The Big Picture - Our 2024 Movie Resolutions, ‘Anyone but You,’ and ‘The Color Purple’

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Sean and Amanda give some box office thoughts from the last couple weeks, before honing in on two films in theaters right now: Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s sex comedy ‘Anyone but You’ (15:00) and the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel ‘The Color Purple’ (49:00). They close by each sharing three New Year’s movie resolutions that relate to the show (1:04:00). RSVP for a chance to attend The Big Picture’s OPPENHEIMER screening at the IMAX campus in L.A. here: uni.pictures/oppenheimerbigpictureevent Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Galaxy lights, Coachella, lightning bolt necklaces. 2023 was the year of Scandival. On March 3rd, one cheating scandal launched a reality TV investigation that generated hundreds of conspiracy theories, thousands of podcast episodes, and millions of dollars in revenue. I'm Jodi Walker, host of An American Scandival. One retrospective story told in three salacious parts. Listen December 26th on the Ringer Reality Feed. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings.

Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit Superstore.ca to get started. I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about a new year and new movies. But first, a very special announcement for fans of the show in Los Angeles. Let's watch Oppenheimer again in 70mm IMAX in Los Angeles with some of the filmmakers.

You can register for a chance to join me on Saturday, January 13th. The Big Picture will be live from the IMAX campus and joined by the below-the-line filmmakers, cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, editor Jennifer Lame, and composer Ludwig Göransson for a screening of Oppenheimer, followed by a panel discussion

with a little small reception. Maybe you can say hi to me. Space is extremely limited, so you can register for a chance to attend at uni.pictures slash Oppenheimer Big Picture Event to express your interest. They'll email a select number of registrants to confirm their attendance. Again, the Big Picture will be live at the IMAX campus in Los Angeles

on Saturday, January 13th at 5 p.m. for an Oppenheimer screening, filmmaker panel, and reception. Register for a chance to attend at uni.picture

slash Oppenheimer Big Picture event. Hope to see some of you there. Okay, Amanda. Technically, it's only been four days since an episode of the show was posted.

Yeah, sure. But it's been a long time since we recorded. You and I, we've spent a good amount of time together in those 12 or 13 days since we recorded. Do you want to share any details of our travels? Well, we met some animals, some real and some plaster. I would say, what was your favorite animal that you saw during our adventures in the desert?

I mean, just some extraordinary giraffes. Some of the finest giraffes I've ever seen. Those were really, really good giraffes because they were socialized. I mean, maybe they're really unhappy in their own lives, but they were very friendly. That's a really good collaboration with Werner Herzog for you is the internal lives of giraffes. I think that's something you should explore. I did this. We went to the Living Desert.

In Palm Springs, California. It's actually in Palm Desert, California. We drove a bit. We drove through the sites of the Coachella Valley and they,

I did think that the Living Desert like integrated with the environment, you know, the natural environment in a way that it looked like the animals

were happier. Yeah. There was a replication of a savanna that a rhino might be roaming through. Unfortunately, that savanna was not its native Africa. Right. It was California, nevertheless. Yeah.

The rhino was not really roaming. The rhino was just like hiding under the bridge. Fleeing, I think, is really more. No, he's stationary. He's given up. Do you think when people are listening to this, they think that just me and you together just drove out to Palm Desert to check out the living desert in Palm Desert? No, we took our children and our families.

That was lovely. But not everything was lovely over the break. We lost the incredible actor Tom Wilkinson. See, this is what I do. I know. Just take it all in. We're back. We're fully back.

It's like I did have a break from podcasting, but I did not have a break from you. And still, that segue was just really, okay, we're easing back in. We're not. We're shooting right back into the news. We didn't talk about this because you were fucking golfing while this happened. You were golfing. Oh, my God. No, can we talk about that morning for a minute before we get to the genuinely sad news that I'd like to spend some time on. While you were golfing, I hosted the first episode of JMO Live

at the Palm Springs Air Museum, which is a place that you can go where, so the draw, and I have to to say this they deliver on there are just a lot of planes that you can walk right up to historical planes planes um that have carried bombs for the u.s government over many decades to many other parts of the world and that's sort of the point of view of the museum and but but if you're a small child, you can be like, ooh, Snoopy's flying that plane. They did have a stuffed Snoopy in one of the planes. That was the real highlight for my son. So that was cool. This is how we indoctrinate the

youth into our military industrial complex. There were just a tremendous number of retirees trying to tell you about World War II, you know? And then a lot of planes and a lot of, I would say, selective history and friendly people. And then there was like a small section for children right next to the Victory Canteen, which is what they call the cafe. I'm not even kidding. And there was like one sort of fighter jet cockpit

that a small child could get in. And so Knox took a bunch of Top Gun-esque photos. And that was my morning. And so that was an amazing thing that I did while you and my husband went and played golf. Yeah, it was a weird choice for you and my wife to go to the airplane museum while we were not there. We did everything else together.

Everything else across the entire week we did together. But that was the one event. Well, it was like the closest attraction. And it was like a place where, I mean, my son loves airplanes. Again, all transportation, all infrastructure, call 1-800-NOX for all your needs. And then it was nearby and it was a place, it was like open. So he could run and he could see planes.

And we had a lot of things over the break where planes were mentioned. And then my son found out he wasn't immediately going to the airport to see a plane and he started weeping. So in that sense, it was positive. You righted or wrong i was like i even before we went i was like i'm nervous about the military and historical uh aspects of this world war ii the greatest generation they did incredible work what are we talking about here yeah are we are we negging the world war ii victory i'm not i'm not thousands gave their lives sure all right all right chill out Oppenheimer um yeah there were

some dioramas that I had some questions about but um and I didn't make it to the literal war on terror hangar which was a thing that happened yeah I curated that myself yeah so I can tell you a little bit more about it so future jammo events we have uh we have a location. That's exciting. It really is. We can do photo ops. I got plenty of photos of my daughter in a fighter pilot. Yeah, she waited in a line actually for one.

Truly remarkable. She seemed delighted. But you're right. While you were doing that and I was golfing, we got news that Tom Wilkinson passed away, which is really sad.

Not an actor that we've had reason to talk about too much in the last few years on the show, but certainly one of my favorite actors. Probably best known and loved for his work in Michael Clayton as a mentally unwell but brilliant lawyer who has sort of gone off the deep end in an effort to win a very complicated case against the Monsanto-esque agribusiness while also falling in love with a key witness in the case. It's weird. In the last three or four years, Tom Wilkinson holding the 100 baguettes has become a meme,

which I think on the one hand is great because more people are just seeing and learning about Michael Clayton. On the other hand, I think it kind of like diminishes or minimizes the like profundity of that scene and that performance. And, you know, it's like it's memes are great. I'm not, you know, I'm not down on memes or anything. But it really is one of the great acting performances, movie acting performances of the 21st century. He is astonishing as the like the mania alongside Michael's like tight interiority. And, you know, he's been in many other films, of course, in the bedroom is probably where most Americans really became aware

of him as Sissy Spacek's husband, parents to a boy who was murdered, a young man who was murdered, I should say. Todd Field's first movie. What are the Tom Wilkinson performances that jump out to you? Anything beyond those two major ones? He's a Tony Gilroy stalwart. So I thought of duplicity. I thought immediately, which is my number one, we need to, if we could just redo it with literally everybody in the exact same thing, we'll just tweak a couple of the problems. So that one sticks out to me. I don't know. Sense and Sensibility, he's also a supporting but an essential character, an important character in the very beginning of the film. Then he dies, but his death sets off the events of the movie. And he's very good. And he's kind of like not well paired, but in opposition to Harriet Walters is a performance as like what people,

you know, what family can be or wants for its other members of the family. But so he's like very lovely in that movie um but i don't know you know i saw the news and i thought i am sure the god of death like that scene forever is not just because of the meme and because of like the neat visual of a man with like a tremendous amount of baguettes um but for the not everyone can do the Tony Gilroy dialogue, um, and, and emotion in the way that he was able to interpret it and make it like human, um, as well as like incredibly talky and highfalutin. So it's very sad. Yeah.

He's made appearances in a lot of pretty significant movies in the last few, last 25 years. You know, Full Monty, he was in Shakespeare in Love. was in, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he was in. He plays Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins. He was a stalwart of a number of different big-time filmmakers. You know, often in a supporting role, but often a fascinating figure. I think Arthur just saying, Michael, I have great affection for you and you live a very rich and interesting life, but you're a bag man, you're not an attorney. That is the moment for me that I will remember him for.

Just a terrific actor. What happened at the box office? This is kind of weird because Christmas is usually a boom time. Last year, Christmas was dominated by Avatar The Way of Water. Do you remember that film? Yeah. That movie made $2.35 billion at the box office. I think it's the fourth highest grossing movie of all time.

Does anyone remember that? That was one year ago when the fourth biggest movie of all time was released. I mean, you know, everyone, all the Avatar heads had their moments. They left the message board they were like this has been in it like a rich you know subculture that we have been tending to for 15 years and we were all like yeah good job it's this is these are good these are cool movies and then we all left the theater and moved on with our lives but they did not yeah they're holding tight to pandora okay um this year i guess the big hit is Wonka. Wonka has done incredibly well,

especially overseas. It has now earned $400 million worldwide. It's pretty darn good. It is IP, but you know, it's a musical with a quasi-proven movie star and I feel like we are now, it is confirmed. Chalamet? Chalamet is confirmed.

Like it is, he is a global movie star. He was also photographed at the Kardashian-Jenner Christmas Eve party with Kylie. Unintentionally. He was, like, in the background. Do you think that was a fun party? So, I was wondering about it in terms of, it's like a full, like, full glam get-lit Christmas Eve party. So, more of a photo op, ultimately, than an actual party, then? like full glam get lit Christmas Eve party. So more, more of a photo op ultimately than an actual party then.

Well, they didn't actually pose though. This was like a, some action shot. Yeah. They were detected. What were they doing? No,

they were like standing next to a Christmas tree and like full glam. No, they were just kind of like, it looked like they were talking to each other. Right. Um, but it's like, no, it's like a full, like, you're going out, going out party. Which seems like a lot on Christmas Eve, especially when Christmas is on a Monday and thus the Saturday night, the 23rd, is right there for you.

Like, prime, you know, go out and then you have your cozy, like, Christmas Eve. But you think they hit the club on Christmas Eve? Like, the party itself is, like, basically a club. Like, that is what's going on. Yeah, that's what it was like at my house, too. And that's, like, a little bit the Kardashian aesthetic, you know, and, like, that's what they're trying to do. But everyone's just, like, you know,

like, full makeup and, like, fur coats in coats in like Calabasas on Christmas Eve. That seems like a lot of work. It does. I hope Tim and Kylie are doing well. You know, I want great films for Tim. That's really all I care about. And Wonka, to me, not a great film, but many people disagree and they're going to see that film. You know, I was originally planning to do a solo episode of the pod about aquaman in the

lost kingdom and also about rebel moon part one of the zach snyder star wars meets seven samurai what did you do with that ticket you had a solo ticket to aqua no to rebel moon i had a solo ticket to rebel moon at the egyptian on the 15th but uh i was summoned to record uh the christmas vacation rewatch right so i that ticket just burned. Oh, that's sad. Netflix has my money, and it was never used. So I watched that movie on the Netflix streaming service, and it was quite poor. Oh, I'm sorry.

Really not good. And I think it would be fun to zag on Snyder after everyone else, after we basically stopped caring. But it was very, very bad. Very boring. Did not look very good. He's got to stop being his own cinematographer. This is a weird thing. It's like you're not Steven but it was very, very bad. Very boring. Did not look very good. He's got to stop being his own cinematographer.

This is a weird thing. It's like, you're not Steven Soderbergh, my guy. Like you got to let somebody else do the work. Let somebody else write the script. You definitely have an eye. You have some visual flair, but right now that's about all he has. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,

I'll tell you very quickly. It bombed, quote unquote, but it didn't really bomb relative to like where superhero movies were in the last six or seven months. It's already basically bigger than the Marvels and bigger than Blue Beetle and is probably going to be as bigger, maybe bigger than The Flash even. So the first movie made a billion dollars. The first movie is really fun.

It's James Wan. James Wan is just a better director than most of the people who have been making superhero movies the last couple of years. It's clearly hacked to bits. But the whole movie is just, it's kind of Aquaman and Patrick Wilson doing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Like running from place to place, going on adventures. Are they running or swimming? A bit of both. Oh, interesting.

Yeah, there's some biped action. What is Aquaman's like oxygen delivery system on ground? I don't have the science on that, but I will consult with Fauci and see what he says. I mean, is it just like, can he? Yes, he is both. He's ambi, like, what would the term be? Respiratory? Ambi-respiratory?

Sure. Okay, cool. What about Patrick Olsen? Same. They're brothers in the film. Oh, that's nice. Do you see the resemblance? What has Patrick Wilson been up to since the first film?

Well, he was tried and imprisoned for his crimes against the aquatic kingdom of Atlantis. Okay. What were those crimes? Just like, I think, seizing too much power. Okay. And attempting to create a kind of nuclear showdown with his kind of fellow seafarers. So failed treason? Effectively, yeah.

Okay. Do you know what his character's name is? No. Orm? Oh. O-R-M? No wonder he wanted to rebel. You know, I love the Mid to rebel. I, you know,

I love the Midnight Boys. I love to listen to their podcast. I don't know what they were talking about with this movie. They were like, this is the worst movie ever, dude. I'm like, you guys, come on. Like, the Marvels just came out,

you know, like, there are much worse movies in this movie. I thought it was fine. We're not doing an episode about it for obvious reasons. It's just, it's not that bad, but it's also not good.

And it's the last movie in the quote-unquote DCEU. James Gunn is now taking over. All future DC films will be under his creative stewardship. Does Patrick Wilson sing in Aquaman 2? He doesn't sing, but he's great. I mean, he's wonderful. Like that wasn't like a, that was let Patrick Wilson cook.

Yeah, the movie is like a reverse Shawshank Redemption in some ways too, where it's like it starts out and he's in prison and then he gets broken out and then he goes off on great adventures. I don't know, it's okay. Number three is a movie we're going to spend some time talking about today, which is The Color Purple, which is really the Christmas champion. On Christmas Day, this was the biggest movie of the year. $55 million in less than a week for the movie.

This is, of course, a musical adaptation of Alice Walker's novel, which was also adapted as a movie in 1985 by Steven Spielberg. You know, black audiences, I think, represented like north of 60% of this film's movie-going audience on Christmas Day. It was like $18 million on Christmas Day alone. Yes. So, you know, the target audience for the film really showed up. As usual, projections are always off on this thing because people always underestimate the black audiences. They showed up for the film really showed up. As usual, projections are always off on this thing because people always underestimate the black audiences. They showed up for the film.

Huge week for Warner Brothers in general. The last three films we've just talked about are all Warner Brothers movies, which is kind of fascinating that they bunched together. Three big movies like this, though I guess technically in three mostly different quadrants, a kid's movie, a kind of like fantasy movie for teenagers, and an adult musical.

I wonder if you like group the marketing costs, you know, whether there's some sort of... I feel like it's just more exhausting. You got more people working around the clock to push out three huge releases like that at the same time. No, I agree. But, you know, but maybe they're not, maybe they're asked to multitask across like three. Well, that would suck for them. That really sucks for them. Yeah.

Especially this time of year. And they've done a great job this year. So I hope they get a vacation. They're, of course, also responsible for the Barbie machine. So WB had a big year. The Iron Claw, which we talked about last week on the show with Shoemaker and with Sean Durkin, the director, already a pretty big hit. It's made $18 million.

It's definitely going to cross $20 million. It's probably going to cross past lives and Priscilla's $20 million. A24 already had a huge year. Talk to Me came out over the summer. I mentioned last week on the show the new era of A24 likely coming.

Civil War will probably be the first gambit in the, I would say, slightly, and in some cases significantly bigger budget movies,

more mainstream movies that still have a kind of, I don't know, writer, director, auteur flair. People seem to like Iron Claw. There's a lot of annoying discourse about like what they got right and what they got wrong in the movie which again like i i find that so silly i know people have big emotional relationships to like

professional wrestlers and nuclear physicists but like i just everybody which we can relax right i mean can you just put a pin in that and then like bring it back? Okay, we'll bring it back. Yeah. Poor Things. Yeah. Poor Things made $11 million, only in 800 theaters. This has been the hardest movie to figure out how to cover on the show.

Because I can't figure out when they're going to open it wide. I still kind of don't know, but we're just going to do the episode next week. Are you okay with that? I'm ready. I'll see it again. Okay. I really need people to stop yelling at us.

We're going to cover it. I promise. We're going to cover it. We both really like it and we're going to cover it. Don't worry. We saw it many months ago. It's not on us.

Please direct your concerns to Bob Iger. Yeah, that's not ideal. Ferrari did kind of brick. Yeah. I don't know. You don't care? Well, it bricked, I guess, know. You don't care? Well,

it bricked, I guess, money-wise, but, you know, in the hearts of dads everywhere, it lives and thrives. The people who saw it were like,

yeah, Ferrari. So, isn't that what we're out here doing? It is. It is. I don't want to get too far into anyone but you.

Okay. Because we're going to get there very quickly when we start covering the film. Okay. But, it's doing well. It's doing well in an interesting way. And we'll talk about that. I saw it in a movie theater. Shout out the four other people at Atlanta Phipps Plaza at 1130 a.m. the day after Christmas. Was it Sidney Sweeney and her mom and dad and brother? No. Okay. The box office crossed $9 billion this year. That was really good. Yeah.

Like we were so back. But now, if you read all the pieces about 2024, they're like, you were back, but now we're so fucked because this year

is supposed to be so bad because of the strikes and the rollover and scheduling and yada, yada, yada. There's some interesting data that I read in a piece on Deadline

that I thought is worth sharing for the audience of this show that I think will actually be a note to influence how we're going to be doing this show this year. So there were 124 wide theatrical releases. That means movies that were released in a thousand plus theaters in 2023.

This year, right now, there are only 107 wide titles. So much of what we do on a regular basis is oriented around, as you love to say, let people see your movies. This year, there may not even be enough movies to fully flesh out. In fact, Deadline noted that there are six 2024 weekends

that are currently without wide entries. So January 26th, March 15th, May 31st, October 11th, December 6th, and I'm sure this will change, December 27th, don't have a this will change, December 27th. Don't have a movie attached to them as a release date. Again, I'm going to circle back to December 6th. We pointed out last time that December 1st and December 8th were so weak this past year, which was so confusing, which did create an opportunity for The Boy and the Heron and Godzilla Minus One to do great business, which was really cool and exciting. We didn't

really necessarily see those as big box office contenders but hollywood's got to get their shit together stop bunching nine movies on the same weekend and then leaving other weekends completely barren it's an idiotic strategy are you you're not concerned at all about the box office you don't care no i mean it's better when people go to the movies than when they don't, because then the number crunchers will agree to invest more in movies, which is good for us. And I'm sad to say that we still live in a world where we're beholden to people and their spreadsheets. But I don't know. I am nervous about the fact that I guess we'll have less to talk about, though. And we'll get to this later in the episode.

I think that that just means we need to kind of like rethink how we decide what we talk about. I don't know about you, but I just got so many texts from people in my life over the holidays being like, oh, I finally watched this. And oh, I finally watched that. And here's my take on this. And here's my take on this and here's my take on that. Now you know that is skewed because I'm friends with a bunch of middle-aged people

with small children who like can't leave their homes and so like they're finally like catching up once it's available on streaming and we would like Do you think of yourself as middle-aged?

No not yet though. Okay. I guess we're getting there though I don't know so I will be middle-aged if we put 80 as a cap on me and I like to think that I'm going past that. Okay. I guess we're getting there. Though, I don't know. So I will be middle-aged if we put 80 as a cap on me. And I like to think that I'm going past that.

Okay. I wish you will. You know. Do you think I'll still know you at 80? I'll be long gone. You'll be done. I'm going out at 58. Unless you start doing the Pilates like we discussed.

That's another episode entirely. Bob will be invited to that one for sure. There's just 31 releases, wide releases, through April 2024. Yeah. It's going to be an interesting first part of the year. Obviously, we cover the Oscars quite regularly and significantly through the first three months of the year. There's still a lot of movies. Drafts, auctions, etc.

Sure, and there are a lot of movies that came out last year. Poor Things, All of Us Strangers. Like, a lot of things that we haven't gotten to talk about that we can have some more room. I'm okay with it. I honestly would rather that than, like, just some true garbage. Okay. You know? Yeah.

Don't you feel like... I'm mixed on this because I think it's important... I like a good dumpuary movie. Uh-huh. I like a good Dumpuary movie. But then I was this morning just thinking about all of the time I've spent sitting in a theater watching the Dumpuary movies that were true Dumpuary movies. This is the work that we do, though. This is our service to the world. I do know that. I don't really do anything else.

I don't contribute anything else to the world, meaningfully, other than saying you should definitely go see The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham. This is my art. This is when Picasso paints, I tell go see The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham. This is my art. This is when Picasso paints, I tell people about The Beekeeper. Listen, I hear you on that. And I do that for all movies that got $10,000 more than they gave you at Hallmark. So that's my beat. But I don't know. I'm sure that it will feel empty.

Emptier, for sure. Emptier. But I bet we can find stuff. I agree with you. Let's talk about Anyone But You. Okay. So Anyone But You is the new, I think we thought, rom-com directed by Will Gluck from a script by Gluck and Alana Wolpert starring Sidney Sweeney and Glenn Powell as two classic meet-cute, could-be-couple, things quickly turn negative, and then they spend the entire film hating each other, just waiting to fall in love with each other. Very standard formula, very familiar.

You, of course, one of the great chroniclers of the rom-com. Thank you, yeah. Maybe the chronicler of your time. Oh, thank you. That's so kind. And I think my expectation was that this was going to be in the vein of not the classical, you know, sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally type,

but more in that like next wave, the sort of mid-period Julia Roberts into the kind of Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey era of rom-coms, which are fine. I don't like those as much as the classics, the classics I love. And I was surprised that that's not actually what this movie is, or at least it's only partially what it is.

That it is actually, like, more of a hard-R sex comedy. Okay. And, like, kind of raunchy. Well, but therein lies the problem, right? Okay. Because it's not raunchy, like, fully raunchy sex comedy. Mm-hmm. There is one sex scene.

Mm-hmm. You do see Sidney Sweeney's breast in silhouette. You see them. You see side boob you see side boob but you don't i mean there's listen i'll tell you what i've seen them before yeah sure you've seen them before also she just is they're tremendous that is like one of hollywood's great gifts right now and they are on display and in other ways throughout this movie they are filmed lovingly and i and i it would seem with her cooperation so most certainly she isn't a producer on this film so so i we just have to talk about them so you see it in like from the side but it's not like a full-on

sex scene the cutting is pretty short and the rest of the time there's like not sex pretty noticeably but the so the point is that like a sex comedy to me is not necessarily a movie in which sex happens it's a movie in which gratuitous nudity and lots of jokes about sex happen okay so well like american pie doesn't feature sex other than coitus right with a pie it but it features a nude shannon elizabeth right you know there's a guy shows his dick in this movie that's true you know coitus with a pie. But it features a nude Shannon Elizabeth. Right. You know, there's a guy shows his dick in this movie. That's true.

You know, another actress goes topless in this movie. That's true. For like half a second. Sure. But nevertheless, that's not something you would have seen.

I actually can't, I don't want to speak so like with too much, trying to attempt too much knowledge at the kind of like Cade Hudson era, but like the Drew Barrymore,

Adam Sandler movies, like those movies are not horror movies movies are not hard i mean you're right that there is more sex more nudity um in and more quote unquote raunchiness in this movie but because it's included i left being like it's it's very stuck in the middle to the point that i was like oh they tried to go for this but then they actually paired a lot of it back it's not that raunchy they're afraid they didn't go for it they're afraid like you mentioned that a raunchy comedy includes jokes about sex um i i wouldn't say there were a lot of jokes in this movie full stop, but they were, they tiptoed up to the sex jokes,

but like, it never really landed any of those. Like, the set pieces aren't really about sex. Yeah,

I think the set pieces are actually the best part of the movie. I agree. And they are more traditional romantic comedy. They are. So I'm just trying to figure out

what happened here. It is really neither fish nor fowl. Yeah. That is the issue. And then there is also this weird, like, Shakespeare, modern Shakespeare adaptation. And it's a riff sort of on Much Ado About Nothing, which is, you know, like a tradition in Hollywood that I enjoy. But pretty much manifests itself in random quotes from Much Ado About Nothing. Like being like wallpapered onto.

Almost as chapter titles. Yeah, it's very strange. So it's part that, which, and that would fall under the romantic comedy tradition. And like part sex comedy, but it like got lost between the two somewhere for me at least yeah i one i generally enjoyed the movie um yeah of course i enjoyed the movie let's let's be real i will go to a movie theater and watch all of these forever put attractive people on screen sparring in like a pretty decent set design as far as these and production design as far as these things go yeah the story which largely takes place at a a getaway wedding in australia

is filmed beautifully australia a place i've never been looks absolutely wonderful um an incredible setting for hot people this movie is entirely populated by hot people of varying generations including um a little mini reunion of my best friend's wedding uh cast members dermot moroni and rachel griffiths australian acting legend brian brown from cocktail and fx and a number of other movies makes an appearance here um some young and interesting actors alexandra ship uh Gata, Hadley Robinson. There's some cool people here. The vibe is fun. It's just a little janky. The movie is just a

little like, we needed one more pass at this or something. And that doesn't mean it's not a fun time. And I think actually what's happening is the movie is having success at the box office because these movies are missing. know that there's like your b minus c plus rom-com has just been so relegated to Netflix and Amazon right that people are like it's actually a lot of fun to just go to the movies and watch a movie like this but when they are put on netflix or amazon they are

pared back and so you don't get the set pieces that you get in this movie which include and as you noted which was totally spoiled by the trailer but the glenn powell totally naked trying to get a spider right um which is very very funny very funny. And I think would have been the funniest bit in the movie. And I think I thought would have been like a lot funnier had it not been in the trailer.

But that had shades more of like, like there's something about Mary kind of like laugh out loud, ribald moment. But I agree. It's like it's tough

because, you know, movies have to sell your movie on the best parts of the movie. And then there is an extended bit on a best parts of the movie. And then there is an extended bit on a boat in the Sydney Harbor involving the phrase

Titanic me. There is a helicopter rescue and then it like gets played back at the end. And I don't know whether that was actually filmed in the Sydney Harbor

or all of it anyway. I think so. I think a lot of it was. But, you know, there was like an actual helicopter there. There is something like larger than life about the, I thought, like very good rom-com bit that just gets cut from Netflix budgets and streaming budgets. Absolutely. So let's just make the right, well, two things. One, Natasha Bedingfield. streaming budget absolutely so let's just make the right well what two things one natasha beddingfield um her song unwritten plays a pretty significant role in this film um i listened to you

over the course of five days sing this song at least 10 times in front of our children uh they were well i like i was really trying to sell them on it and they it's like they never started started crying but it was like really blank stares and i was really like building to the crescendo you know like alice has a gift for blank stares so that's true but i you know this was a huge weekend for you and i really connected and like and and we've channeled our love for performance, you know? You did. Alice did not get interested in Unwritten because she was in a ballerina phase. Right. And we only wanted to listen to Tchaikovsky. Sure.

So that's, you know, it happens. It happens. But, you know, that's my child. You know, she's a sophisticated kid. What can I say? And Knox is just like, no. And like, where's my truck? We were playing with trucks.

Yeah. And you guys were doing ballerina dances. Okay. Let's spend the rest of the time talking about Glenn Powell and Sidney Sweeney. So Glenn Powell is the man. Glenn Powell is awesome in this movie. He remains like the most promising person to have come out in the last 10 years where I'm like, we can just entrust him with any kind of a movie.

He can do like smart, fratty boy comedy. He can do action movie. He can do romantic lead. He can do like smart fratty boy comedy. He can do action movie. He can do romantic lead. He can do chippy sex comedy lead. He can do, he can pretty much do anything. I haven't seen Hitman, the forthcoming Richard Linklater movie, but everybody that I've talked to has said it is an A, A plus movie. So very, very excited for that next year. We'll talk about our most anticipated later this week.

But. Hardest working guy in showbiz. It's just also another description of this movie, which I enjoyed, could be like everyone but Glenn Powell is asleep. But he is, he's awake and God bless him. He does not give up. He's really, really trying to sell this okay story. Sidney Sweeney, as you noted, a remarkable special effect.

Incredible to observe and it's kind of a hallmark of a certain kind of movie star. Marilyn Monroe for many years, gifted comedian and singer though she was, was a special effect in movies for a long time. Sidney Sweeney just can't act yet or at least can't act in this kind of tone. I think she's a comedian. She's not a comedian she is not a comedian in the context of i feel this underwritten script especially when it comes to jokes like they're just there just aren't that many jokes there's just a delivery problem yeah it just feels like she's just read the line for the first time before being filmed and it's inescapable.

Like, the words are almost not properly coming out of her mouth. But it's more. It's not all her fault. Because there's one very funny physical comedy bit that she does at the meet queue where she gets water on her jeans and then is like trying to dry it with the hand dryer, which I have literally been there and done that. And that is a great opening bit. And she's very funny in it. But that's a heavily edited physical comedy set piece.

Right. Everything else about this character that she's asked to play is so broad as to be undefined. Right. She's not a real person. And also somehow unbelievable because we're meant to look at this incredibly put together, beautiful young woman who is lost and doesn't know

what she wants to do with her life and doesn't know how to talk to men. And I'm just like, I'm really sorry, but I will suspend disbelief for many things, but not at like Sydney Sweeney being like a law student who isn't really sure whether she wants to continue being a law student and like maybe she's not in the right relationship

and she's just such a mess. She doesn't know how to talk to a boy. It's hard to pick roles when you are, when you're she's a sex symbol you know what i mean and that especially in the 21st century as a sex symbol it's hard to pick parts um it's hard to just only like she's not going to just be objectified like it's we're in a different time in hollywood she's obviously taking a creative lead role in this movie right and i think she's actually a good actor under the right circumstances especially in the second season of euphoria which i don't need you to watch that right no her character is kind of going through this like mega emotional meltdown and it's pitched in

this almost like douglas cirque style dramatic fashion not all of the show has that tone but her character cassie has that tone And so she's frequently kind of melting down and freaking out and has like, you know, makeup streaked tears on her face and, you know, is trying to like woo a man, but also reject him at the same time. And she's really, really good in a part like that. And she's not just playing like the sex kitten like she was in season one. So she, it's not that she's like not talented. I think she is a talented actor, but she's not right for movies like this, at least not right now.

Because part of it is what you're saying, like you just don't really believe her as like Sandra Bullock, like bumbling gal in the city. But also she just can't do comic delivery. Like it's a skill, it's a talent. And right now she doesn't have it. This also, just as for Sidney Sweeney,

because here's the thing, like I blame the script because here's the thing i like i blame the script because it's preposterous to think that these two people are just like hanging out in his like serial killer banker apartment and don't fuck literally an oversized right and then she like and then she leaves and then just like stands in the wind like in the doorway as he you know she's saving herself like but if they went for full like raunch and full sex comedy i honestly would have been a wild gratuitous two-minute sex scene but she could also i think that that she could play with more and be funnier and it would make more sense like her reaction to then

well they need to rewrite the whole i like i just left and like had a one-sided phone conversation and then i went back into it i felt like that was a real hallmark of all these movies where there's like a weird misunderstanding by coincidence and then that triggers a plot of every movie like this. That's fine, but the misunderstanding has to be sensical. And this was not sensical. This was just pure chess pieces,

which they then literally crystallized. They have her do weird chess piece with a giant chess set. I'm like, this is so corny. I did like

the idea, some of which is executed pretty well, of the rom-com in the age of the fuckboy. Like that was a good concept. Yeah. There's a certain kind of male archetype that doesn't get portrayed in like a cutting way in culture.

Actually, we have like F-Boy Island. You know, there's a version of that in reality television more so than in movies. So I liked the effort. But he's not a fuckboy. Well, I think we're meant to believe that he was. He's like a 30- something stockbroker who's still single so it's like what has he been doing for the last 12 years right and apparently it's been pining after this beautiful woman who gets no character to Australia Michelle who gets no

character development except for when he's just like looking at iPhone pictures and then he's and then they're like oh now, now they're like desperately, he's desperately in love with her. Okay. So let me, this is an interesting question. Cause you, you love a lot of these movies. Yeah.

I like some of them too. Is it, do you like movies where you feel like the lead characters like are not smart and maybe have no interiority, you know, because like the Glenn Powell character, like he's hustling his ass off, but he's like just kind of a dipshit stockbroker whose mom died like i don't like what is what is what are his character

beats oh i forgot about that and it's like yeah the wrench and and but then his comedian friend is like you don't tell anyone about your mom and i'm like wait you didn't tell us about your mom either right so what happened your mom like yeah she said that's it. What was up with that guy, by the way, Gata? I don't know. Yeah, he has a lot of Instagram followers. I don't know. He's fine. It's okay.

I just saw him in another movie. What movie did I see him in? No, he's in the trailer first. Have you seen... I saw him in a trailer for a different movie before I watched Anyone But You, and it wasn't the Mark Wahlberg dog movie, which are you sure we shouldn't do a whole episode about that? The Family Plan? Yeah, should we just have that? Oh no, the one coming out next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe.

Dog Hall of Fame. Movie Dog Hall of Fame? No, I was thinking we should just do a watch along. Oh, I just watched Self-Reliance. That's what he's in. Oh, that's right. And that was the trailer that I saw. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, Glenn Powell's character doesn't have any more development. He's just bringing enough charisma to it that I didn't hate him. Okay, but do you want your leads to be smart people who you're excited about? Yeah. Okay. I want to root for them.

Yeah, I can root for Glenn Powell even if he's being a dipshit, though. He's kind of being a dipshit in most of the movie. Yeah, sure, but that being a movie even though you can tell he really loves sydney sweeney's character right curious movie again i i like it it's not good but i like it what was i completely agree with that what was the game that they were playing at the like the first night the i guess the rehearsal dinner when the whole family because this movie does another thing you know

it's mostly just set over a wedding weekend at a fabulous house great job everyone this movie breaks my rule though all movies that open

with a wedding are fantastic and all movies that close with a wedding are terrible well this closes with a wedding that's what I, this closes with a wedding. That's what I'm saying.

It breaks your rule? It goes against my rule. It follows my rule. I was like, is it breaking? What's the rule? My rule is don't close your movie with a wedding. Please. Be the godfather. Don't be anyone but you. What about The Graduate?

Well, that wedding doesn't happen. Oh, okay. So don't close your you're with the legal marriage do not officially tie the knot okay or i mean it ends with the dissolution of a marriage so that you know benjamin can go yeah maybe sort of be happy with katherine ross but not actually because life is a pit if you say the vows in a church but don't file the paperwork do you have to go get divorced then? Is this something that you're curious about for your personal circumstances?

No, we filed the paperwork. Okay, sure. Very lovely. Did you forge your signature with an incorrect name so that you can dissolve your marriage and retain all your finances long-term? You can admit it here on the pod. No, because. No one is listening i promise that's actually we got our there was a very like lovely but like nervous substitute clerk the day we went to get our

license oh and hired by you and a professional actor oh we have a different clerk surprising as portrayed by german moroni we did we did file, like, do several rounds of the form because it kept accident. Because you kept screwing it up? No. You kept accidentally burning it? No, they kept accidentally changing my name. And I kept being like, no, it will not. It will be, yeah.

A modern woman. The regular name. Do you think Sidney Sweeney's character took Glenn Powell's character's name in Anyone But You when they got married? Probably, because she seems pretty malleable, you know?

Interesting. I don't know. If you want to take someone else's name, go with God. Nothing wrong with that. What were their last names? Johnson and Johnson.

Okay. Can we, the last two minutes of this movie, which are natasha beddingfield montage are just like a euphoric note to end on if we could have marshaled that energy like for the rest of the movie everyone is awake and singing you know yeah i just like if you just swap emma stone for sydney sweeney the movie is a lot better. That's honestly how I feel. I honestly, I think... We already saw Will Gluck and Emma Stone do Easy A.

This is a movie that needed someone with a different tone who would be better at comedy. I honestly think it would be a lot better. I agree with that. But, I mean, supporting cast too, because in addition to Emma Stone, you've got Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. That family stuff is all really funny.

Yep. It's a far superior movie. Yeah. And I do also just think the situations and the specific setups and jokes. And it's easier when it's a high school and everyone has shared experience of high school, so you can get a little more specific. You don't have to explain everything um so there's more room for jokes but i don't know i just i i think this could have been funnier that's my that's my note this movie is going to be on netflix probably in a few months because it's a sony film and they have an output deal with netflix yeah and almost all of these sony movies like skyrocket to the top of

the netflix chart we just saw with spider verse equalizer 3 this keeps happening over and over again it's a fascinating thing in the culture because like all of the Netflix chart. We just saw with Spider-Verse, Equalizer 3, this keeps happening over and over again. It's a fascinating thing in the culture because like all of the Sony movies are being widely seen. Are they being widely seen exactly as Sony wants them? Not really,

but they're kind of getting what you want. And so I think actually for Sidney Sweeney and Glenn Powell, huge W because it's going to make like somewhere between

50 and 75 million dollars at the box office. Very solid. And then it's going to be a big streaming hit. So I think that their stars will continue to rise, no matter what we think about the movie. Let's talk about The Color Purple.

I saw this a while ago. I haven't revisited it. I saw it almost a month ago at this point. This is, as I said, the musical adaptation. The musical was staged on Broadway in 2005. Long-running musical. Two of the big stars of the film are staged on Broadway in 2005. Long-running musical. Two of the big stars of the film are reprising their roles here, Fantasia Barrino of American Idol fame and Daniel Brooks. She was in the revival.

Daniel Brooks was in the revival, yeah. Brenda Russell, Allie Willis, Stephen Bray and Marsha Norman wrote the book and lyrics for the show. It's based on the Walker novel that I mentioned. The Steven Spielberg movie is an interesting artifact. I don't think we've really gave it too much time when we did a lot of our Spielberg coverage around Fablemans. I rewatched it last night. Really interesting movie.

Probably important to remember, it's actually only his eighth film. You know, very hailed at the time by the establishment. This was Ebert's favorite movie of 1985. It had 11 Oscar nominations, but famously had zero wins at that Oscars. He came under huge criticism from a lot of black critics.

James Baldwin famously hated this movie. A lot of black authors and black playwrights and black critical minds were not fans because they felt like the portrayal of the male characters was too severe, but then everything else was sanded down.

The romance between Suge and Celie was sanded down. There was not enough clarity about the emotional complexity of some of the characters. It's a beautifully made movie. The way that it's filmed is incredible. It's really like Spielberg trying to fit his aesthetic into a story that he ultimately doesn't really seem to understand. Because there's a lot of innocence in his storytelling. And this movie, the story is kind of the opposite of that.

It's a really brutal story. But, you know, it's been a long time since that movie. And frankly, I don't think a lot of people have seen, especially a lot of people under 40, have really seen The Color Purple, the Spielberg movie. It might be among his least seen 80s films at this point. So this comes along at an interesting time. This film was produced by Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, who was one of the stars of the original. One of her first screen and also was kind of a breakthrough for Whoopi Goldberg,

which is another significant part of the 1985 film. Yes. Whoopi Goldberg played Celie and Oprah Winfrey played Sophia. They're both terrific in the movie and Danny Glover is exceptionally good in the movie as Mister. It's a complicated film. This new one comes to us

from Blitz Blazawule who I had known for many years as Blitz the Ambassador. A professional rapper who I did not realize had taken on a life of filmmaking but here he is with his... This is really his first big major studio movie. He worked on Black is King, the Beyoncé film,

the kind of companion to The Lion King a few years back. You know, if you're not familiar with The Color Purple, it's set in the early 1900s in Georgia. It follows Celie, who's married off to Mister, an older man who effectively marries her so that she can do all the work in his household and take care of his three children. It starts this kind of like decades-long cycle of abuse and terror that Mister inflicts upon her and that we see in this kind of time for black women in Georgia. They cross paths with a brassy R&B singer who has a past with Mr. You know, the book itself, you would not think necessarily would lend itself well to a musical. But then when you think about it, it's like 1900s Georgia.

There's like this blend of blues and gospel and R&B. So in many ways, like it is kind of a, it's a good fit sonically. Like a rich cultural text. Yes. On the other hand, this is one of the most brutal stories in the american fiction canon which is just a you just never see musicals about subject matter this harsh and violent and terrifying um i was trying to i mean could you i guess like les mis it can be kind of brutal but they're very few right but that have this level of intensity yeah so the

other thing about so the alice walker novel isn't a epistolary novel it's written a majority of it as are letters written from seely either to god or to her sister netty and then there are letters like from netty quoted back to seely a kind of exploring Nettie's life, which also gets necessarily pretty truncated in all the adaptations. type of novel to adapt because you're not just it is it's Celia is the narrator everything that you are learning about in the novel is from her perspective you're also watching her narration emotions perspective change over time in the way that she is speaking and she is necessarily centered just by like the actual form of the book even as you introduce new characters and in the case of netty like a whole other continent and you know like a whole other adventure or adventure is not really quite the word um a journey a whole whole other journey. There we go.

So once you're taking away that first person and that subjectivity to even like do justice to the amount of stuff that is covered in the novel means you lose Celie at the center of the adaptation. And I think that's true for every single adaptation. Both films, for sure. Yeah. And to be fair, I have not seen, like, the stage production of the musical.

This was my first introduction to it. But, so, I mean, that's just, that's hard. Even before you get to the absolutely brutal nature of, like, much of what happens in the book. Yeah. It's a very curious uh product i think it i thought it was generally not successful um but there are three to four moments in the film and this is true of most um strongly written musicals where you just can't deny that there's a powerful musical moment and it's it's well staged or um the performances are great this movie in particular has a few really, really good performances.

Taraji P. Henson is in the movie. Coleman Domingo is terrific in the movie as Mister. And then, as I said, Daniel Brooks and Fantasia, I think to a lesser extent, we can talk about her a bit. Daniel Brooks, I think, is the standout of the film. Of course, yeah. As Sophia, as Harpo's wife, ex-wife. And she gets two really big musical moments,

one in particular that is the best sequence in the movie. She also gets one incredible comic moment after what is a brutal, emotional, dramatic bit of storytelling. In the middle of this exuberant musical, it just feels really tough. Her performance manages to encapsulate the pretty intense emotional turns that this movie takes. Because it has to get through so much incredibly grim and upsetting plot. Yes.

And then suddenly you go from a scene of horrifying abuse to like, and here's a musical number. And there's just sort of the amount that is condensed because it's over 40 years. That's another aspect of the movie that is a little troubling. This was true of the Spielberg movie too. What year is this? How old is everyone now?

Right. Which is, I mean, again, that is just the struggle of adapting to such a particular, you can do that when it's letters over time and that's like the form. But once you're suddenly just turning it into an Epic of like 18 characters over 40 years and, and just in a truly horrifying number of things happening.

And then you're like, but now it's time for like a song as well. It's really, it's kind of jarring, but Danielle Brooks manages to actually just like take the emotional tone of the movie and can kind of smooth out that transition and makes it make sense. It's pretty amazing.

Yeah. Let's talk about Fantasia for a minute. It's remarkable to me that Fantasia is not yet 40 years old. She's 39. I, as you know, a long time, a hardcore fan of American Idol for the first 10 seasons. Chronicled the show for years at Vibe. When she showed up on the third season of Idol,

I was like, we did it. This show has justified its existence. Like she was breathtaking that entire season. I'm sure if you went back and looked at it now on YouTube, you'd be like, okay, this is kind of cheesy, like karaoke and it's not good.

But in the context of the show at the time, she was amazing. Like Kelly Clarkson is a great singer. Yeah. Pop star. But Fantasia was a discovery to me. This was not a person who was just like I'm being groomed

to be a pop star. But she has she has had pop hits and she did have a somewhat successful like 2000s career as a pop singer but ultimately

when you think back on Idol Idol wasn't Idol was making great stage performers. They weren't making great pop stars. And so she's very well suited to this kind of work.

I would have much preferred to have seen her in the Broadway production because in this, I don't think she has quite the gravitas as an actor that Daniel Brooks or Coleman Domingo have. Two powerhouse actors. People who can wrap you up in what they do. And also Celie is a very internal, quiet, kind of dutiful person who's biding their time waiting for their moment to kind of pursue a kind of independence. So it's a tough part. You know, you really have to do a lot with a little except for the handful of musical performances in this adaptation.

I, you know, I wouldn't say I was like disappointed in her performance. I just didn't think it was. I think it's just it's an incredibly tough assignment to, because again, once the character goes from the lens through which we see like all of the world and who's able to impart their experiences to just like being the connector between all of these like more dynamic women, which, which is the point because that this is about a community of black women who like help Sealy, you know, if not like find happiness,

you know, like find some sort of peace. Um, and, but she just has to, that means that they like get more time, you know, and they not get more time. They just get like get more stuff to do. They get to be bigger because that is like part of the way that those characters show her like what is outside of her world. So it's, it just, it's just structurally doesn't work as well in this format. I agree with you. I mean, it's not just Daniel Brooks. It's definitely Taraji, who plays Suge Avery,

this kind of grand star who rolls into town. And even her, Gabriela Wilson, who gets kind of a standout moment as Harpo's new girlfriend, and who herself is a great pop star, kind of outshines Fantasia a little bit like all three of them are just get a lot to do and so i think you're right i think you lose the focus of the story a little bit around celie and and really netty too because netty becomes this like um almost like spectral figure in her life as she and her family are in africa but like we don't

see them we don't know them until siaraara shows up as old daddy at the end. I, I knew that was coming and I still, I, she looked very beautiful. She did. Um, I threw like roughly the first two,

like hour 45 of this when I was watching it. I was like, ah, this is really not working. But then I did get sucked in at the end and I did get like emotionally connected to it. And I saw there was a big crowd of Academy voters and they were loving it.

Like people stood up in the middle like after performances to applaud. So it really, really played the screening I went to. Which is why I asked you because you saw a screener of it. And I think that when you feel other people connecting to it it plays differently yeah i think also

just people do have a connection to this story and to this musical it's been wildly successful i think in both runs and and won a lot of tony's for the revival in 2016 or 17 so there is that thing where you like go to a musical and you like know that the song or like the big emotional moment is coming and you see it delivered by it. I mean, this is just an absolutely stacked cast. People get really excited about that.

I didn't have that connection to the musical myself. So I wasn't anticipating the things, but I can see how it would play. Right. I mean, there's a whole list of other great actors who we didn't even mention, like Louis Gossett Jr.'s

in this movie. John Batiste is in this movie. Ingenue Ellis Taylor's in this movie. There's a whole, like, a murderer's bro of cameo performances or small roles.

It's, you know, it's like Wonka. They're both Warner Brothers movies that were not marketed as musicals that are plain old musicals i think i would just rather not see the musical version just like i would rather not see the musical version of wonka like i just you know i didn't really think they were like appropriate uh like an appropriate context for the story that it's telling i don't know if blitz was necessarily the right filmmaker he's still like an unseasoned filmmaker and there are moments where the musical stuff just doesn't really fly like it just doesn't really yeah i i do like musicals but they are very difficult to

film and there is a way that you shoot and edit a musical sequence that is very different than you shoot and edit an action sequence or like any other type of film. And I, I didn't really feel that this did justice to the, the music, the, the, the dancers in particular.

Um, but also just like the staging, it, it would just cut so quickly that you couldn't see anyone. And it was very focused on closeups. And I was like, no, I want to see,

I want to see them do a number, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This, I, I, seven brides for seven brothers. This is not, it's a, it's a different on close-ups. And I was like, no, I want to see them do a number, you know? Yeah, yeah. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, this is not. It's a different kind of a thing. How do you think it's going to do with the Oscars? I really have no idea.

It's not nominated for Best Picture, Musical, or Comedy at the Golden Globes, which, on the one hand, the Golden Globes are a, you know, a recurring and mutating joke. On the other hand, especially for a musical, there's a whole category just for those and comedies. And this is, that's usually a place where musicals like this get a boost. And I think it's notable just in terms of the Golden Globes being the first awards show. It's coming very soon, sort of the official kickoff of awards season,

that they won't be front and center in that way. Maybe doesn't help? Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, this year, musical or comedy is unusually stacked with legitimate Best Picture contenders. It's not often that you have mean, this year, musical or comedy is unusually stacked with legitimate best picture contenders. It's not often that you have a Barbie, a Holdovers, a Poor Things. You know, May, December, your mileage may vary on whether or not that's a comedy, but it's a very funny movie. And American Fiction.

And then Air is really the movie that I think has its spot. I suppose Barbie is kind of a musical but not really so that that would mean we watched the dream ballet many times over holiday break by we i mean me and my son it's beautiful yeah he can say hi barbie now thanks to your uh to alice's barbie plane oh yeah yeah i have a barbie girl for sure um yeah i don't know i think daniel bro Brooks would be nominated I still think Davine Jordan Randolph is the leader Fantasia that's a very tough category

yeah I'm not sure if I see it I think Coleman Domingo has a better chance in supporting actor than he does in lead actor at this point

because Rustin was not super well received that was on my that was one of the chances that I took in my you put Coleman in supporting in supporting yeah

yeah he's great I mean he's wonderful and he's beloved by everyone and it's like you want to see him at the Oscars you do

he's another person I'm like I'd like to see him just get like 20% more famous you know yeah like he deserves more deserves to lead more movies

shouldn't have to rely on streaming services to make his movies successful yeah I don't know. I'm torn because this feels like a very dour set of Oscar nominees. And there usually is one or two movies that are like, boom. Now, obviously, Barbie is a very exuberant film.

But it's been around for so long that I think people are taking that for granted. It's, of course, going to be nominated. I just mean, like, when the decision comes down, it's like Anatomy of a Fall and Zone of Inter interest and, you know, May, December and poor things. Are people going to be like, this is a lot of heavy energy for me. What I want to do is I guess Color Purple has plenty of heavy energy as well. I was going to say, it's like there are moments of uplift, but it's tough as much as it is inspiring. So I really don't know.

It feels like we still have the 13 for 10, and I just can't really tell how it's going to break yet this year. I can't either. It's fun. It makes it fun. Yeah. It does feel like a two-and-a-half-horse race right now. It doesn't really feel like super competitive.

Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer, Holdovers, Killers kind of seems like the race right now. Yeah. I don't really think Killers is in the race, even though it's the critical consensus, us included. We'll see. Okay. We'll see. I'm not so sure.

That's great. You want to do resolutions? Sure. We didn't do this last year. Okay. We'll see. I'm not so sure. That's great. You want to do resolutions? Sure. We didn't do this last year. No. This is the first time. The inaugural 2024 movie resolutions. I asked you for this over real New Year's Eve.

No, you asked for my real New Year's resolutions. That's what I mean. Yeah. I'm good. What was it? My actual? Yeah. No. I don't really do like it. You're perfect as is. asked for my real new year's resolution that's what i mean yeah i'm good what was it my my actual yeah no i i don't really do like you're perfect as is i'm more just like if i need to make a change i'm gonna make it i see on the day that it comes i'll tell you what yeah you and i are the

same i don't i don't need to i don't need to set rules for how to live my life i think i do need to set rules though for how to watch movies and how to experience the movie year as one of the hosts of this show. Great. So I thought this would be a fun exercise for us. Who do you want to go first? You go first. Okay. This one's important.

Mm-hmm. No more meltdowns overise garbage for me. Now, obviously, the Fast X episode, infamous in its emotional grandeur, I stand by everything I said in that discussion. I would encourage everyone to listen to that episode just to get to the end when I interviewed Paul Schrader. I think that that was the breaking point not just for me, but for Hollywood.

And I think that there is a recognition that we have gone too far with some of this bullshit and that there's going to be a big scale back and there's going to be a redefinition. It's going to take a few years to set in, but I'm over it. I'm good. I'm all about good movies. That's what I'm thinking about. Okay. You don't believe me?

Okay. I mean, I have multiple issues. Number one, I don't believe you okay i mean i like i have multiple issues number one i don't believe you like number two did i say that you were allowed to like rebut no resolutions was that part of the rules of this game no but my number two issue with this is like at some point we have to like make content you know so if if you're not if you're not gonna do and have any more meltdowns i have to be able to rebut your resolutions. Number three, you being like Hollywood and I agreed after Fast X, it's just like an extraordinarily, extraordinary act of Sean-ness. I got a call from all of the leaders at Hollywood on Christmas morning and they said,

Merry Christmas, Sean. You're the new ambassador. Everything that you say is how we will perform going forward. And I was honored to receive that gift on the day of Christ's birth, which I flubbed on two pods in four days at the end of the year last year. Listen, it was a long year. We were doing a lot of podding. Listen, we were just, we were doing our best. Let's bid adled, yeah.

Sure. I think if this is what you want to do, this is your attitude, that's great. To quote you, note with interest that you are making this resolution after all superhero movies have run their course times five. And you got Fast X and eight other meltdowns. The first franchise-oriented episode that I have planned in 2024 is not until February 16th when we cover Madam Web. This is the other thing where you were like, hey, Amanda, make resolutions for a podcast that you have absolutely no say over. It was like, I logged onto the spreadsheet to be like, oh, great, now I have to make resolutions. The only resolution that I actually have the power to make is to be like oh great now i have to make resolutions like the only resolution that i

actually have the power to make is like to be nicer to you and i'm not gonna do that why not so what what would that because i also believe in setting myself up to succeed and i know that that's not possible so okay good enough okay uh do you you actually, if you want right now, you can do this right now. Open up the big picture planning spreadsheet. I don't like spreadsheets, so that would be my first note. It's like, could we? Press command A. Command A.

And you can just press delete. No. And you can start over and you can plan every episode. Now is your chance. Command A, delete. It's that simple. I do have a couple notes. I think that you did a pretty good job with January,

except I do want to do the thing where everybody comes on and tells us what we got wrong. Yeah, I don't know where to do that, but I want to do that too. That's because I just, you know, I got so much personal feedback from the people in my life, which is the only feedback that I actually care about.

The problem for me is that I don't do that to you, but you do it to me. So I already get what I get wrong, like in every episode. Every episode you're like, no, you're dumb. But I don't say that to people. We actually do agree on some things. We do, a lot of things. And people can also come tell me that I'm wrong. They do it every day. Trust me, they do it every day to me too. It bounces off, you know, but that's fine. We can just, it can be an open floor for the people in our life that we like. Yeah, I think it's going to dovetail with the Bill Simmons movie hot take thing that is going on too. Oh, like on his, yeah. I don't know if that'll be on his show or not.

Okay. He's really been working through some things. He's cooking, yeah. It's very special. I meant to text him and ask whether he watched Salt Burn. I don't know. I'm not sure. Yeah.

Maybe he can tell us about it on this podcast. But yeah, we'll line up a few people. I'd like to add that into this list. Yeah, I'll find a place for that.

Okay. I have an idea for that. Okay. Aside from that, I tried to focus on, you know. Maybe that's what we can do is we can do like

open review and feedback on the schedule at the end of Veto. Where you can just make it and I'll tell you what I would change. I'm vetoing the concept. Okay, what's your resolution? Resolution number three for you. Number three.

Let's see whether I'm actually allowed to do this. It is spend less time on filler movies. Which is, we were talking about this a little bit earlier of just sometimes it does feel like we're sitting in a movie theater watching the movie that a studio put in wide release on a Friday because that is our jobs. And we'll keep doing it. But because as you said, that's our job. But if it's not a good one, if it's just filler if it's like the friday big release of the week and we're never going to think about it again what if what if we did something else what if we talked about something else we can we can talk about it a little

but it's just don't don't you feel like we're a little i i too grew up in magazines and and blogs and i believe in the release calendar and we have to have something to work towards and i like plans and you know we gotta schedule child care and all of that stuff but the people who listen to this show follow the release calendar less and less uh am i am I doing this for them? Or am I doing this for myself? Or am I doing it for Hollywood as the new ambassador of Hollywood?

I've got to ask myself that question. I would like to be invited on other podcasts as the official ambassador for Hollywood. Going forward, I want you to know that. So I'm available to anyone out there who's listening. I'm mixed on this concept because... Great. Why are we doing this?

Why are we doing this? No, no, no. I think it's... I'm not rebutting it. I want to work through it because on the one hand, I'm not going to make you go see Kung Fu Panda 4, which is coming out in March. Right. I don't do that now.

Did you go see Migration? No. That movie was bigger at the box office than Anyone But You. We didn't do that as an episode. So I already think about that. That's because you didn't like it very much, right? No, I thought it was fine. It's okay.

It's about as good as the two other movies we talked about today, which is to say it's solid but not great and kind of negligible. I think we're imagining an audience that is somewhere between the ages of 20 and 50 that are interested in films. So even if a movie is bad, it doesn't mean it's not worth discussing. Or even if a movie is mediocre, like it indicates something about where the art form is at. I think that's true. But then sometimes it's just like, and sometimes a bad movie is notable because it does really well at the box office or because it's notably bad or, you know,

there are some pop cultural significance and that is relevant to us and we keep talking about it. But just like sometimes we're just sitting there watching. It's not even that it's not even about me going to watch it. It's about us being like that is what we should spend our time talking about. Okay, here's I'm just looking down the calendar to think like, a couple of movies that would fit the bill here. Like, here's a movie that would fit the bill, I think, for what you're describing. Godzilla X Kong The New Empire. Right.

This is the fourth film in the Legendary Monsters series. Right. You know, how good is it going to be? It's not going to be the third man. Like, it's just not, it's not going to be the Casablanca of Godzilla and King Kong movies. Right. It might be a fun time. It seems like a really good movie to just get super stoned and go see.

Sure. Will it make for an interesting podcast conversation? Probably not. What's tough is that we've already had the good, interesting podcast conversation about that film, and it's Chris Ryan making fun of the trailer. Right. So then don't cover it? So what do we do?

I don't know. Cover it less. You're making a resolution. Oh, my God. Explore it with me. Yeah. I don't think we should organize an entire episode around it. We can talk about it.

Top five monsters punching each other movies? Sure. Okay. You want to do like eight minutes on it and move on? Yeah. Okay. Will you come up with the alternative idea to put in that episode? Yes. I do that often. Okay, great. Never forget storied episodes like

wife movies. And great men. Yes. During my ambassadorship, we have chronicled the greatness of that episode many times in the halls of Hollywood. Okay. So this year, one thing that I do want to do that we were doing a lot during the pandemic and then we got away from, which I regret, is at least five episodes dedicated to non-contemporary

great filmmakers and great actors in 2024. So two things that I noted is that both Sidney Lumet and Marlon Brando, actually a third person as well, Lauren Bacall, all would have turned 100 this year. The last time... 2024. In 2024. Okay.

Yes. That's what year it is. That's the year. It's January 2nd, 2024. Nice 2024. Okay. Yes. That's what year it is. That's the year. It's January 2nd, 2024. Nice to see you. Chris and I did Toshiro Mifune when he was turning 100 back in 2020 during the pandemic. Really fun episode. People seem to really respond to that episode.

I'd like to do a little bit more like that. So can we get on a Marlon Brando viewing journey? Sidney Lumet is somebody who I've always wanted to do an episode about, not just because he's directed some of the greatest movies of all time, you know, Serpico, 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, On Down the Line, but because he's directed so many movies, and I still haven't seen like 10 or 12 of the movies he's directed. He directed so many movies in the 60s that are either harder to find or more obscure

or considered not as successful. So that would be a fun project for me to try to build towards something where we can do like one half like his Hall of Fame. Yeah. And one half like here are the five you need to see. Sidney Lumet and Lauren Bacall episodes in particular would dovetail nicely with my number two, which is I'd like to cover like more movie books. Not just because I'm a person who enjoys reading books.

Sidney Lumet wrote a very famous, on filmmaking, just a book about- Making movies, it's called. Making movies. Oh, making movies. Yes. And Lauren Bacall has one of the great memoirs of all time. That stuff is just wild.

Yes, by myself is how it's called. It's really, really incredible. The Jason Robards sections are haunting. He seems like a tough hang. Tough hang, but also... Very troubled man. Yeah, but incredibly talented. You know, it's anyway.

And she communicates all of that in the memoir. We were talking about movie books over the break. We were. And we like reading them i like reading them yeah i think that would be fun okay let's do it let's i'm just gonna call it right now we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna do the francis ford coppola book okay yeah that's what yeah so this will be we'll do this a month from now maybe sometime in february great we'll do this a month from now, maybe? Sometime in February. Great. We'll do our first ever big picture book club entry. These will be only movie books, but let's say not just nonfiction.

We can do fiction, too, because there are plenty of great novels about the world of movies. The first book is The Path to Paradise, a Francis Ford Coppola story by Sam Lawson, who wrote The Big Goodbye, the great book about Chinatown, who's written a number of movie history books. I've heard this is an excellent book. It also would be a great way to prepare for Megalopolis, which is a movie we'll talk about probably later this week, which hopefully will be a 2024 release. Francis Ford Coppola's long gestating dream project, which has finally been realized and has, I think, completed production, right? I believe so. Okay.

So that's good. has finally been realized and has, I think, completed production, right? I believe so. Okay. So that's good. That gets us, that incentivizes us to actually not just read these books, but find an opportunity to talk about them. Yeah. I like that one. My last one is related to the discussion we're having, which is more movies. I want to watch more movies this year.

Okay. I tried to scale back the last two years. I'm going the other way. You were unhappy? My kid is doing great. You know, like we're at like some dark periods here. We're like getting towards three, three is going to be, that's where it's all going to happen. That's where it's going to be magic. I was, I was holding like an extended discussion with my daughter this morning about how we make smoothies. Like we were just talking for 10 minutes, which to me is like, I've been waiting my whole life for something like this. It is so exciting. More strawberries, more cookies. We want to put as many cookies

into our shakes as possible, but no pineapple. Absolutely no pineapple, which I personally disagree with, frankly. I love pineapple in my smoothie, but she's got rules. Here's my take. Alice has been doing great since the day she was born. And you're finally emerging from your darkness and could appreciate the wonder that is Alice. My number one fantasy. She is elite, but she's in a particularly elite phase of her life. So with that, I'm ready to lock and load. Can we get to 800 in 2024? So that would be at least two and most days three

movies a day um yeah which is pretty achievable okay so break it down for me time wise it just means i have to stop going to bed at 9 p.m okay if i started eight and i watched two a night also like i'm serious television kind of died for me yeah it is pretty much like it has been pretty bad there's a couple, you know, I'll watch true detective. Like I'm going to watch the big stuff, but there's, there hasn't been a show that I've enjoyed in a while aside from the curse.

So I can just kind of set that aside and I'll tell you what spurred this last resolution is after we got home from Palm Springs yesterday, um, my wife and I watched the passionate friends, the David Lean film, which is just an unbelievable movie that I'd never seen before starring Trevor Howard. Was this inspired by our TCM movie trivia? A bit.

Yeah. We were looking. Well, we watched when we were one night when we were in Palm Springs, we watched The Lady Vanishes to go to sleep too. And that also just an amazing Alfred Hitchcock movie. So we're in a little bit of a black and white phase, Eileen and I, as we go to sleep at night. And I was like, I'm, to your point about schedule fillers,

I was like, I'm wasting a lot of my time watching stuff that doesn't matter to me when I could be watching The Passionate Friends. So, I'd like to find a way to make it more,

make my time more meaningful to me, but my time is still watching movies just doing it with a little bit different kind of intentionality. Does that make sense? Yeah. Do you think people come along for the journey with us

on the show if we do that? Because people hear old movie or where do I watch this? Nah, the kids are great on this one. I believe in all my Gen Z babies. They're really excited about... They want a list of every movie. They go see things out they see

things for the first time they're i got so much to share bobby's the king of the rep theater you know yeah um so or princeling yeah we i so i believe in all of you and i think they'll do it okay what's your last resolution to meet more big pick psychos how are we gonna do that get out in the world go outside you know even if it's all even if it's watching the movies together we met one at the living desert in palm we did that was very nice yeah um i wish i could eric eric was his name yeah he's very nice um we were like yeah we met we met a sloth who loves the big picture. The train conductor is a big... Yeah, no.

Hopefully more events or just more screenings. I think we'll definitely do some live stuff. Yeah. I don't know where, I don't know when, but we're going to figure it out. Yeah. And also it is nice when people say hi. That's the other thing. Yeah.

We had great experiences with it in 2023. I don't know if like a proper tour is in the offing. Maybe it is. We'll see. Oh, sorry. Tour, T-O-U-R. Why do you say it like that? Do you say tour?

I guess I just say tour. What did I say? Tour. Tour, like. Are you giving me a lesson in elocution? I just didn't understand what you were saying for a second. I was like, oh no. What's wrong with Tor? That's just not, I didn't immediately connect that with the meaning of the word, you know, but now I'm with you. So because you have brain damage, I'm doing

something wrong. That is basically the summary of this podcast. Any final notes? I'm excited. You are? Yeah. You didn't seem excited to walk in the door to come back to work this morning. I was like, I'm so happy to be back at work. And you were like, I'm happy that I have childcare.

Well, I am really grateful for childcare. I'm grateful for my child and I'm grateful for all of the people who helped take care of him. No, I'm excited. I'm trying to ease in to the new year you know like along with the resolutions people just kind of like crack the crack the whip starting January 2nd and maybe that's not the energy I'm trying to bring maybe I'm just trying to enjoy every day but I but I'll enjoy every day. Did you enjoy this podcast? Yes. I can't believe I didn't sing Unwritten for one second.

Thanks so much for doing that. Let's wrap it up before you do. Thank you to our producer, Bobby Wagner, for his work on this episode. Later this week, we'll be sharing our 24 most anticipated movies of 2024. I think we're going to talk about Night Swim too, and I was wondering if we should do for Night Swim what we did for did for barbarian with you or cr and i just tell you about night swim unless you want to see night swim of course well i was gonna i would go see i mean it's a haunted pool right it's a haunted pool i mean so that does seem in my general realm of interest the screening pools are yeah are haunted pools well i don't know haunted bodies of water sure why not okay all right but i don't know whether the timing's gonna work out okay so maybe you guys can just recap it for me all right we'll

see maybe we'll hold it for a later week until the time when you can see it well tvd on night but we will talk about our most anticipated movies and we'll see you then Thank you.