holy shit.

Listen, it was amazing. Tell us about it. So I really haven't seen you since I got back. And I texted you a little bit from Venice. We, yes, we sort of communicated. When our time zones would allow it, which was like. We didn't share too many takes. No.

It was more like, how are you? What are you seeing today? Who did you spot on the Lido? That's it, really, right? Yes. So this is a, you saved it for the pod. Yeah, I haven't given you the full report. So let me tell you, going to Venice to a film festival is awesome.

Like, I just have, have you ever been to Venice? I've never been to Venice. I've been to Italy. It is a magical place. I had never been to Venice. I've been to Italy. It is a magical place. I had never been. You're just on the water. These buildings that are like a thousand years old, you really do just have to like get in a boat.

It is surreal and sort of cinematic. Like my husband and I, my husband, Zach Barron, was also a credentialed member of the press at the Venice Film Festival and went with me. And that was really fun. But we were walking around being like, it feels like we are on a movie set because so many movies have been filmed in Venice and like also sort of at Disneyland because it is like a massive tourist destination. And one of those places where it seems like at this point, it's like more tourists than people who live there or the

people who live there for the most part are either serving like tourism or like the biennial or one of like the many cultural events that happens at Venice so it's not like you know I didn't feel like I was like living the European life every day I was more in this magical place but man is it beautiful and then I just got to go see amazing movies every day. This is a great traveling hack in general. Cause like, you know, normally when you go to a place you've never been, like a historically significant place like Venice, you're like, okay, well now I got to go to this museum and I got to go see this. And I got to make sure I do all of the things that you're supposed to see in the guidebooks. And you're

kind of like filling out your days and you have to plan what you're sure I do all of the things that you're supposed to see in the guidebooks. And you're kind of like filling out your days. And you have to plan what you're going to do all day. And also, maybe not everyone feels this way, but I feel I have to be like culturally responsible when I go somewhere, sort of. So I can't like, so I can at least say like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw that. But when you go for a film festival, it's like, well, I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Like I'm going to see movies. And then the rest of the time, I can just, like, wander around and have a Negroni wherever the hell I want. Because Campari is everywhere in Venice.

They literally just... There are Campari ads on the water taxis. They sponsored the film festival. Everywhere you go, you can get a Negroni or a campari spritz or a campari soda or an abral spritz for like five euros meet three most places five at the film festival because there's some inflation but that's okay okay and then you just sit and have a drink and they always bring you potato chips that's just like a standard they're just like here is your salty snack to go with your spritz.

And you just sit outside and you have a Campari drink and then you go see another movie. Are you kidding me? My dream. I did it. I'm very happy for you. So it seemed like you had a great time.

Yeah. Tell us about the festival. I've never been to the festival either. How is it organized? How were the movies? Give us the whole, give us a snapshot. So I'll just do a little bit more Venice just to give you an idea of like festival either how is it organized how are the movies give us the whole right okay so i'm i'll

just do a little bit more venice just to give you an idea of like logistically vibe geographically so i'll start big venice you know is on the water series of islands in a lagoon and like the venice that you see on postcards or whatever is kind of centered around St. Mark's Square, which is famous. It's where all the pigeons are. But that's like the historical island. That's like the downtown Venice, for lack of a better word. And then another island called Lido is the film festival. And so Lido is sort of like the beach resort island.

It's about, I don't know, like a 15-minute boat ride if you're going direct, if you've paid the exorbitant fee for the water taxi. Quick question. Yeah. How is the boat service? Like, is it on the dot? You know, is it well scheduled, well timed, well run? I spend a lot of time on the Venice water buses, which are like the, you know, the public transportation water system. Okay. It's amazing.

Okay, great. And they had a shuttle going from St. Mark's Square, which again is kind of just like the center of Venice, to the Lido. There were a couple complimentary shuttles from the film festival, which is good because everything in Venice is crazy expensive. But especially the water transport, I think it was like 9.50 euros for one ride. Wow. On the public transportation? Yeah. If you're a resident, it's much cheaper, but. I see. Yes. Okay. No, it's like. That's a lot of dough.

Yeah. Listen, they are aware that a lot of people are coming there on vacation and they are. Trying to get the most out of that. Yeah. So anyway, I mostly took the water transport, like the shuttles, which was lovely. And that, there'd be a couple stops. So it would be like 20, 25 minutes from like Venice proper to the Lido. Okay. You could also take a water taxi, which is like when you see all the movie stars, you know, arriving. They're on usually a water taxi, like standing in the back of the boat. And I did do that once, Zach, and I did that for the meister premiere no one asked us to but uh we just like showed up

at the special dock and you you got on that taxi or you watched well no we just i mean we just like hailed a taxi okay by hailed i mean we were like hello taxi could you take us to the lido to the film festival but there's like a special dock where like the paparazzi are camped out. Okay. Where all the taxis go. Is there like a New York style Midnight Cowboy energy to the taxis? You know, like, I'm boating here. Like, is that, you know, like.

They do all say hello to each other. Okay. Okay. They all like kind of nod. And I mean, there is just like the navigation around like the lagoon and what like constitutes like a a taxi lane you know and how people are crossing it it exists but it was impenetrable to me okay so but that's okay so we just like took the water taxi and like rolled up to the fancy dock and ran past the paparazzi and no one is like asking any questions this is another thing

like if you dress up and just go where all the fancy people go everyone just kind of like nods their head and it's like sure why don't you come this way you belong in here yeah exactly i made my way up to like the the private patio um at the top of the the palazzo di Cinema where all the fancy people, just because I was dressed up and I needed to use the bathroom. And I was like, I'm going to go on this one. And they just nodded and let me through. Did you have imposter syndrome at all

during this experience? Yes, but then very quickly, no. Okay. Because that's the thing that is cool about this is that it is all made up, you know? So you can dress up and wear a tux. And if you have the funds or if Spotify is paying for the funds,

you can, though I think Zach paid for that water taxi. Anyway, like you can be a part of the glamour or you can get a pass or buy a ticket. And that's the other thing is that a lot of the screenings are public. So there are people who are buying tickets and just like camped out on the lawn and, you know, elbowing in and a premiere will have both people in absolutely ridiculous red carpet garb and people like in Tevas, you know, it's yeah.

Mixed together in the same theater. Really, really a mix like the 7 p.m premieres like the big showboaty premieres people dress up like a little bit more but no they're all those are open to the public and you really do see a mix so it can be whatever you want you can be like sure i'm gonna like not actually walk on the red carpet but i'm gonna like have my red carpet moment or you can take a nap on the lawn which i I did. And I did both of those. So it was fun. Naps, potato chips, Campari. Yeah. World-class premieres. Yeah. Black tie. Yeah. Palazzos. Yes. You did it all. We didn't even talk about like the pasta, the seafood. Listen, also just arriving somewhere in a boat

is fucking amazing Yeah Is it? I think so I thought a lot about Whether you would absolutely hate Venice Well I mean we can contrast it When I talk about Tartar There's no sand

Okay That's great And so you're just mostly like Stepping on and off of boats And like And it's somehow I think I'm pro boat I'm pro boat

And it's somehow always sunset And like the weather was Like beautiful Yeah And so it's just like majestic and like the weather was like beautiful. And so it is just like majestic. Did you get seasick ever? Not, these were smaller vessels and a contained environment. But you will when you're yachting? No, not really.

One time I had to go on a cruise ship. That's a different story. And I did get seasick. You've heard about this with the ex-boyfriend. Anyway, but no, I did not get seasick. I was just having the time of my life. I almost fell a couple times. And also one of my heels got stuck in the dock at one point.

That's hilarious. But I survived. Okay. But it didn't break off. That's purely, that's out of Fellini. I love it. Yeah, that's fantastic. I was just trying to get there. But then the other thing about Venice is like the city itself is like very narrow streets,

you know, built up vertically. And it's like very charming, but also super crowded. Can't get anywhere fast. Nothing efficient. I feel like you would hate that. Even though I found it very charming. Efficiency is critical for me. We're going to talk more about that. me tell me about the movies tell me about the

actual festival itself because that's what you know that's why we're there yeah that's to see the stuff sure and also get our heels caught okay in the dock but so it is I would say that it's not exactly like a festival for discovery I was at a festival for longer than you were, and I saw fewer movies. And that's not because I didn't try, but it's just kind of, they have one to two big premieres a day. And, you know, Michael Mann, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, like those are all, Bradley Cooper. Those are, they have big names. Right. This was the starriest of all the fall festivals this year, for sure.

Sure. We'll come back to that. And they give each movie, like, its day, basically. And so there are a couple press screenings, one big public premiere. There are smaller movies, but basically it's two movies in competition a day one really big one and then one that you kind of you check out to see and some that i saw were good and some that i saw were not very good um and so i i didn't see like 45 movies like you did i couldn't really take chances the other thing is that all the tickets are reserved.

So, which I really liked. Meaning your seat is reserved? Yeah. But you also need a ticket to get in to every screening, even the press screenings. And they did them all in advance. And that is very different from, I think TIFF works that way now as well. Yeah. But very few film festivals work that way.

It's more first come, first serve. And I'm not sure whether that's like a COVID thing or whether they're just, they're doing it. They released them kind of in batches in the week before. So, you know, I woke up at 2 a.m. to make sure that I could get my press ticket to The Killer by David Fincher, but I got it. And then, you know, once you have it, it's pretty civilized. You know your schedule, you know where you're going, but you also can't be like, oh, I heard this movie was actually really good.

Let me go camp out in line or even let me catch like a later screening of it because it's basically like a 36 hour window that something is screening at the festival. You have your ticket or you don't. And then it's like it's on to the next batch of movies. So there are a few movies that were pretty buzzy that I had not gotten tickets for or I wasn't there or they were debuting afterwards that I couldn't just see that I couldn't see. So I guess that has its pluses and minuses. I don't like lines. So in that sense,

I was glad to have reserved tickets and it meant that I got to see Maestro, The Killer, Poor Things, Priscilla, Ferrari, some more that I can't think of. You saw all of the big titles. I saw all the big things. Yes.

But I don't have like an undiscovered jewel for for you and I think you'll have a bunch of those yeah a couple at least I mean it's interesting because I think there's been some discussion about kind of like the hierarchy of the fall festivals of late as you know TIFF is in a bit of a complicated place in the aftermath of the pandemic Telluride is trying to retain its status as kind of like the most high-minded, the most award-centric of all the homes, the most auteur, like lower-grade auteur discovery place.

And Venice is glamour. Glamour is kind of the definition of Venice. So did it live up to that? Well, so yes, but glamour without movie stars for the most part because of course the WGA and SAG are still on strike. And many of the films at Venice were Netflix films. And so the writers and the movie stars were not there to promote them.

There were a few exceptions. Ferrari is being distributed by Neon and Adam Driver was there and kind of made a point in the press conference of being like, if a small distributor can meet these demands, like why can't everybody else? Priscilla, Sofia Coppola and her stars, Kaylee Spaney and Jacob Elordi were there. Wow, Jacob Elordi is really tall. And that was fun because when he got out on the red carpet it was like the screams and the full like glamour moment you know and and lots of teens and he made it work so you know there is a red carpet there is the balcony though can we talk about the balcony for a second sure so the balcony if you have ever watched any like menace clips where you become aware of this phenomenon of like so-and-so

gets like a 10-minute standing ovation or Brendan Fraser cries after like overwhelming response to the whale at Venice right that's that's all on this balcony and when I've watched the clips that's also where the don't worry darling like spit gate extravaganza happened. And when I watched them at home, I always thought, like, of a balcony like at the Metropolitan Opera, right? Or one of these, basically like an opera scene that you see in a movie where they're, like, tiered and it's like a place of, like, great privacy and on display and fanfare. Okay. This is like a balcony with seven rows in like a very standard movie theater. And I like sat on the balcony like many times,

like three rows behind these people being like that spotlight is really bright. And it is the most un-fanfare, like unglamorous. It's just like basically applauding for people at like a school assembly. It's really weird. I mean, that's the truth about a lot of these experiences. But it is like, there's just something actually about being in the place. I was like, this is a lot smaller. It's seven rows. I mean, it's a lovely theater. You know, I think it's been renovated so it doesn't have that like old world European thing that I maybe imagined.

It's more just like carpeting and seats that are like too close together and a very confusing seat numbering system that like no like all the Italian attendees of the festival were following one interpretation of the seating numbers and all english speaking attendees were following a different one okay that there was a lot of confusion um but yeah it's just kind of normal and then the standing ovations are just sort of lackluster clapping for like a long time how do you think this is something i don't really care about the length of the ovations obviously there's been a lot of discourse about that in the last couple of years. Yeah. But what I am interested in is how does how does how does the collective group decide to stop clapping? Is there is there an orchestrator of clappers? Is there someone who is leading the charge with a louder clap that indicates that you should continue to clap? How did you how did you

follow the crowd in terms of the applause? I usually used it as an opportunity to get to the bathroom before everybody else, because I have to tell you. Very smart. Sure. And the festival is 80 years old. I think some of the buildings are older, but I wouldn't say that like bathroom access is something and crowd control is something that they've got down. This is consistent at many festivals. Yeah. But this was like, this was a real like, you see your moment and you sprint.

So you like clap for half a second and then you run down to the ladies bathroom and hope that it's not flooded, which happened a couple of times. I think that you really could work it. I didn't see any examples of people like really vociferously trying to keep it going but were it a different year and were i someone with a film in competition or with awards ambitions driven it yeah i would absolutely you didn't drive it for priscilla no i really had to go to the bathroom for that one and also like god bless the people at a24 who got me, like, a lovely center ticket. But, like, I was in the center of the aisle, which meant, you know, no getting out to go to the bathroom at any point. Okay.

So, because the seats are very narrow. Yes. You've said that twice. They were really narrow. Okay. It was like being on an airplane, like, for days. But you could. So they're totally made up is the ovation thing.

But the other thing is it's pretty awkward. It's not like a lot of people expressing their pent-up passion for your work and move to tears. It's mostly like people looking at their phones and kind of like idly clapping while looking at the exit. Right. And being like, will this person come and take a bow? It's very weird. So different from Telluride. We'll talk about those differences. People want to know about the movies.

Okay. Do they? Or do they want to know about, you know, the lion bar? Well, I mean, you can do, I think what you should try to do is wend the tear. Sure, okay. you know the lion bar well i mean you can do i think what you should try to do is wend the chair okay um but it's interesting because every film that is on your list here we'll each have like our favorites and our honorable mentions we'll probably devote entire episodes yeah to these films so we have to be strategic for the audience to indicate that whether we're excited about them

or not why we are but without revealing too much because i don't think people are going to want to hear too much about a movie they can't see for three months. So it's hard in this environment. And I got to say, I mean, I'm quite jealous. You saw a bunch of movies that I'm very eager to see. I'm not. So I also don't want to hear too much. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'll do more impressionistic, personal reactions and anecdotes about my time. Okay. We're going to, I think you have very wisely done one through five. And let's do favorite to the number one movie you saw all the way through five.

I think that's a fun way to reveal. All right. So number one is the film Priscilla, directed by my girl, Sophia Coppola. And it is Sophia season. I thought the Rewatchables episode on Lost in Translation was fantastic. Oh, thank you so much. I really liked it. It is the 20-year anniversary of Lost in Translation.

And there have been a lot of great, there's been a lot of good Instagram content of Sophia Coppola and Bill Murray at the Venice Film Festival 20 years ago, debuting Lost in Translation. I saw that side by side of her taking photos. Yeah, and she looks amazing. So Priscilla was the last film i saw i extended my trip so that i could be there for the red carpet premiere of priscilla by my girl and it was just an absolute delight i like i'm obviously in the bag for this i don't have a

lot of distance i think the reviews beyond mine have been pretty positive yeah it's been i would say like soft positive. I've noticed a lot of people pretending that they've been on the Marie Antoinette bus since the beginning. Interesting. Yeah. And you're throwing those people off. You're not welcoming them. You know, it's just like a lot of pretending. More of a water taxi, actually, when you think about it. You have to throw them back into the canal. Yeah. So, and obviously, like, the parallels to Marie Antoinette are palpable. And there's also a lot of virgin suicides in there. Specifically, I thought of Josh Hartnett in Virgin Suicides throughout watching Jacob Elordi as Elvis to Kaylee Spamey's Priscilla.

I just, it's vintage Sofia Coppola, but in a way that is good. Like, it's sometimes you should do the thing that you're really good at. Right. Do you know what I mean? Yes. And she spent the last 10 years kind of pushing a little outside of that. And there are differences, like kind of fundamental differences in the arc of this film that I think are interesting and cool to see her do. But yeah, like it's

it's like when this movie was announced I was like oh I get it like I see why you're doing this I think this is a good fit and I'm looking forward to it and all of that added up okay um I thought she looked great on the red carpet that was very fun that was definitely the starriest of the premiere of the experiences that i went to like luca guadagnino was just like wandering around um he and he was one of the more casual individuals he was using his festival tote bag and just like it you know i've seen luca in a festival environment but probably wearing like ferragamo yeah yeah yeah no he was chill like uh peter sarsgaard and maggie jone hall were also at the lobby bar lobby bar as we sat there having our spritzes together.

Jacob Elordi was there. Some fashion people. A lot of fashion people. So Armani is the sponsor of the Venice Film Festival. And many of the stars who couldn't attend the actual movie premieres came to Armani events. Interesting. And so they were like in Venice, if not on the red carpet.

I want to talk about this complicated delineation in Strike Times. Yeah. Because it was reflected at Telluride as well. The Armani yacht was parked prominently in the Venice lagoon, and you would drive by it on your way to the Lido every day.

It's really large. Okay. All black. And I think he threw a party. I don't know whether he threw the party at the yacht. I think it was the yacht. But, or at Cipriani's. Okay.

Which is George Clooney's favorite hotel and which I was turned away from. We went to get a drink there because, you know, when in Venice. But it was closed because Armani had rented all of it out for the film festival. That's fine. No riffraff allowed. That's okay. Then we just we walked along that island, had a much cheaper drink and went to Muccia Prada's favorite restaurant in Venice. So, you know.

Was that Shake Shack? What was it? It was. I also couldn't figure out whether you would like the food in Venice. Like shellfish, you're mixed, right? I'm mostly pro. Okay. I would say I'm like 90% pro.

You know what I can't do? Mussels. I can't eat mussels. I had a bad experience. Okay. I'm off that. But clams? Pro.

Okay. There's a lot of, I mean, there's a lot of just like a beautiful piece of fish. I'll bet. And then seafood risottos pastas with shrimp so you would go to a film yeah have an amazing experience with something like priscilla and then you and your husband would go and have a cocktail and dinner that would be your night well we didn't only do premieres so priscilla i went by myself and then i went to the party afterwards. 824 was nice enough to have me at the party. And I just like sat very awkwardly for a minute on a, it was on a different island, which I was told is often called Shutter Island and or Netflix Island, because it is like

really in the middle of nowhere and it's like where they have all the events. And it was like a real, how am I going to get home? And how am I going to get out of here? Did you introduce yourself to anyone? Yeah. The people on the boat, like what else was I supposed to do? Uh, how did you explain who you are? I, well, I said that I cover films and then I have to say I have a podcast, which like, there's no cool way to say that. And it like made me want to like melt into the boat,

but then people wanted to like, people like would get out their phone and follow the podcast yeah yeah so i just i know that that for you that's not it's oh it's mortifying yeah it's really it's mortifying in that context i mean what are you supposed to say like i have a podcast like okay you know um so the premieres would mostly be like a cocktail and a snack afterwards because it was like too late. I guess we went to dinner one night. Did you go to the premiere of your number two movie? No, I didn't. I went to a press screening.

Okay. And, and that was really fun. My number two is The Killer, uh, directed by David Fincher. The trailer came out basically as I was en route to Venice. I don't want to say too much more about it, except to say that I fucking loved it. And then I think it's a really, really funny movie about Sean Fennessey. Yeah. It's like, it is so, I thought of you so often, affectionately, by the way.

Yeah. It's just about a guy in half zip who like has his tunes and is like trying to get the job done. You know? Yeah. It's just about a guy in half zip who like has his tunes and is like trying to get the job done. You know? Yeah. I'm not saying too much. I feel really psyched out by this one because I saw the trailer and I was like, oh, God, this is so close to what I'm looking for. And then I did. I sort of half read some of the reviews.

Yeah, don't. And I didn't. As soon as it got into anything that was spoiling, I was out. But the reviews that were negative were like so exciting to me I was like I want to see this even more like you actually

don't get my frequency if you don't like this kind of thing I also read some of the negative reviews and I was like I don't know what you want if

I mean I guess you want something like pretentious and not that this doesn't have serious craft and specific david fincher flair but it is just like a genre movie with all of his fixations right done expertly and i loved it that's what it looks like but i just want to be clear so

it's not just that it's like made for you but like it is like you are the killer yeah you know and i've told this story before right like about about we did a live South by Southwest show for the watchables of The Matrix. And yeah, I was there. And I was sitting with Jason Concepcion backstage beforehand. And he was like, are you nervous? I was like, no. He was like, oh, right. I forgot you're a serial killer.

Yeah. And I took that as a high compliment you know yeah and the other compliment I can pay was that I think that this is also like a movie about David Fincher right so what draws they all are they all are but this is like really in a lot of ways and it's I mean it's really funny I also thought it was incredibly funny. And people who didn't just like don't get it. So that was a delight. Adapted from a graphic novel by Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote Seven, who has written or ghostwritten on a lot of Fincher projects. One of Fincher's close collaborators.

So this is their like reunion proper. So I expect it to be a lot of fun. So it didn't. That was a press screening but I saw Fincher at a premiere of another Netflix movie rolled in in a linen suit

and his sunglasses the god just like chilling he looked so cool the god it was great it was really awesome yeah

okay don't say no more yeah you wanna you wanna hold three so that we can do three collectively yes yeah cause I think it's sort of

like the movie of the festival season it is um. Number four. What is it? Ferrari. This is my first movie. Oh. Showed up in Italy, press screening, first morning. Hello, Michael Mann. Hello, Adam Driver in a passable Italian accent, though possibly not passable to Italians. How does it come to house of gucci i thought of house of gucci several times okay and maybe one of the thoughts that i had was like oh this is like house of gucci but like with a purpose um and i say that as someone who really liked house of gucci but this is you know, it is focused. Michael Mann has some goals.

I really, really liked the movie. And Adam Driver is just like walking around looking very large, like sometimes having an Italian accent. Okay. You know? But like it works. I think it really works. I thought it was very fun to see.

There is a thing at the festival. I don't know whether Telluride has a version of this. Probably not because it's too disrespectful. But there's something called the Kodakons Cup. I'm sorry if I mispronounced that. And there's basically a big wall in the festival grounds where you can write a scathing review and tack it up to the wall. And at the end of the festival, they pick the most scathing review and you get this like wooden cup called the Kodakon's cup. My dear.

So, yeah, so that was fun. Now, most of them were written in Italian and I do not read Italian. So I was just kind of making my best guess, you know, triangulating some Spanish and French. I mean, I think this is what this means. But it seemed like the Italian people did not like Ferrari very much and they did not think that Adam Driver

was a great Italian, you know. One of the icons of Italy in the last two centuries. I thought he was wonderful. But there are some other people in the films who maybe did not master their Italian accent, but we don't need to get into that. There were raves for Penelope Cruz out of the film. She's great. You thought she was good.

Yes. This is obviously Chris Ryan's most anticipated movie of 2023. We will be talking about it at length. I'm not entirely sure Michael Mann has made a good movie in about 20 years. So I know that there are many people here at The Ringer that disagree with that take. I am quite interested in this movie

for a variety of reasons. The one thing I did hear is that the racing scenes are extraordinary. Yeah, they're really good. Okay. This was, I was sitting there and being like,

should I learn about F1? You know? Interesting. Okay. That's a big recommendation. And then I saw it with Zach and Zach had watched Drive to Survive. And so he was able to like explain

some of the things to me. Though ultimately that's the beauty about making a car racing movie is like get there first is really the only goal, you know? So like I got it, you know, I was like, why aren't they all starting at the same time?

Isn't that unfair? You know, I had some logistics questions, but it doesn't matter. So I'm trying to figure out why your number five is number five I can you do so without spoiling too much no I can't so I saw my story I went to the premiere it was a delight this is the one where like we did black dye we took the water taxi no one asked us to it's like the meme of like literally no one and then me and Zach like informal where just like here we are at the meister premiere and we had an amazing time i was moved to tears by certain aspects of this movie i'm fascinated by it i texted you and i was like i just need you to see

it right now so we can podcast about it i don't think that i have the same opinions as like pretty much everyone else who saw it meaning it that there were raves for no no it was just the the focus of the raves and what's special about it i see i think i liked different things okay in the movie well that's exciting actually for the conversation and then i have questions about some of the other things i it's an absolutely i know i already said this, but like fascinating choice by Bradley Cooper. It's in the context of A Star is Born,

in the context of the themes that interest him, how he sees himself as a movie star, how he sees his project as a director. Like a very rich text. Like I said, parts of it really didn't move me to tears. There was one scene that I almost texted you,

like Bradley Cooper is going to win an Oscar. And then the movie kept going. But, you know, it was great. And just kind of that sweeping, old-fashioned, ambitious, fun-to-see-it-at-a-film festival And just kind of that like sweeping, like old, old fashioned, like ambitious, fun to see at a film festival with like the, the mall are just absolutely blasting, you know? So I really liked it. I am excited to talk about it with you. Okay. That's a great tease.

What other movies you want to talk about? Anything you want to tack on? I saw the Ryusuke Hamaguchi movie, Evil Does Not Exist. This is, I had a couple of people while I was waiting in line say, I'm so jealous, I'm not,

I'm so jealous of Amanda that I'm not in Venice just for this film. Yeah. Because this film is not screening anywhere until New York, I don't think, and is much anticipated

after Drive My Car. I don't want to say it's like a very different vibe and there's no way to not sound condescending. It's just, it's more intimate it's more of like a chamber piece and another thing where it's like i don't want to talk too much more about it until everyone's seen it because there is something to discuss i don't

know anything about yeah yeah like he's a great filmmaker it was arresting it was a really also good change of pace for me because i saw it after like Ferrari and Maestro. Like big old brassy movies. Exactly. And this was a very different experience. I don't even know when that's being released. I assume this year. I think so, though.

It was recently passed over for Japan's international feature submission. Yeah. Fascinating thing we'll come back to. I haven't seen it, but in just a couple of years after Drive My Card, for him to not be the official entry is quite strange. Yeah, but like... You get it when you haven't seen it?

I get it. Not because there's anything wrong with it. It just, again, for me, it was a nice change of pace that it was a little bit smaller or not, you know, not like the big swing, but it's not the big swing. What else? So I saw a movie called La Bette, The Beast, directed by Bertrand Bonello. And I just like want credit for having seen it, you know, and I saw the whole thing.

It's been one of the most acclaimed movies out of the festival. Bonello is an international, a rising international great. More people are becoming familiar with his work. Yeah. Did you like it? No. Okay. Is it Laissez-du?

Laissez-du. It's George McKay. Oh, okay. And listen, it's, I am, I'm not, Is it in English?

Parts of it. Oh, wow. And a lot of it's in French. Okay. And it's in three different time periods. Okay. And it's just like fucking weird. I mean, it is, Is french and it's in three different time periods and it's just like fucking weird i mean it is it's in competition yes it's like i read that anishka holland's green borders is the odds-on favorite for the for the lion which but i i thought this

would seem like one that would have been in serious competition for it i think it's like a little too Lynch derivative and also weird. Like it doesn't quite come together. There are moments and scenes and obviously like the filmmaking is provocative and memorable. Okay. For sure. Okay. But like, you know, it went on for a long time. I see.

I was like, okay, I don't get it, but I get it, you know? So I just, I saw it. Tell me about your wes anderson experience so this was delightful this was out of competition um but the his short the wonderful story of henry sugar which is um an adaptation of a novel uh was premiered and wes anderson received something called the Glory to the Filmmaker Award, which is a real thing. That is what they call it. It is presented by Cartier, which just to give you a sense of what, and a nice man from Cartier delivered what I thought was a good speech. Was it Steve Cartier? Yeah, it was Steve. Jimmy Cartier.

Whoever wrote the Cartier Man speech clearly has spent time with the films of Wes Anderson and did, as far as these things go, a pretty non-cringy job of working the brand ideals of Cartier into comparisons with the films of Wes Anderson. And then the Cartier Man

started the speech by being like, hey, Wes, I love you, even though I haven't gotten time, had time to see Asteroid City yet. I'm going to. And then, like, gave this speech. And I was like, you didn't have to throw that in,

Mr. Cartier. Weird. It was weird. Anyway, it was cute. Wes gave a speech and it was very charming and he noted that most filmmakers

who receive this award receive it in conjunction with their worst films. But he's like, I hope that won't be the case for me. This film has been very well reviewed, though. Yeah, it was great. I mean, it's classic Wes. And it's virtuosic. It is working with the ideas of how things get made and the meta aspects of it

while also just being entertaining. And the runtime fits it correctly. It's good that it was not a feature film. Yeah, I loved it. He's great. And it was cool. We were very close to him and he was on the balcony and got the applause and everything.

And that was charming. Were you seeing one movie a day? No, I was seeing two. Two, okay. And then once Zach left, I saw three. Interesting. Okay, how did you find that? Because, you know, we've been to festivals before.

You don't usually love putting too many on your plate in one day. Two was totally fine. And that would usually be kind of like a morning and an afternoon screening, and then we'd go to dinner. The three-day was also fine, because I just was like, this is what go to dinner the three day was also fine because i just was like this is what i'm doing today there was also a historical regatta in venice so you couldn't get back and forth so i was like well i'll just there was a regatta like a rate like a race yes during the festival yes how was that logical down the grand canal i don't know

it's italy what do you want from me okay so i So I didn't organize it. I just, I went to the Lido that morning. Have you ever rode crew? No. I tried it for like one day in college and I was like, wow, this is really hard. It's fucking hard. Goodbye. Yeah, me too. You have to like get up at 6 a.m. and go to the boathouse.

6 at 4 a.m.? Jesus. Absolutely not. But we did see some of the people practicing for the regatta like the days before and they looked cute. So I hope they did well. I didn't see any of it. So I did three that day and that was okay. You know, I don't think I could have done that. I can't do four days like you. You're a maniac. And the Venice Film Festival is not really built for that. Right. That's part of the reason. That's one of the reasons why it's less appealing to me. And I know that this sounds perverse because it sounds like you had a wonderful time.

Yeah. And of course, I'm interested in the beautiful historical cities of Europe. Not really. How rude. I may not be as interested in them as you are, but I have visited many of them. I thought of you often and I was like, would Sean come do this one year and would he like it? And I just, I don't think, I don't know whether he would. Well, what you were describing as your ideal situation in terms of being able to have a cocktail and see a movie and then be on a boat. Like, at film festivals for me, like, I go to them to get bathed in the movies. Like, I don't go to very many parties when I go to film festivals.

I don't really hobnob, although I did probably more hobnobbing this year than I ever have. I just want to see the stuff. Like that is what I'm most interested in. Now this year, The Slate of Venice was amazing. And like I said, I was very jealous of having missed a couple of movies, especially The Fincher.

I just so desperately want to see that movie. But I am happier knocking 18 movies off my list over a long weekend, which is what I did. I tell you, right? I saw 18 movies. So that meant four movies a day, in some cases, five movies a day,

which is a lot. That's crazy. As a couple of friends pointed out to me at the festival, you know, in some ways you might be doing a disservice to the movies by watching them that way. But I feel like I have a pretty organized mind. So my thoughts are coherent. I think I understand the movies as

coherently as i possibly can i really need you to see the killer as soon as possible um sorry uh i had a great time at telluride this year i gotta say um do you get altitude sickness i it's just the shortness of breath thing yeah because there's a you know you were talking about the kind of distance between going from your hotel to the screening or going across the you know getting to the islands if you stay in one part of town in Telluride, there are some theaters that are going to be close and then there are others that are going to be a 25 minute walk away. So when you're doing that 25 minute walk at 8.30 in the morning to go to a movie, pretty short of breath, pretty short of like, am I going to fall down short of breath

on the first couple of days? So yeah, I feel it a little bit, but not as bad as some people. Some people go there, need to be on medication, need a day to really get settled in. So yeah, I feel it a little bit, but not as bad as some people. Some people go there, need to be on medication, need a day to really get settled in. It is, it's quite high up there. I mean, I've talked about Telluride before on the show.

I don't need to, you know, over explain, but it's, in many ways, the complete inverse of what you described. Tremendously intimate,

not glamorous. There are often famous people milling about, but they're almost in hiding, you know, and they're much more like normal human beings that you can interact with in a coffee shop. There's only about seven theaters in the

entire town that are constantly showing movies. There are movies running from 9 a.m. all the way through 1230 at night every day. This year, the festival was five days instead of four, so there were more screenings than ever. As you said, no movie stars officially promoting the work. There were quite a few directors. There were a couple of actors who were there on interim agreements, particularly Ethan Hawke and Maya Hawke, who were there promoting Wildcat, which is their sort of adaptation collaboration about Flannery O'Connor. A couple of other famous people saw Dakota Johnson all over the place that weekend. Right, she has a movie that she's selling, right? Yeah, Daddio, which I did not get a chance to see. Notably, Emma Stone was there,

and that was certainly clocked by the press, and then there was much discussion of her presence. She was not actively promoting. She was there to see movies, but she is, of course, a producer of a movie there and the star of a movie there. She bought a pass, right? She bought a pass. Whether or not that was morally or ethically acceptable in light of the

strikes, I think is like, became kind of a discussion point across the entire weekend, which I thought was interesting. Some people thought that she should not have been there at all. Other people thought she's a citizen and can buy a pass and go see movies and support films. I don't really have a strong opinion either way, but it was notable. She was certainly the most famous person

who was there. Her film, also, which I'll talk about a little bit, has become a kind of locus point of the fall festivals, as you noted as well. So her presence was interesting. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was also there. She was actually on my plane on the way out. And she was promoting an A24 film.

And as you said, they have interim agreements as well, so that she was able to promote. Much like Adam Driver, she spoke vociferously about the negotiations between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA and her feelings about the strike. In general, the vibe was a little quieter at the festival because the machine was quieter without there being actors there. You know, when there are actors there,

there's more publicists, there's more executives, there's just more angst about making sure everything goes well. This wasn't quite that. That being said, there were a ton of just people there. And there were a lot of people that were getting turned away from screenings, which I thought was interesting. I don't really remember that being the case in the last five years. This was my fourth Telluride Film Festival. So I don't know what that was about. I don't know if that meant more people bought tickets this year. I will say the most touching thing that has ever happened to me, honestly, was probably north of 15 people came up to me at the festival and were like, I came here because I heard you talk about

it on the pod. That's so lovely. And that's really cool because it's expensive. It's hard to get there. You really have to care about movies to want to be a part of that. And so it did feel like there was a very young contingent of first timers there, which was also very interesting. And I think gave the festival a slightly different flavor because this is historically a quite an older centric festival. It's very art house. Um, it's certainly the launch pad for a lot of Oscar winning films over the years. You know, this is the place where like Moonlight and Lady Bird and, you know, movies like that really kind of vaulted into the stratosphere.

There's almost always at least one, if not three best picture nominees at this festival. So it's a good place to do my homework. And now it has become a place where like, I have a lot of friends now. I have, I had a, you know,

a circle of folks, some journalists, some just patrons or folks that, that attend the festival every year who like, I just, some just patrons or folks that attend the festival every year who are like, we're always going to see the same movies and we sit and wait together in the tents and hang out and chat. And what did you like? And then even strangers, as I mentioned before, they want to talk about what you saw.

And everybody there is just very chill and seems to be living a very nice lifestyle. And it is not glamorous at all, as your Venice experience was, but it is very comforting to me because the people don't really just care about the movies. Like, that's the only real reason that they're there because it's otherwise too expensive and too much of a pain in the neck to get there otherwise. So this year was a really good slate. I've been to a few Tellurides that have been a lot weaker than this one. I was just thinking about last year and all the desperate texts that you sent me after you saw Bardo and Empire of Light. Yeah. Last year was tough. And you know, it's an important year because it wasn't just the 50th anniversary of the festival, but it's the first year since Tom Luddy passed away. He's one of the co-founders of the festival. He's really one of the creative lights of the festival and of, frankly, of like filmmaking and independent filmmaking. He's like one of the ultimate connectors of movies in the last half century. So him not being there,

they really wanted to go all out. There were some really great films. There were at least three films that'll be in my top 10, I would guess, based on everything I've seen thus far this year. I did see 18 movies

in four and a half days. Probably too many, but I felt good about the work that I did. But then as soon as I hear you talking about one movie I haven't seen that you saw I'm like yeah damn it I didn't do my job I I made the mistake of looking at your letterboxd at one point um I think that was like the three day three movie day and so I had some time to kill and I was curious about what other people were thinking about what they'd seen in Venice. And I don't know anyone. Don't speak Italian.

So I didn't make as many friends as you. So... Well, I had a five-year head start. If you went back to Venice, you would spot at least one person you've seen before. Do you think that's true? Absolutely. Yeah. But I wasn't really mingling.

Like, that's the other thing. I know that I gave this impression that Venice is like this CNBC thing. But what I loved about it is that I was like, I'm going to go see a movie in a glamorous setting and then I'm going to take myself elsewhere and do my own thing. You did have your husband there.

So when I've gone to Telluride in the past, the first year or two, I was like a monk. I was like, I'm just going to sleep, eat and watch the movies and not talk to anybody,

not go to parties or whatever. And then over time, more and more people, and you know, like people just listen to the pod. So they just want like I'm getting heckled in the streets

you know yeah that is true that was funny that like really happens so it's easier than and if you were making yourself

a staple of Venice I think the same would be true for you okay well wouldn't that be a life goal anyway I looked at your letterbox and I felt bad

about myself and how many movies that I could see and I saw 10 movies! You did really well. You did your job and you got to have fun. Yeah. So you shouldn't feel bad. You didn't get to see The Zone of Interest. That's true.

Which is definitely the best film that I saw at the festival. Folks know it was a can and was widely hailed as a masterpiece. It's Jonathan Glazer's first movie in 10 years. It's an adaptation of the Martin Amis novel, though, as I'm told, wildly diverges from the Amis novel.

It's an A24 movie. Glaser was there. It was his first time at the festival since Under the Skin, which he said, the premiere screening of Under the Skin, 50 people showed up and 35 walked out during the film. And so he was a bit nervous to come back.

That was not the case with A Zone of Interest. Very harrowing movie. I don't want to say too much about it other than it's just a snapshot of a period in time during World War II

and a family living in Germany. Okay. That's leaving a lot out. Yeah. And I haven't seen it. You know,

Glazer, I had lunch with Glazer and wrote a piece about him for Under the Skin. And before that, he was one of my favorite directors and one of my favorite music video directors. Chris and I have talked about Sexy Beast on the show before. The film Birth has had a wild kind of reclamation, I think, over the last 10 years. He hasn't made a movie in 10 years. And I think he spent many years on this movie.

It's probably, it has a chance to end up becoming the most avant-garde movie to ever be nominated for best picture so i do think that that is very much in the cards um it's a hard movie to watch though and a hard movie to talk about yeah you texted me after you saw it and we're like yeah i just saw this and it kind of ruined my not ruined my day but it's just pulverizing i just don't care about the other movies i'm gonna see today yeah it's just it's hard it's you know i saw it in the middle of the day when i had like three more movies to see yeah um and it's a it's a master at work it's a true artist but also it's a tough subject matter very tough so you know everything after that is a lot of fun to talk about okay i mean i'm excited so number excited. So number two, big time Amanda movie.

Big time. Can't wait. There was a film at Cannes that was titled The Pot of Foo that has been retitled The Taste of Things. It was acquired by IFC. I'd heard some really good things about this coming out of Cannes, but I wouldn't say it was high on my hit list, but I was blown away by it. I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

It's directed by Tran Anh Hung, who's a Vietnamese filmmaker who moved to France when he was 12 years old. Many of his films have been in Vietnamese. This film is set in 19th century France. 19th century, maybe? Yes, I think either early 20th century

or late 19th century France. And it's about the, quote, Napoleon of the culinary arts and his partner in cooking and perhaps other things. Julia Pinoche plays his partner. One of the most sensuous, sensual movies ever made about food.

It like immediately is on the list with like Babette's Feast and Big Night and the cooking. And I know you are a cook yourself is unbelievable. The way it's shot, the performances, the relationship between these two people, the setting, the time place, just an absolutely magical movie. Transporting, kind of like the emotional inverse of the zone of interest.

Like a movie that just makes you feel full. If you have a partner or are married, you will feel such a deep connection to your partner. Amazing movie. I can't wait for you to see it. I mean, I hope that this movie gets spread around because it's very special. I don't want to say too much more about it. I would like to see it if anyone's listening who can make that happen. I don't even know when it's coming out. I assume they're going to. So there's this movie is in an interesting competition because it's one of the most acclaimed movies. A Telluride and also a can was Anatomy of a Fall. Which.

Oh. It's a French film. Right. And so whether it gets the spot. So which those two films are in this interesting showdown. I don't want to say too much about Anatomy of a Fall. We've both seen it. We should spend a lot of time on it.

Yeah. When is it being released? October. Okay. And so when that movie comes out, well, I think we'll talk at length about it. It's quite an interesting piece of work. I think also in a weird way, kind of commercial and Taste of Things, maybe a little bit less commercial, more of like an old school art house crowd movie and what film gets picked and why it gets picked as the french entry will be very interesting to follow just for the awards race purposes but taste of things like put on your list if you haven't heard of it it's marvelous so number three let's talk about let's talk about poor things because we've both seen it now the festival darling i going into it having watched the trailer

was not really that excited it looked a bit like yorgos lanthimos um in his follow-up to the favorite kind of doing like a tim burton style movie which i guess in some ways it sort of is when you when you write down what it's about um it stars emma stone again they are reunited i think this is their fourth time working together um and it has been widely acclaimed and has very quickly rose to the top of the oscar prognosticators polls um it's a difficult movie to talk about it is clearly very heavily influenced by frankenstein um it's also very heavily influenced by like a lot of european cinema and, as you've probably read, graphic sex, and an absolutely bravura Emma Stone performance.

Unbelievable. So you liked this movie? Oh, I loved it. Yeah. I was a little concerned that you would not be interested in it. It's so funny that you said that, because I saw it with Zach, and we walked out,

and he turned to me and was like, what did you think? And I was like, oh, duh, I loved it. And he was like, I'm so glad I couldn't tell by the look on your face and he's like i loved it too but i was just because i didn't know whether this would be in a min movie i mean this is undeniable and this is i saw it after another film that you and i texted about um that is also kind of like a high premise uh movie and the end doesn't quite land it all the way throughout the movie. And there is just something about everything that they go for in Poor Things, they land the plane.

And that's really hard to do. So, yeah, I loved it. I thought it was very funny. I think that the Emma Stone of it all is so undeniable that you just kind of get swept along. Yeah, we'll definitely talk about it more at length in the future. But the thing to keep in mind is that it is basically like a hard comedy, like a big laughs comedy at times, which I was not expecting at all. And also features really like the return of Mark Ruffalo. Like, I don't know where that guy was

for I mean I know where he was he was operating against the green screen um in Atlanta Georgia but he's so funny in this movie really good and the movie kind of comes alive in some ways when he comes on the screen too and he becomes a kind of like animating force for yeah Emma Stone's character and I thought this was really great uh I I I like all of Yorgos Lanthimos's movies so I don't know why I'm so surprised um I had the same reaction I was kind of like oh okay like we're really going for and the Frankenstein comp is one of the obvious comps but I thought it was just like another oh okay like a master filmmaker is doing homage to like a genre of a and i you know i have to go along with this experiment and it is it is that but it is also like funny and

accessible is an interesting thing so here's where we have to say barbie right right um which the reactions immediately were like oh it's you know it's like weird barbie and there are definite parallels which i think are going to be to poor things as advantage um because then you can just float off the marketing of barbie but i do also think that that has led everyone who's seen it to be like oh this will actually be like a pop sensation i don't really see that and i don't really see that either i mean this is still like like deep weird high concept art house with like a tremendous amount of fucking um yeah and it's

like funny fucking but i mean it has like high craft that is beautiful there's a kind of like you know the imaginarium of yorgos lanthimos is very much on display in the movie so it's not it's not like a tiny little small indie movie it feels big and they're you know beautiful sets and incredible costumes but it is it is quite weird like by the standards of a film released by a mainstream studio. Like, it's very weird. It's really weird. And so, and that's not a judgment. I love weird movies and I love genre movies. It's a genre movie. It's many, many things.

It's attempting to be many things. It's definitely a fascinating double feature with Barbie. There's a lot to that conversation. But the script is by Tony McNamara. And I'm thinking through the laugh lines right now. And it is the kind of movie where I can remember certain jokes

that I thought were very funny and they're obvious. They're not like you need 14, you know, literary reference books to understand it.

It's, you know, they just, they play on a basic level. Yeah. There's a cool audacity to a lot of the choices. The thing is,

like, Tony McNamara is probably best known for writing The Favorite and the TV show The Great, which was just canceled, unfortunately, after three seasons. Wonderful TV show.

Both of those shows were operating under this kind of, like, historical costume drama, you know, shell. Yeah. And inside of that shell there was a lot of craziness.

This doesn't really have that shell. This has, like, kind of a monster movie thing going on. But even that, I think, is a tough sell to audiences. So I'm quite curious about how it does out in the world. I do think it's going to be a big Oscar film though. I do too. Like it feels like a nine, 10 nominations kind of a movie. Absolutely. So, and at this point kind of feels like Emma Stone is the odds on favorite to win her second Oscar. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how you go up against that. It's, it's a, it's an amazing performance.

Number four, this is the first movie I saw at the festival. Yeah. Um, it was a movie that I was anticipating and that we have discussed a couple of times, I think in the auction, because I, I really liked the filmmaker,

Jeff Nichols. Uh, he hasn't made a movie in seven years after making two movies. And I believe in 2016 and this is a pretty risky proposition. It's called The Bike Riders. It's an adaptation of a photograph book of men who were in a motorcycle club in the 60s and early 70s in Chicago and the Midwest.

And the way I kept describing this is this is a movie movie. This is a mainstream, movie star- centric rise and fall kind of a story and everybody in it is absolutely beautiful even though they're caked in dirt and that includes uh tom hardy who plays a leader of this motorcycle gang the the rising the truly rising austin butler as the kind of young hot james dean mont Montgomery Clift-esque figure in this motorcycle gang. Jodi Comer as the woman who intersects with some of the figures in this motorcycle gang. Jodi Comer is using, and if you've seen the trailer that just premiered, utilizing a quite aggressive Chicago accent. Oh, no.

That I thought really worked amazingly well. Oh, okay. Hey, I finished The Bear. How'd you feel about it? Wonderful show. Great. I'm so glad that you liked it. Just wanted to let you know.

This is a different kind of Chicago than the one that we see in The Bear. Yeah, for sure. Did you read The Flamethrowers, the Rachel Kushner novel? Rachel Kushner was at Telluride this year. I think that you would like The Flamethrowers. And I have not seen The Bike Riders.

I have not seen the trailer even because there were some parking issues this morning. But in my head, this has been sort of like a Flamethrowers-esque book, movie, even though I don't think they're related in any way, shape, or form. You should check it out. And I'm excited. I will. I've never read any Rachel Kushner, actually. i know she's widely acclaimed everything she's fantastic um this movie is just indebted to scorsese in a very good way um it's good fellows on motorcycles

is very reductive so i'm not saying that but there is a quality to that and that sounds great so I really really really enjoyed it and it was a great way to start the festival my number five is All of Us Strangers which is another movie

that had been kind of hotly tipped in the last couple of months this is Andrew Haig's new movie that is about a man kind of

reckoning with his past I don't really want to say anything more than that because it would heavily spoil the way that the story plays out. And for some people

that I spoke to, the way that the story played out was confusing and didn't really work for them. That was not the case for me. But I would say this has been tagged as like the big weepy

of the year. There's a lot of people you could hear audibly sobbing in my screening. It didn't really have that exact effect on me. But I will cry in movies. It's not like i'm not like a but it it's a movie about the conversations you could have you wish you could have had with the people who matter to you and who are no longer with you and so it's very very very heavy and a real like you may want to

go reflect on your life after seeing the movie so it's kind of a tough movie to see in a festival atmosphere in a way i saw andrew haig talk about the movie afterwards and he made me like it even more hearing him talk about the decisions he made it's adapted from a japanese novel and how he put his life into the movie and you can really feel that um you can feel the specificity of it you know it stars andrew scott and paul maskell and your girl claire foy and and jamie bell um they're all kind of marvelous in the movie i thought you know i think andrew scott will be the takeaway from the movie i thought jamie bell in particular though without spoiling anything was um just wonderful in this movie um and i always

liked him as an actor but i thought he's really really great in this one. A Glendale Americana regular. Is that true? I always see him there just, you know, going about his life. He's great. I'm always happy to see him turn up in something.

This really utilized his presence as an actor, I thought. This was the one where from afar, I mean, it definitely felt like

they had pre-screened it for a lot of people and had very smartly like harnessed the festival buzz so that as as soon as both festivals started there were 45 reviews and people being like this is amazing and i was like what the fuck like why can't i see this yeah i wasn't invited to any of those yeah um but it so it also had that festival like buzz moment but it that seemed

well played you know I'm excited to see it I think it feels like a best picture movie right now I think there's a lot

that is still unseen I'll do a couple of quick honorable mentions the biggest surprise to me was the Royal Hotel which is the new movie from Kitty Green I saw her movie The Assistant at Telluride about five years ago do a couple of quick honorable mentions the biggest surprise to me was the royal hotel which is the new movie from kitty green i saw her movie the assistant at telluride about five years ago this is another collaboration with julia garner and jessica henwick stars in the movie as two

young women from canada who go to australia on a vacation run out of money need to get a job they get a job at a real shit kicker bar in the middle of the australian outback things go awry very tense thriller very a very conventionally entertaining movie with a couple of really good ideas like that a lot the holdovers yeah this is one of the biggest premieres at the festival i liked the holdovers this is not a negative review of the holdovers this is the new alexander payne movie um i it's his reunion with paul giiamatti the first time they've worked together since Sideways. I thought he was wonderful. He plays a teacher who is staying over a long holiday weekend with students at this boarding school that is, I think it's based on Deerfield.

He's terrific. Payne didn't write the movie and you can kind of tell because it's a little softer than Payne's other movies. And it felt like in the aftermath of downsizing, it felt like he really wanted a back-to-basics movie. Okay. This is him going back to basics. Dominic Sessa,

who is the kid in the film who plays opposite Giamatti, is an incredible discovery. I think he was a student at the school where they shot it and that's how they cast him. He's never acted before. He's fantastic.

I thought the movie was good. I think I wanted more because Alexander Payne, for both of us, is a favorite. Sure, yeah. I haven't seen it. My response to the trailer was just like i think i wanted more because alexander payne for both of us is a favorite yeah and i haven't seen it my response to the trailer was just like okay but like why this one you know yeah i think that's fair you know i think again i haven't seen it i'll see it i think you will like it but it's it's not election it's not you know nebraska it's not a movie that i'm like wow that's like incredible artistry in this.

But he does, he has like a kind of, in the wrong hands, this is a really bad sitcom pilot on Fox in 1997. Sure. And in his hands, it is a real film.

Yeah. But it didn't blow me away. Salt Burn. It's not like this. Super interesting. I will say I was really mixed on this movie. It's Emerald Fennell's

second film after Promising Young Woman. And in many ways, it felt a lot like Promising Young Woman and a lot not like it. In that the issues that I had with it

were very similar to Promising Young Woman, which is that there are choices in the script that I found confounding. But it is a filmmaker who has a lot of ideas elevating out of

indie into something big and grand and beautiful. It's shot by Lena Sandgren, who shot Babylon, who's one of the great working cinematographers. Costume and production design on

this movie is incredible. Barry Keoghan, your boy Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, as good as she's been since Gone Girl so funny it's a story you don't really want

to spoil too much other than to say it's about two guys who become friends at Oxford one of them is from a high class one of them is from

a not so high class I heard that Jacob Elordi read Brideshead Revisited to you you can tell to read that he was he's great

in this movie listen I'm a euphoria watcher like I know about him but you know I haven't seen Priscilla yet You can tell. He was, he's great in this movie. Listen. I'm a euphoria watcher. Like, I know about him. But, you know, I haven't seen Priscilla yet, but he was very, very good in this.

Frankly, all of the actors were very good in this and it looks great and it moves and plays like a movie. But just like Promising Woman, there's a couple things in the script where I was like, what?

Why did you do that? I'm so excited to see it. It's going to be a good conversation for us because the thing I will say that many people pointed out is it is wildly indebted to the talented Mr. Ripley. And that, of course,

is one of our favorite movies. I just want to apologize to the people at the American Cinematheque and the Friend of the Fest Festival. I couldn't attend. I had a family emergency. But you introduced Ripley a couple of weeks ago.

It sounded like you had a great time. It was so wonderful. I had a family emergency. But you introduced Ripley a couple, was that a week and a half ago? It sounded like you had a great time. It was so wonderful. It was a full house. And I met so many lovely people who came. One person had made his own big picture merch. That's psychotic. Yeah, but it looked great.

And I was like, I also would like that t-shirt. I met a lot of people who had just moved to L.A. And were learning about the theaters and the whole culture. I met one, uh, young man who started listening to us in high school is now at UC Irvine and drove up from UC Irvine for the event. And I was, I like, I kicked into mom mode and I was like, are you driving back tonight? Like we'd get home and I was, it was so flattered.attered no everyone was so lovely and it was so fun to be there I had not seen it projected and I had never seen it with a group of people and it's really fun with a group of people including like maybe 30 who had never seen it before which is amazing that's so fun it was really funny to try to introduce it without split you know and I just kind of like, do you guys have any idea of what's coming?

Yeah. Really fun. So thank you to everyone for coming. Thank you to American Cinema Tech. That was a very cool thing to do. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again together in the future. A couple more movies. Nyad and Rustin, I saw both of those movies.

They're the two Netflix movies that were at Telluride that were not at Venice. They're both biopics. They're both very much about the performances of the leads. Rustin is about Bayard Rustin who is this sort of unknown, uncelebrated critical figure

to the civil rights movement and the man who is responsible for sort of leading the charge and organizing the March on Washington. And Coleman Domingo starts as Rustin. The movie is very conventional, directed by George C. Wolfe, who directed Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

and is one of the most acclaimed theater directors of the last half century. Movie's okay. Coleman Domingo's great. I thought, weirdly, he would be even better based on what i had heard pre-release but i i'm a huge fan of his as well speaking of the you know euphoria hive and we've talked about him quite a bit on the show terrific actor it's a really good showy part about a really important person in american history it's kind of right down the middle academy stuff um it's coming out pretty soon it's like in a month and a half it's gonna be on netflix it's good it's not it's definitely not bad um it's just it's fairly standard as is niad which is um a film about diana niad the uh hugely successful

long-distance swimmer um a person who's come under some controversy in the last couple of days weeks months years um i feel like the anti-oscar campaign is already happening this Rustin Swimmer, a person who's come under some controversy in the last couple of days, weeks, months, years. I feel like the anti-Oscar campaign is already happening. This movie stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. Bening plays Nyad and Jodie Foster plays Bonnie, her coach. I didn't know really anything about long distance swimming. So I liked this movie a little bit more than Rustin because I felt like I was learning about a new sport, basically. Risa Fonz is also in the movie as a navigator

who was really great. I didn't even know these people had navigators. I didn't know they swam alongside boats. There was just a lot of information. The film is directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarely, who to this point had been documentarians. They directed Free Solo and The Mission,

or excuse me, Free Solo and The Rescue, and a bunch of other really, really good docs. Making that transition is a little tricky. They made a couple of choices that I didn't think totally worked, but they got great performances out of their actors. Whether or not both of these movies will be series Oscar contenders is still unclear. I didn't dislike either of the movies. I think I wish I had seen Maestro and the Killer if I were going to

see some Netflix movies. They played well to the crowds at Telluride, which is often a little bit older because of the patron aspect to that festival. The last one I'll talk about very quickly is The Pigeon Tunnel, which is a new

Errol Morris movie about John le Carre. It is the last interview that John le Carre ever gave. He did the full-blown Errol Morris treatment. Wow. I thought it was fabulous. Oh, I can't wait. I am, you know, of course, fully in the bag for Errol Morris and have read multiple John le Carre novels.

So, and even then, I did not really understand the arc of his life. So, the whole idea of what it means to be a double agent and of course John le Carre's real name is not John le Carre. Right. Yeah. Is the kind of central theme of the film and extremely effectively rendered. I think you will appreciate this one. I can't wait. As will Chris Ryan and Zach Baron and many other people in our lives.

So that was a very interesting movie. I missed a few movies. I missed the Femme Vendors movies. I missed the Matt Heinemann documentary about John Batiste that apparently is very good. I misseduesday the julie louis dreyfus movie um but i saw a lot uh you want to just do a little like a recount of our predictions from last year for the oscars before we do this year's oscars sure checking on our bona fides yeah okay i'll do mine first so last year i said women talking will be nominated for best picture but no one will be

recognized from the cast correct you're correct can I share a personal anecdote on my long flight back from Italy yes I wouldn't say I had

the best luck with Seatmates and after after just a lot of drama the woman next to me just queued up

women talking and I was like of course wow that's a that's a tough way to get through a flight that's not not ideal the woman next to me just queued up women talking and I was like, of course. That's a tough way to get through a flight. That's not ideal. Number two, after the reception of Bardo and White Noise, Glass Onion and Knives Out Mystery will be Netflix's Best Picture nominee. This was wrong because a little movie called All Quiet on the Western Front came along, which I don't even know if I was aware of that movie when I made this prediction last fall.

I don't think I was. I mean, they just kind of rush it out once you made these predictions, right? That's true. And maybe there was some post, you know. I'm really curious to see Netflix's machinations in the next few weeks after its festival. Yeah. They have a lot of films coming in the next few months. Most of which are hot or like anticipated

but I don't having not seen some stuff and you haven't seen some stuff we don't yet know like where they'll circle their wagons.

Anyway, number three, Olivia Colman and Cate Blanchett are about to be in a knife fight for their respective second best actress Oscar.

That of course was wrong. And you made this prediction after having seen Empire of Light. Yes. That's on you. Well, I was reacting

to the way that the patrons responded to that film, which is that they liked it and I did not. Number four, Timothee Chalamet will not be nominated

for Bones and All. Yeah. You were right. He was not. And then number five, look out for Close as an international feature contender.

That is a film that I saw at the end of the festival, actually in the LaPierre screening room, which is where I saw The Taste of Things. I'm not ready to say The Taste of Things will be a Best International Feature nominee

because The Anatomy of a Fall is going to be a big movie this year, but similar vibe. France always has a few in contention, and you always feel bad about the movie that doesn't get France's international feature. Happening, I feel like, was the last time we had this conversation. Sure.

It was Titan versus Happening. No, no, no. Instead of Happening, it was, oh gosh, what was that? Oh, was it Saint-Omer? Yes. Saint-Omer, yeah, okay. Which, you know. Was good as well.

It was wonderful, so that was fine. Okay, what were your five nominations or predictions from last year? Top Gun will be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and every technical award possible, but Tom Cruise will not get a Best Actor nod. I was mostly right. You have this in orange because Best Director didn't happen, but pretty much everything did. Yeah. That's like a 90% right. Sure. Yeah. Brendan Fraser and Colin Farrell will both be nominated for, but sadly not win, Best Actor. Well, one of them didn't win. Who did you think was going to win?

At this point in the year, I think I thought Austin Butler was going to win. Oh, wow. Wow, okay. Interesting. But remember, at the end of last summer, Elvis had made

like $40 gajillion, and The Whale didn't exactly get great reviews out of the festivals. So, Michelle Yeoh will cancel out Cate Blanchett and Olivia Colman in Best Actress.

Correct. That was bold. It was less of a cancel out in the case of Olivia Colman. You know, it wasn't like two people facing off and Michelle Yeoh... She wasn't even nominated.

Yeah, she just won. In retrospect, there's that interesting thing where Michelle Williams chose to run in Best Actress in that category. Right. And Andrea Risborough was nominated in Best Actress in that category. And Andrea Risborough was nominated, and Best Actress was really weird because of that.

If things were slightly different, if it were this year and the voting happened, Coleman would have been nominated, but Michelle Yeoh still would have won, I think. Big Jim is coming back, baby, in Best Picture, but probably not Director. That was true. Yeah. That was a really good prediction. Thank you so much. Thank you. And Chris Rock will be back on stage. That didn't happen.

So we basically were both two for five, three for five, somewhere in that vicinity. I mean, he was back on our stage talking about the Oscars. Well, that's not what you predicted. Just not at the Oscars, though. Okay. This year's predictions. Let's go back and forth. Okay.

Well, we only have eight. Yeah, but I've mentioned a bunch of them. I've got a lot of straight thoughts here. Allars. Okay. This year's predictions. Let's go back and forth. Okay. Well, we only have eight. Yeah, but I've mentioned a bunch of them. I've got a lot of straight thoughts here. Okay. Okay. Number one.

Despite rapturous reception for many movies this weekend. Wait, hold on. I should do my first one first. Did you see that I added one in? Oh, no, I didn't. Yeah. Okay.

Damn. I was doing my movie phone voice there. No, I'm sorry. But I think we should stop. Sorry to do some on-the-fly editing. Okay. I think there will be an Oscars,

which is like a semi-bold prediction to have right now, but we can't do the rest of the exercise. Things are not going well. Things are not good. It's not a good time. Right. In the industry.

And people are now, I feel like panic has set in post-Labor Day. For both people who are striking and who need to, you know, make a living, pay their rent, and also for people in the industry. I talked to a lot of publicists this weekend. Yeah. A lot of angst. Yeah. A lot of concern. So this is this might be a bold prediction.

I don't think it will be. I think there will be as well. I got to start planning the first quarter of my year around the Oscars, as I always do pathetically. Right. It's early March, I believe. Second week of March. I think so. OK. Yeah. OK. pathetically. Right, it's early March. I believe second week of March. I think so. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a good prediction.

Yeah, I think that there will be one and that stars will be able to attend by that point. I hope you're right. Me too. Okay, my prediction. Despite rapturous receptions

for many movies this weekend, Oppenheimer has not been displaced as the odds-on favorite for Best Picture. What do you think about that? I guess you're right. This is with the caveat that Killers of the Flower Moon played Cannes but has not opened and opens now wide on October 20th.

There's no preview screenings. There's no New York and LA limited. It's going wide. Okay. In over 3,000 theaters in October. This is your kind of right now september 6th oppenheimer is the favorite yes i'm fine with that i mean i think the favorite at this point in the year almost could be meaningless yeah could be completely meaningless but right now based

on what i've seen that's what i'm feeling okay what do you got next poor things will take all of barbie's oscars except possibly for Ryan Gosling's. I just... What are... It's Oscar. What are Barbie's Oscars? Screenplay. I think you could see Greta and Noah Baumbach getting a nomination and then Tony MacMara walking away with it, which I don't even think is like a stealing.

I don't think that Margot Robbie is going to defeat Emma Stone. I don't even think is like a stealing. I don't think that Margot Robbie is going to defeat Emma Stone. I don't think so either. I don't even know whether Greta Gerwig is going to get nominated for director. And the further we go on

in the season, the less likely it seems. I've got her in right now. You do? Yeah. I mean, maybe it'll be a best box office thing. I don't know whether I think

Yorgos Lanthimos will win best director. Seems very plausible. But yeah, I guess so. And I don't know whether I mean that in terms of best picture, but I don't really think Barbie's winning best picture. So I think best actress and screenplay is what I'm thinking of right now. Though, is Barbie adapted? I don't know the answer to that. All right. I mean, that could be the only, yeah, category wise. In addition to Ryan Gosling, of right now though is barbie adapted i don't know the answer to that all right i mean that could be the only i yeah category wise in addition to ryan gosling and that's interesting because ryan gosling and mark ruffalo will likely be up against each other and that'll be an interesting

battle um because there's somebody else that is pretty critical into that race as well uh there's also best original song which i think think Barbie is almost certainly going to win. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah, that's true. Now, whether it be the Dua Lipa song or I'm Just Ken or even the Billie Eilish song. Right. There's a world in which all three of those songs are nominated. Three of those get nominated.

Okay, that's a good point. Yeah. All right. It will have that. And, you know, the Oscars, I'm saying this right now, they have to figure out a way to have have ryan gosling perform i'm just ken on stage during the show and they need this is my idea yeah people feel free to take it the other kens on stage have to be very famous you have to get bradley cooper to do it you have to get warren you need to stop you need to denzel washington you need to stop stepping on one of my predictions

okay sorry um okay next prediction andrew Andrew Scott, Oscar nominee. Wonderful. Hot priest from Fleabag. One of the great actors who pretty much never had a leading role in a big, at least award-centric film. He's in all of us strangers. Okay. So right now your lineup is... Leo, sight unseen. Yes, correct. Killian Murphy.

Correct. Andrew Scott. Yes. I do thinkian Murphy. Correct. Andrew Scott. Yes. I do think you got to put Bradley Cooper in there. You haven't seen it, but I have. Well, you have to put Coleman Domingo in there. Okay, well. So that's five.

Yeah. I haven't seen Maestro, so it's hard to say. I would really strongly consider Giamatti. I think there's a big narrative there, and that's kind of wended to this prediction, the kind of like, is it, it's time thing. Now there's one other movie that we haven't seen, which is called Freud's Last Session,

starring Anthony Hopkins. Oh, brother. That Sony Pictures Classics has. Oh, brother. And never count Anthony Hopkins and Sony Pictures Classics out. Exactly. So this is a very, very competitive race.

I didn't even mention Austin Butler. I don't think he'll be nominated for this, but it's possible. Adam Driver, probably not, but maybe. I also haven't seen Cord Jefferson's American Fiction yet. And Jeffrey Wright is apparently quite good in that film. So it's a very, very competitive year.

But I really liked Andrew Scott in this movie. I think a lot of people will connect with his performance in the movie. So that's the prediction. Okay, what's next? Annette Bening will not get her Oscar this year. I have not even seen Nia. It was not available at the Venice Film Festival. But what was available was the LA Times deep dive into Diana Nyad's career and some of the speculation concerning some of

her achievements. And that was just like reading the wind going out of the, or the air going out of the balloon in real time. I wonder if people are going to care about that because the movie does have a kind of like, one's she's really good in the movie. I mean it's a very hard performance. She's in her 60s and she's swimming throughout the whole

movie like it's a very physically taxing performance and Diana Nyad is not the most likable figure in the universe like her character is very tough and hard

bitten and Benning commits like she's really really good. Whether or not like the veracity of a story like that matters in 2023 is an interesting question actually when, when it comes to the Oscar races.

Right. It just seemed like the reception, even from afar, was muted. And there's also, Talleywright has a thing, usually when actors can attend, where they, like, hand out special awards, like the silver whatever. Silver medallion yeah and i think that annette benning was scheduled to receive one and then that was called off but it's and those are typically sort of like a pre-nighting before the oscar you know hands out the trophy but it seems like even like the absence of the ability to do that kind of reduces. She can't get out in front of her It's Time campaign in the way that other people who usually coast to success on that do. It's very tough.

We'll see. I mean, she's just in a similarly extremely competitive category right now. So that's part of it. The three silver medallion recipients at Telluride had to be directors because of the strikes. So they were Wim Wenders, who had two films at the festival. Aliche Rohrwacher, who had a movie that I didn't mention called La Quimera, which was good. I liked Sir Josh O'Connor. I'm not a huge fan of Rohrwacher's movies, but I thought it was cool. And then the third was Yorgos Lanthimos.

Yeah, that begins. That contributes to what was Yorgos Lanthimos. So. Yeah. That begins. That contributes to what we're discussing here. Okay. Next prediction. The zone of interest past lives

and anatomy of a fall will be the eight, nine, and ten nominees for best picture. This is a bold prediction, I think. Okay.

Because there's a lot that is still sight unseen. I'll give you a couple that are sight unseen. The Color Purple and Napoleon. Right. Those are big studio movies with big, bold campaigns that are coming behind them that

could easily knock out one, two, maybe even three of those films I just suggested. Are we certain they're being released this year? I was told definitively yes on both. You are. Okay. Now, I'm not reporting that. That's just what i was told over the weekend so if those movies come one this is a very white slate of movies that i'm seeing here in my 10 that's keep that in mind but the color purple has an almost all black cast black filmmaker um and napoleon's ridley scott doing a historical epic there walking phoenix there had been rumors that napoleon might uh premiere out of competition at Venice. It did not.

You know why it probably didn't? Why? Because Napoleon conquered Venice. That's a great take. I learned that. Yeah. Incredible take. That's what I learned

from reading Wikipedia about Venice in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight. Well, Apple's doing something interesting. I mean, they're not sending their movies

to the festivals. You know, the Killers of the Flower Moon was, I heard Julie Hunsinger say at the welcome orientation for press and patrons at the Teller Film Festival that she desperately wanted

Killers of the Flower Moon at the festival. And then she tried and Apple said no. So Apple is withholding that film after its Cannes premiere and Napoleon, you know, has not been seen yet. So we shall see. But the Academy is very international now. That's true.

And so it's not crazy to me that Zone, Past Lives, and Anatomy of a Fall would be nominated. You know who really liked Past Lives? Tell me. Sofia Coppola. Well, that's... She also likes the Loro Piano in Succession. Not terribly surprising at all whatsoever. An absolutely iconic Financial Times profile

of Sofia Coppola. What's your next prediction? There will be a dream ballet at the Oscars. And I don't want to say too much more, but Ryan Gosling's Ken dream ballet

is not the only dream ballet of 2023. Okay. We'll pocket that. Yeah. Do you want to give them should we should we share ideas with the academy or should we withhold well i just shared one like but is that a good idea i think it's a great idea and i think that

some of the people you outlined definitely should appear in the Dream Ballet. Okay. Warren Beatty? Yeah. They got a nominated net though for him to show up. Okay. Is there one man in Hollywood you want to see dancing in that fashion? Besides Ryan Gosling?

Yeah. I don't want to spoil things. Okay. Maybe I've seen it and I liked it and I would like more. Dang. Yeah. How about that? Okay. Maybe I've seen it and I liked it and I would like more. Dang. Yeah.

How about that? Okay. Can Mark Ruffalo steal Robert Downey Jr.'s Best Supporting Actor Oscar? I think it's very possible. I am on the record as being totally okay with this. That's true. You are. So the thing with Ruffalo is I feel like all the acting categories are incredibly competitive.

I think supporting actor right now is Ruffalo, Downey, Ryan Gosling, Robert De Niro. Oh, right. In Killers of the Flower Moon. Sure, yeah. And maybe his like, this is my last run really at another acting Oscar. I think Willem Dafoe in Poor Things is going to be in contention. I think Tom Hardy is going to be in contention for The Bike Riders.

I think maybe Jamie Bell in All of Us Strangers. Okay. Charles Melton has been hotly tipped for May-December. I haven't seen that film, the new Todd Haynes movie. I feel like Mark Ruffalo is up front right now. Even in front of Ken. I think it's going to come down to the campaigns. Yeah.

Robert De Niro is not going to campaign. That's also when are they going to be able to start their campaigns. Very good point. I think Ryan Gosling has the lead in that sense. He does. He does. Well, yeah. We'll see. That's an interesting one.

Okay. Can I give you what I think the top 10 best picture nominees are right now? Yeah. Okay, you do that. What do you think of my rankings? I think these are pretty good. This is based on what I've seen and what I know. I have one.

I know you've seen it. And I guess you're right. But I have some notes about the holdover. Okay. Holdovers. Okay. But then also it's the Academy, so. Right.

The holdovers played very well at Telluride. Now, I don't think this is Empire of Light all over again. Okay. But. No, I know. I know. I know. It's September 6th.

I know. You're right. Number one, Oppenheimer. Number two, Killers of the Flower Moon. Yes. Number three, Poor Things. Number four, Barbie. Mm-hmm.

Number five, Maestro. Mm-hmm. Does that seem right to you? That's the only one i'm not sure about yeah it does though again it's one of those things where they just they got to figure out how to get a campaign going okay and if i were them i might make some tweaks to their campaign i see maybe they should call you well maybe they will number six the holdovers number seven all of us strangers number eight the zone of interest number nine past lives number 10 anatomy of a fall now one two three four five six seven of those movies have not been released so this is very early days and not final i mentioned the color purple and napoleon i don't have spider-Man across the Spider-Verse in right now. I don't have May December or Salt Burn or Priscilla or Ferrari or American Fiction or The Iron Claw or George Clooney's The Boys in the Boat or Rustin or The Bike Riders.

A number of other movies that are contending. But, you know, getting Oppenheimer and Barbie in, I think, allows for a lot of smaller films to then get in behind it. I think that's true. And I think your international picks at 8, 9, 10 feel to me like more of a lock. Interesting. Than the holdovers and all the strangers and things like that. Yeah. And some of that is just that those have at least had, like, Past Lives has been released and Anatomy of a Fall has had, like, a festival run.

Like, people are seeing that and also like it can be promoted and sandra huler was like out and about she's on the cover of hollywood reporter i think yeah yeah so some of this is just really about campaigning like maestro is a i think like an incredibly personal movie from bradley cooper is a major star, actor, director, writer. Carey Mulligan also has a huge role and they are just, they can't be out there yet. And the Netflix movies in particular just need that long burn and that star power. So I don't know. I have one other prediction.

Yeah. burn and that star power so i don't know what i have one other prediction yeah sandra holler nominated in both best actress and best supporting actress oh okay it's only been done 12 times the last time it was done can you remember who was scarlett johansson that's right you just talked about it yeah um in 2019 for marriage story and jojo Rabbit. And this would be for Anatomy of a Fallen Lead in the zone of interest in supporting. She's remarkable in zone of interest. That'd be interesting. Best Actress is so stacked.

It's tight. It's tight. I think it will depend on how American audiences in the Academy receive Anatomy of a Fall. Right. It's a neon film. I think it's a great discussion piece. It's a real, like,

go-to-dinner-after-the-movie kind of movie. Which, of course, some of my favorite movies. So, we'll see. Okay. Any other thoughts? You miss Venice?

I'm glad to be home. Okay. But we live really far from Italy. We should work on that, just generally. You want to move to Italy? I mean, what about like a couple months a year? You want to move a couple of months of the year?

Yeah. You have a child. Well, he could come too. I did spend a lot of time. I have to tell you, there were so many people with children in Venice just carrying their strollers everywhere because, you know, it's like you have to go over a bridge every thousand feet because it's just all of these tiny canals everywhere. I watched one little kid help his dad carry his stroller over a bridge and then like hop back in the stroller, which is really funny. But I don't know how people do it. Like I just, I thought about Knox just like running into a canal everywhere we went.

How do they keep the children out of the water? Truly terrifying. Yeah. So maybe we wouldn't be based in Venice for the two months a year, but we could go, you know? Next year? Yeah. What's the plan? I don't know.

It's very far away. Do you know what your plan is for next September? I mean, it is to go to the Telluride Film Festival. I do know that about you. I mean. Do you think I would like Telluride? Yeah, in a different mind state. I think if you were comparing it to Venice,

you would not like it. But... But I'm not a mountain person, as you know. Well, that's an issue. Yeah. I think you and I would have fun. I think we would have a lot of fun there.

I think so, too. There's good restaurants, and, you know, there's fun parties, and, like, there's a lot to do there that is not just the movies. But you would just be seeing movies

the entire time yeah this is an ongoing conversation with my wife it's sort of like she is a mountain person I think she would be I encourage her to go

maybe we could all go and then and then I could hang out with Eileen it's a you know it's a real privilege to get to go to these things yeah of course

and it's very expensive and very fun and I really want to like respect it you know like that's why that's why I try to go to these things. And it's very expensive and very fun and I really want to respect it. That's why I try to go to as much as I can and really devote time. And a lot of the people I'm hanging out with are filing stories and reviews non-stop all weekend

and we're very fortunate that we didn't have to do that. That we get to work in this format which allows us to communicate in a different way about the films. But it is fun. It's a lot of fun. It's amazing. So this was nice. I'm really glad you got to go to Venice.

I really am too. Thank you so much. It was a blast. I really felt like Cinderella or my version of Cinderella. It was great. We're doing a mailbag. Yeah. I would really like people to submit any other questions they have about Venice.

You know, I feel like I have travel tips. Yeah. I've got menu recommendations. I've got menu recommendations. I've got other things. For those of you listening who don't know how to reach us, we send a prompt on X, also known as Twitter.

Are we calling it that? Are you calling it that? I just did. I don't really care. I'm not. I feel so excited to not be in the discourse of stuff like that. Like to just not care about

whether or not it's bad or good or whatever. It's like, I'm there. I'm not going anywhere. Yeah. You know, you know where I am. I'll tell you one last thing. I met one of the co-founders of Letterboxd. Wow.

Matthew Buchanan, wonderful guy. We spent a lot of time together actually. And it was his first time at Telluride. And man, Letterboxd is growing and it is powerful and I watched people meet him notable people meet him and say thank you so much for what you've done

and I want you to know that when X dies and Facebook dies and TikTok dies and Letterboxd rises that I will be sitting on a throne that I will be thriving in the world of Letterboxd rises, that I will be sitting on a throne. Okay? That I will be thriving in the world of Letterboxd.

I believe it. And I think that's terrible for your personal mental health. And maybe great for the youth and the world of filmmaking. Wags is getting more involved. You sound like the Unabob right now. It's like, Bobby, I can't wait for you

to see The Killer. Can we all see it together? You know? I would love to. When is it supposed to come out? November 10th. And get bucket hats?

That's one thing I can't really pull off. Yeah. It's a shallow bucket hat also. You know, it sits atop the head. I thought about trying on...

Should I clear my calendar then? Should I be on a flight to LA for November 10th? That would atop the head i thought about should i clear my calendar then should i be on a flight to la for november 10th that would be an event um i thought about buying one of those like telluride hats you know like a mountain hat it's not quite a cowboy hat not quite a mountain hat but one of those and then i thought i wanted to buy a venice hat but unfortunately they were all like bright mega red and i was like oh well because yeah make venice great again sure absolutely you know it's a different country in some ways um so i couldn't do it but if they going back to the killer for a second yep like if those strikes have not i guess you would not do this because you're not gonna um step in the place of michael fassbender that's not where you are but a lot in common i was gonna you would be a great advocate

for the killer you know like they should get people should get to know you and then they'll appreciate the movie Sean is like practice squad

Michael Fassbender he just comes out and he has to imitate him on the tour yeah my pale Irish brother that'd be awesome come on

well this was fun next episode is a real celebration yeah 600 episodes. Phenomenal. If you want to send a question to the mailbag, ask Amanda about Venice,

ask Bobby about bulking, ask me about serial killer habits, get on X, right? We want to get as many people on X as possible. Check it out. Send a question along. Bob,

thanks for your work on this episode. You're a producer and friend. Thank you. And we'll see you in a couple days. Ciao.