The Big Picture - The 1994 Mega-Movie Draft

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

We are drafting again! And this time, the roster is growing. Shea Serrano and Van Lathan join Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan for a draft of one of the greatest years in movie history: 1994.  Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Chris Ryan, Van Lathan, Shea Serrano Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twice a week, Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports on their show, Higher Learning. They discuss the most important and timely conversations while also frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other. Check out Higher Learning on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about the year 1994.

We are drafting again. It's the Movie Draft 1994 edition. And as always, Chris Ryan is here, but so are two more special guests. I am honored and delighted to be joined by the co-host of No Skips and the author of Hip Hop and Other Things, among many other books, Shea Serrano. What up, baby boy? And the co-host of Higher Learning and one half of the Midnight Boys, Van Lathan. Van, welcome back to the show. Pew pew! Chris Ryan, you have been dominating movie drafts for weeks months almost it feels like years now you've

been in charge of shit and and I got scared I got spooked you know so you moved the world series to a cornfield in Iowa right you're doing an exhibition game in China whatever this is it better not count against my streak all all results uh are final and will be tallied appropriately on the long ledger of movie draft history and so i wanted to mix things up wanted to bring in some some new voices some new blood this is a this is a five person draft which is absolutely crazy i don't know how this is totally gonna work right now you know shay and van have not yet been a part of something like this. Guys, at the top of every one of these conversations, we start with a little personal reflection. Now, 1994, we were all alive in 1994.

Amanda just barely. She was but a seedling in the world. Shay Serrano, why don't we start with you? Shay, who were you in 1994? What were you doing? What were you up to? I was 13 years old in 1994? What were you doing? What were you up to? I was 13 years old in 1994. So I had just started to try and move out into the world, separate myself from my parents a little bit. I had,

I think when I was 11 or 12, my parents were like, you don't live here anymore. Now you live with your grandma. Like that's a thing that happens within the Mexican community. They're just like, see ya. And I left and I was gone. And so it was just now me and my grandma living at the house and she was working at a corner store. And so she was gone from like four in the morning until whatever in the afternoon. So like, I was just all of a sudden responsible for getting myself up in the morning,

getting, making sure I got on the bus, making sure that I like had lunch, make it, you know, I really thought that I was, that I was thought that I was grown. So that's what was happening in my life at the time. I was just like, oh, I run this whole world is how I felt. Ben, what about you? What were you up to in 94? So I had just left McKinley Middle Magnet School, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

I was on my way to McKinley High. So I was leaving behind my grunge era. What? Wow. Okay. I was leaving behind Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, and Soundgarden. You know what I mean? Don't call Van Daughter.

No, don't. I was leaving behind it, and I was going to McKinley, which is both of these schools are in South Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They're both very historically black. McKinley is one of the oldest black schools, high schools in Louisiana. I was on the football team. I was feeling myself. I was feeling myself and I was trying to reconcile the nerd with the jock.

Because people would come over to the house and I would put on The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and they would be like, what the fuck is this? What you watching? Baron, what you watching, bro? What is this shit?

This shit weird as fuck, dog. You know what I mean? So it was the beginning battle of something that I would fight my entire life, which is the whole thing of trying to get my homies to watch star Wars with me. 1994 was the first year. This paid and that paid off man, professionally and personally. Look at you now.

I won. I won. I don't know where them niggas at. Like I won. Like I won. CR, what were you doing uh 94 year of great personal change you know um i would i don't mind saying that it was the year that i blossomed as a lover you know i came into the world but this is this is where you gotta you gotta understand that like i'm not bragging as much

as like the world went technicolor for me man like i started to understand adult emotions for the first time i was making a transition from being a uh a limited athlete to you know somebody i thought was just going to be a writer but you, you know, like making stuff became my primary focus. And, you know, I just couldn't hit breaking stuff. But so I moved into working at the school paper and that obviously set me on this track.

But I will say one of the things that kind of ushered in that moment for me or made those changes feel significant is the fact that this was a moment

where I felt like the movies started speaking in my language and that like I started seeing movies that like reflected if not my experience it was like that's the way my friends talk that's the you mean the kind of shit the pornos you were watching but like I mean like high production quality like real real attention paid to script and to cinematography, to pacing. No, it was just that feeling that you're kind of coming of age. And then all of a sudden, you start seeing what you think is maybe your generation reflected in the movies.

And that was pretty significant. Amanda, what about you? Where are you at in 94? Well, I turned 10 years old. So that was very big, double digits. Let's see. I had giant ice blue plastic glasses that were very lovingly picked out at Lens Crafters. I was very passionate about my dance classes.

This might have been the year that I was in the Nutcracker. One year only. Very exciting. I was a toy soldier and had a little sword that was made entirely out of foam and duct tape. And I vividly remember seeing both the Little Rascals reboot and Andre,

which is like three-wheelie, but about a seal who wears a Hawaiian shirt in theaters. So I am just uniquely prepared to compete against four grown adult men when drafting for the Tarantino and Coen Brothers movies in this year. It's all led to this moment. You just tipped off the first overall pick in this draft, Andre, the seal comedy.

That's awesome. You were hot, too. I fuck with Andre. I don't know what y'all talking about. Definitely saw Andre in theaters. I was 12 years old in 1994 and similar spot to some of you guys trying to figure out how to be cool while reconciling being a total fucking nerd. My parents got divorced.

Similarly, Shay, I was on my own a lot, spending a lot of time watching way too many movies, listening to a lot of rap music. Van was in his grunge era and I was in my Biggie and Nas era. 94, huge year for me thinking I could be cool one day. And in fact,

I did not become cool at all. But I became obsessed with the people who are cool. And so that's really what we do on all these shows is we talk about people that we think are cool. 1994, Chris, you said it in movies. Interesting time. Obviously, this is the Pulp Fiction Big Bang. And this is also the year Forrest Gump kind of ran movies in more ways than one. I mean, it felt like we always talk about

when movies are at the center of culture. Forrest Gump trickled down to every single human in America, as far as I could tell. I don't think you couldn't go to a Christmas party or a barbecue or anything and not have a conversation about Forrest Gump, which is interesting because I don't think Forrest Gump quite dominates in the culture the way that it once did. Dan, before we started recording, you said something interesting. You said you feel like the mid-tier and the lower class movies of the year have aged better than some of the all-time classics.

What do you mean by that? I meant that when I look at the movies that dominated that year have aged better than some of the all-time classics. What do you mean by that? I meant that when I look at the movies that dominated that year, of course, outside of, I'd say, you know, True Lies, Box Office-wise, and then obviously Forrest Gump, monoculture-wise, I think about movies like Fresh. And I think about, like, just what an unbelievable achievement that movie seems like now, just technically, story wise, and how big of a place that film has in like hip hop culture and black culture, how quotable the movie is. And when I compare that to a film, you know, some of the other films I'm looking at uh the santa claus was a big hit clear and

present danger we never talk about you know there's a there's a lot of things that there's a lot of movies above the rim is another movie uh above a room is another movie that is such an important film because of its replayability and the space that it's taken on cable and it's like that's a movie you have to know in order to contextualize the life of Tupac Shakur. And also to contextualize the music movement that was going on there. And I feel like those films have become a lot more culturally significant.

There's a lot of them there that are more culturally significant than even some of the top tier movies that exist from 1994. And I was just struck by that when I was sort of looking at it, you know, the gum thing is really interesting around this time too, because as Van was mentioning,

like there was all be it like a very mainstream, but it was like, there was an alternative culture at the time. Like there did feel like there were these upstart like expressive movements, like hip hop and, and underground rock that were kind of positioned against the mainstream the mainstream. A lot of the times on our pods, we all talk about the water cooler shows, the monoculture, the thing that dominates and how awesome that is. But sometimes it's also cool to have something

like Forrest Gump so that you can hate it or that you can at least react against it. Or that you can be like, you know what's fucking more important than Forrest Gump is clerks. You can have something that's playing off against it. Or that you can be like, you know, what's fucking more important than Forrest Gump is clerks. You know, like you can have something that's the, that that's like playing off of it. And that's sometimes what we miss by not having these, these major sort of central achievements is that you can't like, it's almost, there's nothing to react to. I see,

I see you repping Kevin Smith, CR. Thank you. We all, you guys more than I were like of an age also where you're looking for that. Right. So it's, it's almost like wonderful to have something that everyone's like, sure, thank you. We all, you guys more than I, we're like of an age also where you're looking for that, right? So it's almost like wonderful to have something that everyone's like,

sure, you know, you got to watch Forrest Gump and it wins all the Oscars. And then you're like, no, I don't think so. I'm going to go find my clerks or my little women in the case of certain people on this podcast. You know, there is just a nice timing effect of it all that we all just got to

be really weird um even if i had to do it a couple years later i think part of it too is that it seems like mainstream culture is figuring out how to leverage that underground culture you know and make grunge make hip-hop make a quentin tarantino miramax films those things becoming part of the mainstream is a fascinating effect of that chris of like people desperately seeking out something that they think is alternative and then very quickly the alternative becomes the mainstream um shay when i say 94 movies is anything in particular that pops out to you above the rim was like a a giant cultural force in south san San Antonio. Just the coolest shit we'd ever seen, like ever. And then there's also a much smaller movie that came out that year called Mi Vida Loca.

Oh. You know that one, Van? Oh, Jesus Christ. Go ahead, Che. I could go crazy. Like, I have to sneak to go see it. I love it. Yeah.

But go, I love that fucking movie yeah so that that movie comes out and it's about these two these two girls uh sad girl and mousy and it was just i think that was maybe the first time i could remember being like oh shit like i know a sad girl and i know a mousy like i know what that i know what the things that they're saying i know why their words sound like that it wasn't something i was looking for i was just like whatever put on a thing that's cool but it shows up there and i remember feeling that and seeing that movie that one was really like i think that might have been for me the first real cultural phenomenon amongst the friends you know i'm saying um friday would go on to be like a bigger version of that was a

movie that you you heard about before you saw it but this one was like oh everybody is doing this now you know what i'm saying yeah like so once again i always do this when i come on here shout out to siskel and ebert because i had to wake up at six in the morning on sunday i don't know why it came on at that time i really have no clue i had to wake up at six in the morning on Sunday. I don't know why it came on at that time. I really have no clue. I had to wake up at six in the morning on Sunday to watch Siskel and Ebert. And they reviewed Mi Vida Loca. And they'll always be like,

parentheses, my crazy life. Because, you know, they don't want you to go do the work to translate the movie title. That's too much. And so, and they were like, yo, and it was either Siskel or Ebert that just went, yo,

you have to go see this movie. Like you, you need to go see it. Like, this is something that we don't typically see, you know, outside of like, this is not even standard deliver or like any of this. Like you have to go see this movie. So the next day I cut school and went to Segan and saw it. And I didn't even like realize I had never seen that world on camera before, on screen before. It changed the way I looked. It was a great film. Great film.

Can't believe I didn't have that written down here. Great film. Love that movie. So let's talk a little bit about the Oscars of this year. Because obviously Gump and Pulp Fiction are the two that people probably best remember. But this is also the Shawshank Redemption year. This is also the Four Weddings and a Funeral year, the Quiz Show year. I think this is a year that probably could have afforded to have 15 or 20 Best Picture nominees. Incredible

list of both prestigious and smaller films. Mi Vida Loca, for example, is part of that wave of independent filmmakers. Alison Anders, who was kind of in league with Tarantino and Soderbergh and that whole lot that we talk about on the show all the time. Also a little bit of like a, I think it's kind of like a forgotten performance this year.

Like Jessica Lange, I forgot she had even won an Oscar for a movie called Blue Sky, which is like kind of falling away to time. Martin Landau, after 50 years as a professional actor,

wins for Ed Wood. We see Diane Wiest win for Bullets Over Broadway, a Woody Allen movie, very good Woody Allen movie. But the box office is dominated, like Van says, by the Santa Claus and the Flintstones and the Mask and this three huge Jim Carrey movies come out this year and The Lion King.

I mean, speaking of the monoculture, it felt like Disney's The Lion King also had the country in a chokehold um except for cr chris you didn't you didn't you didn't see the lion king i never saw the lion king anti-african sentiment i feel yeah it's basically what it's about yeah i have some literature i can share with you if you'd like afterwards man did you see american history x maybe opening night American History X, maybe? Opening night, maybe. Anything jump out at you guys when you look at the box office from that time? Like, does it say anything

about what our movie-going culture was? To me, we were still doing the big, huge... I mean, you know, it's interesting. Like, when I look at all of those films, I just think those weren't really the movies that I was... I went to see all, I just think those weren't really the movies that I was... I went to see all those movies, but those weren't really the movies that I was like... It was the first time in my life I wasn't checking for those movies. Like, normally, those were the films that as a kid, you're like, I can't wait till this comes out.

I can't wait till that comes out. But those were movies that I went to see almost begrudgingly. But I will say this, when I did sit down and watch The Lion King, that totally changed my life. But The Lion King was just a huge movie. But I look at the list and those movies didn't have enough sizzle for me. It was the first time that I started to ask for a little bit more from my films.

I love True Lies, obviously. I think True Lies is maybe, is one of the greatest action movies ever made. But besides that, the rest of them weren't really blowing my hair back. Amanda, what do you think about this roster? I feel like this is like IP before IP. he's ever made but besides that the rest of them weren't really blowing my hair back amanda what do you what do you what do you think about this this roster i feel like this is like i mean i was 10 years old all of these absolutely blew my mind did i see the flipstones in theater yes a hundred

percent did i see speed like probably two years later when i was like old enough quote unquote to see it like without my parents and be like whoa the bus it won't stop like yes i mean i was a dumb like 10 year old in the 90s and like my brain was absolutely shaped by this type of like you know like unsophisticated maybe but i still think like pretty well executed super broad like summer movie entertainment i don't know how many of these movies are in the summer, but like, I can see the inside of like Lennox mall and Phipps Plaza, like where I would just get dropped off. And, you know, I think this was like maybe the first year that I could get like dropped off at the movie theater by myself to go see a movie.

And that was like what you did. So I also, I like Van, like The Lion King. Do you guys know that Sean doesn't think The Lion King is a good story? That's just a horrible opinion. He doesn't think that the story adds up. Horrible opinion. That's fucking whack. I just wanted to like lay that out

just up top for everybody. So I respect Shakespeare and the lion king and think it's great simba is weak as fuck that's all i'm saying okay amanda are you from atlanta i am yeah so you was getting dropped off at lennox mall did you bring a draco with you you're getting dropped off well you didn't like what the fuck things have changed like i've been like i saw Clueless in 1995 like opening weekend at Lenox Mall I spent so much time like

at the kids gap there that was like my you know it was a different Lenox Mall experience I was like oh that's what else is going on here but yeah going to the gap the Dobbins parents were wild.

Get out the car, 10-year-old. Good luck, 10-year-old. That's how we used to get down back then, though. They just dropped us off. There was none of this oversight. There was none of this helicopter parenting. And look what they made us. They made us completely well-adjusted people.

You're double digits now. Get the fuck out. I spent a lot of time at that Bath and Body Works, okay? It was fine. Okay. Now that we've all worked through how we were abandoned by our parents and were babysat by popular culture for 10 years, and that explains why we are popular culture podcasters,

writers, and thinkers, let's draft. So this is your first time, Shay and Van. I've shared with you guys the categories. We're going to rock with the same categories we did on the last draft. So those categories, very quickly for you, are drama, comedy, Oscar nominee, action or horror, blockbuster,

and the threshold there is the film needs to have made $100 million or more at the box office. And of course, a wild card. You can pick any movie as long as it's been released in 1994 in the United States of America. As I mentioned, CR is on a heater right now. He's running very hot. He's drafted very well. He certainly had me on tilt on the last episode. He also has a bot army, but that's okay. That's true. Chris has also enlisted a massive Russian bot army to tip the scales. So, Shay and Van, any reflections on tearing down Sierra's empire here? I'm just here so I don't get fined, guys.

I showed up specifically to put Chris Ryan in the dirt. Oh! I don't get you. You know what? I'm going to be honest with you guys dirt. Oh! I don't get you. You know what? I'm going to be honest with you guys. You know what? I don't get competitive with this shit anymore. Really, Mallory got me out of that.

Oh, no. Mal will beat the comp- Mal, like, we were going to do a nice, friendly midnight court. Tom Holland versus Tobeyguire for spider-man mal over prepared to such a degree i was like yo this shit ain't fun no more dog one of the first things we ever did at the ringer was a superhero draft i was gonna bring that up it was on fucking camera and i was like who did i pick first like superman and she was like she started heckling you she was like, who did I pick first? Like Superman? And she was like, can you fucking feed yourself?

Are you allowed outside without supervision? And I was just like, isn't it Superman? Like, isn't he pretty good? She's like, do you need a fucking bib? I was watching that in person. She was just straight up like, you dumb piece of shit. I was like, oh my God. I don't think I like wanted to

draft like three years after that. Sounds like we got to bring Mal to the next movie draft. That sounds like anybody. Don't bring me when

you bring Mal. Mal is the Terminator. Van, I'm glad you're going to have an easy going spirit. Nevertheless, we got to figure out a draft order here.

So there's five of us. This is a little different than usual. This is going to be chaos. I'm so excited. This is going to be a real like because we're going usually we draft like uh how many 20 28 how many movies we usually

draft i think it's usually 18 movies right and now we're gonna have 30 right so yeah and so i'm excited for this it should be confusing and uh hard to track but bobby you're gonna have to work extra hard on this one. Yeah, I don't have enough Scrabble tiles for the usual method. But I won't do the spinning wheel because it'll take too long. So I've literally just put all of your names into a list randomizer. I will screenshot so you can check my work in case anybody wants to question it. That's been a topic of conversation. Yeah, you're good, bro.

Look at you. It was the online wheel thing. I was worried about your cookie settings Amanda's very worried about the cookies okay so are we certain are we absolutely certain that the CR heads did not build this app of list organizing that you are

trying to use here are you certain the CR heads invented HTML okay go for it okay so in order picking first overall is shea serrano sean fennessy third van lathan fourth chris ryan and fifth amanda dobbins okay all right so this is a snake style draft which means we go one through five and then five four three two one which means those picking five amanda do Dobbins get two picks all the way around.

Okay. Let's do this. First pick. Any category. Six categories. Shay, 1994. You're up. Oh, all right.

We don't have to go in the order of the categories you have in the doc. No, no. You can pick whatever you want. Any movie in any category you want. Just say the movie and say the category you're choosing it in. Oh, hell. Oh, hell. All right.

Well, then let me do Blockbuster first then because that's going to be the tough one. Give me the biggest Blockbuster of the year. That should be an easy win right there. Give me The Lion King. Yeah. $763 million made. Wow. Almost $100 million more than second place fucking shitty Forrest Gump.

The Lion King. We went and I went and watched this movie with my friend Bobby Prince. We grew up together. Bobby Prince and he was living in an apartment with his mom and she was gone. I don't know where she went. She was just like, good luck

guys. See y'all at the end of the weekend. So it was just me and him and we snuck to the movies and then we snuck in to see lion king and it fucking ruled the part where rafiki does the bruce lee fist thing was i that might have been the first time i recognized a movie paying homage to another movie within itself i thought it was the coolest shit in the world. It's so much better than Pulp Fiction. Fucking crazy. The Lion King. Give me the Lion King. I'm already way out in first place.

Oh boy. First of all, Shay, that is exactly why. I did not have the Lion King on my list of 30 movies. Shay, thank you for drafting the Lion King and Sam Buoying the number one overall pick so that i can mj my way right to pulp fiction damn which may be the greatest movie ever drafted in the history of movie drafts obviously the second feature film from quentin tarantino uh what

category hmm really good question yeah what category don't just talk your shit say it you tried to be slick right there roger stone yeah give us the yeah you're trying to trying to give us the category that's right amanda give us a category fucking so jealous you picked it i will take this movie in oscar nominee okay cool okay and what is there to say about yeah give us the sean wikipedia entry on on pulp fiction no wait sean yes yes yes tell me about the first time you saw pulp fiction did not see it in a movie theater i was 12 years old my parents would not let me see this movie in a movie theater i did not sneak into the movie theater by this time i had already bought two books about quentin tarantino that are still sitting on my shelf wait in 94 yes what the fuck how are there two books about quentin tarantino already in 94 because

there was where were your friends insane well first where were my friends that's a very good question i asked myself that to this day shay. My friends are all sitting on that bookshelf over there. Because post Reservoir Dogs, there was this crazy, the cinema of cool explosion around Tarantino and all the indie filmmakers from that time.

So I saw Reservoir Dogs on video illicitly in 93 and then got very excited about Pulp Fiction, couldn't see it, but then saw it as soon as it was released on a whole video. So I probably didn't see it until 95,

but before the Oscars. And yeah, it's the movie that changed my life. It's a movie that completely changed how I think about movies. I think Chris has put it very, very well on this podcast a couple of years ago when we first talked about Tarantino and just the idea of hearing the song change

during the opening credits. And I think Chris, you had said to yourself, like, I didn't know you could do that. I knew that was like, Tarantino was making so many choices stylistically you know the same way Shay that your your life changed when you saw Rafiki hit that dude in Lion King you know when the credit started for Pulp Fiction for me everything changed and uh obviously I still love Pulp Fiction to this day very delighted to have it at number two Nathan Prejean told me about the scene with the gimp.

And I didn't believe it. I was like, you didn't believe it. No, that's not real. I was like, no, you're lying.

He's like, yes, it did, bro. I'm like, no, there's no way they would do that in a movie. I got to admit,

man, even in 94, which, and I was starting to explore the world of world of human romance in a more significant way. Do you just want a separate podcast? When the GIMP showed up, I was like, why is that guy wearing leather? That guy's got a full mask. That's weird.

Is it because, like, do his ears get cold? Like, what's up with that? Okay, who has the number three pick? I've already forgotten. It high family um i'm going drama i'm going with one that is meaningful to me i saw it with my pop and i remember saw grown men grown men crying grown men crying coming out of the movie and yes i had no clue it's the shawshank like it was like like like grown men like two guys who looked like they had just rekindled their friendship maybe maybe they were i like to think they were on bad terms going into this movie

and their wives put them together and was like hey you haven't spoke to bronson in a couple of weeks ever since you guys got mad at each other over the lsu alabama game why don't you guys go see this movie together i remember going in to see like like i went saw it with my dad somebody told this good movie go see whatever and just it was the first movie that i ever sat through that was that long that i was just completely i've never rooted for a white man as much as i rooted for andy dufresne he is the prototypical white dude and by the way to the point to where when forrest gump was getting all of this love i was a little bit peeved i was a little pissed off i love forrest gump absolutely love it love the movie love the book but i thought that even then as everybody has come to appreciate the

shawshank redemption which by the way you know how they do a redraft based upon nba prospects everyone if we if they did a movie i think that if they redid it, Shawshank Redemption would be the best picture of that year over Forrest Gump. I think it's aged better than Forrest Gump. I think it's more culturally relevant than Forrest Gump. I think Forrest Gump was a movie that because of the technology that was used, because of how big Tom Hanks' star was, that you could not deny it for that year. It was just too much of everything. And it's a sublime picture don't get me wrong but i think that i think the shawshank redemption for me and for a lot of people is a

much more important expression of love and perseverance it's just an important amazing movie so that's that's going to be my first pick let me let me let me get this straight you were just suggesting a a draft of movies no redraft no that's to redraft movies? No, that's not what I'm saying. Look, that ain't what I'm saying. That's not what I was saying. If they fixed the Oscars. If they redid the Oscars is what I meant to say.

What if boys talked about movies and shows at midnight? Van, I did that exact thing in the movie book. I went from 95 on and redid all of the Oscars to fix them and i gotta break your heart shawshank redemption didn't win best picture that year speed one by the way

shawshank great pick were you more andy or or red with bronson when you guys went to go see this film um i i'm god i gotta be red you know you know there's probably some obvious reasons like i gotta be like i gotta be red because i think red you are guilty but also two two because i grew up around a bunch of reds i grew up around a bunch of of incredibly moral gentle and like like magnanimous ex-convicts guys that you could never admit you could never ever in your life imagine them doing the things that they did and by the time you got to them they were like okay eat your vitamins say your prayers go you know what i mean but so i i resonated with red he reminded me of a lot of my uncles and guys i knew from around the neighborhood phenomenal pick no no i don't

think anybody can take issue with it cr you're up at number four okay um so for number four i'm blockbuster i'm gonna go speed and uh speed is one of i think there's i can't remember last time i tried to figure out the list of movies that basically I saw the movie and then the next day went back and saw the movie. But Speed is one of them. That's cool. And one of the reasons why you often do that is if you go in with lower expectations

and you almost need to go back and be like, did I just experience that? I did that with Training Day. I did that with Sicario. There's been a bunch of movies like that. But Speed was a movie where I was just like, the fucking bus can't slow down? Like, okay i'm gonna go see this and just for a minute one first of all you've got um the paddles on your chest like restarting your heart every five seconds because this movie is so exciting dennis hopper is one of my favorite

villains of 90s action movies keanu and sandra bullock is one of the best pairings of movie stars in an action movie straight up in that decade. It's just so delightful. It's funny. A lot of people love True Lies. I just think that their chemistry and what they do in this movie is probably what I think of more than Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And yeah, it was just an absolutely thrilling execution of Hollywood movie making. I loved it. I saw it so many times in the theater that year. So I'll go Speed for my first pick for Blockbuster.

Great movie. Speed also, by the way, I think it might have even been Bill Simmons who has mentioned this in the past, but that kicked off in a big way the kind of like 90s summer Blockbuster era. The cover of Entertainment Weekly and then the culture surrounding everything. And the sort of like high concept, high execution, low art thing that became so signature in 90s movies.

Amanda, you are now up at number five. This has been a... You guys have done well. Congratulations to each of you. A fairly non-surprising first four in this draft. But so now it gets interesting and the other interesting thing about this is that shay and van i know some of your tastes but not as thoroughly as i know sean and chris's and so i'm trying to play defense here but it's

sort of like a black box you know and like i i don't want to hurt you two the way that i want to hurt say sean but i want to make sure that the hell man i'm getting what i want and so it's like strategically kind of interesting here don't don't worry about me vamp queen just just take your picks all right like you haven't done this a million times uh you don't even know what category you were taking pulp fiction in you should have done drama by the way but anyway all right i am going to here's one i know uh comedy i'm taking reality bites um oh yeah great fucking which i know that means blow to cr i know and chris that's like hurtful and it's okay it's okay great fucking movie man this is just an exhibition game.

It's not league play. Shit. Yeah. I don't think I saw this in 1994, but I definitely saw it a few years later. And a coworker of ours who shall remain nameless, who's a bit younger than me, told me that one of her projects during lockdown was learning about Gen X, which I thought was incredibly funny. But this, Reality Bites is how I learned about Gen X. And it's how I learned about Ethan Hawke. It's how I learned about Winona Ryder. It's how I learned about a lot of the songs in this movie. It's definitely how I learned about the concept of

selling out and, you know, which is very fraught uh but this is probably the clearest explanation of what that meant to gen x as i could give anyway and you know ultimately a romantic comedy as well which we appreciate really interesting thing here about what age you are and then who you think winona rider should pick you know because obviously when you're really young, it's a little bit of like the big Aiden thing, but honestly more interesting. Have you changed your vote on that? I've several times.

So obviously- Yeah. So obviously like you're supposed to pick Ethan Hawke, right? And that's the movie. And obviously, spoiler alert, the movie picks Ethan Hawke. And when you're young, he's the bad boy and complicated, the winner of his discontent, but he's still Ethan Hawke. And so for all of the crappy things he does, you still hope he can change. I would say when you hit about 28 to 31 years old and you've been dating for a while and just like it's an asshole and

can't get his shit together and it's like whining i think any woman who has been single for most of her 20s and especially in the new york city in new york city where i was you're just like screw this like i actually need someone like with a car you know and a job and who is gonna be responsible and now i'm back around and ethan hawke because ben stiller is a corporate slimy you know asshole who fucks up her movie so you gotta stay true to your art you know and be young anyway reality bites rules well if we've learned anything, it's that you're wishy-washy, Amanda. What's your number six pick? You know what?

I'm evolving. It's important to be able to change and make your own change. I don't honestly have no idea what I'm going to do for the next one. Honestly, can I just say something? Yeah. I need you to do a certain thing so that I don't do it so that we don't break up. Okay. So you want me to take four weddings and a funeral and Oscars?

Okay, good. I'm glad that you said that we don't break up. Okay. So you want me to take four weddings and a funeral and Oscars? Okay, good. I'm glad that you said that. I was actually, I thank you. Because if you were going to like fuck around. No, you're like, you're back in LA. I would have driven over to your house. Just like signed off the Zoom and just showed up outside yelling at you. And I actually was maybe going to do it because Shay, I know.

I mean, you're my rom-com, like, you know. Yeah. Like friend. It's a great pick pick it's a great pick but i like i don't know where you are on this i know you don't like the andy mcdowell performance which is like valid but whatever it's really a movie about hugh grant uh yeah four weddings and a funeral is um i did see this when i was 10 years old i don't know what my parents were thinking not lennox small i remember like we rented it at home, but I guess they were just like, it's British. It's fine if you just watch people like, you know,

fucking during the middle of, you know, of their wedding. No problem. And I thought it was really magical. And this was definitely part of my introduction to romantic comedies and people who can, and really like smart, witty, kind of dry screenwriting and humor. And obviously I like a lot of things that are British or made in the UK these days.

And this was probably like my early entree into it. And also Hugh Grant. I'm just unbelievably pro Hugh Grant. Really recommend his Twitter if you're not. He's just like an old man on twitter now really rightfully mad about brexit great stuff amanda and chris you guys can stay together now yeah me and cr the the wheel is back to you sheesh okay not as easy as this looks five people this is a lot of films and a lot of pics it's hard

okay i'm gonna i gave myself a couple of films and a lot of pics. It's hard. Okay. I'm going to, I gave myself a couple of notes before we went into this about like what you should do and I didn't expect to have to follow them. So I'm going to do it.

No, I'm not. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to take clerks in comedy. Yes, Chris. I love it when you just don't do the practical thing at all. And it's a total mess. This is like,

but I just have to like, I don't, I don't think it's fair to like skip this because even though Kevin Smith's movies have maybe not like grown in the estimation that Quentin Tarantino's movies did, I can't really overestimate like how amazing it was. Don't apologize. Talk for two hours and just be like,

when he's just like when when jay is talking about wolvie berserker shit like it was just like i was it was like you're in the beatles for the first time i was like going crazy the the the conversation between the two clerks about what happened to all the people who worked on the death star is the birth of podcasting that is that is when podcasting started kevin smith saw the future fucking nerds getting fired up to talk about the shit that they love and the details of the shit that they love clark is a great movie don't apologize so i got clerks and comedy first and comedy is it me now it is yeah this is where l rubber meets l road because i have to go action here i know see here's the thing with me yeah i know i know my i know my movies the ones that i really want to pick they're going to be there for me i got some i got some tom brady-round sleepers that you guys aren't going to touch.

So I have to go ahead and get my big action movie out of the way right now. And I got to go with True Lies. All right? I know it's a little on the nose. But let me tell you why I got to go with True Lies. Number one, let me just keep it real. The first reason I go with True Lies is because of Jamie Lee Curtis. Yeah. All right, let's go.

Come on, guys. I'm 14 at the time. It's important. This was big. This was really big. I'm 14 at the time. But that movie has a lot of hidden things in it. Number one is the point that we realize that Tom Arnold is really charismatic

and funny on screen. He wasn't just a coattail rider. He was amazing. It's James Cameron. It's Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is a movie about the other side of an action star. It's a movie about a guy who has to save the world, but also is dealing with all of these personal family issues.

That is actually very revolutionary for an action movie at the time. I can't remember having seen that before. And the action movies that we would get moving forward, and a lot of times some of the stuff we would get moving forward, period, would be centered around these guys' personal lives and how they actually intersect with these big, huge things that they have to do. The funniest part, by the way, is the movie that I realized Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually really a talented performer. The funniest parts of that movie, the best parts of that movie, are the smallest parts. It's the parts where he sees her, his face is all whatever, and then he changes it.

You know what I mean? When he sees her, you know what I'm talking about? And his face is all whatever. And then she sees him and he goes, hey, honey, how are you doing? He's being put through the ringer. You know, whatever. I just love the movie for a million reasons. Even if I had the first pick and I was choosing between this and Speed, I choose True Lies because True Lies is just a much more important and really groundbreaking film and action to me.

And by the way, when you got James Cameron directing, you just get perfect pacing, perfect shots, and a perfect feeling from your action movies. And, you know, shout out to Tia Carrera and everybody else that was in the film as well. It's just a great movie. It's a 14-year-old van. It was perfect stuff. I think that's the first time somebody said shout out to Tia Carrera on the Big Picture podcast. Hey, you know what? There's another thing, though.

But there's another thing, though. We forget about the little moments that people had. She was in the middle of a moment. Wayne's World. She was in the middle of a moment where she was a thing, the thing. You know what I mean? So she was having a little moment. Shout out to her.

Van, just to confirm confirm which category do you want this film in action okay if you didn't do it i was going to do it also shout out the late great bill paxton absolutely hilarious how did i forget hilarious bill paxton right in this movie yeah um okay this is a tricky one a lot of the biggies are off the board there's still one biggie sitting out there. I don't even think Shay's going to take it, but I don't even care. I'm taking Forrest Gump.

Shout out Forrest Gump. We've gone too far with the Forrest Gump hate. Okay? Wait. Come on. Sean, you can't do this without doing one imitation from this movie. You choose.

You can be Lieutenant Dan if you want, but you got to do a line from this movie. You choose. You can be Lieutenant Dan if you want, but you gotta do a line from this movie in the main category. Go ahead and do Bubba so I can have all of my people cancel you. That's right. Give me some Robin Wright.

Give me some Jenny. Jenny's good. They never do Jenny. Yeah, you can do Cypher. Uh, no no not doing any imitations there are certainly some uh some unsophisticated maybe even a little problematic parts of forrest gump but i don't i don't care coming age story of coming age stories story about america um just like a charming movie probably the thing i realized about these 94 movies is true lies is one of these movies speed is one of these movies pulp fiction obviously and for these movies. Pulp Fiction, obviously.

And Forrest Gump. You know, we talk about rewatchables on the rewatchables podcast all the time. But this year, Shawshank, almost more than any, is a murderer's row of, damn, this is on TV. I got to finish it. And Forrest Gump is an all-time,

damn, this is on TV. I got to finish it. My parents had the fucking Robert Zemeckis Baby Boomer soundtrack blasting all the damn time. Buffaloes everywhere. What do you mean? Everywhere.

I like this movie. Everywhere. Volunteers, all the jams, all the 60s jams. All the boomers thought everything was gonna be all peachy keen and it turns out it was shit. I'm taking this movie in Blockbuster, by the way. Oh, interesting. Interesting.

Forrest Gump Shay you're up You got two picks here buddy There's a great bit in the movie The Big Sick With Ray Romano where he's talking about why he doesn't Read anything on the internet You go on the internet and everybody fucking hates Forrest Gump This is the best movie ever That's great

Today I am Ray Romano Okay I get two picks I'm gonna I'm gonna let me grab this before Sean does this is

this is what I'm gonna do I'm gonna get I'm gonna get the movie Three Colors Red romantic mystery film Jesus Christ that's co-written

produced and directed that was one of the ones I expected to be there for me like Polish filmmaker Kieslowski yeah the first one of the ones i expected to be there for me like polish filmmaker kieslowski yeah installment of the three colors trilogy it examines the french revolutionary ideal like i'm not i'm not taking that bullshit i was just kidding that's a joke that was a joke i don't want that movie you know what i'm taking i'm'm taking Time Cop. I'm taking Time Cop.

Are you really taking Time Cop? Yes, I'm taking Time Cop. I need an action movie. I need an action movie. I was hoping I could slide in there and sneak away true lies. Van took it from me. I love true lies. Time Cop. A wonderful John Claude Van Damme.

Let's go. Shit. This is, everybody makes a big deal about Back to the Future. Time Cop has handled time travel better than any movie ever. It's true. They set it up with, they say these are the three rules. These are the only three rules you have to worry about with Time Cop. You can't travel into the future because it hasn't happened yet.

That's a great rule. Number two, if you travel back, you can look at yourself, you can talk to yourself, but you just can't touch yourself. Because the same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time. And then the third rule, stuff you changed in the past affects the present day. That's the only three rules that you need. We don't got to get super fucking intricate, like, what was it, Primer? You watch Primer and your fucking brain melts inside of your head and comes out of your nose this is all you need for a time travel movie you got jean claude van damme give me give me give me this for my action movie you can have three colors red sean

shay i would like to thank you for being you there's there's nothing i appreciate more than you being you uh guess what you have another pick So if you want to make an even more ridiculous pick, you can do so right now. Take red now. No, you know what I want? I want for drama above the rim. That counts as drama, right? Sure.

It's very dramatic. I need it. I got to have it. You just shanked your boy Van. Damn. Dwayne Martin, Leon Tupac, Marlon Wayans, Wood Harris, Bernie Mac is flip? Oh, my God.

Forget about it. What a movie. This also allows a bonus in here because everybody remembers Suge Knight doing the, like, you want to come to death row doing this whole thing. Nobody knows that he was up there. Nobody talks about he was up there. The award he was accepting was for best soundtrack to Above the Rim.

I get a lot of capital here out of this pick. Give me that one. For drummer. I don't know if that's a... It's a good pick. It's a good pick if only to stymie Van. Because you know that's where Van was going. It's a good pick. It's a good pick if only to stymie Van because you know that's where Van was going. It's a wonderful pick.

What a movie. What a movie. I'm up next. I think I'm going to go with my heart on this one. I'm going to go action or horror and I'm going to take a little film called Leon the Professional. Yes.

Yeah, good one, good one, good one! Another movie that when you're 12 years old, you're like, holy shit! Everyone! CR has been basing his podcasting career on Gary Oldman and Leon for many years. Luc Besson directed this movie,

a French-American production. Introduced us to Natalie Portman, I believe. And an incredible performance from Jean Renaud about a hitman who's having second thoughts about the future of his life. And just an absolutely thrilling and enormously stylish

movie. A movie that felt so of its time, so forward-looking. Such a fun movie to watch. Great Oldman, great Danny Aiello. Just a really cool movie that um i think holds up i mean obviously there's some weirdness about a 40 year old assassin being in love with a 12 year old but hey it happens um so i'm going leon uh so it's my turn right it's your turn did i choose i can't remember now let me know did. Did I choose Shawshank in drama?

You did. Did you? I chose Shawshank in drama? Yes. Okay. That was a fuck-up by me, but that's okay. Because I have to come back to a drama. I have to have fresh. I have to have fresh. You just took it right out from under me. I have to have fresh. I have to have

fresh in, I guess I'm going to go with Wild Card for Fresh then. Of all of these movies that I'm talking about, and there's a lot of films out there, even Pulp Fiction, Fresh means the most to me. Fresh means the most to me. Fresh spawned a chess phase. Fresh, there was a double- As it should have.

As it should have. There was a double whammy of chess related materials at this time it was fresh it was also a movie called searching for bobby fisher yeah um like they were around the same time i think so bob fisher is later or maybe just earlier i can't remember uh but i was getting really into chess and it's very two different both about young chess prodigies but one is a young chess prodigy who's doing it the I guess Greenwich Village way or whatever you want to call it

and the other chess prodigy which is using it to outwit the drug dealers and pimps in his neighborhood. You got everybody in it, man. You have a fantastic cast. You have Jean-Claude Lamar. You have Giancarlo Esposito.

One of the best Sam Jacksons. Yeah. One of the best Sam Jacksons ever. Right. You have so many different people in this movie, obviously including the lead. It just was a film, and I got, funny enough, I got to work, obviously, with Lawrence Bender

on Two Distant Strangers. And whereas most people, they talk to Lawrence. Lawrence, who has a big presence in this year because, you know, Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction, of course. Yeah. Most people, they want to talk to Lawrence about Pulp Fiction and all the work that he did with Quentin. I only had fresh questions. I love it.

And his stories on that movie were just amazing. How they had to get it made, who they really wanted. The whole era of Lawrence Fishburne and Samuel L. Jackson and how they kept crossing the streams in their careers and how it was like you got one guy when you couldn't get the other guy. You got one guy when you couldn't get the other guy you got one guy when you couldn't get the other guy in the whole nine so it was just it was it was just an amazing movie and it's one that i still go back to today and one that has such a huge space in hip-hop culture today i remember when i first met charlemagne on his his uh on his uh his instagram

handle it said i bust stupid dope moves And you just hear everyone say that. So I got... Shout out Chucky. Shout out Chucky. RIP Chucky, man. Why it have to happen to my man, bro? Oh. Yeah, but yeah, Fresh.

I'm going to go with Fresh for a while. One of the best last scenes in movies. Oh, so good. Bro, bro. And he's just sitting there teared up and he looks at him. Oh my God. It's the only...

To this day, I get chills just thinking about it. One of the only scenes that I'm like, I got to be honest with you, man. They fucked over Fresh. If Fresh came out this year, Fresh would have been all over the award show stuff. Oh, you forget about it. Because at the end of that movie, finally seeing some emotion from that kid who has had to go to the depths of human despair in order to get him and his family's freedom it's like a perfect scene like it's an amazing scene great job by by the way too boy asher king uh just great job amazing i love fresh okay out from under ucr

now can i ask a procedural question? Oscar nominees go for any category of the Oscars, correct? Any category of the Oscars. Then I will be taking Hoop Dreams as an Oscar nominee. You slimy bastard. Damn. Favorite documentary?

I remember this, like, this is one of the experiences where you go see a movie and, like, when I saw it when I was a teenager just not understanding what was like happening inside of me while i was watching it you know what i mean when you're like heartbreaks for real people and stuff and uh steve james documentary about two uh two young basketball players in chicago just a fucking incredible movie so i'll

take that was nominated for best editing kind of staggering that it didn't win what did win? it was not nominated for best documentary what was? we can go down the list right now it's Maya Lin A Strong Clear Vision when is that showing up on the rewatchables?

are we doing that soon? I don't even know what that is. I'm not going to hold you. What about complaints of a dutiful daughter? D-Day remembered? Freedom on my mind and a great day in Harlem. I'm sure those are great documentaries, but they ain't got no basketball. They don't have Isaiah Thomas.

I'm not just saying. I'm not trying to hate on those guys. I'm sure those are great documentaries Hoop Dreams is a great pick Chris I saw Steve James once at Sweet Greens

I was like legit starstruck I was like holy shit that guy directed Hoop Dreams okay Dobbins okay I'm up alright

so the categories I have I have a lot of categories left but I have both Blockbuster and I got to get Blockbuster out of the way just because there aren't that many, right? There are 12 that qualify and there are a lot of them that have been taking it off the list. Forrest Gump, The Lion King, True Lies, Pulp Fiction, Speed, all gone. Not all on Blockbuster.

You know what? I really have to be honest to my to to myself my 10 year old self my heart to my family and i'm gonna take dumb and dumber oh my god yes yes sean are you hating on dumb and dumber no i wanted to pick next oh okay good this is by far my favorite jim carrey comedy again a movie that I was allowed to see in 1994. My dad loves this movie. And we would literally yell random lines at each other at the dinner table. Like, our pet's heads are falling off.

You know, like I still know that it's, you know, not everything is appropriate by 2021 standards or maybe even 1994 standards. But God, did it make us laugh so hard? It is so stupid in the most glorious way. I quote this movie all the time. The swimmy swammy Samsonite. Samsonite!

I was way off. But the our pets heads Heads Are Falling Off is the all-time, like you just had a baby and you're like, the baby is crying. I got to take the garbage out. Our pets' heads are falling off.

Like everything is always kind of falling apart. It's so perfect. Great pick. Are you taking this in comedy, Amanda? No, I'm taking that in Blockbuster. Blockbuster, okay. Because I had Reality Bites in comedy.

Got it, got it. We watched this in August for our Friday family movie night. It was my turn to pick and I picked this one. Big hit. The kids liked it. Huge hit.

They loved it. The youngest one especially thought it was the funniest shit he'd ever seen. That's a nice thing. It is accessible if you're like nine or eight, nine, ten

and then also the adults like it too. It's really scary that this movie's 27 years old. That makes me feel like shit. 27 years old. God me feel like shit 27 years old god damn it yeah uh okay dobbins you got one more okay so i guess i'm gonna go in action i am i'll just i'll take clear and present danger got it yes i have to like which is we

i re-watched part of it last night's on's on Netflix right now. Delightful. And also like Tom Clancy 90s. Well, all Tom Clancy now is just like, lol, what world are we living in or were they living in? But just fast paced. I love, you know, an international CIA like conspiracy thriller. I truly love Harrison Ford. And I just have to say that like 90, 88 to 94 is Harrison Ford at his most attractive to me personally. Like I know a lot of people, like the Indiana Jones thing, obviously like so much swagger going on. If Han Solo is your thing, more power to you. We wouldn't have him without Han Solo solo but harrison ford slightly older looking like a

little bemused in a suit and then running i mean working girl is my number one forever van i would just if you would like to do a podcast about working girl at any time available top 10 favorite movies of all time mine too and i really am so happy to know that about you i feel like really like i just I feel in a community now that I didn't know we were in uh that's how much I love working girl but it's just just peak Harrison Ford and peak dumb 90s like Tom Clancy Willem Dafoe is like you know in it's somewhere in this movie playing the character is that the character that Michael B. Jordan is now trying to reboot in Without Remorse

yeah that's Mr. Clark right I can't believe I know that which is like a whole other thing the whole character yeah it like makes no sense

but also who cares uh Clear and Present Danger this features one of the all time great close is it the final scene or second to last scene

when um he confronts the president yeah the president says how dare you come in here and lecture me how dare you sir how dare you come in here and lecture me? How dare you, sir? How dare you come in this office

and bark at me like some little junkyard dog? I am the president of the United States. Great stuff. How dare you, sir? Okay. Clear and present danger. Had to go there for action comedy. Yeah.

Or action horror, rather. So now we're back to cr yes yeah uh-oh cr is left without an action movie no i've got drama so i've got drama wild card and action horror to go right yeah so for drama i'm gonna do chungking express wow okay so uh was just like it really we obviously one carai is absolutely mind-blowing, somewhat comedic, somewhat dramatic, somewhat gangster movie. But this is very emblematic of finding out about world cinema

and finding out about the wider world of movies for me and also is one of the most deeply romantic movies I've ever seen and still sticks with me today, plays so great today, the Christopher Doyle cinematography and I adore this movie. So it might be a little early, but I wanted to grab this for drama. Were you mad that we didn't invite you to the Wong Kar Wai pod? No, I never get mad at you guys.

Okay. So I think Van, you're up now. So I gotta go horror now. Now let me tell you about horror okay there's some ways that I could go here there's some ways that I could go here obviously I don't think you can go horror here Van

you can't go horror because we have action and horror is the same category and you have true lies and action and horror I thought I had true lies in blockbuster no this is why i specifically asked you what category you wanted in afterwards i was trying to hint to you man you should have taken it in blockbuster because it made so much money this is a bad beat van this is what this is why

you have to prepare you were flunked you know what you know what you know what i will just say it's okay van if you would like us to make the case against, you know, Sean the fascist about it's the first time. You're new to the rules. I had to do this once before. We invented the Oscar category. Van is a man of honor, Amanda. You know what?

He went to a magnet school. He doesn't need accommodations. Van, I'm just saying. I would stand with you if you want that. Here's your chance to take the flintstones and blockbuster van get in there well no i don't want to do that i don't want to i want to come back but i do just want to say because i'm not going to be able to choose the movie because i fucked this thing up i just want to say that wolf is the weirdest horror movie

that's ever been made and the reality is that i was looking forward to choosing wolf and not having to choose interview with the vampire because wolf is the weirdest of weird james spader that you can ever get and there's nothing better nothing better than james spader okay all right then i have to go blockbuster uh it's not a pick that i really want to make but i am going to choose uh the fucking mask now what will you do the impression right somebody stop me there we go i have to choose the mask now here's the thing about the mask. I actually liked the movie and I had it down as one of my Black Brothers Busters.

Here's the thing. The mask is a masterclass at this motherfucker's so hot, he just can't do anything wrong. There are a couple of guys that get to this point to where they are so hot that it really doesn't matter the movie.

It's not that the mask isn't entertaining, but come on, guys. The mask is fucking out of this world. Loony, wacky, crazy, early Cameron Diaz. First team, okay? It's ridiculous. Love the mask.

I have to choose it right here. It was one of the movies. It's lesser Jim Carrey, I feel like, because we've had Dumb and Dumber done on this podcast already. It's lesser Jim Carreyrey but i'm gonna go with the mask but just know that i really want to out there when you're listening i want to really get a wolf picking wolf is fucking crazy stupidest fucking movie ever but as i watch it all the time it's horror jack nicholson james baden michelle pfeiffer wolf go ahead so uh very quick wolf aside here um i had a

sit down with myself by myself after i purchased the english only edition of wolf on blu-ray for 37 during covid and i needed to just i need because i was like i gotta have all the mike nichols movies on blu-ray it's important there was no u.s. I need to go to indicator.com and get that $7.99 shipping. I did it and I don't feel good about it. Have you watched it? Yeah, I watched it and it's not good. I agree with him.

It's so berserk. It's so berserk. It's also like a satire of the publishing industry at the same time. It's a weird movie. Right. I think The Mask is a good blockbuster pick, honestly,

especially given that we've taken five blockbusters already. Okay, so I'm up now. I'm just going to take another one of these movies that in the 1990s, I was like,

this is as high class as films get. And that movie is Quiz Show. Robert Redford film. Directed, nominated for Best Picture. Chronicles quiz fixing scheme

amazing John Turturro performance definitely the first time I ever saw Ralph Fiennes who's fantastic as Charles Van Doren your boy Paul Schofield coming in off the top row here as Van Doren's father just a really classy elegant smart

smartly scripted I think Paul Atanasio wrote the screenplay for this movie. Immensely rewatchable. I also was at the early stages of a Jeopardy addiction, and a movie like this really tapped into a lot of my interests around game shows. So, love Quiz Show. Okay, Shay, you've

got two picks here. I got three categories left for my two picks. Comedy Oscar nominee, wild card. Can I ask a question? For Oscar nominee, does it have to be something that was nominated or can I pick something that should have been nominated? No, it has to have been nominated. You also already took time, Cobb.

Keep that in mind. Dang it. Dang it. All right. Well, well then for comedy you know what let me get airheads i like airheads good fun little movie salute early adam sandler right before he takes off with billy madison and everything the year the year later i'll take airheads for comedy what's air Airheads about? I forget. They take over the radio station? Yeah, they break into a radio station to play their song. The Lone Rangers. There's three of them.

This is running big. Early Sandler, early Buscemi. Great movie. Yeah, it's really fun. Go watch that. All right, there's my comedy. I'm stepping past Ace Ventura to grab Airheads. Big, big Jim Car carrey year 94 and then for

oh for wild card you know what i want i want something that touches my heart i want something i was like just absolutely in love with when i watched it the first time and it it helped uh further my love for this particular person the star of the movie i need surviving the game with ice tea yeah what a great what a great great movie yeah oh my god this was the movie that taught me very early in my life that if rich white people invite you to a thing don't go probably not going to work out that great for you so don't go and then also it taught me to check the barrel of a gun if you ever find a gun otherwise that shit will blow up right in your face. There's my pick. That's for a wild card. I'm feeling real good about my selection right now.

I got to be super real. Surviving the Game was a big disappointment to me. I think it was the follow-up to Juice for Ernest Dickerson. And Juice was one of my five favorite movies of all time. And I was so stoked on Surviving the Game. It was like a weird Rutger Hauer movie. Not at all what I was expecting. You're out of your mind, Sean.

Okay, I got two more left. So I got comedy and I got wild card. I mean, there's a Coen Brothers movie on the board, guys. Go ahead and take it. Yeah, we know. Go ahead and then do your monologue. I keep taking Coen Brothers movies in the draft and I keep losing drafts.

Put some fucking respect on the Coen Brothers name for crying out loud. Tell us more about Rando while you're at it. Just the Hudsucker Proxy, one of the more, one of the zanier Coen Brothers movies. One of the more satirical movies. Yeah, the creation of the hula hoop

by way of Hudsucker. Really just fun movie. I think it's kind of forgotten at the time that this is also a Paul Newman movie. An interesting performance as the leader of this falling down corporation in 1920s America. Incredible Jennifer Jason Leigh performance

as an enterprising, young, Katharine Hepburn-esque reporter. Bruce Campbell as her fast-talking editor. Just a really kind of fascinating kind of fork-in-the-road movie, I think, for the Coens. Because this movie was not a big hit and I think it forced them to kind of fascinating kind of fork in the road movie, I think, for the Coens.

Because this movie was not a big hit. And I think it forced them to kind of like scale back some of their ambitions. And then they go from this to Fargo. And that charts the course down the road for them. But really fun movie. Kind of, you know, very rewatchable. I think a lot of people have it as a lower tier Coens. But I still like it a lot.

So, Hudsucker Proxy. Comment. Okay. My turn? It's your turn, Ben. So I'm going for my awards movie. This movie was nominated for Best Cinematography. Now, I got to tell you about this film. This film, if I could remake any movie

with an all-black cast, this would be the movie I would remake. Wow. Because this movie has top-tier mess. When I say top-tier mess, this would be the movie I would remake. Wow. Because this movie has top-tier mess. When I say top-tier mess, this movie has a brother bringing his wife to his other brothers. Yes. Okay? Are you trying to make Black Wyatt Earp?

No, listen, listen. The wife is hanging out. The brother goes off to war. He fucking dies. And then the wife is the other brothers are arguing about who's going to get the wife that was the wife of the little brother. Every time I see this movie, I'm like, yo, that's your brother's wife. You know, it's got Brad Pitt eating people's hearts. It's nuts.

It's got peak Brad Pitt. Do not show this movie to your girl. You're done. If you think that Thelma and Louise is peak Brad Pitt, you're out of your fucking mind. If you think it's Troy, if you think it's Meet Joe Black, it's Legends of the Fall.

Peak Brad Pitt. He's fucking communing with bears in the movie. He can feel the bear. You know, he can feel the bear. It's that little white savior stuff in there. Maybe a little bit. But he's going the way of the indigenous people. He's rugged.

He's rough. It's got Anthony Hopkins. All right? It's beautifully shot, but it's like a long soap opera, top tier mess. It's got war. It's got love. It's got lust. It's got the fucking frontier. Legends of the Fall, love the movie. It's like a light Western or like a heavy, heavy soap opera drama. Love Legends of the Fall. Check it out. By the way, movie completely holds up. Completely holds up.

It's top tier Pitt to me. Low tier Anthony Hopkins. But like top, top, top top tier Brad Pitt to me. I got Legends of the Fall in my awards movie. Never seen it. Are you serious? What? What? What is wrong

with you? Never seen it. Have you ever seen A River Run? What is wrong with you? Never seen it. Have you ever seen A River Runs Through It? Yeah, that's a very important film about fathers and sons. Yeah, yeah. So you can't fucking do... That's the Brad Pitt

Montana double feature. You gotta see Legends of the Fall, bro. Come on, Sean. Let's do it, Ben. You and I, we're hosting at the New Beverly double feature.

River Runs Through It followed by a three-hour live pod followed by a screening of Legends of the Fall I can't believe that you haven't made it until you're 40 years old to do this this is what every 15 year old girl in America did in 1996 we watched those two movies oh my god I can't explains a lot about why I did not have as much success with 14 year old girls as I would have liked holy cow alright Chris I believe you are up okay so I have horror or you know action and horror and then I have wild card left right

correct I'm gonna go for horror I'm gonna go shallow grave which is Danny Boyle's first movie yeah really good where we first met Ewan McGregor. Incredible Christopher Eccleston performance. It's like on the thriller side of horror. It's on the Hitchcock side

of horror. But it's essentially about a group of friends who become enemies over a murder that happens in their apartment in Scotland. And it is fucking awesome. I remember just how kinetic, exciting it was. Very big fan of Carrie Cox at the time

that this movie came out. That was cool. Oh yeah? What about her? She's just like, seems like a lovely lady. And yeah, so Shallow Grave is my horror movie. Okay. Dobbins, you've got two picks.

Yeah, I have drama and wild card left. And it's just Amanda time. When is it not Amanda time? Well, that's true. But I don't really think that either of you, especially my drama category, which is the previously mentioned Little Women. Just the 1994 Little Women,

not the Greta Gerwig Little Women. Greta Gerwig's Little Women is definitely better. But this, to a certain age and a certain generation of viewer, was a very important movie. And actually, this movie and its success at the box office is credited with a lot of the kind of costume dramas and a lot of Jane Austen adaptations that popped up in the second half of the nineties, including Sense and Sensibility, which is one of my favorite movies. So very grateful to this, but this is, let me just read you guys the cast. If you're, if you're not familiar, we've got Winona Ryder as, as Joe to Winona Ryder movies for me. Incredible. Uh, you've got Kirsten Dunst as little amy famously wearing a clothespin on her nose

which really uh to to reshape it which stayed with me then samantha mathis is older amy you've got claire danes as beth and i don't maybe you guys don't know what happens to beth and little women so i don't want to spoil it for you but that climactic scene is really kind of where Claire Danes' career starts. You can't have Homeland without what Claire Danes is doing in that particular scene. Does she let the bus go under 50 miles an hour? What happens? I mean, in a way, I suppose. Susan Sarandon as the mom.

You know, Eric Stoltz is like floating around because it's a 90s movie. Gabriel Byrne is the person that Winona Ryder winds up with. Spoiler alert. But you got Christian Bale as Laurie. And I just, Chris has talked a lot about what 1994 taught him in terms of romance. And I just, Laurie by the, begging Joe to marry him. It just, I can't tell you how important that is.

Like I really, and I was so nervous that Timothy Chalamet wouldn't get to that place in the remake. And I'm pleased to say that he did, but Christian Bale, just begging. I, yes,

thank you. Important. So that's my drama pick. And then wild card. What am I going to do here? I could do a lot of things. So many good films. I don't think I'm going to be, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to take Barcelona. I had a feeling. Yeah. The Whit Stillman film. And this is maybe my favorite Chris Igaman of the three Whit Stillmans. And Chris Igaman is obviously a huge part of those movies. Also a huge part of Kicking and Screaming, the Noah Baumbach one. And I just ended at an early version or really like an archetypal version of a of a movie character and a type of movie that i just always works on me just always uh but this is just a delightful

movie and i love those wet stillman movies so barcelona fantastic movie good pick okay cr this is it so spanking the monkey is still on the board. Baby's Day Out is still on the board. For Wild Card, I feel like there are a lot of movies here that I would love to highlight and there are a lot of movies here that I would love to discuss. But I would be remiss

if I didn't talk about maybe the most 1994 movie. The movie that, for me, more even than Forrest Gump, was, if you read like, movie line or premiere, was the thing that people were most consumed by. And that is natural born motherfucking killers.

An absolute car crash of a movie that is like psychedelic, not good, like just thinks it's way smarter than it is all these things and yet at once like when i saw it and and when it came out like it was the culmination of this like this movie is going to be the bonnie and clyde for this generation it's going to change the way we look at american movies and like it was you know there was like i mean the amount of controversy about this movie was extraordinary the amount of like coverage of the making of this movie was extraordinary of the casting of this movie was extraordinary and i just you know ultimately like it comes up really short but woody harrelson juliet lewis lovers on the run movie um and pretty extraordinarily cracked out

robert downey jr performance uh as a TV reporter, I believe. And yeah, like if you haven't seen it, you should definitely see it. But I thought it would be weird if we didn't have it on the list anywhere. I love the movie. Like love, capital L. I guess I was oblivious to all the criticism.

It really has the saddest death scene in movie history to me when they have to, spoiler alert, when they have to kill Robert Downey Jr. at the end of the movie. Yeah. I can't believe you picked, like 10 minutes ago, you just picked Fresh where they shoot a little girl in the neck and you're like, this is worse. Robert Downey Jr. I'll be honest with you. Let me tell you why. Because like a lot of these are unexpected.

This one is just pathetic. Yeah. G-Baby and all of those things, those are shocking. This is just pathetic. Any white watching this movie would have thought that Robert was going to make it out on the other side.

They had just bonded together and all of that stuff. But then they had... I love Natural Born Killers, though. And I just want to say shout out to the Cowboy Junkies cover of Sweet Jane that is on on this soundtrack that's two references to that in two pods in three weeks you're living in the 90s yeah well you keep making me do these these 90s drafts we can talk about dip set just call up 2005

um i love natural born killers too i still want to see the film version of the tarantino screenplay 2005. I love Natural Born Killers too. I still want to see the film version of the Tarantino screenplay. Yeah. The one that got rewritten. That's the thing is that the movie changed a lot. That was another reason why I had Tarantino books

is because you're in like five screenplays as I recall back on this now. True Romance already happened by then too. Anyhow, good pick CR. Glad somebody took NBK. It's a big one.

All right, I'm up, right? No, Van, you're up. I'm sorry. I only have comedy left, right? Mm-hmm. You have comedy left. All right. Nobody has picked Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, have they?

No. No, sir. And it's not going to fucking happen here. Wow, Bobby was already typing it in, Van. No. No. It's not going to fucking happen here because I'm not fucking trying to win. I'm trying to speak my fucking mind.

So I'm choosing goddamn Blank Man. Wow. Yes. I'm choosing Blank Man. I don't give a fuck. Blank Man is hilarious. Robin Givens, Damon Wayans, the movie, they thought it was going to be a thing. It turned out to not be a thing.

But I still love every fucking frame of Blankman. Look, post in Living Color, there was a lot of talk about who the Living Color breakout superstar was going to be. It seemed for a time that it was going to be Keenan. Then it seemed it was going to be Damon. And then it became obvious that it was Jim Carrey. Obvious that it was Jim Carrey. I don't fucking care. Although you can make an argument that it was actually at the end of the day,

Jamie Foxx. But I don't care as hot as any actor has been like I said before Jim Carrey was in 1994 he was the man I'm going blank man I'm going a black broke

superhero that's what I'm going put fucking blank Man on there and let's wrap this shit up. Yes. I have two thoughts about this pick. One, well, I have three thoughts, actually. It's an abominable pick. It's one of the worst picks in the history of the movie draft. It's kind of amazing.

Two, the real breakout of In Living Color is probably J-Lo. Three, doesn't count. Not a sketch actor. I mean this sincerely i'm not i'm not mocking you or anything then i honestly think blank man which i saw in movie theaters is when i realized movies could be bad like i was i was so hyped for this movie because i love the living color i had already seen ace ventura i was i was all bought into the culture of all of these guys being like our SNL,

not ready for primetime players. And Black Man is terrible. Yeah, but don't tell that to Jason Alexander, who's in this movie as well. Black Man, baby. I'm with it. Phenomenal pick by you. I'm up.

I have wild card left. And I'm just going to pick a movie that I like the best from this time. It's still phenomenal pick by you. I'm up. I have wild card left. I'm just going to pick a movie that I like the best from this time that's still on the board. That movie is Blue Chips. That's a great movie. Directed by William Friedkin. About a college basketball coach played by Nick Nolte. What I think is genuinely one of, if not his best performances.

I mean that sincerely. I think he's incredible as Pete Bell. Features some of the greatest monologues he's ever delivered uh obviously a lot of real life nba and future nba players featured prominently in this movie some really good basketball action in this movie um some really credibly shot college basketball yeah well they got real players and having penny and shak and bobby hurley and calbert cheney and all those guys being in the movie was a huge part of that. But I think like a really compelling, not totally accurate, a little bit over the top version of kind of like the booster problem and athletes being paid. And I don't know.

I actually haven't watched it again recently enough to know if it if it has aged well relative to what has been happening with college athletics and when athletes being paid, but just a really fun, propulsive, interesting kind of a drama that also is a sports movie that also is kind of a comedy if you're a JT Walsh guy, and I am a JT Walsh guy. I was about to say, has some great JT Walsh. This and Outbreak,

the one scene in Outbreak where they give him, anybody with a camera has to know that there was no other way. I love JT Walsalsh so now we're we're down to the final two picks of this draft shay serrano oscar chris ryan fucked me with oscar nominee when he took hoop dreams yeah i should have done that earlier time cop was on the board you couldn't say no and then sean finnessy fucked me earlier when he said I couldn't pick a movie that should have been nominated.

This is why I love doing stuff with Van because he's like, I don't care about your stupid turtlenecks and the things you tell me are supposed to be good. I like the stuff that I like. Because in my Oscar nominee category, this is what I have written down right now. I was going to argue for Little Giants.

I was going to argue for Major League Two. I was going to argue for Mighty Ducks Two. I was going to, after you said it had to be something that was nominated, I was going to argue for Little Giants. I was going to argue for Major League Two. I was going to argue for Mighty Ducks Two. I was going to, after you said it had to be something that was nominated, I was going to say, oh, well, sort of Tim Rice co-wrote the song that won Best Original Song and Mexicans Eat Beans and Rice and Me Vida Loca is my pick. That's what I was going to try to do. I was going to try to get there, but I couldn't.

So that leaves me just sort of stuck. I guess Wyatt Earp, I guess I'll do that one. A movie I care 0% about. I care 0% about it. No, I care 2% about it because I like Kevin Costner. But beyond that, sure, give me Wyatt Earp. I like Wyatt Earp. I'm not going to lie.

We don't ever want to have this argument, but you know, because Wyatt Earp always gets avalanched under the comparisons to Tombstone. But there are ways that Wyatt Earp is a superior movie to Tombstone. Tombstone is fucking a kick-ass

much more entertaining movie to watch. It's better. But there are ways that Wyatt Earp got it right and that Tombstone was kind of lacking. Sean, can I pick Tombstone? Sean, can Shay pick Jurassic Park? Where's my pick? As the last pick in a 30 movie draft,

that's actually a very good pick, Shay. All right, I feel good then. Let's do a recap very quickly. I'm going to read through every single pick, some of which are wonderful. Others are less wonderful. In drama, here are our picks. Chungking Express for Chris Ryan.

Quiz show for myself. Amanda got Little Women. Shay got Above the Rim. And Van got The Shawshank Redemption. In the comedy category, CR takes Clerks. I take The Hudsucker Proxy. Amanda takes Reality Bites.

Shay takes Airheads. And Van takes Blank Man. In Oscar nominee, Chris got Hoop Dreams. I got Pulp Fiction. Amanda got Four Weddings and a Funeral, one of her all-time favorites. Shay gets Wyatt Earp,

a film I'm not totally sure he's seen. And Van gets Legends of the Fall. In action and horror, CR gets Shallow Grave. I get Leon the Professional. of film I'm not totally sure he's seen and Van gets Legends of the Fall in Action and Horror CR gets Shallow Grave I get Leon the Professional Amanda gets Clear and Present Danger Shay gets Yes Indeed Time Cop Van gets True Lies

okay let's go to Blockbuster Chris gets Speed I get Forrest Gump Amanda gets Dumb and Dumber Shay gets The Lion King and Van gets The Mask. And of course in Wildcard, Chris takes Natural Born Killers. I took Blue Chips. Amanda took Barcelona. Shay took Surviving

the Game and Van took a personal favorite, Fresh. So you guys feel good about what you did? I do. I feel bad because in Wildcard there were a bunch of movies from 94 that I think are worth mentioning, but I decided to just go for Natural Born Killers

because of its significance to the year. But can I just shout out the two John Dahl movies from this year? Red Rock West and Last Seduction, which were these two neo-noir movies. Last Seduction's great. I never saw them. These two neo-noir movies, one with Nicolas Cage, one with Linda Fiontino, and

just amazing noir movies. Peter Berg. Were there any other movies any of you guys wanted to talk about or pick but just didn't have a chance to? Amanda, did you want to talk about PCU now or should we save that for the after the pick pod? I have a whole list.

Crooklyn was one that was definitely going to be in my drama back pocket. Crooklyn? I never liked it. Okay. What? Really? Never.

I couldn't get into Crooklyn. No, that's a bad take. Come on. Delroy and Crooklyn? Delroy. Incredible. One of the best ever. Wow, you're hating.

The Client is a pretty successful one from that time. Riverwild. Absolutely. Shout out Kevin Bacon. Oh! Awesome movie. Giant is like a pretty successful one from that time. River Wild. Absolutely. Shout out Kevin Bacon. Oh! Awesome movie. Yes. Great movie.

I don't know if that was a yes or a no, Van. Okay, great. That's a great movie. Yeah, it really is. This is a movie that I didn't have time to revisit, so I haven't seen it. But the paper, I remember... Is it bad?

I remember it being good. It's good. Okay. No, it's bad right okay michael keaton punches glenn close down in the printing press in the final 10 minutes of the movie and you're like what the fuck is happening punches her yeah he like throws her into a printing press it's fucking wild okay goofy ass movie all right um an amanda Madness of King George very good movie about you know British people and

the child Amanda movie the Miracle on 34th Street remake is very good thank you it is shout out Mara Wilson this was a big time for I feel like a lot of kids

sports movies this was the year D to the Mighty Ducks Little Big League Little Big League Angels in the outfield little giants i i submit to you that little big league is a top five baseball movie ever made i love what i tell you i love little big league jason robarts like how do you know palm ball

it's gonna be it's gonna be a play. He knows so much about baseball. You have the guy in there. He can't hit anymore. His guy, I love little big league. The guy from 30 something starts banging his mom. Like the whole, like the whole,

I love little big league. Love it. There's like literally 25 to 30 more movies that we didn't name that. I'm sure people would be like, how dare you not mention cops and Robertsons or whatever. My apologies to all of those wonderful movies. This was the dope draft. Um,

Shay van, Chris, Amanda. Thank you very much. You guys did a great job. Please listen to the midnight boys. Listen to no skips. Listen to higher learning.

Listen to the watch. Listen to jam session. Everybody here has multiple podcasts. Shout out to the ringer podcast network. Shout out to our producer, Bobby Wagner for his work on this episode. And stay tuned later this week on The Big Picture. We're going to talk about a new MCU movie.

It's called Eternals. This movie is... Got some thoughts about this one. See you then. you