The Big Picture - 100 Movies for You: A Streaming Recommendation Mega-Mailbag | The Big Picture

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

You asked and we answered. After diving into the mailbag, Sean and Amanda tackled all your questions and came up with dozens of movies to watch during self-quarantine. Plus: We discuss the future of the Oscars in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the postponement of the Cannes Film Festival, the watch-at-home problem, and the absolute disgrace of #ReleaseTheButtholeCut. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelley, and welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. We hope The Ringer can provide you entertainment and companionship during this time. So as always, feel free to check out TheRinger.com, where we're still covering the latest in sports, pop culture, tech, and media. And The Ringer's YouTube channel can provide endless amounts of entertainment. You can find that at YouTube.com slash TheRinger. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbins.

And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about whatever is inside the mailbag. We're on day seven of quarantine. Amanda, how are you holding up? I'm doing okay. Again, I think relatively you and I are very fortunate and we were able to work from home and my loved ones are okay. And I'm trying to remember that. And I hope everyone listening is doing okay, doing the best that they can. And that this provides some silly distraction. Yes. We're well positioned not just to thrive in this atmosphere, but to watch more

and to recommend more. So we have a mega mailbag here. Hopefully we'll be able to provide you with some recommendations to kill time while we're forced to kill time. Before we get into the mailbag, though, you know, our old friend Cats, the movie Cats, is back in the news and it's not good. It started with the Razzies on Monday where Cats swept the Razzies. I try to not acknowledge the Razzies generally. I don't think awards for things that suck are a good idea. I don't want to celebrate things that suck. But then there was a scurrilous rumor that there was a quote butthole cut of Cats.

It was somewhere in the world i feel really horrible just having said that out loud but apparently there is a there was i don't this is an unconfirmed rumor that um a person in the cgi house was asked to return to the editing suite to erase all of the cat anuses from cats there's a a hashtag, release the butthole cut. A lot of people think this is really funny. I don't think this is very funny. Amanda, do you think it's funny? No, not at all.

Like, do you ever have those moments of realizations where you're just like, I'm not among my people? Like, we just have different interests, different senses of humor, different ways that we want to spend our time. Like, I feel this really deeply about this, but I also felt this way about Cats. People had a lot of fun with the trailer for Cats.

And who am I to yuck anyone else's fun, especially in these moments? If it brings you joy, that's great. But I didn't enjoy the trailer. And then you and I went to see Cats, which was just one of the worst moviegoing experiences of 2019 for either of us. I did have our friend Gilbert Cruz, who was on this podcast and who's the culture editor at the New York Times, was one of the many people who finally sought out Cats this week. And he texted me and he was like, everyone kept saying it was just a musical of cats saying what kind of cats they are.

And I thought that you were joking, but like, no, it's just a musical about people saying what kind of cats they are. And I thought that you were joking, but like, no, it's just a musical about people saying what kind of cats there are. I just don't get it. I'll never get it. Yeah, I don't revel in garbage. I think some people think there's something fun about communally sharing garbage, but that's not something that I'm interested in. Along with Gilbert, Seth Rogen clearly discovered the movie this week and had a long and very popular tweet thread about it. I thought Seth's observations were really on point and accurate and reflected a lot of what we talked about. And we're sort of unsparing about the fact that this movie is very stupid and does not make sense. And I hate that it is back at the forefront of the culture. Universal very wisely made this movie available more quickly so that they could feast on folks at home, perhaps sitting with their cats,

having an opportunity to watch cats. I would advise you to not watch cats. And hopefully this will be the last time the movie ever comes up in the history of this podcast. I agree with that. It's just not for me. And if you're having fun with it, I guess that's great. But please don't tell me about it. The end. In slightly more serious news before we get to the mailbag, the Cannes international film festival was postponed today and that is probably the last big domino in the major global film market to fall and it's a it's a huge deal um can has not been postponed previously and it's obviously the it was the site last year of movies like parasite which went on which went on to win Best Picture. And it's probably the most famous historical film festival in the world.

And its postponement is confirmation of the fact that the movie universe has completely been changed by COVID-19. Amanda, I assume you're not surprised by this news. No, it's one of those really unfortunate situations where it seemed inevitable. And I think there was a lot of anxiety specifically around people with films in the festival and people trying to cover the festival of what would happen and how best to go about it. And with the understanding that it at least would not be happening at the time it was scheduled to.

So it's not surprising, but it just, it really is. It's disappointing for everyone who had a film there, for everyone who was going to be participating either as a journalist or working there or selling films there. And it's just another reminder that there's a very long tail here. For sure. And one of the, you know, this is pretty low on the list of emotional priorities right now, but Cannes is really

a stage setter for what the rest of the world, what the rest of the year in international cinema is going to look like. There are still films that premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival

that we haven't seen yet. And, you know, it really sets up a lot of the conversation that you and I have in the fall when we get really into award season.

And I'm personally just kind of fascinated to see how that stuff shifts. The fact that Once Upon a Time in Parasite made their world premieres at Cannes last year and really kicked off the conversation, I think, for the most meaningful movies of the year from that point forward. So without a moment like that, I'm not totally sure what award season is like. On a lot of our other shows, we're talking about the sports schedule and how games have been postponed maybe the NBA season will be canceled and if that happens what how do we regard this season again this is not super important but it is important to this show and what kind of a show we make going forward is totally going to be affected by the fact that there just will not be new films shown to the world until I don't know it feels like at the earliest July at this point.

That's true. Although, you know, this is not a big deal at all. There was the first July delay today. I'm really sad to say that Minions, the Rise of Gru will no longer be released in July. I have to be honest. I was bummed. I mean, we're trying to make a podcast. I'm trying to make jokes. Even my bits are being canceled now. And it's just, damn it, is what I felt when I saw that news. But it's, you know, it's obviously, that's a blow to Universal and to everyone who's been working on it. It was interesting that the reason they delayed it was because they wouldn't be able to finish production on it. It was the reason given. So that's another, you think about all of the movies where production has been halted and things that haven't yet been delayed from a release perspective may be delayed down the road. It seems like everything is just kind of being

pushed back a few months. So I think you're right. Once things do start getting rescheduled, I mean, that'll be exciting. That'll be good news, at least that, you know, movies are going to be released again, but there will be a real domino effect. Yeah, we might get a period where we have just an overwhelming number of new films that come in front of us every single week. Sometimes we have those weeks like those A Star Is Born Venom weekends where you're like, oh my God, there's two hugely significant movies. How are we going

to cover this on the show in a way that serves the audiences of those movies? I mean, you know, we had talked about on our most anticipated movies of the year list episode earlier this year that this was the first soft Christmas we were going to have in a while. And now all of a sudden, I don't think we're going to have such a soft Christmas. I think a lot of stuff is going to get pushed into November and December. So on the one hand, I look forward to having a lot to talk about. On the other hand, you know, for everybody, like you said, who worked on a film, who is submitting to the Cannes Film Festival to, you know, the international audience of admirers and the jury and everybody who partakes in that festival and to all the

minions and Groove fans, we're in a state of disrepair here. Shall we go to the mailbag? What do you think? Let's do it. Bobby Wagner, you're here to help us walk through the mailbag. Let's read the first question. I am. And this first question, this is a little bit of a ringer bias, but it helps to be the person who actually sent this tweet. This comes from our social media member, David Lara. He says, if you're allowed to only watch one director's filmography for the rest of your life, who would it be? This was the easiest question for me to answer, and I answered it very quickly. Oh, okay. Fine.

Well, that makes for a great mailbag. Good job podcasting, Sean. Everyone wants to hang out and watch movies with you. All right. What's your answer? Go ahead. I said, I said, Quentin Tarantino. Okay. I think I love the movies of Quentin Tarantino and I think that's a terrible choice. So let me talk you through it because all right. I, Quentin Tarantino, one of the great filmmakers of all time. So David, I think this is a great question. You got it. Let's work through this. The first thing that you have to think about, why are you laughing at me?

Well, because you're on a mission right now. We're all here trying to make a podcast. This is a tour de force. You're on a mission. Okay. So the first thing that you have to think about, so it's one director for the rest of your life. So you really have to make a volume pick here, right? You need to pick a filmmaker with many, many, many films. Someone who is doing one a year, someone who's not precious, because otherwise you're just going

to be watching the same 10 films if you're Sean and you picked Quentin Tarantino. Or I guess, are we on eight right now? Nine? He's made nine. 9.5 if we're including four rooms. 9.5 movies for the rest of your life. Great job, dummy. So in terms of volume, the two off the top of my head, I mean, listen, the really boring Amanda Pick is obviously Soderbergh because he's just made a tremendous number of films. There is like a variety of type of film, even if he does have a specific vision and style. But I actually think that you don't want to pick anyone too auteurist because, well, auteurist in the specific vision sense,

because then you're kind of watching the same movie over and over again, applied to different things. So Soderbergh is actually not my pick. I think, honestly, in terms of just a ton of movies, rewatchability, and the variety of experience, you probably need to pick Spielberg because you're just getting a lot of different stuff. And you also have to keep in mind, you're revisiting these movies. It's not just like the first shock. And obviously, Tarantino movies are rewatchable. But there is something that needs to be, I don't want to quite say accessible. And I guess I'm doing this in the lens of you're

watching these at home. Like maybe if you have the giant theater experience and it's just you alone for the rest of your life that it changes. But for me, I think you want something that you can watch at home, which is like a Spielbergberg like a blockbuster but you know with some precise technical know-how but i also think so i think what's spielberg but i really honestly if i were doing my honest answer right now and again this is like of the moment i was influenced by uh sam esmail and our conversation and i think i would pick rob reiner wow yeah well um let me just tell you that I think your picks are horrible. And I think they're both really good. And if you're going to criticize me, I'm going to criticize you.

To me, it's not about variance or variables. It's about what gives me the most pure because it's what would give me the most pure pleasure. You know, we've been talking the last couple of weeks about how movies are a salvation and a salve from trying times. And if I could only have 9.5 movies, that's probably the 9.5 movies of Quentin Tarantino. Rob Reiner directed North. North is a piece of shit. He directed a lot of pieces of shit. I had a great birthday party at North. That is a true story. I think it was my 11th birthday, and we had a really

nice time. And also if you pick Reiner, then you're not just getting Rob Reiner. You're also getting the Nora Ephron experience with When Harry Met Sally and you're getting Aaron Sorkin with A Few Good Men. He's working with a lot of different people and a lot of different actors and you get Spinal Tap and you do, it's like, I think, and it's comforting. Again, for me, it is also those are the movies that I would want to spend the most time with. And then when I'm really bored, I can watch The Bucket List. I mean, that's fine. The Spielberg movies I find to be not rewatchable the older I get

and the more hardened and more cynical I get. And I find his put on of empathy and hope and aspiration to be kind of phony. That's just me. Okay. Well, you're also the person who's just been seeking out the most anxiety provoking movies and an anxious time to deal with your stuff. So, you know, you and your nine hours, nine movies can be alone on an island for the rest of your life together. Well, you can enjoy your time watching Rob Reiner's LBJ biopic starring Woody Harrelson. I'm sure that that will be time well spent. Frankly.

Speechless. I got her. Bobby, what's the next question? Amanda, did you go to the movie theaters for a birthday party? Yeah. That's not much of a party. You can't talk to each other. First of all, Jesus, why are you crushing my 11-year-old birthday party right now? I don't understand what's the need, why that's necessary. Second of all, Sean and I both have summer birthdays. My birthday is in August and it's really hot. So you can't, like there are only so many things that you could do in Atlanta in the summer. I had several pool parties. We went to a Braves game once. But at some point, you know, my love of cinema and Rob Reiner just kicked in.

Okay, fair. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to crush your 11-year-old self. Next question. I also had, I had an 11-year-old self. Next question. I also had, I had an 11-year-old birthday party at a movie theater as well. It was the movie Robin Hood Men in Tights

directed by Mel Brooks, who is a fucking icon. And I had a great time. Did you go alone? We went to get pizza afterwards. No, no, I didn't go alone, Bobby. I went with my coterie of close friends. My father escorted us.

And then we had some several pepperoni pizzas afterwards. Hell of a day.erie of close friends. My father escorted us. And then we had some several pepperoni pizzas afterwards. Hell of a day. Hell of a birthday. I was more of a rollerblading, roller rink kind of birthday guy. But that's just me. Okay, next question is from William. What are your favorite feel-good movies for those of us looking to de-stress a bit?

What did you go with here, Amanda? Well, I wrote the catalog of Rob Reiner. Yeah, I do feel like these are all my picks. So I'm going to try to ration them out. And I did some old musicals, which to me are always very comforting. Obviously, the obvious ones are Singing in the Rain, American in Paris, Funny Face. Really recommend the old Guys and Dolls, which I had a real connection to when I was young, and Bye Bye Birdie. And then romantic comedies for me are also the number one. So I know I've talked about a lot of them, but three that I haven't talked about that

much, and maybe we can talk about them in a later date if people actually like them. Morning Glory, starring Rachel McAdams and Patrick Wilson, and also Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. It's Complicated, which is a Nancy Meyers movie with Meryl Streep, and My Best Friend's Wedding, which I have done a rewatchables on, and I recommend that episode. But that's a Julia Roberts classic. All good picks. I also picked an early musical, The Wizard of Oz, which I've talked about and how much i love that movie and how important it is to me i think you could put that on through any experience in your life and it will make you feel better even though it is arguably one of the most stressful movies ever made if you think about the premise of the wizard of oz it is actually a

very upsetting film but ultimately it will make you happy um a couple of other ones speaking Speaking of movies we've done rewatchables on, I picked The Big Lebowski. I think The Big Lebowski from the ages of 18 to 30 or so was the most comfort food I had. It's probably the movie I've watched the most times without having to think about, without having to analyze, just letting it wash over me. And then two movies that you don't have to think about and probably shouldn't, but that I always, always, always love watching, which are turning like almost 25 years old, I think, are Billy Madison and Tommy Boy, which we don't really talk about the kind of like bro comedies of the era that's usually reserved for the rewatchable space. But I'm not I'm not better than that. I fucking love Tommy Boy.

And the idea that Tommy Boy is turning 25 is horrifying to me but also very very it's sort of sweet we're all we're all aging um is is tommy boy fat guy in a little coat it sure is yeah that's classic very special film bobby have you seen tommy boy i have not and also i'm turning 24 in like two weeks so wow what the fuck bobby i just i'm gonna need you to take it down a notch in terms of making us feel terrible okay you are younger than tommy boy yeah i just okay just down one whole level bobby next question next question uh small businesses are closing left and right to the coronavirus do you think we'll get to the point of seeing movie studio movie studios either large like disney or small like Neon shutting

down or permanently shifting if the theaters have to remain closed? I don't think so. I certainly don't think shutting down. I mean, I think production is obviously paused around the entire industry. You know, it's possible that some very, very small studios may not be able to hack it if this extends for three, six twelve months but the big studios are you know they're experimenting we talked about it earlier this week amanda you know we talked about what universal is doing since we last recorded sony decided to put bloodshot on uh streaming services or on vod rental services starting on tuesday so there's going to be some changes the permanent shift i don't know. It's tough.

I think in a long-term sense, that's exactly what you're going to see. But I don't think it's going to happen permanently anytime soon. What do you think? I would agree with that. I think there's also a difference between something being totally closed versus people having to scale back their production, scale back their staffs, maybe like corporate rearrangements, things getting acquired. It does seem like the current arrangement will change. But beyond that, we can't really say at this point. I think that the one thing that we know is going to change is that the theaters are going to struggle. And this might long-term result in

more theaters closing. And I think we'll talk about that a little bit more in the episode and sort of what you can do to support them. But if there are fewer theaters, there's fewer power, there's a lesser power in the theater lobby, which means that the relationship that the studios have to the theaters does change some of that windowing stuff that we talked about in the last episode. It might shorten the period of time when you can see a movie in a theater versus seeing it at home. And the other knock-on effect is something that we've talked about too, which is it just might mean that the only movies that make sense to the major studios long-term for the theatrical experience are tent poles, are James bond and marvel and mission impossible and you know the kind of the thrillers and the romantic comedies and the you know the classical period dramas that we talk

about on the show all the time that we love might just start to they'll certainly be the first ones that continue to recede to streaming vod and and other. Which was already starting to happen and it just might be an acceleration or maybe just a starker divide between what is a quote theater movie and what is a streaming movie. Bobby what's next? A asks what's your thought process when you hate a movie but most other critics seem to love it? Do you feel the need to revisit it again? I'm curious for your thoughts here Amanda Amanda, because I think you sometimes feel a little bit more vociferously than I do. I do think that hate is a strong word.

I would say there are a few movies that I hate. Yeah, I agree with that. I think there are a lot of movies that I don't really have the time for. And I think I get frustrated with groupthink more than I get frustrated with an actual movie right so that actually makes me wonder like the purpose of the question is the question how do we feel after we learn that people loved a movie that we hated because if that's the

case I try not to be defensive I try to understand what people loved about something I do like to go back and revisit the movie if it's in the os race or really noisy in the culture, or even if it just feels like, to borrow a Sorkinism, if it feels like a pebble in my shoe, like I haven't, maybe I didn't get it, or maybe I missed something important in it, or maybe I just was in a bad mood the day that I saw it. I've been thinking about this a lot with respect to some of the Oscar stuff that we've talked about where we get very sweeping about Oscar results that we hate.

I definitely do. And Green Book in particular has been on my mind lately because our relationship to Green Book was kind of unusual. Like we both saw it. We both liked it. We both said that was an entertaining movie.

Yeah. I probably wasn't thinking very hard about the ramifications of a movie like that. I also didn't know anything about the personal stories in the movie. So then I feel like we spent three months kind of re-litigating with ourselves how we ought to feel about it.

And we got frustrated with Academy members who weren't doing the same thing that we were doing. And I don't know if we kind of like went through the looking glass there, you know, and we were like thinking about it too much. I don't, what do you think about that proposition? The other thing that we were doing with Green Book is that we were both trying to make sense

of the information that we were getting about, you know, both the history of the characters and the family and also, you know, some things that we probably didn't consider the first time around. But also we were trying to make sense of the characters and the family and also you know some things that we probably didn't consider the first time around but also we were trying to make sense of the fact that like in an oscar sense it was up against roma and roma is just a better movie than green book and so sometimes specifically about the oscars it's not that we dislike the movie as much as we hate that a better movie is losing like i think I think that was, especially with 1917 this year, you know, I went to see 1917. I was like, hey, that looked like one shot. Good job,

guys. But the idea that it would win over Parasite or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was so frustrating. So sometimes in the Oscars thing, again, I think that's a version of groupthink that is really, really frustrating. This question to me is interesting in two respects. Number one, like hate, again, is such a specific word. And if I really hate a movie, like that is a very strong reaction. And I usually go back to look at it because it's doing something right to make me react that much. And if I honestly hate it instead of being like, eh, it's not for me, I do try to engage with it and figure out what it is about the piece of art

that I am responding to, even if it's negative. The other interesting one is like, the interesting part of this question is it specifies critics. And, you know, as with any other group, there are critics who are more, critics have personal tastes and biases and knowledge bases and just like everybody else. And so there are some critics that I lean towards more than others. I'm not going to name them, but that's just like anybody else in life. So in that case, if every other critic that I love thinks something is great i usually do think i'm wrong and i try to go to figure out like what i missed but if it's just just like a bunch of people on the internet yelling in this case is in all other cases i try to ignore it yeah there are some

people who are there are some critics who are fun to disagree with i think richard brody has starked staked out this territory at the new yorker as a kind of like blithely unaware contrarian you know he he posits his his opinions about films in such a such a direct and definitive way that it almost seems as if he is the only person that he has ever talked to um and there's something amusing about that. He's obviously hugely informed and a sophisticated film goer and a really gifted critic, but he regularly writes pieces that I'm like, this is just complete nonsense.

And it forces you to confront the concept of intentionality and what a filmmaker was going for versus what somebody takes away from a film. This actually came up recently with Brody, where when John Krasinski was doing press before A Quiet Place 2 was postponed, he was asked about Brody's supposition that A Quiet Place was essentially an allegory about red state America

and the way that the middle of the country had kind of been silenced and that the Trump election was sort of a backlash to that sensation, that people felt like the rest of the country had moved on from them and that they Trump election was sort of a backlash to that sensation that people felt like the rest of the country had moved on from them and that they had been shushed. And while that was a provocative piece that Brody wrote, John Krasinski just flatly was like, no, that was not my intention and that was not what I was going for. Not that I don't know if Richard Brody's

name was used in that question when it was posed to him, but it clearly came from what he wrote about the movie, his reading of the movie. And I like to read criticism that forces me to think about broader ideas about movies. And I personally apply my own specific ideas about the world to movies, whether the artist intends it or not. But I find it more fun to disagree than it is to get angry about how much I hate what someone else said or what someone else made. So I try to avoid that in general. The other thing too is the more people you meet who make movies, the more empathy you have for how hard it is to make a movie. And there's just no denying that. Now, a lot of film critics to their credit, try to put a lot of distance between them and filmmakers. But I know some filmmakers. I interview filmmakers all the time.

These people are mostly trying to do something good. No one goes in, even with the most cynical intention to make a Marvel movie, they're still trying their best to make something that people really like. So I try to keep that at the forefront of my mind when I'm responding to a movie. The only thing I would add to that, if a movie is not for you, it's really okay. Trust me. I've had a lot of movies that I've had to see for this podcast and other walks of life that are not for me. And that's OK.

And, you know, the hope is that you learn something from it and then you can go find something that is for you. And also that hopefully they'll keep making different types of movie for the many different types of people out there in the world. There's one exception here, and that is cats, which is garbage. Yeah, no, don't make any more cats please what's next uh i purposefully left out all cats questions you guys are welcome uh mike asks is it me or does streaming a movie not feel as exciting as streaming a tv show i i will answer this one i

agree with you entirely mike i it might just be me i think my husband and i are just really bad at watching tv shows we've tried to watch three to watch three in the last week and we finish one and we turn to each other and we're like, do we watch another? And then we just don't. And I think some of that, it has nothing to do with the TV shows, which is why I don't want to name them. But there is something about, I guess I don't agree with Mike. It's the opposite because I just can't sit there for more than two hours. I have a lot of thoughts about this. I'm obviously a much more avid TV watcher than you are. I think my greatest regret personally on a very low level basis around the coronavirus crisis is that I don't have a great couch in my house because if I had a great

couch, I would just be spending more time watching things for consecutive hours. And my couch is just not that comfortable. So I'm dealing with it as best as I can. Nevertheless, I think I like to watch television shows on a weekly basis. I don't like to binge. I've never really liked to binge TV shows. I do watch a lot of shows. And right now, there are a lot of active shows that I love. For example, Curb Your Enthusiasm is on right now. Better Call Saul is on right now. I'm watching our pal Andy Greenwald's Briarpatch right now. Top Chef starts tonight. There's actually a bunch of shows that I've had, and of course Survivor, which is the show of the moment, at least at the ringer for many of us. So given that all those shows are active, I have a schedule-based relationship to television. And most of those shows require watching them within the first 24 hours of their release

that it can be up on the conversation around them. And one of them spoiled for me. So I do get excited to watch shows, but I do not get excited to watch eight consecutive hours of Stranger Things when it comes out. I actually just don't like doing that at all anyhow. And I feel like a lot of the streaming services have noticed that there are a lot of people like me and they're starting to change the way that they release their patterns for shows because the consumption may not be as high as it used to be around the binge model. The binge model

made sense when there was a backlog of an iconic show like Breaking Bad. It doesn't make as much sense when the show that you're putting out into the world with 10 episodes readily available just isn't very good. And so I'm sensing that those things are changing so i don't think that shows coming out as exciting necessarily but i think it has a kind of like schedule-based utility streaming movies are not exciting they're just not exciting now i'm finding a way to get excited about being able to watch emma for 20 like a like a psychopath like i'm trying to get amped up to have an early experience on a movie because I do like to see things as soon as possible but I didn't feel that way about Spencer Confidential and I think that it's ultimately just a case-by-case basis where do

you really love the thing and are you anticipating it or do you not care that much you know if if Vince Gilligan was creating a new TV show and he was going to drop 10 episodes all in one shot, I'd probably watch it right away. Then again, Matthew Weiner created a new TV show and they put up every single episode on Amazon and I didn't watch it. So I don't even know. TV is really challenging and there's a reason we don't spend too much time on it on this show because you and I are not really a part of the current streaming television wave, I think. Yeah, I agree with that. I do think some of it is just that TV, or at least TV 20 years ago, was distinct from movies and that it was something that was made to be watched in your home.

And movies were made to be watched on a big screen and TV was meant to be watched on your couch, with your family, every single week. And I find old TV was meant to be watched like on your couch with your family every single week. And I find old TV much easier to watch right now than new TV because there is in the same way that movies are kind of, especially streaming movies are blurring towards like, how can you watch this on your screen? I find that a lot of made for streaming TV is like blurring towards, towards movies where there's just kind of this amorphous streaming product that is just supposed its primary goal is to keep you there for 10 hours. And I can't do that at all.

So maybe I'll just start watching old sitcoms from the 80s, and then I'll become the world's greatest TV watcher. How about that? Sounds good. I encourage you to explore whatever you need to during this complicated time. Bobby, what's next? David asks, what do you think is the best way, if there is any, to support the traditional theater experience

during this outbreak? In a practical sense, no. But there are a couple of things that I think people can do. A few days ago, Karina Longworth, the host of You Must Remember This, noted that if you want to literally supply cash to movie theaters, you can buy gift cards. Just buy gift cards to the theaters that

you like. Those are still going to be available for purchase online. Likewise, I recently subscribed to a season pass at Alamo Drafthouse, which is a place I like to go see movies where I think for three months at a time for $30, you can get unlimited movies every month and unlimited sit-down screenings. Now, obviously, Alamo Drafthouse is different from a lot of other movie theaters in that a lot of their price point is made up in concessions, which are really more full menu items. There's a full bar at every Alamo Drafthouse. But if you sign up for a seasonal pass, that's a way to potentially put some money in the pockets of theater owners. Today, Amanda, I'm not sure if you've seen this yet, but Kino Now was announced,

which is the fascinating proposition from the people at Kino Lorber, which is an independent film distributor. They are launching essentially an equivalent theatrical streaming service where you can pay $12 for Baccarat, a movie that we have not talked about, a really fascinating, fun Brazilian genre grindhouse mashup movie. And you pay $12 for it and you can delineate which theater you want the proceeds of that money to go to aside from Kino. So I think theaters will have to opt into the Kino Now experience and you have to be a subscriber to Kino's streaming service, which I know is asking a lot of people to really kind of drill down that far. But if you want to see Baccarat and you didn't

get a chance to see it when it was in theaters for basically a week, there's a chance to see it for 12 bucks in your house right now and to support the Jacob Burns Film Center or whatever other independent movie house was going to show it. So I think that was kind of a beautiful thing. And then one last thing that I did want to mention is some folks created a GoFundMe for the Cinema Workers Solidarity Fund, which is a way to support the people who work in movie theaters and who obviously do not make huge salaries. And those jobs were largely furloughed or laid off. And essentially by donating $3,000, if the goals reach above $3,000, that essentially accounts for more than a dozen workers at $15 an hour for the month. I think they've already raised something like $70,000 for this GoFundMe. So if you're looking to do something decent for people who

work hard in movie theaters that you love going to, I think that's a really good place to put your money. Anywhere else, Amanda, that you've thought about with respect to supporting this experience? I'm glad you mentioned the GoFundMe because I wanted to talk about that as well. I did want to ask you in terms of buying the gift cards or buying the season passes or the year-long passes, if you have a limited budget, should someone be going to a local theater, an independent theater? If that money is going to a chain, how do you best think that people should be allocating to the extent that they can? It's a good question. I mean, I think it depends on location. I don't

want to be too city-centric. It's easy to say you should support small art house theaters, but not every town and city in this country has small art house theaters. So if all you have is an AMC or a Regal, maybe the best way to do that is to support those chains. I mean, I think those chains are going to be able to withstand the blow a lot more significantly. They have so many more locations than virtually every other movie company in the United States right now. But I don't know. I mean, if I were on Long Island right now, I would be finding ways to give money to the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington. That was a place that was super important to me as

a kid that introduced me to a lot of old movies and a lot of independent movies. It totally shaped the way that I saw movies as a teenager. And it's still going. And they also have a seasonal pass program. And I think if you live on long island and you frequent the the that that movie theater kick some money their way if you can afford it if you can of course that's understandable these are frivolous concerns relative to like medical concerns and and people staying safe and who knows what kind of hospital bills people are gonna have to deal with in the near future but if movies are as important to you as they are to us then find a small way to kick in. All right, next question. This comes from Matt.

He asks, what movie from your childhood did you rewatch over and over but now realize is a completely absurd and horrible film in the eyes of most? And then he adds the caveat, yet you still have a nostalgic impression of. Very important parenthetical at the end there. I'm very curious about your response to this, Amanda. Well, so I was trying to think. I don't really think I was put in front of that many absurd movies. That just wasn't my parent style.

I mean, Mary Poppins is a great example, but we talked about that last year. Like Mary Poppins is about like that banking industry. But, you know, I just watched Super Califragilistic a million times. But, you know, I don't think that's the most fun answer. So instead, I picked an answer, a movie that I just watched supercalifragilisticexpialidocious a million times but you know i don't think that's the most fun answer so instead i picked an answer a movie that i just watched a million times and then never thought about ever again or never talked about ever again are you familiar with the film big girls don't cry they get even did you ever see this movie i has there is there ever been a more a more Amanda Dobbins title for a film in the world? I'm familiar with the movie.

I don't remember much about it at all though. So I don't really either except that Jenny Lewis was in it. And also Griffin Dunn is in it and David Strathairn, which I realized that this was like how I met David Strathairn was in this movie. So it's a 1992 movie directed by Joan Micklin Silver. And it's basically about a family of divorce. It's kind of like the mom and the dad have remarried.

So it's like a Brady Bunch, but mean. They don't get along. They're not happy. And then the main girl is named Laura, and she runs away somehow. And then they're all at camp. And Jenny Lewis plays the mean, rich, older stepsister or something. And then hijinks ensue. And that's literally all I remember about it, that there's a very long Wikipedia plot page page and I have to tell you that I do not remember much of this except that they're at camp and they all hate each other. I must have watched this movie though 40 times before the age of 10 and then it's like it never

existed. Did you fancy yourself a big girl that didn't cry? Well I think that the main girl I remember her having a really bad attitude so i think that i definitely related to that and i also remember thinking i think that i knew about jenny lewis because this is the same time as troop beverly hills and so i was kind of aware of her and i was very into troop bever Hills. And I thought these, these, I also remember them being kind of caustic to each other and it wasn't like the Sonny family. Everyone was trying to one up each other.

And I thought that was kind of funny. Even then that's obviously the type of movies that I like now. So also a great movie title. You know, Joan Micklin Silver is one of the like lost key female filmmakers of in american history really i mean she's made a few movies that people may have heard of i think crossing delancey is probably her most well known well respected movie but she made a couple movies in the 70s chili scenes of winter and um between the lines that are good and i think chili scenes of winter was on criterion a couple of

months ago she's a really good um really good filmmaker of like like light drama soft drama i feel like big girls is not um does not reflect like the rest of her filmography but that's a that's a good pick i i can't promise i'll return to it um i'd like to return to the movie that i picked just to make sure that i i'm right about how not right it is uh it's called Just One of the Guys. Are you familiar with Just One of the Guys? No, I have no idea what that is. Bobby, have you heard of this film? No. Okay. This movie was on HBO every day for five years, and I probably watched 80 to 90% of the screenings on HBO of this movie. It came out in 1985. It's a coming-of-age teen comedy drama

starring Joyce Heisser and Clayton Rauner. It's directed by a woman as well, Lisa Gottlieb. And it's essentially a modern-day remake of Twelfth Night, which makes it sound a lot more sophisticated than it is. I'm loathe to get into whether a movie is problematic or not, but this movie has got a lot more sophisticated than it is. I'm loathe to get into whether a movie is problematic or not, but this movie has got a lot of really weird stuff going on

with gender identity. And I remember it being a resonant movie for me, frankly, because the star of the movie takes her top off in the movie. And when I was 12, I was like, holy shit. But if you revisit this movie, which is essentially about a young woman who is i think a senior in high school and is not given the opportunities uh to excel at the school newspaper in the way that she would like to so she decides to transfer to a different high school change her

gender and try to infiltrate a school and show the world that being a man is easier than being a woman. And so, you know, loosely Twelfth Night. But the choices that the characters make are just really bizarre. This is a really, really bizarre movie that I suspect a lot of people who listen to this show have seen as many times as I have. And I still have a soft spot for it. I'd watch it right now if I could find it, but it's not easy to find these days.

Nothing from you guys. You've not seen it. You've got no feelings. Well, it sounds like she's the man with Amanda Bynes. Fantastic. She's featuring

early Channing Tatum. It also sounds like Never Been Kissed, but instead of... That's about popularity instead of gender. Also, Never Been Kissed, which we had to do

for 1999's Rewatchable. The most... I was speechless. I can't believe that's about popularity instead of gender also never been kissed which we had to do for a 1999 rewatchable i the most i was speechless i can't believe that movie ever got made in terms of the problematic choices made i mean she's 25 goes back to high school and then everyone's rooting for her to get together with her teacher like that's the movie i don't know what to say not not ideal high school movies in general just a lot of a lot of problems a whole lot of problems okay next question um this comes from lucia book recommendations for someone who wants to read more about film history and or film theory i wrote down like 30 titles what do we do here amanda yeah first of all i was gonna say i think this probably could be its own episode

like we could almost do a book club number two i know that you have like 80 million books and you know please restrain yourselves you don't you only need nine movies for the rest of your life because you'll just have all these books and you'll just read them forever that's exactly right uh i'll i'll give i'll give three i have five but i'll i'm sure that they're overlapping let's trade off you do one and then i'll do one well i i mean i'm sure that they're overlapping. Let's trade off. You do one and then I'll do one. Well, I mean, I'm sure that you and I both have Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. I didn't even write it down. Why?

It's like the number one to read. Because I was just writing down things off the top of my head. And I've talked about that book I've written about Goldman. I mean, you know, the fact that you love it too is a good sign that it's really for anybody who cares about movies. Yes, because it explains how movies work. But in a way that it's the things that you and I and basically everyone in the ringer universe would want to know about. In a lot of ways, it's like if you want to understand why everyone within the ringer universe thinks the way that they do about movies like this is I think this is a really influential book for a lot of us.

No doubt. No doubt. thinks the way that they do about movies like this is i think this is a really influential book for a lot of us no doubt no doubt it also it's like a great inside baseball guide like nobody before him had ever written about what actually happens in the process of making a movie and writing a movie like he did and he i don't know he just unlocked a kind of familiarity also and when he passed away a couple years ago ago, I wrote about this. I mean, just literally the tone of his memoristic writing style is everywhere in the culture now. And he didn't necessarily invent that, but he was so, you could really feel him on the page like your smart friend. And I responded to that so profoundly the first time I read that book. So I would recommend like pretty much all of his books, even his more odd books. But that one is definitely, that's the signature.

Right. Okay, what's yours? If you want something a little bit more wonky in the vein of Adventures in the Screen Trade, I would recommend In the Blink of an Eye,

which is a book by Walter Murch, who's a film editor and sound effects designer who worked with Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas a lot in the 70s. And In the Blink of an Eye, I believe it was published in the 80s. And it's sort of like one of the most sophisticated

but approachable looks at film editing and what goes into making movies that is not in the vein of like Elia Kazan or Sidney Lumet talking about directing, which is one part technical, but mostly like philosophical mumbo jumbo about how to collaborate with people. Merch's book is about choices that are made and images and why we see movies the way that we see them and how our brain responds to them. But it's not a pointy headed science book. It's actually

like an entertaining and accessible book that I would highly recommend to people. What about you? What's next? So I'm going to do the really Amanda pick on this one, which is You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again by Julia Phillips. Julia Phillips was a producer in the 70s. She produced The Sting, Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, among many others. And she later wrote a memoir about her time in Hollywood and also

struggles with substance abuse and other issues. And it is a very detailed and raw memoir. I find it uncomfortable to read at times and I, you know, really thrive on these sorts of tell all situations. So that's saying something, but it just, she was there for so much of it. And she does have a specific no holds bar style.

That is a different perspective than you're going to get from a lot of people who are maybe still within the industry and still trying to burnish their legend as it were. Yeah. It's a great one. It's like like it's really gossipy and really um diaristic uh the way that book opens with like her headed to the academy awards completely coked out of her mind is fascinating i mean i i'm kind of surprised that was it it was never made into a movie right it wasn't not that i'm or if was, I'm not aware of it. It seems hard because she just, she burns all of the bridges. It's not a flattering portrait of anyone in that book, including her, to be fair.

But you can't imagine people being like, yeah, we'd like to make this movie now. Maybe with 30 years distance, somebody would have considered it, but I guess you're right. Um, my next recommendation, if you're looking to get into film history, I think that the least understood parts of film history, which are obvious because of how time moves, are the filmmakers of the 30s and 40s. And I think a great way to learn about them is to check out Peter Bogdanovich's book, Who the Devil Made It, which is a series of sort of interview profiles with not just hugely important filmmakers like Howard Hawks and John Ford, but also slightly lesser lights like Raoul Walsh, who are people who are just making these immensely

popular movies during the boom time of movies. And I was thinking about this a lot because there was some data point that like north of 80% of all Americans went to one movie a week during the 20s, 30s, and 40s. It was the primary source of entertainment. And that number is so much lower now, obviously, and probably getting lower still as time goes on, not just because of coronavirus, but because of all this home entertainment that we've been talking about on the show recently. But these people were the equivalent of Charles Dickens in a way. And some of them have these huge, massive reputations, but most of them don't. And Bogdanovich, before he was the director of The Last Picture Show and What's Up Doc

and some of my favorite movies ever made, was a journalist. He was a journalist for Esquire. And he had this very savvy way of getting very close to people like Orson Welles, to people like John Ford, building friendships with them, building professional acquaintances with them, and then telling their stories and helping movie lovers understand the sort of daisy chain of influence over time. And if you saw something in a Truffaut movie and then saw something in a Bogdanovich movie, that it was connected to something that happened in a Hitchcock movie or in a Raoul Walsh movie. So, you know, this is a pretty big

doorstopper book and it's got profiles of over a dozen filmmakers, but it's really, really good. It's well-written too. You know, Bogdanovich is a great screenwriter, but he's also just generally was a good film journalist of his time. And I don't think that that's a book that has a big reputation right now. So that is my next pick. I have one last pick for this podcast anyway. Go for it. Mine is one that I actually have not read in full. It's on my to-do list. But my husband read it recently and was kind of like passing me passages to read to him.

And it seemed very fascinating, also relevant to certain of my interests. So it's Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now, which is written by Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford. And my husband was passing me, which is written by Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford. And my husband was passing me the parts that are about baby Sofia Coppola, which are really fascinating and definitely made me want to read more. But, you know, his review of it was that it's it's both a portrait of moviemaking and a portrait of a marriage. And I always find those like really you want to know what's going on. And she obviously has an extremely unique perspective. But there is also this like complicated emotional dimension to it as well. And obviously Eleanor Coppola is also a filmmaker in her own right.

And I think it's like both dishy and also unique original reporting that absolutely no one else would have. So I'm looking forward to reading it. I've actually never read that. So I'll have to check it out too. I have watched quite a bit of documentary about the struggles of making Apocalypse Now, but not entirely from Eleanor's perspective. One last recommendation from me very quickly. I was talking about Richard Brody

and the idea of the relationship that you build with a film critic. I think an interesting relationship for people who are trying to get into film history to try to build would be with Pauline Kael, who in the 70s and 80s was really the film critic of her time and who is so influential on the film critics

who have dominated the 90s and the O's because they were all reading her. If you talk to Wesley Morris, if you talk to people like Amy Nicholson, if you talk to AO Scott, some of these very, these well-read well-known film voices, they are,

they're Paulettes as they, as they've been called, you know, they are K lights. And I think for keeps is probably a good place to start that features some of her most essential reviews. You may find that you disagree with her vehemently about the way that she characters. She has a very kind of, you know, a very sexual and almost masculine relationship to movies.

She really likes action. She likes viscera. She likes speed. She likes violence. She likes a pure sense of style with meaning behind it. And she, I think she's a good example of somebody who can be influential, even if you don't want to, or know how to mimic her. Um,

I always like reading her writing on a movie. If I've revisited it after a long period of time, especially more minor stuff, like to go back and look at a review of hers from the late sixties of like the Russians are coming. The Russians are coming is a great way to get teleported back into the mind state of the country and how a critic could see a movie and not just accept the kind of bullshit AFI-supported, falsely prestigious reputation that a movie gathers over time.

So I would definitely recommend it for Keeps. And a bunch of her other collections are worth it as well. Let's go to the next question to keep things moving. Yeah, so the next question is from Daniel. I'm going to amend it a little bit, actually. Daniel asks, can you each draft five people you think will win an Oscar in the next five years? Why don't we do two each? Maybe a director and an actor?

I feel like that makes more sense. Sure. Amanda, you want to go? I prepared five, but that's fine. I prepared five as well. Well, let's just read them quickly. We don't have to go? I prepared five, but that's fine. I prepared five as well. Well, let's just read them quickly. We don't have to explain ourselves. Okay.

Greta Gerwig, Amy Adams, who's never won one. I think Paul Thomas Anderson will win one, but for screenplay, just to specify. What's that face? It's just sad. Yeah, it is. I'm not saying that that's what I would award. I'm just being realistic. Michelle Williams and Sam Jackson. just sad yeah it is i'm not saying that that's what i would award i'm just being realistic uh michelle williams and uh sam jackson oh that's a good one that's really good i was i made a list

of older actors who i thought might get like in its time award um among them woody harrelson ethan hawke ed norton michael keaton and Hugh Jackman, I feel like are all entering a kind of like, when will we recognize this person for all they have contributed? But Sam Jackson is older and an even better choice. That's a great call. Thank you. Some other folks, I think Saoirse Ronan will get it before Glenn Close or Annette Bening, which is rough. I had her on an early list and took her off because I kind of, I love Saoirse. I think Saoirse deserves an Oscar, but I feel like she missed like the quote ingenue window. You know, they normally give it for your first two movies or your first two nominations or else you got to wait like 60 years. I think she's 25 years old.

I am aware of that, but she's also been nominated four times. I wrote Richard Link link later down he's essentially functions as the as the pta choice the somebody who you know has an incredible filmography that people really admire but has not been recognized yet i don't know when that will be hopefully not for the um the 10 years long merrily we go along project that he's embarking upon with beanie feldstein uh one other person i ted sarandos i just feel like the netflix best picture win is coming in the next five years and that seems like somebody who is going to be hoisting a trophy on stage and if if we're you know ongoing interested in the streaming movie conversation and where things first start as opposed to where they finish.

Netflix is at the front of the line on that conversation. What's next? All right. This next one comes from Saul. He says, I want to use this time to get into horror. I've seen all the A24 prestige ones and some classics like The Shining. Where is a good place to start if I'm trying to get into the horror genre?

Should I take it away, Amanda? Saul, I have no idea. Iso Sean. I'll do a quick 10-pack for anybody who's trying to get into horror movies. Obviously, there are horror movies from the 30s and 40s that are fun

and are obviously hugely influential. You could start with, you know, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, all those. That's not what I'm going to focus on because I don't think that those movies have too much to say

about what horror is right now. But in the 60s, basically horror starts to change significantly. These are the movies that I think you should start with. Psycho, The Haunting, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Carrie, The Shining, Halloween, and as a kind of quirky bonus, Dario Argento's Suspiria.

That's 10 movies. Most of them are classics. They all are functionally in different sub-genres of horror. Most of them are made by high, high, high, high-level thinkers about horror movies. And almost everybody who decides

to make horror movies has been influenced by these movies in particular. That's the 10-pack. How does that sound, Amanda? Will you start on any of those? I have to be 100% honest. I started reading some of the next questions in the document and wasn't listening when you did half of it. I clicked back in. You did put The Shining on the list,

even though Saul said that he's already seen The Shining. Saul's just looking for some new movies, Sean. Jesus. But I'm sure that everything else you said was great. Sorry, Saul. Okay, I'm sorry. I did my best. What's next? This comes from Boo. They ask, with the High Fidelity series being received so well on Hulu, what are some other movies you would like to see made into a series?

I want to answer this because I did watch High Fidelity. I said I was bad at TV, but we watched all of High Fidelity. I guess I'm good at 30 minutes. So here is my thing watch High Fidelity. I said I was bad at TV, but we watched all of High Fidelity. I guess I'm good at 30 minutes. So here was my thing about High Fidelity. I liked all of the parts of the show that had nothing to do with the movie High Fidelity. Anytime that they were really trying to do High Fidelity, which is a movie that I like a lot, even though it kind of gives me PTSD from being a person who dated people in Brooklyn. I think that there was something about trying to do the homage of it. This show felt too indebted. And when the show actually worked, when it just let these people that you liked hang

out with each other, and it kind of just was a TV show. So I guess this is not answering Boo's question at all, because I'm just like, don't remake shows. Don't remake movies just make shows with people you want to hang out with but um yeah that's my answer is none well it'll come as no surprise that i completely disagree with everything that you just said one i thought that high fidelity did work well when it was trying to wink at the movie maybe that's just because i really like the movie and i appreciated what they were trying to do with it.

And I agree that the other stuff that they did that was outside of the boundaries of the Rob character in the original movie and in the Nick Hornby book, that stuff worked well, too. But I kind of appreciated the the active homage to it. You know, Fargo works really well as a series, too. And it just took kind of a general tone to apply to an anthology work but i feel like i actually have a good answer here i think that catch me if you can would be an amazing serialized television show because every week you could treat it like the fugitive every week there'd be a new grift and the leo character would get close to being captured and he'd find a way to wriggle out of things and you'd get a kind of opportunity to create almost like a slightly more inventive procedural around his character, Frank Abagnale.

And I love that movie. It's an easy movie to rewatch because I like him getting into different situations. You get new settings in every episode. You get new kind of female counterparts in every episode. You get to cast two very interesting actors as the FBI agent and as the grifter. So I'm going with Catch Me If You Can. That's interesting. Has there ever been a procedural heist show where they do, you know, it's a different

job every single time? ABC tried to do one a couple years ago that with Peter Krause and Michelle Mireille, you know, and I can't remember the name of it now but they were like they were both con people and they were they were dancing in the in the marketing remember that yes and they were kind of they were conning other people but also conning each other but even there i don't know that they had like a different job every week because that it was called the catch yes because that's my only concern would be like at some point when you be like okay do you need to catch him now

i mean yeah maybe you just set out to do two seasons and then at the end he gets caught you know it doesn't have to run for 10 years um i just think that the if you get a good writing staff you could get a good show out of that what's the next question uh next question oscars question it's been a minute uh riley asks will the oscars need to amend eligibility rules if theaters remain closed for an extended period of time we touched on this a little bit at the top of the show um i don't know i don't think it's going to get there but i also don't know anything you don't think it's going to get there, but I also don't know anything, you know, so to speculate on it is challenging. It's a really like shrug emoji kind of question, right, Amanda? Every year, all of the Oscar movies that actually end up being nominated are released from September to December. And we always bemoan the fact that nobody remembers the movies that were released in February and March.

So in that sense, if everything gets pushed, then maybe you just have a concentrated Oscar season. But again, who can really know? Also, as Riley points out, there hasn't even been a get-out-style movie this year where we're like, well, this is going to compete. I mean, there's been nothing. And there wasn't really going to be anything through April that was going to qualify as meaningfully in the race, at least as far as I could tell. So that's cold comfort probably given the circumstances. But in all likelihood, it's just going to be business as usual as usual with september to december being the key time what's next uh this next one is from nick he says as a 23 year old who has just gotten into uh just gotten really into movies but only

started a few years ago i've seen very few of the classics what are the five to ten essential movies that i need to watch amanda i made 10 i chose one movie from each decade for Nick to check out. If you have any crossover here, I'll be curious to see. Okay. You know, somewhat predictable, but not entirely predictable. Here we go.

1930s, It Happened One Night. 1940s, Citizen Kane. 1950s, Seven Samurai. 1960s, 2001, A Space Odyssey. 1970s, The Last Picture Show. 1980s, Blue Velvet. 1980s blue velvet 1990s chunking express 2000s zodiac okay that was such a peak Sean list I um I took Nick at his word and I did a more traditional definition of classic which I think think is, you know, movies released before 1960. Based on my list, I really honestly didn't look at the release dates. I also had it happen one night and

Citizen Kane put Casablanca on there. In terms of comforting movies, by the way, I don't really know whether other people feel this way. It is a movie based in World War II and has real stakes, but I find Casablanca to be like peak number one comforting movie of all time uh His Girl Friday Singing in the Rain Psycho Rear Window and Philadelphia Story those were not in chronological order sorry if you haven't seen those movies those are easy wrecks I think all 20 movies that we basically named you should just watch now they're all they're all special in their own way they'll all teach you something they'll all mostly relax you with the rare exception of zodiac um i you know that's that's a great starter kit all right next up uh people have a lot of time to kill so drew asks what three hour plus movie

would you recommend that most people have never seen you don't love three hour plus movies amanda no i don't i also had a hard time finding three hour plus movies that people haven't seen it's a pretty small list and they're all kind of pretty famous at this point for being longer than three hours if nothing else yeah i mean i guess it's this is an interesting question about what the mailbag is serving right now is it serving hardcore fans who are looking for something new? If it is, um, Barry Lyndon is not a good recommendation.

You've heard of Stanley Kubrick. You've heard of Barry Lyndon. If you haven't, I would recommend Barry Lyndon. It's three hours and 25 minutes. I would consider an edible before getting in there. One of the best viewing experiences of my life was getting my wisdom teeth out and taking some painkillers and watching Barry Lyndon and eating some,

some pudding. That was a tight day in my life. And you might find the same if you're feeling stressed out. I wrote down Judgment at Nuremberg. Have you ever seen that one? I haven't. I know what it is, but believe it or not, I've never found the three plus hours to sit down and watch Judgment at Nuremberg. You know, it's obviously not the sunniest movie ever made but i i think it's absolutely riveting and totally holds up and i remember watching it probably 15 years ago at like i think i started it like one o'clock in the morning and just decided to stay up all the way through the end like a psychopath but and it's a it's a courtroom procedural obviously about the war criminals of world war ii and the nazis who were um you know uh faced uh war crimes in the aftermath of the war and it's got an extraordinary

cast uh maximilian shell and and spencer tracy and burt lancaster and richard widmark and marlena dietrich and just like an amazing collection of people. Stanley Kramer in his comfort zone doing a kind of issues oriented serious drama. It's a little stodgy, I guess, but I think if you haven't seen that movie, I would recommend it to most people. I think it's really, really well made and riveting. I would also add the Titanic is over three hours long. That is definitely a movie. Next up, Adam asks, what is the-mcu franchise to watch start to finish

i i think it's lord of the rings i don't i i wrote down uh i wrote down too i wrote down bond or mission impossible hell yeah but would you would you watch bonds start to finish there are a lot of mediocre Bond. Because there's so many mediocre Bond movies. Yeah, but again, everyone has a lot of time. Aren't there like 20 of them? How many are there? There's 25.

Oh my God, we just had a question about give us three hour movies. Sean did a whole soliloquy about Nuremberg. Like, just watch Bond, okay? I agree. Mission Impossible is fantastic and speaking of mission impossible next question is from leon do you think tom cruise will ever get bored of scaling skyscrapers and flying helicopters and come back in for a late career oscar also they

add speaking of rob reiner two good men is his best and i think another great sorkin script could do it for him hmm i think he will eventually come home. I don't know. His body's not going to stay this way forever. I just don't think he seems super interested in making movies that would win him an Oscar. I think he went to the absolute limits in 1999 with Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia, and they didn't recognize him. And he got snubbed for Jerry Maguire. It's ludicrous that he didn't win for jerry

mcguire and i just don't that doesn't seem to be where his his his brain is i think he's obsessed with entertaining people and he thinks the best way to do it is to put his life at risk yeah i agree with that i do also think you know oscars are so political at this point that a tom cruise oscar campaign is it's it would interesting. And so I think it's kind of smart of him to just kind of be making the high intensity entertainment movies that he wants to be making and that people still really enjoy. I agree. What's next? All right. Next up, Jack asks, what's a movie that is critically and or culturally panned

that you defend the most? I don't have a super strong answer to this i will say i think people should check out the piece that adam naman wrote on the ringer on monday that is essentially a streaming guide of movies that you've heard are terrible but actually have a lot of redeeming value the first movie on that list is the exorcist to heretic which it was directed by john borman who made deliverance and a number of other really good movies but is considered like a huge failure in the aftermath of The Exorcist, but is a really interesting movie. And I think all 10 movies in a perverse way that Adam listed are worthy of at least conversation or worthy of exploration, especially if you are interested in the genres that they're made in. I also just have a couple of movies that I liked as a, as a kid that I think,

um, like I, I always thought strip tease was pretty funny and like effective and it was like roundly destroyed, um, in part cause it was such a noisy spectacle with to me more playing a stripper. But I think there's like an amazing,

hilarious, but Reynolds performance in that movie, I think it's tone is like really hard to pull off and they actually did pull it off which is like a kind of like wry satire that carl hyacinth was going for in the novel and that elmore leonard would write towards and it's a it's like a tone that you don't hear in movies anymore and i always kind of got a kick out of striptease um the other one is freddie got fingered which is one of the worst movies ever made but still makes me laugh and once upon a time tom Green really mattered to the culture. I know that that sounds insane right now, but I don't know. I could still watch it right now. I was at home putting this list together because I work from home now.

And my husband kind of walked into the area where I was working and I asked him, hey, what is a movie that is culturally or critically panned that I defend the most? And he goes, The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999. And so he goes, The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999. And so my answer is The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999, which I have made people listen to me talk about on this podcast. And in life, it is a remake

starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. And it's a heist movie. And it is ridiculous and contains the single best vacation movie scene of all time, in my opinion, when they go to Martinique and they're drinking wine and she accidentally. Well, they don't accidentally. They burn a painting that is not the painting in question. It's like fake Bond.

But as previously discussed, I really like Bond and I really think that this movie is delightful. Good picks. Let's do three more. Kevin asks what are some movies that you wish you could watch again for the very first time with fresh eyes? I mean I think

Bonnie and Clyde is one that came to my mind because Bonnie and Clyde had such a big reputation. But by the time I saw it in my teens, I didn't have the tools to understand why it was important. And the first time I saw it, I was like, that was okay. Why is this movie important? And now when I come to it, I've read too much about it and I've thought too much about it. I wish I was a little bit more sophisticated when I saw it so I could have enjoyed it more. That's a little bit of like an eggheaded response. The other one is just obviously Goodfellas, which I think

anybody would like to experience a movie that they love deeply for the first time all over again. And I don't think my feelings on Goodfellas would have changed necessarily if I saw it for the first time today. What about you, Amanda? I have a similar answer, which is When Harry Met Sally, just because that has obviously been so formative in the types of movies that I love, as well as kind of Nora Ephron having shaped my brain. And it would be interesting to see it for the first time, maybe either without the influence or now like aware of all the influence that it has had on everything else and to be able to kind of like experience it as like a source code.

What's next, Bobby? What is the most divisive film in the ringer office this is from patrick it seemed like there was some generational division on once upon a time in hollywood i feel like younger folks didn't like it as much as we did um you know i don't we don't usually like widely disagree i feel like the the staff tends to agglomerate in a way you know we all kind of rallied around A Star is Born in a meaningful way. There's definitely like a venom hive of fans at the company. I think everybody kind of hated Bohemian Rhapsody.

You know, like there were... It's pretty consistent. Can you think of an example, Amanda? No, I can't. I can more think of examples of a small group of people being like obsessed with a movie and like, you know, Alita Battle Angel, which is mostly because people like making memes about it. And I just like hear so much about a movie from a small group of people and I don't necessarily connect to it. But that's not really divisiveness as much as a specific enthusiasm. Yeah, shout out to Moe's, the Lord of the League of Battle Angel. 1917 was pretty divisive. It was, you're right.

I don't know if that's the most divisive in history, though. I know you didn't like it, Bobby. Do you think people hated it? I don't think anybody hated it. And I didn't hate it. I just didn't particularly care for it. I was not that... I mean, I was impressed by it, technically speaking,

but I wasn't entertained by it. I think 1917 is just like the perfect, it didn't exist without being an Oscar front runner. And people were like, why is this an Oscar front runner? Like so many people went to see it because they thought they had to see it because it was going to win the Oscar. And it's just impossible to separate that part of the conversation from like from 1917 generally i think that's true um what's the next question bobby what's your typical movie theater snack routine from luke fuck yes great question luke thank you for asking i'm happy to tell you right now it's one of three different candy options if the movie theater by some miracle has Mike and Ike's, we go Mike and Ike's.

If no Mike and Ike's, we go Sour Patch Kids. Does not matter the type. Any Sour Patch will do. If no Sour Patch, we go to Jelly Beans and a bottled water. Or if I'm in an Alamo draft house, a rye old fashioned. That is my routine every time. Amanda, what is your routine? I just want to clarify also that he eats all of them and he doesn't share. If I'm with someone else, with my husband specifically, I'll get popcorn. Sometimes I get peanut M&Ms. I don't really have a huge routine. Another thing, and Sean, I don't know whether you feel this way i don't think you do but if i'm going for work then i'm like this is not a snack experience this is a professional screening

engagement i'm like very strict about it i do not agree i do not in fact it's like if i go to see sonic on a sunday obviously that's not like a work experience i mean i'm going for work but whatever i'll have a snack but like at a a screening, a professional media screening, like no snacks. I won't. They can't buy me with these snacks. I don't know. Let me let me put this out there right now for everybody who's listening who runs screenings. You can buy me with snacks. Please provide Mike and Ikes to me at all of your screenings. And I'm probably going to feel slightly better about the film you've just shown me. It's a good question. I haven't had any candy since coronavirus struck because I haven't been going to movie theaters. So I just have lost candy in my life.

It's terrible. I'm not just going to go to a store and buy candy like a freaking plebe. I want it in the movie theater. Okay, this is getting sad. One more, Bobby? Let's wrap it up. Yeah, let's do one last one. So Christian asks,

do you truly believe in your heart that a future movie will come along that will be universally hailed as one of the greatest films of all time? Not asking if it's possible. I'm asking if you think something will crack the top 10 of AFI or Sight and Sound or something similar.

So basically, can there be a new movie in the canon? Parasite just happened. It's totally plausible that that movie or Moonlight get elevated. The one thing that I should say is it basically takes 30 to 40 years for movies to become canonical. There's a very clear reason for that. Generations need to cycle out of power so that the generations behind them can come in and valorize what they lived through and worked on. That's how this stuff works. That's how the canon is built. It's usually people who at a young age experience something that blows their mind or people who are

working at the time who are blown away by their peers, pushing something forward once they get into their 50s, 60s, and 70s and accumulate the power to make history known. So I think it's going to be a while before we know if any of these movies are going to go into the space. Yeah, I would agree with that. I mean, my answer is just that something can't become historically significant until there's history involved. So it just takes some time. It's a really good question though. I mean, I think it's something that we like to talk about when we're putting everything in context here. And I don't know, Amanda, could you think of just off the top of your head, like, is there one movie from the aughts, 2000 to 2009, that you think, maybe it wouldn't be in the top 10 of AFI, but, you know, goes into the annals of history forever for movies? I don't know.

Like, No Country, would you consider that to be? I mean, I was definitely going to go with 2007, which was No Country also there will be blood and also is michael clayton that year as well i don't think michael clayton taps those other two but that was like the year in cinema and i think we have already kind of in conversations everyone's identified 2007 as the most significant year of of that decade So it's starting. I would guess it'll probably be. There will be blood. I hope so.

I think it's worthy. I think listeners of the show know how I feel about that movie. This has been fun. Thank you to everybody for such great questions. I hope we were able to give you some recommendations and some thoughts and some books you can check out during this very complicated time. I hope everybody is staying safe. We're going to continue recording the big picture in the coming weeks. I think we're probably going to end up watching The Hunt and Emma and maybe I'll even watch Bloodshot and talk about them next week. And then we'll also,

I think we'll do something pretty fun next Friday. So stay tuned. Bobby, thank you for guiding us through the questions as always. And Amanda, thank you for staying safe in your home. And thank you everyone for your questions.