The Big Picture - 500th Episode Call-In Spectacular!

Episode Date: September 9, 2022

We did it—500 episodes! To celebrate, Sean, Amanda, and Bobby are taking your calls and answering your burning questions about their favorite episodes, movie theater experiences, Big-Pic bits, and the future of the show. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you bet a few thousand dollars that you could sink an eight-foot putt? What about ten grand that you could win a drag race against a Camaro with a thousand horsepower? If you bet two million dollars, could you bet it all on one football game? Maybe you wish you could, but you probably wouldn't. Gamblers is about the people who did. From the Ringer Podcast Network, listen to Gambler Season 2 on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Sean Fennessey.

I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about turning 500. It's our 500th episode. We're here. Bobby Wagner's here. Amanda, how are you feeling on this momentous occasion? I'm excited. Yeah. Remember when we did, I want to say 400, maybe it was 450. What year was that? Like 2013? And you asked me how I was feeling about 400 and my response was, well, it's not 500. Here we are. We did 500.

We did it. We did it. It's a meaningless number and yet it feels important. Yeah. Been doing this show for, gosh, five years, over five years at this point. We've made a lot of episodes. To celebrate, we asked the wonderful listeners of this show to call us, to leave a voicemail. We sent out a tweet and people called it. What is it? A Google voice number, Bob? Yep. That's right. Yep. And we got so many messages. How many messages did we get ultimately? We got, well, combined with emails and tweet replies, we got like 400 messages, but voicemails themselves, almost 200. We were pushing 200 and I

listened to all of them. And I want to say to the listeners of the big picture thank you very much they're all so sweet we of course don't have time to play all of your wonderful voicemails but all of the people who will not be played on this episode your voicemails are much appreciated and I still did listen to them and they are wonderful thank you so much Bobby what a customer service guarantee from you your message will be heard you know you're like an Instagram influencer that's like, we get so many DMs right now. I can't respond to them all, but we love you. Thank you so much. Right. You know, I'm just like a small business owner, you know, like trying to keep it going, make sure that people feel seen and heard. Bobby, you were up very late last night

listening to the voicemail. So I thank you personally. Yes. Thank you, Bobby, as always for the work you put in. So I wanted to ask you both a question about this, actually, before we start listening. I find that in my in-person experiences, like the film festival over the weekend and just in general out here in LA,

if I ever meet anybody who likes the show and listens to the show, they're really nice. They're really, and not just because they're talking to somebody who hosts a show that they like,

but they seem decent. And I honestly don't think I'm like a super decent person. And you can be a little caustic. It's like part of your brand. And so this show sometimes runs a little bit hot. And I like that about it. Now, Bob, you're a very decent guy, but you have a little bit of a dark side too. A little bit of a dark underbelly, a little cynicism underneath all that feeling. Sure, yeah. So why is everybody who likes the show so sweet when we are not so sweet? And certainly not sweet to each other. Not at all. That's a core

premise of the show too. I don't know. That's how we show our love. And I guess everyone else picks up on it. They get it. I hope you get it. There are some people, as I have mentioned, I recently am either not online or super online. And there are some people who seem I have mentioned, I recently am either not online or super online. And there are some people who seem to consume a lot of our content and hate us. And I would just say to those people, like, I get it, you know? I love that. I love that. Well, I get hating us.

You do not have to like me. But I would, on this 500th episode, ask anyone who's not having a good time to please go find something else to do that brings you happy go touch grass you don't have to listen to us it's really okay i'm not offended but i it's a lot of time spent 500 episodes of someone you hate is a lot well here's the thing and and bobby i think definitely knows this as a longtime consumer of sports radio on the east coast um I was raised at the altar of Mike Francesa and Howard Stern and those were two of the biggest media personalities in New York when I was a an adolescent and everybody that I know including my father was like I hate these guys and you know what he did is just listen to them non-stop he just spent all of his free time in the car with those people. And I loved

them for that. And the fact that I think that they knew that, that there was a kind of sentience about the, I hate you so much, I love you quality. And frankly, if we have become something like that for some people, fuck yeah, that's great. We do also hate ourselves. Exactly. You know, in that way, it's a community, a sense of belonging for everyone much more earnest answer for this and i'll turn to the listeners for this most people when they called they said the thing that i love the most about the show is how much you guys put on a pedestal your passions and i think that that invites listeners to want to do the same and it's a very positive relationship to the show you don't come on here to destroy movies that you hate for no reason.

I mean, you will with a select movie that needs it or with a select trend here or there that needs a little bit of a pullback. But I think that most people who called in were like, that's the thing that I respond to the most during the show. And then the other element of it is that I think during the pandemic, people developed a deep, deep appreciation for putting two pods out a week still, just powering straight through it, talking about movies. That was another theme that a lot of people came back to. And a lot of people just called without even a question. So their voicemail won't be in this episode, but just called to say thank you for continuing to do

this show during the pandemic. And I can't even tell you how much it means to us. I will say at the risk of being too earnest, but as someone who has recently taken a step back from the show and became a much publicized listener of the show at home, like I get it. It's a, it's a nice vibe. And in the, it kept me company when I needed some company, you know, and I appreciate everyone who feels the same way and, you know, and expresses that and however they want to, including wacky voicemails or saying rude things to us on Twitter, which I receive as love. I really like that.

You're right, Bobby, that the mission of the show, I think, is to celebrate the things in the world of movies that we love and care about, occasionally to take something down a peg if we think it's not good. But we don't really do that very often. I think we're pretty thoughtful about when we annihilate something though there may be some annihilation coming this fall um i'm very i'm just very proud i'm very i feel very lucky to do this show with you guys with cr when he's a part of the show with all the guests who've been on it so should we just jump into the voicemails and answer some questions it's kind of mailbag ish right that's sort of what this is yes it's definitely

a mailbag and thank you to everybody who asked very creative questions that they've been wanting to know for years. Let's do it. Let's do the first voicemail. Hey, Sean, Amanda, and Bobby. Congratulations on the 500th episode of The Big Picture. I've shared your podcast with all my friends, and now they listen to it as well. And now I have some other people to talk to about your show. I would just want to ask, what's your all's favorite podcast you guys have done out of the 500? And what's your favorite director interview as well? Thank you guys.

What's your favorite episode you've done? Three jumped to mind. Okay. Obviously Deacon's Hall of Fame. Yeah. I think, you know, that is our one episode Hall of Fame. For those who don't know the Roger Deacon's Hall of Fame, which was one of the earlier Hall of Fame. I think, you know, that is our one episode Hall of Fame. For those who don't know, the Roger Deakins Hall of Fame, which was one of the earlier Hall of Fame episodes we did about the great English cinematographer Roger Deakins, which then became an experiment in absurdity and

urine holding, as I recall. And drawing and anger. And you just freaking out about Coen Brothers movies. Freaking out? Yeah. You really descended into, even before the Rango, you were just arguing with yourself about which Coens to put in. And Chris and I were goading you, as we do. And you were very upset. Okay. That was certainly a show that I think reformed the template of this podcast. What are some other episodes you liked? The Best Movies of the Decade was a really fun one that we did. I just thought we also, we all did good lists. That was just good

magazine making, but in podcast form. Can you expand on that a little bit and just maybe indicate how like we have clearly just ripped the previous 10 years of our career and supplanted it into this show? Sure. Well, podcasting is blogging or blogging is podcasting now, I guess both. That episode, we each prepared a list of the 10 best movies of the decade. I guess we did it. Did we do it in 2020? We did. Or at the end of 2019? No, we did it in 2019 because we did it in person. You're right. The end of 2019. And you and I and Chris all take list making very seriously. I believe that it's a real art and there is a pacing to it and a structure. And that is something that I learned in my designed with, you know, a list of 10 eyebrow, you know, gels or whatever. People are thinking, they're thinking about how to get your attention, how to represent an entire genre or whatever.

They're putting in front of you in an engaging and maybe not comprehensive, but considered and still specific or personal. And provocative too. Yes. Yeah. I love a provocative eyebrow Jill. Right. So, you know what, actually that could be a different podcast. I have very strong eyebrows. I don't need a Jill. Yeah, you do. I'm jealous. So I thought that we all, because it was like the decade and we were really trying to put, you know, our A game and it was sort of end of the year.

We all really brought it with the list. Okay. And we all ended up having the same number one, which I thought was very cute. It was a good consensus number one, though. It was the social network. Yeah, it's the right one. Yeah. But there was still also a lot of variety.

And then I remember Chris surprised me. He had Arrival on his list as well. And I know he loves Villeneuve, but I didn't know that would be his pick. I thought it was lovely as well as being silly and fun. What was the third one? This is just random, but do you remember the top five apocalypse movies that we did? In COVID, right? In COVID. It was like April, May. Yeah. And that just got, that was like our peak COVID podcast. I don't remember. I just remember like being in my kitchen two hours in, like telling weird stories about a wonderful story. Actually,

my favorite story about my dad at my wedding, which somehow does relate to apocalypse movies. And you were sharing like a lot of fears and it was like, how would you survive? Or how long would you survive? I felt like that was very representative of us getting really into the weeds. If you haven't listened to that one, it's a good back catalog. I haven't listened to that either.

So maybe I should revisit it to tap in. That's probably also the other thing about doing the show is like it's a portal to talk about ourselves in a way that maybe our work before this wasn't quite. And so obviously our friendship, big part of these conversations and talking about our personal lives, but in a way that hopefully is legible to somebody who's never met us. Our favorite episode is a tricky one. Like I think obviously the movie drafts kind of changed this show in a big way. 2010 was the first movie draft we ever did.

I revisited that very briefly before I had to turn it off because it caused me pain recently and I would like to redo 2010 because we made some mistakes but I think that did I think it brought me you and Chris closer I think it's kind of solidified the show a little bit I think a lot of people have discovered the show because of the movie

drafts which is really nice so I appreciate that one a lot I don't know. I mean, you and I have done so many episodes like that apocalypse episode where I'm like, I have a really good idea for an episode. And then an hour and a half later, I'm like, what the fuck?

How did we get into that conversation? That's the fun. I think that's the fun. I mean, we do the work and we try to talk about movies and bring it back. But when I was sitting at home and you guys were suddenly like telling weird stories about I don't know what. And, you know, reviewing like lemon peelers or whatever. Like that to me is really funny.

As far as the director interviews go, there have been a few. I mean, the show started out really hot because it was primarily a director interview show. So within the first five episodes, I think I had done, I think Barry Jenkins and Jordan Peele and Ezra Edelman were like in the first five episodes. They were. And then they turned out to be the three directors of like the 15 best movies of the last 10 years. So I might have set the bar a little bit high. I also, I don't think I really knew what I was doing, even though I'd done a lot of interviews

in my career in this format at that point. The moment when I felt like I really wanted to stick with it was the first James Gray interview for The Lost City of Z, where I asked him a couple of questions that were like theoretically a little bit more emotional, a little bit more vulnerable. And because he's James and he's very open and very thoughtful, like he just went for it. I was like, how do you feel when you read a negative review? And he just was like, it melts me down completely, you know, and was just such a raw nerve about it.

And obviously, like, we've had some great experiences. You and I talked to Sophia Coppola together. That was a lot of fun. It was fun to watch you in that format. It was fun and also nerve-wracking. Like, I'm anxious just thinking about it. You know, we had a never published interview, and I won't reveal any details, but one of your heroes you and and I spoke to on the phone. Oh my God, that was amazing. Not for public consumption, but we can just add a little mystery to this conversation, which was very cool.

That was wonderful. And that was because it was just for us, a lot of dish, which I just really enjoyed. So that will probably annoy everybody that I just said that on the show. You'll never hear that conversation. I mean, Quentin Tarantino has become like a part of this show. It's wild. And he, especially when I was a kid, he was the person who just changed my life. He just changed how I thought about everything. And so him being on this show a few times and being in touch with him is just the coolest thing ever. So that's been exciting.

I don't know. Any other interviews that are notable that we've done? You've talked to Greta Gerwig at least once. Twice. Maybe twice. I mean, those are obviously highlights for me. And you guys have had very nice. She's great. She's such a great guest. Again, I don't know that I would want to try to talk to her. I'd be too nervous. But well, she's a good stand in. She's I try to represent your feelings as much as I can, although that is not quite possible. But she's our age and she has our same reference points and was sort of educated

in the same way. And so talking to her, it feels like she's kind of like a podcast host on the Ringer Podcast Network who happens to make wonderful movies. Can you believe six weeks of Barbie next year?

How many episodes are we going to do on Barbie in 2023? I genuinely have, when thinking about next summer, have been like, I can't take vacation in July. I thought the same thing.

So funny. It's what? It's Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning, part one. Can't get here fast enough. I'm psyched. It's pretty exciting. But it works out then because Cannes is May

and Venice is end of August, September. How wonderful for you. So I'll be here in July. Will you be recording from Europe in July? TBD. Okay. Because you could just do the whole run. No, I know.

May to September. The thing is that the time zones are a little tricky here, you know, from recording wise. Like, I would have to be at like 11 at night. And I plan to have had a couple Negronis at that point. But you and your son can become nocturnal animals during this period. I need him to sleep so I can podcast. You can sleep during the day. And then you can record at night.

I kind of want Europe Amanda with a couple Negronis doing pods, frankly. It's a good idea. Well, we might have an episode of that coming in the fall. Don't spoil it.

I'm excited about that. All right. Bob, do you have any favorite episodes? I mean, I have a bunch of stuff that came to mind immediately. Like, I loved doing a lot of those

like career arc episodes like as we were doing in late 2018 and 2019 um those were like a really fun creative outlet for me personally but then the two that really came to mind that i think are are most indicative of the show like the two spectrums of the show are the the parasite best picture reaction pod right after the oscars because that was just like the most pure emotion and vivacity to that the show has had just because of the circumstance and then on the very opposite of the spectrum was the Criterion Channel curation podcast that we did where we talked to like 10 or 12 guests and that was like deep deep pandemic what the hell are we gonna do and it was just like

a I don't know it's just something we had never done before. And so it was really cool. So that was, I think, a fun little COVID experiment project that turned out really cool. And a lot of people responded to. You did a great job on that episode. That was a fun one to do. It was a lot of work. Yeah, there's a reason that we haven't done it again since then. Yeah, I do want to do another one of those, though. And maybe we'll find an opportunity in 23.

Maybe the three of us can collaborate on one of those where we reach out to some of our friends around the world of movies for some recommendations. But those are good picks, Bob. You want to do the next voicemail? Yeah. Hey, Sean, Amanda, and Bobby. My name is Skyler from New Jersey. I'm a big fan of your show. It inspired me a couple of years ago during the pandemic.

A little before that, my New Year's resolution in 2020 was to watch 100 new movies. And the one that I found that I like the most was Boyhood, a Linklater movie, partially because I felt like I was sort of reliving my childhood, in a sense, coming from, you know, child divorce and all that stuff, and just kind of, like, seeing this kid sort of find himself as he grew up. I was wondering, like, did you guys have a movie like that where you kind of felt like you were sort of vicariously reliving

your childhood or any part of your life? And if you could elaborate on why, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Keep going. 500 more. That's really nice, Skylar. COD, huh? This is also a COD pod. That's the other thing. Yeah. Is there a movie that you saw yourself in or you lived vicariously through? I think that's a larger part of the appeal of Lady Bird, right?

That it's speaking to the mother-daughter relationship, that also being extremely uncool, but also on the verge of figuring out that you're cool or once you make it out of high school, you'll figure things out. It just encapsulated, I thought, very broad emotions and also to your point about Greta Gerwig being of our age and having our references and kind of speaking in our vernacular. I saw a lot of what was in my brain on that screen. And, you know, I'm a very specific person, so it's hard to often see myself on screen. And also, you know, a female director of my age, there aren't as many of them as there have been others. So that was a very meaningful movie to me. That's like a pretty literal answer.

I can try to think of a more emotional broader answer but for me it's creed okay when i rose to power as a world heavyweight champion sure and with the city of philadelphia behind you that's right and meek mill especially um it's a great scene i think you know speaking of gretta kerwig like i think the squid and the whale was one of the first times i saw a movie where i was like, oh, this is my personality. Yeah. This is like, there's a person who made a movie that is as, like, kind of mean but kind of sad as I am. Right.

And maybe hopefully a little bit funny. So I definitely really hooked onto that movie in a big way, just in keeping with Skylar's Child of Divorce point. But I also think that that's not really necessarily something I look for. I don't like look to have a one-to-one connection with characters in movies. I think I like it when there's like a guy from Long Island who's going to high school. That's fun, but it's certainly not what I'm in pursuit of. I kind of want to be pulled out of my experience and transformed a little bit while I'm in pursuit of. I kind of want to be pulled out of my experience and transformed a little bit while I'm watching something. So I'm sure that anybody who loves like Dazed and Confused and

American Graffiti and all these movies about adolescence and coming of age, like they click in a certain way inside you, even if you didn't grow up in Modesto, California or whatever. But I don't know, like in my heart, I remember watching Network for the first time. And I- Incredible that your answer to this is Network. Well, but I never worked in broadcast news. I certainly never lost my mind on television, though sometimes in front of a microphone.

I don't have like a vicarious experience, but in the same way that I felt about what I was saying about Quentin, when I saw that movie when I was a teenager, I was like, this is like breaking a lot of rules. This is not really like anything I've ever seen before. And I think, I don't know if I lived vicariously through it, but it made me think about what I wanted my life to be. Like, could I be like in a world where thinking about this sort of thing is my life, is a part of my career, which was exciting. And I had no idea what form it would take.

But you mean that in terms of like thinking about how the film network is made? Rather than how it was written and its performances, but also its ideas. Also like the incredibly like chaotic and provocative nature of that movie and the way that it was sort of like um we're all diseased that there's like a diseased quality to our culture and it like lets people go off on these wild tangents and that's something that seems as ridiculous as that movie actually was like very you know future looking so rather than like reflecting on my past i think it like carved a path for the future okay i i was saying that in terms of living vicariously or I was thinking that I have a lot of similar

like aspirational, maybe not aspirational movies, but movies that certainly influenced kind of like what I wound up doing and where I am in the world. But it's not about, you know, morality in like crowds, in network.

I'm talking about like The Devil Wears Prada. Right. Like You've Got Mail. Nora Ephron movies. Yeah Devil Wears Prada. Right. Like you've got mail. Nora Ephron movies. Yeah. Yes, exactly. And you know,

like New York and all the president's men and everything that I do think I wound up in magazines a large part because of Devil Wears Prada which is just a fascinating psychological breakdown

if you want to go through it. You really do hate yourself. But great movie also. I watched that when I was in the hospital after Knox was born. That was the that was like the iPad. Were you like pre I watched that when I was in the hospital after Knox was born. That was the, that was like the iPad.

Were you like prepped for that? Like, was that the plan? Yeah, well, I loaded my iPad. Here are the movies I took. Okay, this is great. Devil Wears Prada, Working Girl, Skyfall,

Few Good Men, and Ocean's Eleven and Casablanca. Do you think we should bleep all of those out and see if people can guess them who listen to the show? Probably you think people will be able to get those?

Yes, definitely. Well, somebody, there was a voicemail that I don't know if I put it on this list, but there was a voicemail that was like, what would you describe as the Amanda movies? Like we kind of know what Sean's and Chris's tastes equate to, but what is like the canon of Amanda? And that was basically it right there. Well, that's a good episode in general. Just my personal canon as an idea. Oh, I cut out so many things that were just like, that's just a good episode in general just the my personal canon as an idea oh i cut out so many things that were just like that's just a whole episode on its own i'm sorry to the people

who asked questions that were almost too good to make it into a mailbag episode but i think your taste is also completely codified like i think people know what your movies are don't you yes i agree so anyway but but i think those movies did i was living vicariously through them in the sense that I saw something that I didn't have access to and didn't know about before. And I was like, oh, that looks great. Yeah, you know, the other thing too, I think obviously Sorkin is a big cross point for us. And I think attractive people moving briskly through the world and speaking intelligently is like a very aspirational thing for both of us. Like we like the idea of that, even though ultimately our lives have become sitting in a chair just speaking to one another right all the time yeah but we talk quickly we do it's very quick perhaps too quickly but um that's it's

funny to think about it though bobby do you have a vicarious movie uh not exactly not one that i necessarily saw myself in but but one that i feel like helped shape my interest in personalities is probably sandlot oh yeah sure yeah because i mean i very had that very earnest approach to sports and baseball and and then eventually then i didn't realize that it could be depicted in that way like that childhood earnestness on screen and that kind of led me to i guess the way that i approach media and sports and that sort of thing you more more of a Smalls or a Benny the Jet here? I mean, everybody wants to be Benny the Jet, right? It's not easy to be Benny the Jet. Except for the fact that Benny the Jet made Vin Scully retire early in this timeline, which is tough.

That's sad. Okay, what's next? Hey, Amanda, Sean, Bobby. My name is Arnold. Congrats on 500 episodes. This is my favorite podcast. So here's to many more. My question is about movie theaters.

My first job was at a movie theater in my hometown, Des Moines, Iowa. It was called Merle Hay Cinema. Shout out to Merle Hay, RIP. It's no longer with us, unfortunately. But I grew up going to that theater, and I started working there in 2005 when I turned 16. And it was a single-screen theater with a huge screen, auditorium set over 750 people. And I remember how the pop and the popcorn tasted, the candy that we had, the layout of the theater. All that stuff is really vivid in my mind.

So every time y'all talk at length about a movie that we had at that theater, like The Departed or Casino Royale, Ratatouille. It brings me back to my memories of working there and how much that experience impacted my love of movies and seeing movies in theaters, which is something that I still try to do as much as I can today. So my question for all of you is, could you describe the theaters that you each grew up going to as kids or as teenagers and maybe some of the formative movie going experience that you had at your hometown theaters. Really appreciate the time. Thanks.

Peace. Great question. Arnold. I love this question so much. It's a really good one. I think I've mentioned some of the movie theaters I went to growing up in the past, but my,

my hometown Huntington station, New York, uh, had multiplexes had ua and i want to say it was cineplex odeon back when i was a kid in comac which is a neighboring town and in farmingdale and so if you wanted to go to a big blockbuster you had to go to the this big movie theater when i was like 14 they introduced stadium style seating at the ua in farmingdale which at the time was thought to be very exciting. And now I think it's considered like part of what destroyed the movie-going experience is this sort of like mega multiple plexification of movies.

The Farmingdale UA, I don't mean to interrupt your story, Sean, but the Farmingdale UA is where I saw Avatar. Hell yeah. Incredible. Hell yeah. I mean, it's like a pretty good movie theater right it's a pretty good it's huge

it's ridiculous it's like that typical like suburban 20 theaters kind of thing but my mom was a member of the cinema arts center

in Huntington and had like a pass there so we went there pretty frequently and that was the indie movie theater and that was where

there was both repertory screenings and independent films. And my mom's a big moviegoer. She knew she was more interested in independent film. And I saw with a friend once upon a time in the West there when I was 15. And it's probably the first old movie that I went to in a movie theater. And I never, I still like it resonates in my mind it was so loud there was eight people

in the movie theater it was not like oh look everybody is like jaw-dropping it felt like private like i was the only person that was watching the movie and uh that movie is so beautiful and so amazing i've talked about it many times on the show but um i think i thought that cinema arts when i was a kid was like the only movie theater in america that was like that like i didn't know that in new york there are 10 rep theaters and that independent movie going was like i had no conception of that i lived such a cloistered suburban life so that place felt like it was on mars to me and i really liked it and still there still cranking yeah i think both of my movie theaters are still going.

The first is the real classic, the AMC Phipps Plaza 14, where I recently saw Minions, The Rise of Gru. And I posted my receipt on Instagram. Did you? Yeah. I didn't see that. Because it was just like one adult

for Minions, The Rise of Gru, which I just thought was really funny. Psycho behavior. A lot of friends from Atlanta wrote back, and they were like, oh my God, you saw the Minions at Phipps. That's hilarious. And that was, you know, it's in a mall, multiplex with the food court right there. And I would get dropped off and I would go, you know, I saw everything there from my best friend's wedding to I had a birthday party to see North, the Elijah Wood movie. That was a tough break.

That's the end of the Rob Reiner streak. I know. That's when he goes cold. Yeah, but you know what? I was there with Rob Reiner all the way. I saw Jerry Maguire sitting next to my mother through that sex scene. Great. I have saw Arrival there with my father as an adult i saw i think we i think we saw top five there with uh the chris rock film

with my with zach that was one of zach's first trips and my dad i remember you telling me about this and and and my dad loved it and zach was like i'm now sitting next to your father through some sex scenes that i don't know him this well enough for but my dad was like will that win best picture um we also saw morning glory at uh fifth plaza and my dad was like, will that win best picture? Um, we also saw morning glory at, uh, fifth Plaza. And my dad walked out and asked whether that would win best picture. My dad loves a rom-com too. He's not very good at prognostication, but he loves movies. And that brings me to the other theater that I think of, which is, uh, the Midtown art cinema, which was the same. It was the independent indie-ish theater.

I don't actually think it's indie, but they showed more independent movies. And my dad was a regular there. And so when I would come home from college, my dad and I would just go see movies every day over winter break or over spring break. And everyone knew him and everyone asked for his reviews. And it was very very sweet um and bobby this one's for you i remember december one year in college my dad played hooky from work and we went to like a 2 p.m screening of revenge of the sith is that the third one yeah what's the yes yeah the third one your anakin movie that that sean recently drafted right it's my anakin movie too your anakin movie too and we were the only two people in the theater we had not seen

the first two films in the prequels i don't know we just wanted to go to a movie and and midtown arts cinema was showing the star wars movie because you know it's a business and you got to make money to live we had a great time and we were like this is fantastic i understand what all of the children are excited about so when Ewan McGregor was like you were the chosen one

did you like that we had no idea what was going on but we could also just talk to each other so that's a great theater I think it's still going I haven't

I haven't been in a few years shout out Atlanta someone called in to ask me if I knew that Anakin was going to become Darth Vader because I was a child and I had not seen

the original movies yet and to that person I'm not going to play to become Darth Vader because I was a child and I had not seen the original movies yet and to that person I'm not going to play your voicemail because it's too specific but to that person yes I did know because I was just reading Star Wars Wikipedia pages in my free time in between dressing up as Anakin. I think the question is did Amanda know Bob because she didn't see the first two prequels and had you even seen the other Star Wars at that

point? I think I had seen Star Wars but maybe not Empire at that point but i have since seen empire and i like bobby understood the mythology of darth vader i have a i have a little bit of an issue with star wars right now that i want to address with you okay great um your worst nightmare uh there's a new tv show coming i think the TV shows have been very mixed thus far. There have been highs and lows. The new show is called Andor, and it's written and directed by Tony Gilroy.

And it is like a continuation of the Rogue One story, which I think many people, myself and Chris Ryan at least, agree is probably the best Star Wars movie of the last 10 years. Yeah. And it's a TV show, but it's like a lot of stuff that I care about. And I really, I feel like I'm going to want to talk about this show. Okay.

So how do I get you involved? I love Tony Gilroy. But I know that. I'm going to ask you some follow-up questions. So what is Andor? I think that the series has been described as the rise of a rebellion. So it's the resistance like coming together. But the idea of the show is that it is a more

ground level show. I'm sure there will be science fiction elements at Star Wars but that it is about a community of people that are essentially conspiring in a spy-like way.

Okay, so it's like a World War II spy movie. And maybe some Bourne quality because it's Gilroy. Oh, right, of course. It's Gilroy. Yeah, I'll watch.

I'll watch. And Zach will want to watch and we need a show to watch together because I don't know how long I'm going to make it with all this other stuff. It's also, it's September 21st. Yeah, I'll do it.

It's grim times at the movies. We're not making this a TV podcast, but it's like Gilroy hasn't done anything in a while. Okay. Will you fill out my expense form for Disney Plus? Fill it, I'll approve it. No, but I know. That's what I'm asking.

If you will take the screenshot and upload it and write in Disney Plus $7.99. No, that I won't do. Is Disney Plus $7.99 a month? I don't know how much it is. I thought it was $5. I don't know how much anything is. I have the Disney Hulu ESPN Plus bundle, so I don't know how much it is. And Phoebe pays for it.

She handles the streaming. I handle the utilities. That's the division of labor here. The bundle's worth it, I think. Okay. Right, Bob? It's worth it. This is Spawn now. She handles the streaming. I handle the utilities. Maybe I'll get the bundle. That's the division of labor here. The bundle's worth it, I think. Okay. Right, Bob? It's worth it. This is Spawn now.

We have to stop. We have to move on. Disney does not need our money. It's not Spawn for me. I'm trying to expense this. Right, exactly. This started as a question about movie theaters and ended with streaming TV. So that's really the problem with our society and this show.

Okay. What's next? Hey, guys. It's graylin calling from north carolina and i want to know if there's any movie and role that your body and face could be like kind of inserted into it's the same exact performance but your face um on screen what movie and what role would you pick thanks not just your face but also your body same exact performance is an important part of it you don't change the movie you don't have to actually do it they're just cgi-ing your body and face into the performance i love this question i'd love to interrogate this a little bit i wish graylin would

have offered her sure like what what is the one that she would have been inserted into that would have helped actually also graylin sounds so much like my mother i think they must be from the same part of North Carolina. And that was very moving to me. That was lovely. I was moved by your question, even though I don't totally understand it. So I guess, what am I trying to achieve? You get to see yourself do cool shit is I think the goal. I can't even listen to myself on a podcast. Imagine seeing myself. Yeah, that's the thing. thing I mean if I'm lit the way that people are lit and I thought you meant lit like you did a lot of coke or something no but I mean that's necessary for the role it's the same performance you know I meant you should

be Scarface I meant the lighting the you know the costume production so I look better than my normal self because right now I'm imagining basically like a rewatchables Photoshop, you know, but I don't want to watch that at all. Respectfully, like I would find that excruciating with all respect to who does the rewatchables Photoshop. I think it's David Lara, is it not? I think so. I mean, you know, David is a gifted, gifted individual. I'm very grateful to him, by the way. And shout out to David.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention him on this episode who runs social media for us. People often mistake that it's either Bobby or myself running the Big Pic Twitter account. It is David. It has never been, nor will it ever be me. I will not be doing those tweets. Nor I.

That is my plan is to never run that account. David's very talented and funny. Okay, so it's not a Photoshop. I look okay in it. I mean, the obvious, the initial answer is Gwyneth Paltrow and talented Mr. Ripley, but I just want to do that minus the murder, you know? Well, she doesn't commit the murder. Yeah, but it's kind of a tough shake.

It's not like Jude Law is great to her. Oh, I see. You know, she's wearing lovely skirts and that's great, and they're on the coast. What if I just said I want to be Tom Ripley in that film? This is a weird question. Yeah. This is about transfiguration, right? I guess so, yes.

What else do I want to be transfigured into? It would be really fun to be Tom Cruise interrogating Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. You cut these guys loose! Or I guess it would be really fun to be Jack Nicholson in that movie. And just be like, you can't handle the truth! You doctored the logbooks! You signed the phony transfer orders. I don't really know what my answer to this question is. Okay.

I mean, it would be so cool to be Kurt Russell in The Thing, but that's not really what the question is, right? It's like, what's one that makes sense? Oh, is it? You once cast me, or you once cast Edward Norton as me in a movie. So it's like me in Primal Fear? No, it was, the question was, it was another Mailbag episode, and it was who would play you in the biopic of your life. Right.

And I said Edward Norton, and then I said Fincher would direct it, and then I was like, oh, so I made Fight Club. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Which, as I continued to descend into, like, bourgeois, middle-aged fatherhood, it's pretty apt. Yeah. Right. Right. Which as I continue to descend into like bourgeois, middle-aged fatherhood. Yeah.

It's pretty apt. Yeah. You know, I'm not allergic to an Ikea catalog at this stage of my life. All right. Well, I don't know. Bobby, would you also be

Benny the Jet? Is that also the answer for this one? I'd be Redford in the natural. Come on. Dingers. Oh, that's good. But you don't know

what it's like to be washed yet because you're such a young man. I feel relatively washed like I thought when I was logging on to the Zoom I was like I'm looking pretty gray was that because of

the big picture 500 episodes did they contribute to it be so real with you when we were in person doing the gray man pod I was like wow speaking of the gray man Bobby Wagner

got a little gray going in there I have a full streak and some on the side you look great thank you it's distinguished yeah I think it is I think I'm doing okay I think that it. You look great. Thank you. It's distinguished. Yeah, I think it is. I think I'm doing okay.

I think that it's ultimately a net positive for me. Okay, what's next? Hello, everyone. My name is Logan, and I am about to turn 21, actually. You guys are releasing this podcast episode the day before my birthday by some kind of coincidence. So thank you you guys. So in the upcoming months, my partner from Canada is coming down to see me, and I'm very, very excited

about that. They're not much of a movie person, so I'm going to try and show them a lot of stuff, some horror stuff. They like fantasy a lot, and they have some Lord of the Rings, and that's a really important film series for me me so I would like to share that with them

I'm curious if you guys have any fun first dates movie stories whether they go good or bad obviously you guys have talked about a little bit on like some of the movies that you guys have shared with your partners now

but I'm curious if you guys have any other fun stories from previous relationships. Thank you so much. Love the show and have a good one. So I've been with my, my partner, Eileen for in two weeks, it will be 23 years.

So I don't have a lot of first dates to my name um but didn't you recently tell a story about a pre-Eileen date and well I I screwed up because and I and this has since been corrected I think what I said was um I can't even remember the name of the film it was it's an Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy from the late 90s. And I thought that I saw it on a first date with the girl I was dating prior to Eileen. And then I got a message from Eileen who listened to the pod and was like, that was you and I who went to go see that movie, which was then a tough night in our house. But I did remember when she reminded me of that what the first date movie was that I saw with my previous girlfriend. And that movie was called

At First Sight, which starred Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino about a blind guy. And let's just say that we were not dating very much longer after that. That wasn't like our first date.

It was our first movie date. And we'd been dating for a few months and the movie ended and i was like i didn't say anything but i had a face like a you know the face yeah and she was like that's one of the best movies i've ever seen it's really funny and i was like we're doomed it's over for us it's curtains yeah and uh broke up shortly thereafter you you you you haven't been with a partner you know what three years you don't i don't even know what that face is about and you can keep it to yourself sorry that some of us were out of here in our 20s yeah you were in new york going on dates no i've got a few and i don't know that all of these were first dates, but they were memorable dates. So one was definitely a first date. I went on in high school to see Enemy at the Gates. Oh, yeah. With a very nice guy who I did not end up going on

further dates with. It's a Jude Law movie? I think so. I think so think so yeah it's like a russian war it's set in russia during world war two right yeah i believe it's jude law right what i remember is that this person insisted on holding my hand throughout a large part of the film and that just is uncomfortable after a while you know what like was he scared no just like you were scared just i don't know it was like we're making a clammy connection yeah yeah which is gross it's just gross and also it wasn't like really movie appropriate really nice so you know that didn't work at first sight it would have been a hand-holding film no but like a romantic drama this is like the standing ovation thing how long are you reasonably holding hands

with someone in a movie when you and zach go Zach go to New York City and you stroll down the boulevard, you know, two wildly successful, beautiful people. Are you holding hands? Not usually, though now a little bit that we rarely like get time, just the two of us out in the world. Yeah, this is such a thing. For like a minute or two, sure.

But it's not a durational thing this is what i'm saying like i'm talking about in like an hour and i'm like 16 years old and still myself that is a little psychotic it was it was weird so that was just like a one date thing the other was not a first date but like a last date um one of my boyfriends in new york if he's listening to this he's a very nice guy and i'm not proud of the way that I behaved during our screening of The Wrestler. Speaking of Darren Aronofsky this year. Okay.

And I did not like the ending of The Wrestler or I thought it was sort of a cop-out. I remember this at the time and we got into a fight after The Wrestler and then we broke up. Right. And that man was Adam Driver. So, oh my God, that would have been nice.

I did live like two blocks away from Adam Driver for a while. Speaking of folks who are the same age as us. Yeah. So that is just very memorable because that was it. And that is also a summation of just dating in New York in the 20s. But did the wrestler cause you to break up? No, no, no, no, no. Oh, that. It was like, you've heard about this boyfriend before. It was, there was a long time like coming, but then this was just the thing of like, you know what?

No, thanks. I'd like to share something with you, which is that I think the ending of the wrestler is wonderful. Okay. Well, I haven't seen it in a while. Also, like I said, it was a pretty heated environment. Okay. A fight with you was heated? I can't seen it in a while. Also, like I said, it was a pretty heated environment. Okay. A fight with you was heated? I can't believe that. And then I think I've told this story before, but this is, you know to go see a 9 p.m screening of the kenneth lonergan film margaret and you know that story i forgot that was our first like and that was our first real date like we'd met for drinks we'd gone to a couple press screenings we'd gone to parties

but like we went to dinner we went to dinner at mogador and we walked over to the quad cinema speaking of movie theaters and we saw margaret and then it was like margaret was over and it was midnight and we were you know in manhattan just being like huh uh and now we're married i like that there being correlation between those two things. Yeah. Margaret, one of the masterpieces of the 21st century. Zach is still, like, great flex by me. And I, and in a way, I do think that's true. You know, it's part of, like, what intrigued me. But we went back to, remember Commodore in Park Slope?

Sure, yeah. And it was, like, you know, 1 a.m. by the time we made it all the way back to Commodore that hour of the night. And just got drinks. And just kind of, like, both stared at stared at the like dirty table in commodore you know no disrespect to commodore um i don't think they're listening we're just like i don't know and we're just like huh okay it was not like a it was an emotional journey that maybe we weren't ready for together at that particular moment but it is a trial by fire. And it's like, if you can survive this together, you can survive anything.

So it's no surprise that you are bound to one another for eternity now because of the soul-piercing work of Kenneth Lonergan. I don't recommend screening any of those films for your partner and their visit in a few weeks. Oh, the Canadian partner coming down? Happy birthday! 21, you did it! Yeah. 21? Yeah.

That's awfully young to be listening to a 40-year-old blather about movies. Sheesh. Bob, you got a hot first... What did you and Phoebe see on your first movie date? Honestly, I don't really remember

because we were friends before we were dating. So we probably saw a movie together before we were dating so we probably saw a movie together before we were actually a couple i don't revenge of the sith what was the movie moment when you decided when you realized you were more than friends or what movie would you compare it to oh i don't know that's that's too i don't see i don't have like that catalog style knowledge of movies to be able to compare them to but But I do have a first date story, which I think I told in brief on the 2008 movie draft, which is that my very first date with anyone was to 500 Days of Summer as I was heading

into my eighth grade middle school year. I lost my wallet at that date. Had some great gift cards in there. Dick's Sporting Goods. What's an eighth grader's wallet? A free game of bowling? A library card in there? You know, like 20 bucks in cash.

I was fat and happy and I was pissed that I lost my wallet. The relationship did last for like a whole year after that though. So it didn't really doom it. Although in retrospect, 500 days of summer on the first date probably should have been a red flag for me. For sure. I saw that movie on a date too. It was fine.

As I think I said the last time you told this story, Bobby, when I was supposed, when Juliet and I were supposed to talk about it on our rom-coms podcast, neither of us could remember the plot of the film. Besides Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets dumped. Do you like Zooey Deschanel? I liked New Girl. Okay, cool. Stops and ends there. Great. Stops and ends there. Great. Starts and ends there, I guess.

I like that show, too. Hey, Sean, Chris, Bobby. What's up, guys? A special hello to our queen, Amanda Dobbins. My question is, on behalf of the Dobmob, is there any way that we can get the polls for the draft open longer? Because I've missed out on voting on like half of the draft because I'm busy doing my hobbies and living my life. And, you know, we're not online as out, we would appreciate if we could have the

polls on Twitter open longer. Thanks, guys, for the show. Love it. Keep up the great work. Happy 500th episode. Bye. I'm delighted. I feel seen. I'm thrilled. Keep pursuing those hobbies. And I appreciate your advocacy and will refer it to the appropriate authorities. But also, if it doesn't happen, the Dobmob's heart and time is in the right place, you know? I'd like to officially answer this question, which is no. We cannot leave the polls open any longer. One could make the case they should be open for a shorter period of time okay that there we need you to race to your computer or your phone where is it is sean boys is that what it is now um see okay this was a question that many people asked

some but somebody asked what is my fan group called some people asked what is the official fan group for sean there were some people who were making suggestions fen heads lords of letterboxd the fen stands i don't know that all of the suggestions were were kind of mediocre if you ask me so i think sean you should really put an end to it what what is the what is the group called the dark brandons okay no when chris isn't here you don't have someone to do your, you know. I know. You're crossing the line political humor with. Chris and I are, we're going to make a politics pod.

Okay. We're going to do it. What? You pitched a podcast at the end of one of your genre episodes. Which one was it? Just My Opinion. No, it was. Yeah.

Is that what it was? Yeah. It's just me and Chris. Bob is producing. Like I said, I will listen to all of it. Probably four to five hours every day. And we're just going to go through the news. You know, just check out USA Today.

Right. Just so you know, that's what it's like being friends with the three of you. You guys see this? What's this about, huh? So true. And think about how wonderful your experience is imagine sharing it with millions of people uh i don't i don't believe in giving yourself uh a nickname so i don't know how to answer that question i will say that um i think i'm just like the i'm like the placeholder on the podcast like

this is a portal for passion for chris and amanda fans and you're the equilibrium point with that you're the equilibrium point you're like ph 7.0 that's right i'm the metronome that's beautiful and you guys are the instruments okay how do you feel about that that's i mean i think that's underselling your contribution well thank you but but that's beautiful all the same i'm trying to think of you can be an instrument too what instrument do you want to be well drums the drums are the one that keep the beat you know yeah if i were uh an egocentric monster which i guess i am i would say i'm the conductor but i think i'm the metronome okay um i don't i don't know i don't know about and i don't know uh i think the wag staff is your

is your crew i'm i'm in on bobby lobby i like that better that's good lobby lobby's good that's good yeah yeah saw a couple people calling it that but uh that's the one that i officially endorse on my campaign materials i enjoy that one um okay i mean shout out to the dot mob i got nothing but love for the dot mob i got no beef with the dot mob i tweeted early on and listened to the voicemails about how many people were identifying as members of the cr army in their calls which i thought was very funny and as i got later and later in the voicemails about how many people were identifying as members of the CR army in their calls, which I thought was very funny. And as I got later and later in the voicemails, it was very funny that they were more Amanda people because we were getting closer. You know, they were living their lives. They got back. They had a couple of Negronis and they called.

They made the time, but they put it in the right priority. And I moved. That's my enduring influence. I love it. The best thing ever about this turn of events in terms of like the identity of the show is that amanda is by far the most online person in my life right now like i don't know how that happened but she's like ahead of me on like did you see this like what's going on over here so because i'm sitting in a chair with a human being attached to me for hours a day. Stuff. What else am I going to do?

Stuff. I'll never know that experience. Yeah. Thank you so much to the content creators for getting me through. Amanda's a wonderful consumer of the Ringer Podcast Network, Sean. You should not disparage that. I'm a fan, you know? Okay. This next one is very funny and also in the same vein. Hey, guys. This is Drew.

I'm down in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm a medical student. I'm a huge longtime fan of the show. I listen every week with my best friend, Andrew. And Andrew and I get in a fight pretty consistently over which one of us is the Sean of our relationship and which one of us is the Chris of our relationship and which one of us is the Chris of our relationship. We both know that neither of us is cool enough to be Amanda. But I was curious what you guys think

makes up a Sean type of person versus a Chris type of person and kind of how those two people are separate. Anyways, love listening to you guys every week. And congrats on 500 episodes. I don't know how to answer what makes a Sean type of person no i'm gonna make you do it first also let me just say thank you to drew i also i for a second i'm very excited that this drew called in i also have a friend named drew from atlanta who's not a medical student but this is he's a grown-up not him but drew does listen as well i don't know hi drew hi hi to both Drews. Hello to the city of Atlanta.

Yeah, you're going to have to self-analyze. That's what makes this fun. I can answer what makes a Chris person. So Chris, I've said this before, but this is true. Chris, I've known for almost 20 years now. And I think I told the story once, but just when I moved to New York, I didn't know a ton of people. I was trying to get in the world magazines and writing about music and culture.

And he was writing a blog spot that I thought was just about the best thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. The funniest thing I'd ever seen. And I cold emailed him and I was like, hey man, I think this is so funny. We started a correspondence. We basically had rap, basketball, and movies in common.

And his response to me was like, that's cool, man. Let's go get a hot dog. And so we just like met at criff dogs in new york and had a hot dog and have been friends ever since um chris is um he is the he's the heater not the thermometer like i'm the thermometer i like will take the temperature of a situation but chris gets it up. Chris gets it hot. And this was also true of Chris, like in a social setting, like in New York for years, he was the person who everybody wanted to be having a drink with because he was so fun and so smart. And also everybody was like, why is Chris not famous? Like in 2007, people were like, why is Chris not famous? And your husband, I think felt that way. Certainly our close friend, John felt that way. But even like the extended, like the spin universe of

people, all those guys who worked there that, you know, everybody always loved Chris. He's always like the smartest, funniest guy. But it's been so fascinating not to get too existential about it, to basically watch him, not just become like what everybody wanted him to become, but for him to kind of like transfer that superpower into his professional life like he makes you and i have more fun on the shows that we do he elevates the conversation he's never negative he manages even when he's critical of something he seems almost like boyish and he's obviously so creative and clever. But I think like a Chris type of person is definitely closer to a Dobmob person. Because there's like a spirit of fun in the thing. And I would not, I don't think that that's in my spirit, ultimately.

I wouldn't say I'm like a fun guy. You can be coaxed into having fun. To me, the dichotomy is a little bit, your internal, Chris's external. As Chris loves to get external in reference to a podcast that I don't listen to. Shout out to everyone who loves the sport of golf. It brings all the men in my life

and two of the most important women in my life, a lot of joy. And I never want to hear about it again. You're the planner.ris is in the moment um and you you are both oh my god this is mean because i just have to like be nice about both of them i love these guys both very much and i she's not looking i literally can't look at them it's really really uncomfortable um the first first time you averted your case this is so gross um like what makes a sean person versus what makes it i mean what makes a sean person is literally spreadsheets and like that is the key to you but like in the

organization the thinking the head the that's's where all of your thoughts and associations and lists and exactness and not forgetting anything and comprehensiveness. And that is also your form of enjoyment. That's true. Chris is a walking Al Pacino impression, basically. That's what makes him that kind of like unexpected exuberance and um so the reality is is that like you actually are getting both of these guys in their in their reality i think um the reason that he and i have always gotten along so well is i think i need a little bit of him and he needs a little bit of me yeah you know like we

kind of there's a little bit of like a Yeah. You know, like, we kind of, there's a little bit of, like, a gap personality-wise. And also, you know, and the same with you and I. Like, either you click with somebody or you don't. Mm-hmm. And we always clicked. Chris and I always clicked. I'm not necessarily the easiest person to have a conversation with, and I feel very easy having a conversation with you guys, so.

That's very nice. Yeah. I mean, I don't even know if it's a compliment. You are very, but, like, you have a switch that you can turn on, and you can be, like, extremely personable, and it's sort of. You are very, but like you have a switch that you can turn on and you can be like extremely personable. And it's sort of like your Long Island, like, you know, charm offensive guy comes out. Yeah.

But that as the older I get, the more that's a performance, not a performance. Yeah. No, I know. I mean, the way that we know that you love us is that you just like show up somewhere and like, don't talk to us. And you're just like, are doing your own thing, but you're comfortable enough to be like, this is where my boundary is and I will do this and not that know and you're just like are doing your own thing but you're comfortable enough to be like this is where my boundary is and i will do this and not that thank you very much have a great time warms my heart yeah i think if i had to boil it down it's that sean is the scientist and chris is the artist in the relationship and so for drew i don't know

what like his what like drew's friend does necessarily but the fact that drew is in med school might lead me to believe that he might be the Sean, you know, a little bit more exacting, a little bit more empirical, you know, so it's empirical. Good SAT word, Bobby. Thank you. Uh, okay. Next question. Hey, big picture team. First time, long time. My question is what is your favorite movie that the other person sold you on? So Sean, what's the movie that you didn't really want to see or plan to see until Amanda told you, you got to go see it and vice versa. Love the show. Literally my favorite podcast.

Can't wait for 500 more episodes, guys. Great job. Thanks for the question. That's very kind. Thank you. Have you ever successfully sold me on a movie? How dare you? Have you?

All I do is fucking recommend movies. That's the thing about this podcast is that in a lot of ways, it's just you selling me on shit that I don't care about. Yeah. And there are a lot of movies that I have affection for because they seem like a Sean movie or a Sean and Chris movie. I think it probably helps that Zach shares a lot of your taste as well. So there's like a Sean, Zach, and Chris trifecta. But I'm trying to think of a movie where I'm just stubborn. Okay, here's the problem.

One, the question is essentially describing the premise of the movie swap, which is an episode that we do maybe every six months. I pick a movie that I love that I want you to watch and vice versa. And I think one of the first ones we did was Sense and Sensibility and Into the Spider-Verse. And I really liked Sense and Sensibility, but for the premise of the podcast, I almost felt like I needed to identify things that didn't work to create a little bit of tension and, you know, like zero in on those things. But I really liked that movie a lot. And I don't really like costume dramas. I don't really like adaptations of like 18th century English fiction. I don't wouldn't say I like steadfastly avoid them, but they're

just not something I would seek out. For example, Lady Chatterley's Lover Played at Telluride. Right. And I just didn't go go you don't like sex either I think I was like how good is this sex going to be in a Netflix film and apparently it was quite good based on what I heard

but anyway I also don't watch The Crown so Emma Corrin was not a person who clicked for me but all's to say I think actually

doing the show and then the show becoming about more persona and to the point of that previous question has now made it seem like I don't like a certain kind of movie that i do like yeah um i was just watching a documentary about midnight cowboy and the making of midnight cowboy and a

big part of the film is about john slessinger who is the english filmmaker who directed that movie academy award-winning filmmaker um who came up in the aftermath of the sort of like kitchen sink dramas of the british new wave and the movie he the sort of like kitchen sink dramas of the British New Wave. And the movie he made right before Midnight Cowboy is Far From the Madding Crowd, which is not considered a great movie or adaptation, but it's a movie that I love. And it's an Amanda movie, really. And it's a very romantic, thoughtful, literary adaptation starring Julie Christie. And before we were friends and before I was doing anything like this, I liked movies like that. I think maybe I was rejecting the ones that were made when we were kids because I felt like they were getting in the way of the

cool stuff of the Tarantino movies, of the Coen brothers movies, the movies where I was like, why aren't these the movies that everyone is saying? Not everyone, the Academy Awards, honestly, because that's how I measured it when I was a teenager. And so I had some sort of like latent rejection of them. But I think like it's not so much that you turned me on to any specific movie, but that as we get a little bit older and I know that they're a passion point for you and I know that there's something that like, well, we will devote ourselves to those things when they come up on the show. I feel much more open to them than I did when I was a kid.

And like I've removed some of my adolescent angst around those movies. Does that make sense? Yes. I think that in reverse is a good way of explaining whatever weird psycho drama goes on in my head when I'm reacting to your very, for lack of a better word, boy taste. And, you know, the movies that because of who makes films and how film culture, at least for the last 50 years, has kind of grown up, kind of decide what are like the quote unquote cool movies.

And sometimes that's because they're great. And sometimes that's because they are in a certain genre and have a certain taste. And I react to those a certain way. But at the end of the day, the ones that I really like, I like them because they're good. And also because I know that you guys really like them as well. Triple Frontier is something I was thinking about a lot of maybe not a movie that any of us sold each other on, but that we all kind of saw together. And then we're suddenly like. Not a great film.

No. And not even necessarily a film that I would get psyched about. Despite the incredible cast at a very specific point in all of their lives. But we all had a lot of fun. And the fun of that was being in the theater with the three of you. And being like what is going on and why is Metallica playing. But also I'm not mad. Yeah. I think that's a good way of describing like the middle ground of the question which is like what are the things that we do together that like I probably am more inclined to like a movie like

Triple Frontier than you are historically but also it was so elevated by the fact that we all liked it together yeah so and no one else did yeah we're just honestly that's fine your loss hi john amanda and bobby my name is caroline i'm from buffalo new york uh i love your guys's podcast it actually inspired me to start my own podcast uh but my question for you guys is we hear a lot of talk about the quintessential high school movies, you know, labor, Jason confused, uh,

even grief. Uh, but I'm going into college. I'm starting tomorrow. And I was wondering what you guys think is the quintessential college movie. Thanks guys. Caroline. Good luck. That is really exciting.

I honestly started in college was one of the happiest days of my life. Was it? Yeah, you should see. I lost my college ID, but you should see the photograph of me and my college. Like I've never looked happier. I'm just like, I did it. I made it. Because you hated high school?

I didn't even hate high school, but I was ready to like be out of my parents' house, like be out on my own, you know, just like. Were you one of those people who like thought about re-imagining yourself? Like I'll use a new name and I'll like, I'll have new interests that I've never expressed previously. No, I was Amanda. I was still dating my high school boyfriend when we started college. Didn't work out for me like it worked out for you. Okay. Too bad, but hey. Yeah.

Failed for me also. So I feel like that's a representative sample. It works for one out of every three people. It can work. Didn't work for us. That would be high. You think one out of every three people marries their high school sweetheart?

It's probably not true then. We can fold Kristen to this then. Maybe one out of four. One out of four. That seems better. Okay. That's exciting. I loved College.

The first movie that came to mind to me for this was another like aspirational movie. And also like a movie that I hoped would be representative of what College was like. And also a Bomback movie. And it's kicking and screaming. Yeah. This one crossed my mind too. Yeah. But was that similar to your college experience

no not entirely i mean the other i have two other answers but the other real one is that i i went to dartmouth which uh was in fact the animal house college and i uh i hung out at the animal house fraternity that no longer exists because of things that happened in it that uh were actually worse than portrayed in animal house oh my so um so animal house i guess but i can't recommend that but that's it was closer i guess kicking and screaming i thought was very aspirational where i wish i was having some of the conversations that the guys in those films have i've definitely clicked with the thank god we God we all speak Spanish. Never been to Prague,

been to Prague. I certainly related to the father and son Knicks fandom, Elliot Gould aspect of it. And I love falling back being like Elliot Gould is a dad now

and even though he's the icon of 70s cinema for me. I don't know if I've ever seen a college movie that felt like my college experience. My college experience I went to Ithaca College, which is like a small private college in upstate New York. And it was cold as fuck and not very fun for three months out of the year.

I, like many people, found like a very tight coterie of guys that I was very close to and like an extended universe. But I was a very anarchic college student and not in the, like, I get drunk till four o'clock in the morning and, you know, like vomit everywhere kind of a way, more like a, kind of like a prankster-ish kind of way, which is not really my personality now, but the guys that I was really close with that I'm still close with were very creatively demonic. And they would like, you know, like take signs out of the ground and like point them in opposite directions and like go to parties and like steal people's remote controls. And they were,

they were really up to no good. They were very funny. Uh, but it felt like we were almost like townies at our, at our college college like i wouldn't say we were entrenched in the social scene in a meaningful way there were no frats in my school no greek life the social structure wasn't designed that way and it was small so you kind of knew everyone but your friends were your friends and there was not this big like here's a 500 person party where aren't don't we all love each other feeling um i never saw a movie that represented that yeah um i you know i think actually i thought shithouse was kind of really interesting in that way because I wasn't alone. I wasn't like lonely at college.

But it was certainly more intimate than I think what Animal House leads you to believe college is going to be like where it's just like nonstop party time and you have 30 best friends. So I think that that's interesting that somebody finally made a movie that's like it can be kind of like lonely or like a little quiet at college sometimes it's not always a party the college movie that I like the most

is Everybody Wants Some yeah oh yeah I mean that's a classic this listener brought up Dazed and Confused so that feels like kind of in the right

of something to suggest yeah exactly and I mean that's like that's actually not so far from what I'm describing even though I wasn't on a team or like when you're on a team in school, when you go to college,

my wife was on the soccer team. Like that's just your posse, you know, that those are just your people and you hang out with them and your friends, them all four years. Take all the classes together. I took Latin with all the hockey players. There you go. Cause they didn't have to do language lab. Oh, that's nice for them. Is Dartmouth hockey very competitive? Pretty competitive. Yeah. And it was really fun. I'd never been to a hockey game before.

I grew up in Atlanta. Oh, hockey is so fun. Yeah. That was really, really fun. They didn't have a pro team when you were growing up,

but they do now, Atlanta. Oh, do they? Yeah, they have an NHL team. Don't they, Bobby? They have an NHL team. The Thrashers.

Sure. Right? Am I crazy? That's real. The Thrashers are a team? Yeah, look. Oh, right.

Oh, we've had the Thrashers for a while. Yeah. Yeah, since 1997. Oh, right. Oh, we've had the Thrashers for a while. Yeah. Yeah, since 1997. Well, I didn't go as a child and then I went at Dartmouth and it was really fun.

Okay, cool. And the hockey players were actually pretty nice. They were all also like 24 and Canadian and basically, you know, they like stretched out their college max.

Were they hot but had no teeth? Yeah. And they were like a specific kind of hot that certain of my friends like were really into. And they, um, you know,

they were also in their own frat and they threw a lot of parties. You know, you just reminded me of something. Um, so one of the movies that I saw tell you, right. It was called the end of the world, which is about Bennington college in the eighties,

which is a documentary. It's a documentary. Okay. Directed by Matt Turnour, former guest on this show. Okay. So the closest we'll ever get to seeing The Secret History on film. There's a lot of Donna Tartt in this film. So this is about a period in the 1980s when this small college in New England produced

three or four of the more notable literary figures of the last 40 years, including Brady Stenellis, Donna Tartt, Jonathan Lethem, a number of other artists and writers and poets. And, of course, Bennington inspired The Rules of Attraction, Bredy Stenellis' second novel, and Roger Avery was just a guest on the show, and he directed The Rules of Attraction, which is a movie that I really like a lot,

and it certainly has nothing to do with my college experience, and is like one big provocation fuck you to the college industrial complex but I think it's a pretty good movie and it's like

a pretty underrated movie and it's like very like quote unquote problematic or whatever it's like very dangerous in what it's portraying but it's also

clearly very satirical and features an amazing performance by James Van Der Beek as the exact opposite of dawson okay um so if you haven't seen the rules of attraction check that one out okay what's next hey guys uh ben here i'm a proud member of the dob mob and it kind of realized that you didn't have a name for uh the sean heads uh fantasy bins uh anyway, I've been listening to you guys for years, and in the past

two and a half years, I've lived in nine apartments in four states, and you guys have been my most consistent company. There's been a lot of times when I've not felt a lot of hope, and you guys brought me some with your just shared passion and enthusiasm and love for movies, and I look forward to you guys every me some with your just shared passion and enthusiasm and love for movies and i look forward to you guys every week and i just thank you from the bottom of my heart um question for you you're dropping your firstborn off at college and you're giving them one movie as a gift what's that movie thanks again guys um much love and uh keep on rocking out staying on the college theme

yeah also staying on the making me cry theme throughout that entire that was very moving was that caller crying yeah I don't

if he was that's fine that was very moving I'm not attacking him I loved his message it sounded like there was a little teardrop in his throat

there at the end that's very lovely thank you Ben also I don't want to think about taking Knox to college I just started back at work 17 short years They just grow away from you

It's really really intense The emotions You said something very elegant yesterday Yeah I'm so thrilled to be back I'm going to try not to cry right now But I was like a little melancholy In an existential way of just kind of what it means to be... For Knox to be setting out on his own adventure separate from me every minute of every day, which is wonderful and how it's supposed to go and is also a huge transition.

So I'm excited to have my life back. And I'm also like, wow, I'll never have him in that same way again. And now he's going to college according to this fucking question. So, what's your answer?

Can I preface this a little bit? Yeah. I want to know if you think that what your feelings are right now about the possibility of kind of indoctrination

slash introduction of culture to him and how much that will influence what ben is asking us because you could say that um i don't like my mom or dad didn't give me a movie like this in a specific way but it what it reminds me a little bit of is like the books that a couple of teachers gave me before i went to college so like many people i had a huge relationship with a couple of english teachers and I was I was reflecting on this when I was on vacation actually and one of them Miss Latko gave me a supposedly fun thing I'll never do again the David Foster Wallace book and was like this is you yeah which is like kind of an indictment kind of a beautiful celebration and another gave me a first edition of Goodbye Columbus by Phil Broth. Wow. And that was very influential and meaningful and powerful.

And I had really like forged an honest, true friendship with those two teachers. And Mr. Pippolo was the other teacher who gave me Goodbye Columbus. And I think what they did is they sort of like rewired the circuitry a little bit too. They're sort of like, ifired the circuitry a little bit too they're sort of like if someone tells you you're like this but you're not fully formed you then like aspire to be into that and in that

and so would a movie that you gave to Knox just as he embarked upon this big new chapter of his life would you want it to get like infused in him and would you send him a message that it's like the devil wears Prada is your future you know what I mean or is it more just like here's a memento get like infused in him and would you send him a message that it's like the devil wears Prada is your future you know or or is it more just like here's a memento and a reminder of me it doesn't

have to be inside of you or a part of you but it is a representative of me my initial reaction was something to remind him of home maybe not necessarily of me but you know I'm hopeful that movies will be like a part of our life and that we'll watch them together and I think I'll also watch them with Zach because Zach and I love you know and so it's something and movies also for me serve a lot of purposes but certainly as comfort food and when I you know I'm feeling off there are things that I return to so I like I hope I can establish in some way something that is like a comfort to Knox and it's like okay I this is like I really am having a hard time having this conversation without like getting emotional

you have 17 full years I know and it's like and if I hear patty cake one more time I'm gonna scream but at the same time like it's so wild to think about um so i guess i would do something shared and reminder as opposed to like forecasting so what i don't i mean i don't know it depends a little bit on what he responds to um sea biscuit yeah that's it iron man three chris's gift to gift to both our children can you just imagine like and I just have a mental image of like

Chris Alice and Knox sitting on a couch watching Seabiscuit together that's beautiful it'll be the first time

for all three of them double featuring with Up yeah I know I was trying to think the thing is is like

whatever animated or Pixar movie or Miyazaki movie or whatever that I'm thinking of I would have already we would have already had that together right so what would be the first time when you're turning 18 is there something that is slightly more mature sophisticated that you maybe previously didn't feel like they were ready for what was the right time for and i don't know what that is i I mean, I don't, I'm really turning over my mind a lot. Like what the balance between foisting something on Alice and introducing something to her

and letting her find her own way. And there's a lot of divergent thoughts in the world of parenting about what's the best way to pursue this. Most parents I've spoken to about this sort of thing and they all come to me and they're like, what are you going to do? And then as soon as I tell them what I'm going to do, they're like, you don't know shit. Nothing's going to work out well. So, you know, I could be like, I will give her first reformed.

And that will be her way of learning the way that God rejects nature. And, you know, there's no plan. And we're all doomed. I'm sorry. Please intervene. But she might also just be the kind of person who wants to hang out with Anna Amanda and, and, and watch you've got mail. Yeah. And so maybe I would just give her Sullivan's travels or something like

that. You know what I mean? Like there's, I don't, I just don't know. I don't know. It's a nice question, but I don't,

I wouldn't. And it depends so much also on what they respond to when we're like three and four and five. And what are the traditions that we kind of, you know, I'm hopeful that it will be singing in the rain and you know ferris bueller's day off and on all of those movies but he may respond to something completely different i also i'm learning a lot about nox but like he just learned what a

tooth is yesterday like he you know like the concept he has a lot of ways to go before i can guess what his interests are going to be you know you got a tooth well he does he has a lot of ways to go before I can guess what his interests are going to be. Did he get a tooth? Well, he does. He has half a tooth. It's very cute. But he grabs my face. He's very interested in faces.

And he was like rooting around and then just found my teeth and grabbed onto them and then kind of like stopped and said something to me like, hey, do you know you have teeth? And I was like, yeah, I do. Those are my teeth. And you have a tooth and I have a tooth. He said, hey, do you know you have teeth? No, was like, yeah, I do. Those are my teeth. And you have a tooth and I have a tooth. He said, hey, do you know you have teeth? No, but he was like, la, la, la, la. You know? But like in a way that was kind of like, hey, did you know something? Like he stopped and was like, hey, look at this in his way.

And so it's very beautiful. But I don't know how we get from there to like Casablanca or whatever. If he really likes teeth, maybe you should show him Marathon Man. Probably not the first movie or what I'll give him when he goes to college. Okay. This is a good question that we don't have an answer for. Yeah. I'm giving Knox and Alice Dr. Strangelove when they go to college so they can develop a sense of humor that I want them to have going into the adult world.

That's beautiful, Bobby. Bobby, this is why you're the producer of this show. Yeah. That's a great call. Okay. We'll lighten it up on this next one. Here we go. Guys, congratulations on 500 episodes.

This is Jacob from Oakland, California calling in. I wanted to ask what your guys' favorite running gag on the show is that you guys have come up with. I personally miss the days when thanos was an inevitability in every episode please bring back thanos uh tell me what your favorite gag is see our heads for life congrats again guys love the show what's your favorite gag well rango means a lot to me yeah by not meaning a lot to me yeah I'm meaning a lot you've never seen the film I have seen the film Chris has never seen Rango

okay I went with a very cool girl I went to college with um in New York I've told you this story do you listen to anything that I say no recollection of what you're talking about you know a very cool girl? Okay. Yes, but I didn't introduce her to you. Yeah, I can see that. No, it was like post-college, and it was one of the, it was someone like I knew in college, but we weren't very like tier one friends or whatever. Okay.

But we were in New York. So status obsessed. Tier one friends. So is everyone. Are we tier one friends? Yes, we are. Okay, great. Listen, you are to me. Sometimes you don't answer my text messages. And then I wonder whether I am, but I didn't know you'd seen Rango. So maybe you can be elevated to tier one. No, that I'd seen Rango. You just didn't remember. Okay. Um, there was a, never mind. Different, different podcasts. So I knew this very cool girl, and we were kind of like exploring whether we would be friends like in the new New York phase of our lives.

And she invited me to go see Rango. And so we went. I think we went to like the 34th Street AMC to see Rango. One of the cooler movie theaters in America. Yeah. It's not. It's not. I think because I was living in Brooklyn, and she grew up on the upper. She grew up uptown. How. It's not. It's not. I think because I was living in Brooklyn and she, like, she grew up

on the upper, she grew up uptown. How about that? Okay. And so we saw Rango and we were like, huh, okay, Rango. And we didn't really

become friends because I think she moved. But she's very nice. Great story. What does that do with Rango? I've seen it, but it's a good bit. I thought you were going

to do some sort of like city mouse, country mouse thing or something about how when you watch the film you realize there's an incredible history no it did sort of sound like a practiced alibi though you gotta wonder whether she really did see it at the 34th street amc yeah it was my girlfriend from canada we met niagara falls and we saw rango together like come on okay i well i like the bit um it's a great bit it's a great bit the funniest moment in the history of the big picture is when Chris got Roger Deakins'

birth year wrong and Sean corrected him and Chris said, oh, 42. That's when Rango was born. That's what I was thinking of. That was pretty good. Chris is the funniest person. The thing is, is that there are no bits. It's all real. Everything that's happening

here is unplanned unrehearsed okay not strategized i think even with the movie drafts i was i had no idea that we were going to be like i will destroy you when we started doing that that was not my intention i thought it would just be a fun way to talk about movies so uh i think almost like identifying the bits too much i worry that that we'll become too self-aware. Okay. Isn't Thanos actually coming back in the Marvel movies? In the MCU? He's not?

He's gone? He dead, right? I mean, he only got me. Isn't Harry Styles' brother? Harry Styles is his brother. Eros, I believe. Yeah, and they're not going to do flashbacks? That's a great question. Perhaps he is.

Sounds like you've been reading up on the MCU message boards. Tell me more. God, you are so fucking online you got thanos details that i don't got i've been reading a lot about harry styles uh-huh and so they mention it uh-huh and they it also defined him as thanos's brother throughout when are you launching your ringer verse show amanda explains it all you want to talk about thanos for a second so um i recently gave you and really gave alice a gift that involved a picture of thanos yes you did this is a very important gift and do you want to know how many pictures of thanos i had to look at to find the right photo let's explain it because this is but this book is important. For Alice's first birthday, you guys, you, your husband, and Knox got Alice a couple of gifts. But the key gift was a book of my favorite people.

And it's a picture book. And it's a deranged gift. It's really, really sweet. Bobby, I don't think we've discussed this. No, I don't think so. discussed this no I don't think so because it features photos of you and your husband

and your son yes and Alice of course loves your son and it features photos of Coach Chris yes and Phoebe his wife

and I don't know whether they actually know they're in it but they're finding out on this podcast they do now it also features photos

of Jessica Chastain yeah and ben affleck yes who i are basically like two celebrities that you and i are sexually attracted to which is weird uh it also features photos of mr met the new york mets yes fuck yeah let's go also and let me say as i made this entire book, obviously, and with the help of a company and some software, but the number of Mr. Met photos that I had to look through to find one where he wasn't giving the finger to the crowd is like, I was on page five of Google image before I found that. Mr. Met has a ribald sense of humor, which we all appreciate in Met's fandom. Also featured in this book, Paul Thomas Anderson, who is a filmmaker. Okay. And my daughter has not seen any of his films.

Do you not want Alice to know who Paul Thomas Anderson is? Trust me, she would have found out who he was without this book. I have no issue with what you've done. I love it. And then among other people, Thanos is in this book. Because I do love Thanos. I've always loved Thanos. He's a great character.

I am inevitable. Great performance by Josh Brolin. I would say Alice moves pretty quickly past the Thanos. Okay, really? Yes. Interesting. She's much more interested in the real people. Oh, and she can, yeah.

She's like Chris and me. No me no drawings yes but even more so like she's not exactly spending a lot of time on ben affleck either well she will maybe she won't maybe she won't yeah but she probably will yeah uh weird book how'd we get on this oh thanos bits well yeah and how much you love thanos and there just aren't a lot of high-res images available of thanos I also did like break a lot of copyrights, but it's a specific book. It's not for sale. Should we widely distribute as part of the first piece of big picture merchandise?

That'd be great. What do you think, Bobby? Should we sell the My Favorite People book? A lot of people asked about big picture merch. There was someone who asked what font would be on the sweatshirt that says Dob Mom. Why can't we get some? I would wear it.

I wear the Nora Ephron merch that you gave me. Yeah. Cool. Who's responsible for making merch here? I don't know. I don't know. Should we get... Bob, can you get Daniel Eck on the phone? Yeah. Multiple people saying that they were happy to email Daniel Eck on behalf of Amanda's trip to Cannes. Okay. Thank you all. Feel free.

Once again, just like with the bits, I will say this. The listeners are the ones that have power over the bits if you respond to the bit it sticks around you know I wouldn't have kept dropping Thanos inevitability

things in there if people didn't tweet every time and say how funny they fucking thought the same clip of Thanos a hundred straight times was that's another way

of saying what I was saying which is sort of like it has nothing to do with us we're just gonna say whatever we say and then if you like it you like it that's great

merch I don't know probably not gonna say. And then if you like it, you like it. That's great. Merch, I don't know. Probably not going to be anytime soon. But if you want to make something. What's standing in our way? The rise of global capitalism. Another movie I forgot to mention that I saw at Telluride was Trauma Zone, which was the seven-hour Adam Curtis documentary about Russia from 1985 to 1999.

Right. That was when I was worried you weren't coming back. The last film I saw was part two of trauma zone. And I learned in part two that it actually isn't a seven hour film. It's a 12 hour film, but they were not showing the final five hours of it. But how do you think it ends? Did I tell you about who I, okay, I'm going to tell this story really quickly. On the way to the first screening of the film, which was the first day, it was the first screening

was the first part of Adam Curtis's new documentary. I got on the gondola to go to the Chuck Jones cinema and seated across from me were two people, an older couple who were very friendly. And they were asking me a lot of questions about my work and what I did. And then they asked me why I was seeing Trauma Zone. And I said, I'm a very big fan of Adam Curtis, the filmmaker. Do you know anything about him? And they said, no, but we lived in Russia from 1990 to 1999. And I worked in business. And then he proceeded to explain to me how the Russian economy was organized and how the oligarchs effectively siphoned all of the wealth out of the country, rendering it vulnerable to become a totalitarian state. And he was very eloquent

in explaining it. I will say if you moved to Russia in in 1990 to go be in business i'm a little skeptical of that but everything he said proved to be not just totally right but basically the very premise of the documentary so in a way i kind of had trauma zone spoiled for me right which is it'd be sort of like if someone told me thanos died before endgame or something you know like you were alive when all of this happened. I mean, I knew what happened. I know how the Soviet Union was dissolved, and I know how Gorbachev failed and Yeltsin failed,

and I know about perestroika. I know all of those things, but he explained the very literal part, the sort of Adam Courtesy-ian part of the voucher system in Russia and the way that citizens were meant to have vouchers that would then represent their ability to buy products, which would then power a kind of new capitalist economy. And this is what the Bobby lobby is talking about on the weekend. I can't have this stuff spoiled. This is squarely in my zone.

You're going to fucking love Trauma Zone, dude. I'm going to set aside 12 hours after Phoebe's asleep. Just watch the shit out of that. I don't even know how I got on this. I'm really, my mind is reeling right now. Okay. Next question. Yeah.

Hi, this is Courtney calling from Atlanta. I just want to say a big shout out to the big picture. I started listening really during the pandemic and I just really appreciate y'all keeping my friends and I connected. There are some tough times. What I love about the big picture is just hearing how you fell in love with movies and where you fell in love with movies.

So my question is, have you thought about doing some sort of big picture roadshow? You can go to your hometown or different cities, Atlanta and partner with local theaters and do a show. I just think it'd be a really fun way to engage with your listeners. And to Sean and Bobby, I just want to quote the future MVP, Austin Riley. We're coming for you, Mets. Go Braves.

Wow. I can't fucking believe you played that. Oh, my God. Oh, Courtney. ATL, baby. Courtney, your first and last appearance on the big picture. That's for damn sure. Before we started recording, I told Sean and Bobby that I was so glad to be back with them

and felt so connected to them that I would go on the Mets journey with them for the next couple months. And by which I mean, I would let them tell me the scores. This is just all we want to do. It's just how the conversation goes every time. It's like, here's what the score was yesterday. But here's what the score was three days ago. Sure. I mean, that's literally baseball.

But that just stirred some 90s Braves love in my heart. We're recording this on Wednesday, which is the first day that the Mets are no longer the sole owner of first place in the National League East. Who knows what will happen in the two days that transpire before this episode is published. Needless to say, my enthusiasm for the baseball season has dimmed. I do not think Austin Riley will win MVP, however. As far as the question about a roadshow, I love the idea.

Okay. How would you be comfortable performing live? Yeah, you know me. I'll talk anywhere. Okay. Great. I mean, the real issue is that we have two small children between us and our and our partners thus far have proved strangely resistant to traveling with us and seeing the world yeah what's that about i don't know let me say that my partner is currently seeing the world without me or his son he's quite far away

right now he's very far away right now. He's very far away right now. No spoiler. Maybe we'll talk about it on an upcoming episode. So it's fine when it's just him, but he doesn't want to, you know, show the world to our son on Spotify's dime. Not sure I get it. My wife has a job.

So I don't think she could do her job and care for our young daughter if you and I were gallivanting in Austin and Chicago and places we would visit to do live shows. I think live shows would be fun. They certainly seem more feasible given where things stand with the pandemic. The Ringer, in fact, is more deeply exploring live events.

So I think this would be great. I don't think we're going to go on like a three-month tour anytime soon, but it would be fun to do a couple of one-offs. Just when we were taking a break here, we were discussing the idea of traveling to New York

for the New York Film Festival together and meeting up with our producer, Bobby, when we're there. So that could be a soft launch for a roadshow, but probably recording in private and not in public. Right. We'll see.

It'd be fun in public for all of the people that I send the secret link to every time that we record an episode of The Big Picture and I'm cashing that money on the black market. It's just Adam Curtis you send it to, right? Right, exactly. He's making a documentary about us. Okay, next question.

Hey, I was wondering what you guys are going to be wearing to the Cannes Film Festival when you guys go next year. I want the whole outfit plain. Thanks. This is beautiful. And I definitely have thought about this before this question and this mailbag on my own. Fire away. But, you know, I don't know answers. It's also an interesting time to get dressed in the world, right?

We haven't been going out as much and as you said like sort of re-emerging out more plus i'm coming back from leave i'm a new mother so like what does my mom look you know oh interesting have you been thinking about redefining no but there's some like practicality issues and obviously like my body has changed tremendously so and like the last nine months I was just, you know, wearing large t-shirts, um, or not even that sometimes. Cause they, at some point they couldn't contain them. I got, you know, the, um, that's on trend though. So you're in good hands. That is true. You know, the, the phone photo where it serves you pictures

of yourself. It's really nice. Cause mostly now it serves me photos of, of Knox. And I remember when, but this morning I got a picture of me eight months pregnant. And just like, holy shit. You guys were all very nice. So just like being like, that's normal. You looked good. It was fine. I was really pregnant.

Were you? I honestly don't even. Yeah, I know. Mostly you saw me on Zoom. So it was okay. Okay. I saw you in person. It was fine.

It just really hurt my back. Anyway. Anyway. Getting dressed already. a lot of questions. You throw can in, do they still have the high heels rule? You're just saying getting dressed every day, there's a lot of questions? uniform as well but i i like clothes i like to think about what's going on anyway does can still have the high heels um requirement and is it required for press screenings let's have uh thierry from oh the director can join us thierry that that's a real thing bob were you not able to secure his time no sorry sorry you guys aren't't up on the vaguely sexist dress code regulations of the Cannes Film Festival. French people got to be French still.

I don't typically wear high heels. No one asked, but I have thought about kind of what I would do in terms of shoes. And because you got to start with the shoes. And I guess I went on, right? You also can't wear jeans at the Cannes Film Festival. this is a movie podcast someone asked the question um I I don't know any of the answers about the dress code at Cannes I would dress up I would use it as an opportunity to to bring some new statement pieces you know because where else are you I don't get invited that many weddings though I do have a couple next year so I could buy the dress for the film festival,

then repurpose it for the wedding. This is great. I'm going to go on the real real. I'm going to save some, you know, do some Marnie saves. But that's just the, why are you looking at me like this? That's just like the actual film festival. I've thought a lot about like beach coverups, you know, and sort of swimsuit appropriate for like a i'm going swimming we're by the mediterranean did you like suffer a head injury when i went to the bathroom what's going on why settle down why is everyone so blocked on this but me like i see the whole board we are fucking going to the Mediterranean. I'm with you, Amanda. Spotify's dime. I'm with you.

We're going to Cannes. We're going to Venice. I, I, honest to God, I know this is crazy, but I recently Googled who owns like the cap, like St. Ferrat, the hotel Eden Rock. Okay. Like what hotel chain owns that hotel and like how points and weather points could be applied.

Are you drunk what is going on you just let your energy completely shifted as soon as this topic came up i just want to go to europe oh my god no one's stopping you god damn it uh i'm just like this is an opportunity i'm trying to help you have fun too sure live. And live your best life. This sounds like a lot of fun for me. I'll be wearing a tuxedo. Okay. Well, great. There we go.

And therein lies all of the, you know, structural inequalities available to us. Why don't you wear a tuxedo? I could. Do you think that's my look? I think you could pull it off. That's nice of you.

Sean and I are going to be like the guys at the end of Inglourious Bastards. We're just faking Italian accents even though we're in France. Gourlami. Wearing tuxedos.

Every time I see a tuxedo or a suit, this is a thing that happens to me often because I'm 26 and I work at a place that doesn't have a dress code, really. But every time I see a suit, I'm like, you know what? It'd be cool if I just had to wear a suit every day. I think I would look great in a suit. I was that guy for a while. But I know I would hate it in the actual lived experience of it. But I just have suits and I just never wear them anywhere. I think that suits are in some ways more comfortable than whatever my uniform has become. But that's not really an interesting conversation.

I don't really think that's true when you wear it. What are our journalistic ethics in terms of getting things sponsored? What does that mean? Like, I'm back to hotels. Uh-huh. Why are you looking at me like this? Because your brain started leaking out of your ears like three minutes ago. And I'm trying to figure out what happened.

We're going to be by the sea, you know, and there are cliffs and striped umbrellas and cocktails in various shades of pink and red and then we can see films and then we can you know have a nice summer what what are you talking about like why are you what are you asking can we be sponsored by a hotel yeah in france well it would need to be a hotel chain, but, you know, they're all international at this point. And then we can,

you know, talk about it. I mean, I guess anything is possible. Okay. I'm just saying. But we have a whole coterie of people who work on this

sort of thing here at The Ringer. Yeah. So let's, you know, let's get sponsored for Cannes. Okay. Okay.

I don't understand why, like, you're dreaming big is owning every single Blu-ray and then, like, sitting in your, you in your Howard Hughes room with all of them. And my idea of dreaming big is having you on the European vacation and living large. I just don't get it. I'm not responding to your idea.

I'm responding to your energy. Okay, sorry. Which has changed as i said i have been in a room with a small person and online for a very long time and i just i had some time to think through some options it's our next question bobby hi big pic this is greg from dc love the. Can't wait for 500 more. I have a question. What's something that commonly happens in movies that you're not entirely sure actually exists in real life? My examples are when cops commandeer citizens' vehicles in a car chase. I'm not sure if that's actually a thing. And also, I also don't understand when people cut in during a dance. Like if two people are at a dance and another person cuts in to finish a dance, like is that a thing? I would tell that person to fuck off if that happened.

But anyways, thanks. Love the pie. Bye. Have you ever cut in? No, I don't think so. I think actually cutting in was real. And then a generation of disaffected people started seeing movies in which people cut in and were like, that's weird. And then stopped doing it. What do you think?

Well, the dance culture was very different also. Dance culture? Yes. What are you talking about? What do you know about dance culture? Well, I mean mean even think about the movies that we watched in the 30s and 40s like you know people like dance top hat together well i'm sure but you know like i'm thinking of ingrid bergman and humphrey bogart like dancing

in casablanca you know that you would go to a place like Rick's and then there is like, you know, people do the Foxtrot or whatever the hell, you know, like people knew dance. Well, they did. I didn't invent it. Why are you looking at me? Like I made up all the names of the dances. This is one of my favorite podcasts in a long time. You're losing your mind. He's talking about the Foxtrot. But like even before that, if you want to talk about dance culture you know it used to be that there were like dance cards and you would arrange this is a big plot point in all jane austen novels which is why i know it and so you would like arrange to dance with people and so like who you agreed to dance with and then dancing

someone else interrupting that was like more organized and thus happened more. But now we don't really have that level of organization in our dance culture. So it doesn't happen. He's right. It's an interesting observation. The commandeering vehicles observation, there's actually a joke in a movie that was made 30 years ago called So I Married an Axe Murderer, the Mike Myers movie, in which Anthony LaPaglia's police officer attempts to commandeer a vehicle

that is being driven by Charles Grodin. And Charles Grodin's reaction to LaPaglia's police officer attempts to commandeer a vehicle that is being driven by Charles Grodin. And Charles Grodin's reaction to LaPaglia's request is probably the hardest I've ever laughed in a movie. And it's also my personality. And that joke underlined the fact that whenever people try to do this in movies, it seems absurd. And your reaction should just be, no. Like, you're not commandeering my vehicle. I know you don't have the right to do that so no you can't have my car uh to go on a high speed chase but there are there can you know where my mind went when i when i thought about this question

where people who hate each other falling in love that's why why do you do this like that's a romantic comedy that's what that's what i'm saying like that's and i think that that's a fundamental block for me with the genre where i'm like but it's not a bunch block for you because you love all 30s and 40s screwball comedies which is two people opposed until the very end that's the formula something changed though in the 90s i feel like where it became like there was like more hostility between the people that who had to like

learn to love each other over time. And it starts with When Harry Met Sally where it's like the sense of humor is a little bit more caustic. And then it becomes fully like

actually the person you love is your arch enemy. You know like that's the you've got mail concept. You know it's like it's actually the person is catfishing you and there are huge ethics problems in that film but you know what i'm saying like they had to make it kind of like more and more divergent

over time and that seems unreasonable to me that a person that in real life if you're corresponding with you know via aim or even someone who you met like in the workplace that you found loathsome would come to be your life partner like his girl friday these are two people who like fell in love we think on like honest terms when they were a little more younger and more innocent and then they find each other after they've been divorced and reunite that always made more sense to me than something like here is the owner of a book chain who is destroying small bookstores. And here is a small bookstore owner who loathes this man. But also, they're so cute together. Again, you've got mail.

If it's not Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and Maura Efron's wonderful, sparkling New York and repartee. A lot of questions. I'm with you on that. And you're singling out my favorite movie and identifying that it doesn't really work. But you're not wrong. What's funny, though, is that the remar comedy is like obviously a staple of early Hollywood. Like that makes no sense. And never like in real life, when you hear that some people got divorced and then they got remarried, you aren't like, Oh, what a like charming, you know, Hollywood love story for the ages. You're just're just like wow seems like something weird's going on there oh so you that's a great point and you really zagged on my zig i like what

i like what you're saying and i think you're actually right yeah that if if if i got divorced yeah my wife and i would like never speak again because that's just how our personalities are right so the idea of being like actually eight, eight years later, we're back together. Right. And if you guys did get back together, I don't think everyone would be like, oh, like what a romantic, you know, they were meant to be love story.

Would you come to the wedding? Yeah, I will go to any wedding, as you know. Like all I want to do, like I said, I'm going to invest in some dresses, past apps, a good wedding DJ.

Just hit me up. I'm available. Bobby, did you have an example of something that happens in movies that you don't think exists in real life? This is more TV than movies. But the thing that came to mind when I saw this question was just the way that people like text on screen being like one letter period, you know, like that, like for young people, there's no chance in hell that I am

capitalizing every letter, writing out a full sentence and responding to that, to someone that I actually like. Yeah, and punctuation. Yeah, exactly. Like we need quality control on that exactly. I don't know why everything else in the entire movie or TV set needs to be period accurate, but then they have Gen Z people being like, okay, in caps, period. Like that's not how people talk. TV set needs to be period accurate but then they have Gen Z people being like O K in caps

period like that's not how people talk it's a good take there's a very very accurate I felt

text exchange happening in the film Tar that is central to the story that hopefully dispels some of your concerns there should we do

two more yeah we can't get out of here without playing this voicemail okay yo cr i'm waiting outside the walmart i'm looking for the adderall and i know you said you could sell me the instant release but I actually want to do the extended release because I can chop it up and then snort it. Yeah, just hit me up, man. I'm waiting for you. I got 50

bucks. Thanks. Bye. So what this call reveals is that the CR me, the CR heads are crazed drug addicts who are literally procuring their drugs from Chris Ryan. Is that right? Outside Walmart. Yes. Is that accurate, Bobby?

Is that what we've learned? That's exactly right. It's all been all 500 episodes. Yeah. That makes it art. It's beautiful. The vaguely Philadelphia,adelphia mid-atlantic accent of it too was a nice touch all 500 episodes building towards that exact voicemail

uh the real final voicemail that i wanted to play uh is this one wags dobs fens marco from alany. First time, long time. My question is, what can we, the fans, expect from your next 500 episodes? I hope there are at least that many. Go Jets. End transmission. Go Jets. Oh, boy.

Yes, indeed. Well, let me quickly say, Marco from Albany being a Jets fan and not a Bills fan, my heart goes out to you, brother. Even I know that's a choice. That's, wow. That's extraordinary. We're on the verge of yet another New York Jets season. I don't know if I've ever felt worse, even though things seemingly were going well.

I feel like absolute garbage about the team. Okay. It's not fun. 500 more episodes. Will we get there? They're going fast. team. Okay. It's not fun. 500 more episodes. Will we get there? They're going fast. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, the 400 to 500, as you pointed out, that was pretty quick. That was quick. I mean, you know, two a week over... I can't do that right now. It's like one year. Two a week,

52 weeks in a year. Sometimes we take a week off for Christmas or whatever. Another 500 episodes in a year? No, no. Okay. It would be 500 per year. It would be 500 per year.

Oh, it would be five years. Okay, all right. So, 2027, I'm 45 years old. Jesus. I'm putting my child into third grade and we're recording

the 1,000th episode of this show. Alice is going to be in third grade in five years? Well, she's one. She's not going to be in third grade.

No, she'll be in second grade. Okay. First grade, second grade okay first grade second grade first or second grade depending on what you do with the summer birthday which you and I both know very well

yeah whatever you do will be the right decision we'll confer off Mike I want your advice I don't know I guess we're going to redraft 2010

that's so one that's one that's one I need 499 more I mean I think it's i think it's legitimately plausible that the movie industry like radically changes in that period of time and then the purpose of this show radically changes i do think that that's plausible of course um it's radically

changed in the time that we've been doing it has it has uh in part i'd love to know how much it would have changed if not for the pandemic. Obviously, I didn't want the pandemic to happen regardless, but some of the things that were happening in that kind of crest moment we felt like we were in

in 2019, it almost felt like the house had to come apart anyway. Yeah. So, it'll be interesting to see what happens in every second.

I've already asked you to do an Andor pod here on this conversation even though that's not a movie. Someone else wrote an email and then asked what is the white whale pod that you'd like to do? uh they suggested a deniro hall of fame with scorsese a top gun commentary pod with cruise which i don't think that i could even be a part of like

i think that i would actually i don't think i could be a part of a movie draft with steve cohen was suggested this was from i'd like to do a movie draft with ben Affleck. That's a good one. I turn 40. Sean got Quentin Tarantino for his 40th birthday. I turn 40 many years from now. And I'd like to do a movie draft with Ben Affleck. I think it's not out of the question. Okay. Well, now I have to emotionally prepare for that. I think it's not out of the question.

He's a Leo. I'm a Leo. You're a Leo. The thing is, he loves movies. He's a real movie fan. The reason that I want a leo the thing is he loves movies he's a real movie fan the reason that i want to do it in addition to some aforementioned motivations is that when he podcasted with he did a great podcast with bill recently and he talked about how he has always wanted to do fantasy drafts for actors and he basically described a different

version of the movie draft and so like benleck, please come on the big picture. You can pick the year. If that can be one of the next 500, I think that'd be wonderful. I'm not going to hold my breath for it, but we can try. Okay. We can certainly try. Rango, Watch Along. I actually want to get...

The Watch Alongs are very controversial, those episodes. I didn't mention any of those, even though I do think the Justice League is some of the best potting we've ever done by far. Like that is a really, really funny podcast in my opinion. Like I remember Free Guy. Yeah, that's one's more sad to me. You were so pregnant. I was so pregnant.

I was on my pillow. But I want to put together like, and maybe David can help us with this. Like I want to put 10 movies together and say like people should vote on what movie they would want for a watch-along. because i don't want to do one only for a movie that we hate or only for a movie that we really love i want it to be something that is like a unique watching along experience that can be informative that can be completely weird and derail

conversations and be funny i just don't i actually don't in my head know how to do that the same way i feel like i know how to do the movie draft thing where i'm like i know how to make this interesting right so we've done more movie drafts we have we found our voice we have throughout I don't we we can confirm maybe the four of us can confirm put together a longer list of potential watch alongs um so sure there'll be more watch alongs more drafts more movies probably more tv painfully um and then of course politics is something we'll be expanding into in 2023. Which I'm really, really excited about. And I can fully adopt my dark Brandon mentality.

Right. I'll be in Europe. I will reveal to everybody that I actually am Adam Curtis. It's an impressive filmography you have given your age Bobby yeah exactly I've been at it for a long time well that's why I have so much gray I'm actually much older

than I've alluded to that's a good point yeah you're 68 hey what a what a gift yeah what a gift to make something

together that is a lot of fun to do that I think is expressing something very personal and very passionate very artistic about ourselves despite being the scientist of this podcast I'm very grateful for all the calls we got,

for all the people who listen. I can't believe how young people are who listen to this show. That's quite confusing, honestly, but nice. I'm excited for them. Yeah. Yeah. They have a lot in front of them. Not like us, desiccated, abandoning our morals. What else? any closing thoughts thank you as you said to echo and thank you

to everyone who listens and you know I feel the good wishes and the and the the companionship like goes both ways

so thank you very much Bobby thank you you've been here for what like at least 400 of these things yeah I just looked it up November of 2018

so I think about 400 of them. Since we started going twice a week and since Amanda came on as co-host. That was right around the same time. My first episode

was a Netflix conversation about is Netflix going to change the awards race? So it feels appropriate that we're still here. Lol, that went way to end. With Outlaw King.

That was my first episode. Outlaw King. I'm pleased to announce this has been the last episode of The Big Picture. Turns out we've had every conversation a hundred times over.

Seriously, thank you for listening. Thanks for being a part of this. And we'll see you next week. 501. you