The Big Picture - The 20 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2022

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

It’s been a grim summer movie season, but a promising fall awaits. Amanda and Sean break down the summer doldrums at the box office and then share the 20 fall films of 2022 they’re most excited to see. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Talk the Thrones! The Ringer's instant reaction show for all things Ice and Fire is back. Now as a pod. To cover the new Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon. Every Sunday night, the Ringerverse. Chris Ryan, that's me. Joanna Robinson. And I, Mallory Rubin, will be breaking down the latest episode.

Sharing our thoughts on all the schemes and plots. Schemes and plots are the same thing. Dragons. And incest. Hey, it's a Game of Thrones show. So boot up your favorite podcast player and head to the same thing. Dragons. And incest. Hey, it's a Game of Thrones show. So boot up your favorite podcast player and head to the dragon pit. Because fire and pods will reign. I'm Sean Fennessey.

I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about the fall movie season. Amanda, we're in studio in person the summer is winding down how was your summer it was great i'm clinging to the last what 10 days yes that we have technically a month if you want to go by like the vernal whatever calendar is that that's what it is right the vernal whatever calendar okay that's that's spring anyway the autumnal calendar yeah Yeah, it was fantastic. Traveled some.

Saw some family. Okay. I'm trying to think. I, you know, saw the Minions. Saw a lot of other children's media and some adult media. Okay. Like pornography? What do you mean?

No, like, you know, for people over the age of two. I see. Or one, really. Is over the age of two an adult? I guess so. In your life right now, yes. For me, no. That two. I see. Or one, really. Is over the age of two an adult? I guess so. In your life right now. That's where I am. And so I'm just, I'm entering this podcast and this fall season ready to do big kid things.

Okay. Ready for grownup stuff. I'm excited. I haven't been through the summer wars as you have, and we're going to talk about it. Yes. And I'm ready to spend time with adults watching grown-up movies, movies for grown-ups. I love your attitude. I love the expectation that these will be adult films. I was going to say, are they going to make those films?

We'll see. We shall see. We're going to talk about the movies that we are most excited to see on this episode. Amanda will pick 10. I will pick 10. We're also going to just recap a little bit of what to see on this episode. Amanda will pick 10. I will pick 10. We're also going to just recap a little bit of what's gone down this summer. I would say not my favorite summer from a movie perspective. From a life perspective, I also traveled a little bit.

You know, I also watched some kids media. I saw a lot of family. I got back to the East Coast. Very powerful stuff to just return after a couple of years. Felt great about that. Movie-wise, challenging. I thought we would start here by looking back at our movie auctions because we've done two this year. And I would say we were, at best, wildly inaccurate with our predictions about what was actually going to come out this year.

How are you feeling about what we auctioned for? Is that our fault? Are we taking responsibility for that? Good question. I'm not. Yeah, we shouldn't we shouldn't because the movie industry is in a state of disrepair and a lot of confusion and you know it was just a few months ago when we were in this very studio and we were talking about top gun

maverick and we were like we did it it's back your your chosen son of a film has saved movie theaters everything is going great. This is a magical time. And then the last six weeks, it kind of felt like everything fell apart again. And some of it is because of some middling releases. Some of it is a total lack of releases. It's been very odd doing this show.

As some listeners know, we didn't even do two shows last week as you and I were both on vacation. And I don't know. As I look at the movie auctions, there were a couple of obvious ones that we nailed. You in particular got Top Gun Maverick in one of the auctions. And that is the success of the summer. In the most recent auction. So that's the one that counts. That is,

I got them in the first one and you got that one in the second one. We've only seen, what, a one, two, three, four other films have been released thus far this year that were auctioned for. That includes Jordan Peele's Nope, Bullet Train, The Northmen, and Men. Now, there's a whole bunch here that have yet to be released, but are dated that we know are coming out. I'm going to name those very quickly. Black Panther, Wakanda Forever. Won't be the first time that movie comes up on this conversation. A bunch of these movies, Bros, She Said, Don't Worry Darling, the banshees of in a sharon trial triangle of sadness armageddon time avatar the way of water the menu tar see how they run violent night and the fabelmans now all those movies are coming out this fall and because there is this raft of new films that's part of the reason why we're doing this episode give those films a little bit more context

get people excited about them there's a couple of more movies that have not officially been dated white noise the much anticipated no bound back adaptation coming out soon glass onion a knives about them. There's a couple of more movies that have not officially been dated. White Noise, the much-anticipated Noah Baumbach adaptation coming out soon. Glass Onion, a Knives Out mystery. Was dated this morning. Oh, when is that coming out? December 23rd on Netflix. They'll probably do the theater run beforehand. I see. And I believe it's debuting at TIFF as well, so. Okay, so will you see that film in a movie theater as a paying customer? If they don't show it to me beforehand, which I'm really hoping they will,

Netflix, give me a call. You never know. You never know. Willing customer. Babylon is the other one, which I think is dated for Christmas,

but I'm not totally sure. That's the new Damien Chazelle film. So a bunch of other movies that were auctioned off. Asteroid City, the Wes Anderson film. Maestro,

much anticipated. We'll be doing an entire week of Bradley Cooper content when Maestro comes along, whenever that is, probably next year. The Killer, the forthcoming David Fincher movie, Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos' next movie. Seems like those are going to 2023. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning part one, definitely going to 2023. Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse part one,

definitely going to 2023. Killers of the Flower Moon. There was some confusion. People were hoping it would make it by the end of the year. It's now not coming. No Scorsese in our award season this year, alas. And then Disappointment Boulevard, the alleged four-hour Ari Aster Joaquin Phoenix film. Big event for me. Amanda is nodding her head. I love Joaquin, as you know. Yeah, that's true. Despite, you know, some recent superhero associations.

He's coming back. Joker 2, we have not had a chance to talk about that. It's a musical. Lady Gaga. You remember her? I do like her. to talk about that. Sure. It's a musical. Lady Gaga. You remember her? I do like her. The star of A Star is Born? She's good.

She sang the theme song at the end of Top Gun Maverick. That's true. She was in House of Gucci. I'm a big fan. Screen legend, Lady Gaga. And I think it's funny that they're just kind of remaking Scorsese movies without heart or ideas. You think this is pure New York, New York? Is that where they're going to go? I mean, it has to be the reference, right? Yeah, I think so. remaking Scorsese movies without heart or ideas for millions of dollars. You think this is pure New York, New York?

Is that where they're going to go? I mean, it has to be the reference, right? Yeah, I think so. Here's the thing. Despite all the discourse, I liked Joker. I'm not afraid to say it. I recorded an entire podcast about it.

I thought it was interesting. Is it a overt homage slash bite of those Scorsese movies? Of course. But so are a lot of movies. I'm okay with that. Do I wish no one else saw it and I could have just seen it for myself and not had to hear anyone's opinion about it? Yes. But that's not the world we live in. So I'll be watching Joker 2.

I think I will too, whether I want to or not. Okay. Let's go back to this summer. We got all these movies coming up either later this year or next year. I thought this was an unusually strong spring for movies. Now you were, you know, you were on leave. Yes. You saw some stuff. You didn't see everything. I know you were trying, last time we talked, you were trying to catch up on some stuff. Did you, did it feel like you were missing out on a lot of good movies? I was so in the bubble. My son was born in February. So those first few months, I don't really remember what happened. I know that it took me five nights to watch the Batman at home on HBO Max because we watched it in like 30 minute increments. And at the end,

I literally texted you and Chris Ryan to ask who that man was at the end of the Batman. And you said to bring it back, that was the Joker. So that was my level of investment in the Batman. I do think Robert Pattinson looked very handsome in the suit. So I was my level of investment in the Batman. I do think Robert Pattinson looked very handsome in the suit. So I wouldn't say that I was experiencing the spring revival of the movies fully. I was checking in and out. Yeah, it's a hard time. Those first three months, it's a lot of deep focus on your child. You can't be too worried about going to see Jack S. Ferber in theaters twice like I did. Did you see it twice in theaters? I did. That's nice. I had a great time. I'm jealous. I really loved that movie. But there were a gang of movies. Some of them were streaming,

some of them were theatrical, some of them like RRR, which I talked about a couple times on the show, opened in theaters, but very quickly came to Netflix. So a lot of people have seen that movie. CR and I went crazy for Ambulance, Crimes of the Future. There was a great Cronenberg throwback film. I got to talk to him. That was amazing. We had a Soderbergh movie. We had a good Pixar movie. Everything Everywhere All at Once was like a huge event for movies, whether you liked it or didn't like it. It was a big kind of interesting independent movie. So it just felt like there was a lot going on, capped off by Maverick closing out the spring in a really triumphant fashion. And then we get to this summer.

And there were a couple of movies that I had earmarked before the summer started. And candidly, I was like, I don't really have a lot of Amanda time on the show. It's hard. It was hard doing the show without you. But it's especially hard when nothing is happening. Yes. You know, because I can always count on us to just be like, let's just riff on something fake for an hour and it'll be fun. Yeah. And this led to a lot of having to come up with

fake ideas for Chris, you know, a lot of like, let me just say though that let me, let me give my review from at home. Cause I was listening as you know, um, I absolutely loved what was the name of the genre that you came up for The Gray Man? Dirtbag Contractors, something like that? I think it was Trash Special Ops. Trash Special Ops. Okay. Perfect podcast, especially when you just clear out for Chris and he just starts doing his Edward Norton impression. We rewatched all the Bourne movies at home. We're on Legacy right now, which Chris thinks is the second best Bourne movie. And that's insane. I love you, Chris.

But no. Very mediocre film. But it did inspire me to watch all of those. So that was great podcasting. Would love to give you guys a thumbs up for that. Also somehow listened to the entire Prey and Predator rankings podcast. Great. Despite never having seen a frame of any of those.

But you guys were enthusiastic about Prey. We were. People seemed to like that. We were. I would say Prey is certainly one of my five favorite movies that I've seen this summer. Sure. Which is, you know, not necessarily a diss to it.

It's a very, very good Predator movie that Chris and I talked about already. The Gray Man was not very good though. No, terrible. I mean, looked awful. I thought you guys were right, except for your thing about how you don't care that people go to Germany in movies.

I don't care. Yeah, I care a lot. I think that that's a major part of definitely the Bourne movies where you're getting the Europe vibe, but also movies as a place to go somewhere else. I'm speaking as a woman who has been stuck at home for the last six months and then two years before that. But like go somewhere else. Here's the thing, though. You got to actually go there and make use of the location. The Gray Man filmed in Prague for like that $40 million set piece that was like all computers. That's what I'm talking about. Like if you're talking about Under the Tuscan Sun and we're seeing Diane Lane in the glow of the Italian sun. Yeah.

That's one thing. If you're just shooting up a city square in Prague for 20 minutes. Right. Not interested. But in the Gray Man, it wasn't the location's fault. It was the filmmaking fault. That was just that was bad. Not interested. But in The Gray Man, it wasn't the location's fault. It was the filmmaking fault. That was just, that was bad. I agree. There were not a ton of movies that I could strongly recommend. I liked Marcel the Shell with Shoes on. I didn't love it. I liked it. I didn't really devote an episode to it. I didn't really feel like it should have been a

movie, but the intention, I thought it was very sweet. It's hard to be like, this isn't good. Is it too vulnerable? My heart's a little tender right now. It might be. Yeah, I thought it was very sweet. It's hard to be like, this isn't good. Is it too vulnerable? My heart's a little tender right now. It might be. Yeah, I wasn't. I just, I don't need that. It is very, very big hearted. And that's not a criticism,

but you have to be willing to look at earnestness in its little shell eye. It's just emotions are really going up and down right now. And I just don't need to be sobbing for no reason at like nine on a Tuesday. So the only other film that I listed as a success this summer was Nope. And you left a note here in our document that says, I haven't listened to the pod, but I finally saw this movie and 12 question marks. Yeah.

So you didn't like Nope. I don't know. Cameras are powerful. Like, what are we doing? That was your takeaway from nope i what what is it about what you want me to answer all of the things that it is about i avoided all of the media i still haven't listened to your you did the podcast with van right and i'm gonna listen to it but because i wasn't going to be able to see it for a while because i couldn't make it to theaters

i i just avoided everything i did like the skip on the podcast. You didn't read any reviews, nothing? No, I read some headlines. I had a friend who listens to this podcast text me and say he wasn't a huge fan. So it wasn't even like my expectations were like through the roof. But I just didn't know what it was about beyond the trailer and commercials during sports events. Okay. I don't still know what it's about. I mean, there's an alien who's a camera.

Not really. Okay. And there are some horses. Uh-huh, that's true. And shrapnel. Is this your review, your official review? Should we have this transcribed? I honestly, sure.

What is happening so i have heard from a lot of people much like your friend who i think heard our episode certainly who saw the movie with great anticipation because jordan peele is a big-time filmmaker very divisive movie yeah i've heard from people very i've heard from very celebrated filmmakers who are like this movie is bad and this is not a good script and we really need to figure out why we're give it letting Jordan Peele do whatever he wants yeah and I've heard from other people who are like this is the only person who's taking chances in mainstream American movies and we can criticize the choices that they make but it's amazing that they're making some of these choices now to me

snapshot of what the film is pardon the pun the power of spectacle and the way that it kind of drives us crazy and we don't realize how it takes us over. Like that is essentially like the top line theme. You know, that the idea of an alien like this becomes the ultimate spectacle, but in like being obsessed with it the same way you'd be obsessed with the Kardashians or a car crash can lead to kind of dangerous things.

It leads to bad habits. It leads to selfishness. It leads to greed. Hence the TMZ camera showing up. Exactly. You know, on the one hand, it's this big social critique, the way that all of his films are. On the other hand, it's a, you know, kind of an homage love letter to, you know, the way that people would take genre storytelling and say like, this is a, a fault of our people, but it's also like an exciting story. Now, I think a lot of people did not think it was a very exciting story.

Well, I think that's part of the problem. I think this movie looks beautiful, by the way. And even the effects really are kind of majestic and artistic and obviously like the vistas and whatever the homages that it is playing to Western cinema. But I don't think the execution in terms of spectacle or at least tension and pacing, really. It is slow. And there are moments where you're trying to build dread. And he can do that in a frame. And then it takes like five times the amount of time that it should take. And you just, it's really slack. Or is the opposite of? No, it's like, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Yeah. That's what I had heard from some people too, which is sort of like, this is a movie that needed 12 pages

carved out of its script and it didn't get it. It's challenging. Is it a five-star all-time classic? It's not to me, but a major breath of fresh air in a season that I found very challenging. And also, I just think, as you said, as an image maker,

Jordan Peele after three movies is kind of like entering a high tier of execution. But working with Hoytavan Hoytama, like thinking about the sky and the idea of looking up was something that I thought was very powerful. Huge homage to Spielberg and Lucas. You know, like there's a lot of movie history in the movie too, which I'm a sucker for. Right. And so I'm kind of biting and chewing on a lot of that stuff as I'm watching the movie too.

I'm not surprised, nor am I offended. You know, sometimes when somebody sees a movie and they're like, I hated that movie. And you're like, but I love that movie. Like it's Francis Howe. Why are you a fucking idiot? Right. If people don't like this, I get it.

But I'm grateful to have it. I think it's not a massive success. It's a solid hit. This is the other thing. It's a partial credit situation that you're doing. And I've decided for the fall, I'm not giving partial credit anymore. Because I'm back and I'm excited and I'm meeting people with my energy and time.

This is very John Wick. They're going to meet me with their energy and time. And if they don't meet me, I'm going to be direct about that. And I think it's great that everyone's trying. And I think people should keep giving Jordan Peele opportunities because you're right. At least there are ideas. It looks good. Everything looks like complete garbage right now.

What the hell is going on with movies? I just don't know what to do. We'll talk about TV for one second. Just to say I got roped into watching the Game of Thrones show last night. Can someone come to my home and make it look okay on my TV? What is going on? I mean, it's a CGI fantasy show. It's just a computer game.

Everything looks like a damn computer game all the time. Grey Man 2. Yeah, I mean, they made the choice. First of all, anything you watch on your TV at home, you're already taking a step back. I am watching things at home like the rest of America, okay? And the business at large. But you're not supposed to say that on this podcast. Yeah, that's not what you're supposed to do.

Well, I know. But we do have to greet reality. In addition to not getting very many great films, the box office is really struggling. Right. Unsurprisingly. People are watching things at home still. I know, it's tough.

They are. August has been a staggeringly bad month at the box office, even though theoretically we are emerging out of the COVID pandemic. Do you know what the number one movie of the year, or excuse me, do you know what the number one movie of this past weekend was? Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball Super colon superhero? Is that right?

That's not a Dragon Ball Z thing? I believe it is yeah um have you seen that film no i was gonna say dragon ball z is where my knowledge ends just the title yes i don't know so i mean i'm assuming there are balls the that are dragons or dragons that are sure yeah let's roll with that definitely yeah uh tune in later this week when we break down the balls that are dragons in all the films that we like. I thought this was notable, you know, in our colleague Matt Bellany's Puck newsletter this week. He wrote some chilling notes about the summer box office season. CEO David Zaslav tout theatrical as a driver of both short-term revenue and longer-term windowing, fewer projects are taking the theatrical first route. That's lowering overall box office, the stat that hurts the theaters, not necessarily the individual studios, and creating movie

deserts like the current period, which should last until mid-October around the release of Halloween Ends in Black Adam. Between now and then, we may endure more than two months without a film generating a $25 million opening weekend. When was the last time that happened pre-pandemic? According to David Herron of The Quorum, it was fall 2007, exactly 15 years ago. Yikes. Yeah. What? Why? You know why.

Well, okay. So I want to address this because it's really interesting. Now, there were a bunch of movies that were supposed to come out in this July, August, September window. And many of them got pushed. Now, some of them got pushed for obvious reasons. Across the Spider-Verse, for example, the film wasn't finished. It wasn't going to be ready. That's a very elaborately animated movie. Don't laugh.

No, no, no. I was just thinking about one of the podcasts I listened to when Chris was mocking them for pushing it. And he just goes, can't they just draw faster? Which is the meanest, funniest thing Chris, who I love,

is a buffoon and an imbecile when it comes to animation. Can't they just draw faster is really, really funny. They can. Not if they want to make the film as good as it can be.

So I understand that. There are other movies. You know, John Wick 4 is a movie that comes to mind. That's a movie that maybe it also wasn't finished. I'm not really sure. But a lot of studios, I think out of some concern for the continued pandemic issues, out of some concern about lining things up correctly for

2023, which in theory could be a bigger year than 2022, but it seems like 2022 is going to be down a full third from where the box office was in 2019. What's that going to lead to? More theaters closing, studios making fewer films for theatrical, more movie stars taking TV shows because it's a more reliable gig. You look at the kind of middling performance of a movie like Bullet Train or the middling performance of, I don't know, where the crawdads sing, you know, these movies that like did okay business, but not really good enough to seem like they're ever going to be at the center of culture.

And that's the thing that we've kind of been wringing our hands about over and over again. So it's concerning. I do think that there are some very exciting sounding movies coming out this fall. I don't know that beyond Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, and Avatar the Way of Water, many of them sound like they're going to be successful. So we could get to the end of the year and be like, whoa, this is dire straits in this industry. And we may be looking at 2023 in a totally different way. And you and I might be talking about Game of Thrones here on this podcast. No, we won't. I'm sorry. I just, here's my mini review of that, which is the whole big secret

that gets passed down from generation to king to king is winter is coming. Babe, I know. Like, you know, what are we doing? At the risk of getting too personal, that revelation in that episode of the show, that premiere episode, led to a rather nasty exchange between my wife and I, in which we both tried to explain to each other what that meant. Didn't go well. God bless her. She was not happy with how I was receiving her information. She was not happy with my information. Anyhow, that's neither here nor there. Speaking of TV, though, very quickly, I need to talk about the rehearsal.

Okay. I've seen the first episode. I need to talk about the rehearsal. Okay. I've seen the first episode. Oh, you have? I did. Okay. I will pay you $1,000 American if you finish the series. But the next few episodes would come about raising a child, right? They certainly do.

Way too soon. Well, it's an object of much fascination, much controversy. Bill Simmons and Julia Liman talked about it on Bill's show this week. People have been tweeting at me, like, when will you talk about the rehearsal? I would love to talk about it right now. I won't spoil anything. I will say, I thought, as I thought Nathan for you, people may have heard me talk about Nathan Fielder in the past. I have also been a huge fan of his for a long time. I think what he's doing is very exciting, very transgressive, very funny, very discomforting. I think that there were some fascinating ethical choices made especially

in the season finale that definitely like tipped the scales of people outright rejecting the show I wouldn't begrudge anybody who feels that way I thought it was an amazing work of art

and much like the Jordan Peele half credit thing that you're accusing me of partial credit you're accusing me of giving I wouldn't give I would give full credit

to Nathan Fielder because I feel like he's in total command of his art form the thing is his art form is a one of one there is not a single person in the history of film and television that has ever been making things quite like him we can't we can't say that about any of the geniuses who are making movies on this list that we're about to share he stands alone in blending reality television, game show, pop art, and this confusing memoiristic journey. This show is way, way, way more personal than Nathan For You.

There's so much it seems like, or at least it feels like, and we may never know because I hope he doesn't talk about it, coming out of a person who was recently divorced, a person who is getting close to 40 who does not have a child, a person who constantly puts people in vulnerable positions on camera and then attempts to wring laughs out of it, self-reflecting on that, did he do some damage to people while making this show? It's very possible. If he did do that damage, is he a bad person? I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure we're worthy of being arbiters to make those decisions. This is such a fascinating piece of art. I implore you at some point in the next 20 years of your son's life to watch the show. Can I skip the child rearing episodes and then go to it? Because the show literally becomes about that. Okay. From

episode one to episode two, the show completely transforms. Oh, interesting. It no longer becomes this kind of episodic. In this episode, we will attempt to rehearse this sequence for this person's life. It becomes very much about this one woman who wants a child. And then the way that Nathan enters her life and their life and the actors that they hire to create this opportunity. And then it gets even stranger and funnier. It's very provocative. It, again, will be reviled by some people and might be reviled by you. I did think it was fascinating.

I just am not the type of person who wants to explore the difficult or recently complicated scenarios in my own life through art. You know, I just don't. We are different that way. We are. We're very different. You want to be made uncomfortable. That's where you go to it because you can't access your emotions in the real world. That's right. I feel my emotions in the real world.

And then I say, no, thank you. Do you though? It's interesting. We can talk about that another time. Someone recently, I try to be aware of them. Okay. But I was recently told I don't like feeling through them. But the last six months has been a new

journey. So here are my goals for the fall. To tell it like it is. Well, that would be a huge change. Wow. No partial credit and feeling my emotions. But I'm going to feel them in real life, which means that I'm not going to feel them in the rehearsal. So I will take you up with $1,000 like 15 years down the road. Well, we'll hold a rain check for you up with $1,000 like 15 years down the road. Well, we'll hold a rain check for you with a $1,000 bill on it. Is inflation a part of... No. The number stands today.

It's really tough. That being said, if the global economy collapses, $1,000 would be tremendously valuable. All right. I'll take that under advisement. Please, people listening, watch the rehearsal. I wish I could have a longer and deeper conversation about it. I don't even know where I can. Yeah. If you want to call me, I'm not willing to share my number, but I'm engaged in the discourse in a meaningful way.

The discourse of my own mind. Okay. It's definitely the best thing I've seen pretty much all year. Or best is such a silly word. The most compelling and forceful thing that I've seen all year. Or best is such a silly word. The most compelling and forceful thing that I've seen all year. Do you consider it television? Not really. I just don't think it's anything.

Okay. You know, it was funny watching, like, if you finish the show on HBO Max and scroll and you see sort of what's recommended for you to watch next, there were a handful of things that kind of made sense. You know, Curb Your Enthusiasm was there. Albert Brooks' film Real Life, I think, was there, which I think is a really interesting antecedent, which is effectively about a man who sort of like invents reality television

to capture a family that was inspired by a PBS series that premiered shortly before that. They have a little something in common, but that's a controlled scripted environment in real life. This is something totally different. There's not a lot to compare it to. Some people have drawn the connection, I think smartly to Synecdoche, New York,

the Charlie Kaufman movie, which is essentially about recreating experience and trying to get what's in someone's head into the real world. And that's a part of what Nathan is after. But even still, Synecdoche is a screenplay written by a master and then directed by him in total control of the thing. Right.

Nathan, maybe in the editing booth, is shifting reality. And we don't know what's real. We don't know what's satire. We don't know who's in on the joke. There was a lot of speculation that people were actors that were performing in this thing. Then they were not real people. That was not really made clear. I believe that most of the people who we learned were real people were real people, but maybe

not. And the kind of mystery around this show is so rich. I'm blathering because I'm so into it. The experience of just the first episode and knowing now that it's so separate from everything that you're responding to, I mean, it's just fascinating because watching the first episode, I was like, oh, interesting. So you just made a kind of episodic or filmed version of therapy. Like that's cool. And you acted out a lot of the mental exercises and emotional tools that one goes through specifically dealing with anxiety

and therapy. And I was like, well, that's useful. You know, good job. That's what it looks like. He, I mean, he very quickly shifts the attention from the quote unquote contestants onto himself. Oh, okay. And I think that that's when the show gets really, really much deeper. But that first episode looked more like Nathan for you to me than whatever the show became, which became something. Got it. Sui generis. Okay. That's the rehearsal. That's not a movie, but it is in my heart. Okay. I choose to believe. I think we're going to have to be a little bit more flexible about claiming things. I know. Things that are both movie format.

Yeah. To quote Rob Harvilla. I think that's so useful. And then also things that have the spirit of cinema. Yeah. That aren't quite TV that we're going to take for ourselves. I'm glad you said that. You know, the Watch podcast, they do a great job of talking about movies.

I love listening to Chris and Andy talk about talk about films especially marvel films i've always enjoyed hearing them talk about franchise cinema when they like it and when they don't like it i think they're very funny and very smart about that stuff we might have to do the same i don't really know what we're gonna do about tv yeah but i think it has to have what you described i think it has to have this kind of cinematic quality right we could also get excited about the films that we're just about, we're going to talk about. Yeah, yeah. Which may not all be Top Gun Maverick or Avatar, but can mean something to us. I agree with you.

I think the challenge here, and this is a cynical gambit because we're making a show that we want people to listen to this. If people don't see the movies, they're not going to listen to the show. And if people don't listen to the show, they're not going to see movies. Like it is this unvirtuous cycle of irrelevance. And I don't want that. People don't see all the movies that we talk about now. I hope that you do seek them out. I love all the psychos that listen to the show that don't see any of the movies. Those are my favorite people. I listen to the watch without watching any of those shows. So you're not a psycho. You're just a person looking for community and you learn about things and then you can seek them out. That's the other thing is that box office is down and that's

bad for the business and that's bad for the types of movies that we want to see being made going forward and for the center of culture. But people do seek out movies at home. I think we got to promote the theatrical experience because we both love it while also not shaming people who watch movies at home at a later date final question for you to our list do you think that the uh david zaslav canceling batgirl to receive a tax credit right and the idea of glass onion and knives out mystery going more than likely to theatrical apple tv plus' films likely going to theatrical as they, you know, conscript more movie stars to be part of their projects. Do you think that this is actually like a shift back to a recent history of 2018 where at least like pure spectacle is pedestaled and then

whatever goes straight to streaming is more than likely this sort of like 13 million dollar Netflix teen comedy kind of thing like do you think that there actually is a reset happening here or is it just a series of you know a handful of convergences that are ultimately coincidental I don't know whether it's a full reset I do think it's a bit of a correction which was probably always needed both for pre-pandemic movie and TV and streaming world because the way that people were consuming things was changing and they needed to adjust a bit. And then the pandemic swung way towards streaming. And that's obviously not long-term sustainable for anybody. But at the same time, it's where people watch things and I'm one of them now. So it's an

adjustment, a correction, trying to make something somewhat sustainable. And that also speaks to the, you know, the whole Netflix financial apocalypse of that was not a sustainable business model for a long time, as anyone who reads the Wall Street Journal would tell you. And some of it was just due, and now it's uncomfortable. I agree. I agree. I think setting aside the individual circumstances of each of those films or those studios, there was a huge, perhaps necessary, overcorrection to kind of push towards streaming for some of these companies,

but there was not a lot of financial reasoning behind it. It was essentially responding directly to the stock market. And as the stock market resets against those studios, they have to make changes. I don't, I don't, I certainly don't want to disparage movies that are never going to be released.

And especially those that are like not going to be made now because there's no middle tier. We lament the middle tier all the time. I do like the idea of saying it's time to get knives out to in movie theaters. You know, it's time to get killers of the flower moon and movie theaters. It's time to get Killers of the Flower Moon in movie theaters. It's time to get Brad Pitt's F1 movie in movie theaters. Fucking around with The Gray Man being a $200 million movie that goes straight to Netflix after one week playing in 14 theaters, that was nonsense.

That was an insane way to do business. And it was bad for viewers. It was bad for fans. It was bad for the studios. It was not a good move. Did you watch it at home? I saw a screening of it and then revisited it at home. What was the difference between the screening experience and the home experience?

You know, I usually say the opposite for Netflix, where I see their movies in theaters. Like, gosh, Spider-Head I saw in a movie theater at Netflix. And I thought it worked really well. And I liked it. And then most people saw it and they were like, this movie is terrible. And, you know, I thought it had some problems and the ending doesn't work at all but nevertheless I thought it looked really good it's a Joseph Kaczynski movie with tons of aerial footage I was like this is you know certainly not a sequel to Maverick but like it's got some stuff in it

yeah at home it looked awful watched that on the Friday night it came out thanks to so I could talk to you and Chris or text you yeah that got away got away from that. It didn't work. And the gray man was the opposite. The gray man in theaters, I was like, oh, this is a massive bomb. This really doesn't work. Tone is off. It looks bad. The performances are really, really hacky. It's trying to do something that I get what they're trying to do and it's not working for me at all. And the room was kind of muted that I saw it in and so that is a true blue like this this movie is it failed it failed at what it was trying to do but i don't i don't find that that's always the case i do find that there are many netflix movies and not just the prestigious films that are made for awards purposes there are mid-tier like extraction in a movie theater

that would have kicked ass yeah like is that a brilliant you know plot wise film no but there's great great action in that movie and the same way people were locked in on John Wick, they might've been locked in on those sequences and extraction. So I'm hopeful that that is what will happen. I'm hopeful that extraction will play in movie theaters for three months and then it will come to the service. Whether that will happen, I don't know. You know, let's just take a look at our list without revealing any of them. How many of these movies are going straight to streaming? Only one of my movies is going straight to streaming. And... None of mine.

Well, I guess it depends on... Well, yeah, I guess. Two of them are made by streamers. Correct. But theoretically, they're getting release windows. Although one of them, I don't think is going to get much of a release window. It's three Netflix films, and everything else is being released by a studio,

which will tell you something about our biases, and maybe a little something about how the films that are being made is shifting. What's been held over. I thought we should mention a couple of honorable mentions before we dig into our list. You want to take a quick break before we do that? Sure. Okay. Take a quick break.

Okay, we're back. So a lot of movies coming out this fall. I have no idea what's going to be good. I've only seen like three of the noisy films. I'm seeing nine films in the next five days. Oh, really? You already have it all lined up? Or, oh, this is before you go to Telluride?

Pre-festival screenings before Telluride. Wow. And some of them are noisy stuff like that's on our list. And some of them are just like small movies that I want to check out. But I have a very, very busy slate upcoming. So you're just doing like two a days? Yeah. I have two a day today.

Wow. Two a day today. Two a day on Wednesday. I really got to get childcare locked down. I mean, it's as much my wife being an absolute warrior as it is childcare. But, you know, it's one of those things where like if you want me to be present in October November I kind of need to have a bad September that's that's where we're headed but it also say like there is a lot coming and I'm mad that

nothing came out in July and August because they just chained everything into a four-month corridor nevertheless can I just say one thing yes I'm really proud of you for taking a vacation thank you in August you, you did it. I did it. And you even, you shut the podcast down for a week. I did miss it because I had nothing else to listen to as I texted you on vacation. I literally was like, you're on vacation and I'm proud of you, but I don't have anything to listen to while I'm folding laundry.

That meant a lot to me. But I think it's good for you to take vacation. Okay. And I think that's great. So let's not be negative about how you spent your July and August. August was magical. I reconnected with my family. That is very important to me and I needed it. But I watched like three movies in eight days, which is very uncommon for me. And honestly, I felt it was a little bit like I was getting

off drugs. Yeah. I was like, this is hard on my soul. I want to watch two movies a day. That's what I want to do. How is your program of watching movies with intention going? Not well. Okay, yeah, I know. Thank you for remembering. Sure. I would say it's been up and down.

Okay. Obviously, this month it went wonderfully. Yeah. But next month, not so much. When you respond to that month of it going well with just fear and anxiety, you know, that makes me a little nervous. Like maybe next year we can set the goal of embracing it.

But I'm proud of you. It's small steps. I just want to have a command of my craft. Okay. That's all that really matters to me. Just some honorable mentions quickly, okay? Woman King, big theatrical film, Gina Prince-Bythewood coming out.

I think it's a Sony film. That's in September. Talk about that on the show. There's a bunch of Cannes films that we haven't seen that are interesting. The Stars at Noon from Claire Denis and After Sun by Charlotte Wells, which won the jury prize there.

There's a new Kelly Reichardt movie showing up, which I'm looking forward to. New Walter Hill movie. I think he's like 80 years old, dead for a dollar into it. We don't have Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu's Bardo on either of our lists. We don't. Not a big Iñárritu fan myself. Nor am I. So this is definitely one of the most certainly important films of the fall. Much anticipated. I have liked some things that Iñárritu has done, but very mixed on his last couple of movies. But nevertheless, I think for many people, it will be an event.

Halloween Ends, I mentioned. That's the closing of the latest Halloween trilogy from David Gordon Green. I honestly have been more in on those movies than anybody I know. I think people have been successful, but the hardcore horror fans in my life have been like, these movies aren't working. I disagree. I saw the most recent one with Judy Greer was in it, right? Yes, she was aren't working. I disagree. I liked, I saw the most recent one with Judy Greer was in it, right? Yes, she was.

That was a nice moment. I won't spoil it in case you haven't seen it, but yeah. You saw that film? Yes, you asked me to go see it and I went and saw it. You're the best. I am. There's a David Bowie documentary called Moon Age Daydream. Looking forward to that, seeing that this week.

Pearl, the sequel to X, which is a horror film I presume you have not seen. No. Slasher film from Ty West. He has a sequel coming out later this year. Right. He broke the news on the Big Picture Podcast. That's right.

That was very exciting. See, I'm up to date. You are a true listener. Where are you at on Confess Fletch, the new Fletch film starring Jon Hamm? What on earth? But in a way, I feel like I've already seen it because I have seen every single Jon Hamm commercial of the last six months he's really out there

he he's getting them checks and we don't begrudge him that there is a horror movie called Barbarian that comes out in the beginning of September that I'm also seeing this week

that I'm very very excited about very strong buzz on this film there's a Laura Poitras documentary that is playing at all four festivals called The Beauty and the Bloodshed about Nan Golden the photographer and artist. Athena is a

Romaine Gavris film coming to Netflix which was much touted. We're not talking about any of those movies on our list though. We're going to start now. Who's going first,

you or me? What do you think we should do? You want to go first? Sure. Okay. All right. At number 10, I put Don't Worry Darling.

Bold. Yes. Directed by Olivia Wilde, written by Katie Silberman, who wrote the book's burnt script. Here are my reasons. Number one, Florence Pugh. You're in on Florence Pugh. I'm in on Florence Pugh. I like Florence Pugh. Number two, Harry Styles. I'm in on Harry Styles. I just say yes to that experience. I watch a lot of the concert footage on Instagram. Thanks to all the people who are taking the TikToks and putting them on Instagram for the old people like me. We appreciate it. Can I ask you a Harry Styles question? Do you think that he is the most effective active celebrity?

In terms of time spent versus reach? Like what are you, you know? I wasn't looking for a mathematical equation, but that's not a bad one, honestly. I think in terms of non-controversial for the most part with the occasional gossip flare-up, creates things that people genuinely love, is Sordent entering a second medium, a second craft pretty cleverly. Well, I think he might be the best example of pure celebrity almost divorced from content because I could not confidently identify a Harry Styles song, even now, if you played that for me. But that's not true of most people 20 years your junior. That's true.

But the music is just kind of like a vehicle for people to experience Harry Styles. The music is not the thing. I mean, he's like kind of trying to borrow from Bowie a little bit visually. But the music is just nowhere near it. It's more like a Davy Jones, The Monkees kind of playbook in terms of the songs. I loved The Monkees when I was three years old. So please do not disperse the Monkees.

I am not, but it's more just like not the artistic intent of a David Bowie, but the energy, the look, the style. Right.

Anyway, whatever Harry Styles is doing in front of a camera is just really working for me. So I'm into this. Yeah. This is like a, I don't know,

how would you describe it? It's black comedies, thriller, paranoia movie. It looks just like they worked off The Step paranoia movie. But number three, here's my third reason. It's like, aren't you curious? Like, don't you just want to know what's going on here at this point? I want to know what's going on here. Much gossip and controversy around this film, around people's dating lives.

I think it does look like the kind of movie that I'm begging for. It looks like a 70s throwback, not just because of the Stepford Wives, but because it's ostensibly a created world, an imagined world, an original script that has something to say about our culture. I dig that. It could be terrible. That's fine.

The energy is very mixed right now. Don't you want to know? That's all. I absolutely do. That's my reason. I'm curious and I will be seeing the film. Okay. My number 10, a little bit of a low-key entry.

You came in noisy. I respect it. I received a DM on Instagram from a woman that I looked at. I never look at my Instagram DMs and then I looked at it over the break. I'm nervous about the rest of this story. This is very nice. This is very sweet. A woman who, I don't know, I can't even recall her name.

I apologize to her. Sent me a long message about mentioning Et Hem, the Swedish hotel that my wife and I stayed in in 2019 that I talked about on this podcast. Oh, with the books? Yes, with the books. Yeah. And they had this hotel slash like home estate. Had this extraordinary library of English fiction. And I don't read fiction very much, as you know. Right.

I do love Hottessa Moshfieg. And, you know, I loved Our Year of Rest and relaxation and Eileen the book was there and so anyway this woman dm'd me and she said thank you so much for mentioning this hotel my husband and I had our uh our honeymoon there and we had just the most extraordinary time it was such a great experience thank you so much for recommending it so they got the travel recommendation from the big picture yes oh my god can we just turn the big picture recommendations? We might have to, if these movies aren't good. So great. I'm game. So anyway, I was reminded of at him and then I was reminded of the books that I read while I was there. And one of the books was Eileen. I read Eileen in one

sitting is a shorter novel. Um, it's kind of a paranoid thriller in its own right. I think she's just really my tone of fiction writing. Okay, I can see that. The way I want to be made to feel uncomfortable in my movies is her fiction

does the same thing for me. Lo and behold, I don't think I really fully put this together that there is an Eileen adaptation coming out this year from William Oldroyd

who I think is the filmmaker who is responsible for introducing us to Florence Pugh, because he made Lady Macbeth. Oh, really? Yes. So he is a very talented filmmaker. He has not made a film since that movie. Now, this movie stars my queen Anne Hathaway. Love it. And Thomasin McKenzie, who I think is a very talented young actress. Now, on the one hand, I don't read a lot of fiction. I did read this book. I voraciously

read this book, and I loved it. If they fuck it up, I'm going to be really mad. Yeah. On the one hand, I don't read a lot of fiction. I did read this book. I voraciously read this book and I loved it. If they fuck it up, I'm going to be really mad. On the other hand. Double-edged sword. It is. And then we will come back to that feeling of fucking it up later in this episode. But if they get it right, how exciting. Yeah.

To get one of these. Now, she's tough to adapt because a lot of her films take place in the mind. Yes. They're very singularly focused on their protagonists. And revisit all of this coming very soon. Yes. And that is the big challenge

of most literary fiction adaptations. But I'm excited about this movie. It's a Searchlight movie. Great studio. Sounds good. Anne Hathaway?

Can I ask you a related Anne Hathaway question? I'm very excited for this film as well. I didn't really realize that it was happening. During my leave, there was a clip

from, I believe, the WeWork show yes of Anne Hathaway doing something with tissues yes yeah can you put that in context for me

literally what was happening I didn't finish We Crashed I did see that she had one particularly explosive episode I think it was episode 5 which I did watch

and then was on my We Crashed text chain as one does and was just like this is my favorite actress in the last 10 years she is so fearless

and weird and I love it that's what everyone said about this particular clip but I didn't have context for the clip you don't remember what was happening

well one she did dress like a Navi in the film which for a Halloween costume at some sort of gala event which is again Anne Hathaway

legendary figure in this world I can't remember what she was doing with the tissues but I do remember that thing being a meme she's the best

she's super funny she's totally in on the joke people who don't think she's in on the joke are fucking idiots she definitely gets it yeah mostly I think she does

I don't think that that was necessarily true in 2015 now I think she fully gets it alright that doesn't mean she's any less sensitive

sure perhaps deranged she's an actor sensitive. Sure. Perhaps deranged. She's an actor. In an exciting way. We're going to talk about her more. Okay. What's your number nine? Ticket to Paradise.

Let's go. Okay. The oldest that I have felt in my life was when I went alone to see Minions The Rise of Gru. And I sat through about 12 trailers for children's movies. And the very last trailer that was shown before Minions, The Rise of Gru, was the Ticket to Paradise trailer. Starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts as a divorced couple who go to their daughter's wedding in a tropical location and hijinks ensue. And I have to assume it's, you know, a classic remarriage rom-com

starring two of my favorite people. It was very clear that this trailer was being shown for all the parents before Minions, of which I am now one. It was a dollop of salvation in the face of 11 consecutive animated movie trailers. I was so excited because I think, like, I laugh every time you know julia roberts

and george clooney are doing their their little banter and then i felt so old because i was like wow i'm you know it's the parent throw you a bone here before the kids movie here we are anyway this is directed by al parker who i directed mamma mia 2 and i just want to recommend some deep reading on vulture there was a oral history of the last scene of Mamma Mia 2 that I think was 30,000 words long. I mean, it was longer than most novels. But Al Parker is really very funny in that oral history if you want to get ready for Ticket to Paradise. Anyway, I'm excited. I think it's an incredible opportunity for us to talk a lot about Julia Roberts on this show.

Can't wait. We have not really had reason to do it for a number of years. Right. She was doing TV. She was doing TV. The handful of films she did, I would say, were smaller with the exception of Wonder. That was probably the only big film that she made during that period. You know, this looks okay.

Let's have some fun. Okay. Let's have open hearts. Let's accept things as they are, Sean. This is going to be mediocre and fun. But you deserve it and I deserve it. Should I give it partial credit? No.

I think there is a difference. This is important. Taxonomy. And thank you for introducing it now. There is a difference between partial credit and accepting something as it is. Now, perhaps we should debate this on a future episode. Okay. I like that concept that I deeply disagree with.

Okay. Well, those are your demons. Okay. Speaking of demons, let's talk about my number nine. The name of this film is Master Gardener. This is the new movie written and directed by Paul Schrader, who is my father. Oh, boy. This is an independent crime thriller.

That's how it's described. Can I read you the logline? Sure. Narvel Roth is the meticulous horticulturalist of Gracewood Gardens, a beautiful estate owned by wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill. When she orders Roth to take on her troubled great niece Maya as his apprentice, his life is thrown into chaos and dark secrets from his past emerge. Let's go.

I think even I'm open to this now. Absolutely. This is Amanda's Paul Schrader movie. What subgenre created by you and Chris Ryan does this fit under? This is, well, this certainly sounds like John le Carré. So this is sort of like, this is more elegant spy. Plus gardening?

God, I'm really excited. I mean, we've already seen the constant gardener. Okay, yes. This is the master gardener.

He is gardening at a greater level than the constant gardener. Wow. This film stars Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver and a woman named

Quintessa Swindell who plays Maya. Now, I'm on the record. The late period, the closing, the winter light of Paul Schrader. First reformed, the card counter. I am in heaven. These are the films that are made for me.

And I'm rolling my eyes just like deeply with my whole body. Which is what I did when I saw this on the lineup. But then you read the long line and it's about gardening. And now I'm excited. Could be very interesting. A horticulturalist. You know, fun fact, my mom studied horticulture in college. I do actually know that.

I talked to her about that. She was a gardener herself, very passionate gardener. And I would not say conferred the green thumb to me, unfortunately. But I still have a real appreciation for gardening and for flowers and for the world of nature. Paul Schrader, a man of the earth. Sure. Truly. Is he?

Absolutely. I guess so. I mean, he is the ultimate warring spiritualist. Oh, boy. All right. Truly, mind, body, and soul. I'm turning my enthusiasm back down now. Okay?

I can't wait for Master Gardener. Premiering in Venice. It's not dated yet. I presume it's coming out this year. It may not come out of town. Okay? I can't wait for Master Gardener. Premiering in Venice. It's not dated yet. I presume it's coming out this year. It may not come out this year. Let's get Paul Schrader another Oscar. Okay.

Does he have an Oscar? He doesn't have an Oscar. You should know, but I don't really think he does. I don't know why I said that. Harrison Ford doesn't have an Oscar, so why would Paul Schrader? He's going to get one

for Indiana Jones 5. Okay, good. Honestly, that would be fine. Harrison Ford doesn't have an Oscar. This is something that I just think about occasionally and I'm incredibly angry about. It's a cinch. What should he have gotten it for? Mosquito Coast? Sure. Yeah, that's it.

That's a good performance. What's your number eight? Okay. The Whale, which is the Darren Aronofsky film, which is maybe surprising for me given my feelings about Mother. Do you like other aronofsky aronofsky movies i think that i find them exasperating but in an interesting way they're kind of undeniable yeah he's he's he's he's got it but he doesn't necessarily tell stories everybody likes and the way that he tells them is so like anguished, doodly, that it was an interesting time to be a woman in her 20s in Brooklyn

seeing Aronofsky films, if you will. I think it was also an interesting time for Darren Aronofsky in Brooklyn. Don't know how things worked out for him. With women in their 20s. Yes, exactly. But this is a film starring Brendan Fraser. And I will read you the logline.

A 600-pound middle-aged man named Charlie tries to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter. So I think this is being tipped as an Oscars performance. Absolutely. And my husband, Zach Barron, wrote what I thought was very lovely, though I am biased, profile of Brendan Fraser a few years ago. So I root for him. And I think I'm curious. And it'll be interesting to see whether this actually does put him in the award season. It seems like sight unseen. He will at least be nominated.

It feels like that. Zach's piece is phenomenal. I think the way that Brendan talked about his life and experiences in that piece is phenomenal. There's a lot of warm feelings towards him. This was a person who was like a true blue movie star in the 1990s and early 2000s, who kind of slid into a kind of obscurity that sometimes leading men and women do in Hollywood. He has emerged a little bit in the last three or four years, taking on more and more parts.

Always been a good actor, always been a really good comedian. This seems like a very dramatic part. I'm excited. I like Aronofsky without reservation. I don't think all of his movies are successes, but I think he is always interesting, as you said. So I look forward to this. This is an adaptation of a play. It's not an original story from Aronofsky. And I believe, is it Sadie Sink?

The Young Woman from Stranger Things, the redhead, plays the daughter. So perhaps some interest from young people in this a24 drama maybe tbd um okay what's my next film uh number eight black panther wakanda forever i i hope this is great i really don't know i don't know what to say obviously there are tragic circumstances around chadwick boseman's passing that means telling this story becomes complicated and what to do about t'challa and what to do about the future of the kingdom in tragic circumstances around Chadwick Boseman's passing. That means telling this story becomes complicated

and what to do about T'Challa and what to do about the future of the kingdom in Wakanda. Coogler, I think, is as reliable as they come when it comes to handling mainstream stories. He has a real knack for using archetype and then slightly shifting it the way that the best, the way that the Spielbergs of the world do. So I have every reason to believe he's going to get it right.

Marvel is on like the ultimate cold streak. Yeah. It's really been tough. You want to talk through it right now? I've done it too many times on this pod. I have listened to you do it, but I just, I kind of wanted to experience it firsthand because I'm having some fun with it.

One thing I did do on vacation was force Eileen to watch one episode of She-Hulk Attorney at Law. Nope. Which, you know, I actually appreciated what they were going for. And it's not totally unsuccessful, but seeing it through Eileen's eyes, I was like, where are we in our culture?

Like, Tatiana Maslany and Mark Ruffalo are in this television show for 38 minutes as two hulks talking to each other about how to be a hulk welcome you know the water is lovely we're happy to have you here can i share a personal anecdote which also doubles as a thank you and a reminder that i need to give you the key while you were traveling we had some work done in our home and so you very kindly gave us um spare key to your to the famed adu with the collection um in case we needed to be there primarily so my

son could sleep. We did actually take you up on that on Friday afternoon. And as my son sat sleeping in his crib, I just sat on your couch just looking at your DVD collection for a really long time. By the way, we can make a podcast out of that sometime. I'll just interview you. But in one lonely top left corner corner there is just the DVD collection of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like phase one phase two phase three I own them all I spent a lot of time contemplating that purchase where you've put them in the ADU how you're feeling about that investment right now I'll explain where I put them. Yeah. There is a smaller shelving area alongside the television that is sort of obscured from view.

Not where I was sitting, but okay. Okay. That is where all of the franchise Blu-rays go. Okay. Now, if those franchises are made by different filmmakers in a collection, then they'll go up there. But if they're made by one filmmaker. Then they go in the filmmaker section?

Then they go in the filmmaker section. So, like, the Jurassic Park films are likely to go in the Spielberg section, even if he didn't direct all of those movies. But for Marvel movies. The Marvel movies were up top in the corner, as hidden as they could possibly be. And then Disney movies were kind of middle in that same row. Yeah. Which, you know, I understood

and more accessible for Alice. That's right. We've got to get them lower down so she can reach up and grab them. It was just also really dispiriting. Like, what a large chunk

of that bookshelf they took. I mean, they've made 30 films. I know. I'm doing some personal reckoning with what I've put into the world. Right. And I like

a lot of those movies. I would say about half of them I genuinely like. And maybe half of that half I love. Things have been grim. And I'm grateful that Coogler's coming along. Now there's other people too that like Peyton Reed is making another

Ant-Man movie. Does that movie have to be good? Like it doesn't have to be good, but Peyton Reed is a good filmmaker. Yes. So that is likely to be good. That being said, I had high hopes for Thor Love and Thunder and I didn't really care for it. Doctor Strange 2, I love Sam Raimi. I thought it was pretty flawed. So as much as I appreciated the Raimi flourishes and those were the good ones. So we're in a tough time. I listened to all of those podcasts. I appreciate your support. Wakanda Forever will be a hit. Will it be the, I don't know, lightning bolt of cultural impact of the first film? That would be really hard to replicate. It could be very moving though.

If they get it right. And I agree with you. I trust in Coogler. I really enjoyed Black Panther, despite all of the salty things that I just said, or the gloating or whatever you want to call it. So if they figure out what to do with that character and are able to pay tribute to Chad McBoseman and everything that the first film meant, it could be a Top Gun Maverick level, both in terms of emotion as well as box office. I think it's safe to say it is the movie event of the fall with perhaps one exception. Oh, yeah. Okay, so that movie's November 11th.

What's your number seven? Glass Onion, A Knives Out Mystery. Okay. Which, as previously discussed, released on Netflix December 23rd. It will also be at the Toronto Film Festival. Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig is back. Here's the rest of the cast. Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Catherine Han, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madeline Klein, Kate Hudson,

and Dave Bautista. Sure, why not? Is Dakota Johnson also in this movie? Is she? I thought so. I copy and pasted, so let's see. Dakota Johnson, Glass Onion. This is no, it doesn't seem like it. Okay. And maybe I just wished that into the world. I think she would be good at it.

Knives Out is an on-paper Amanda movie without question. Shaw movie too. Yeah. They're using a Beatles song title now. Right. So they're really aiming directly

at our forehead with the sniper rifle. I hope this is great. I don't know. I think it will be good. Yeah. And it'll be well made. They filmed it in Greece, I believe.

Yeah, your fave. Last summer. So that sounds great. Once again, feel free to go to the location don't listen to sean go places make use of it take me there have a lovely vacation while you're at it because you deserve it ryan johnson even though you got netflix to pay you i think 400 million dollars for this franchise so i don't know if he got that money directly. Well, I think- Some of it. Yeah, he got a lot of it. So that's exciting. Oh, even Hawk is also in this? I didn't read it. Yeah, hell yeah. Hell yeah. You know what? Like, I'm a big fan. I'm excited. And I think that if it's a really well done version of what it is, which is an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery with some wry

commentary on the genre. Great. I agree. I'm excited. I'd be curious to see how long that movie plays in movie theaters and in how many movie theaters it opens. If it's more than a thousand, that's pretty cool. Hopefully it'll be more than a thousand. My next movie is Decision to Leave. This is a long-awaited new film from Park Chan-wook, one of the great South Korean filmmakers. I know you're a fan because of the television series

that he made. Did you watch that? The Little Drummer Girl. You know what's so funny is I watched the first two in like a down period and I really liked it, but then I didn't get a chance

to actually finish it off. Okay. So after your strong re-recommendation to check it out, I actually did start it up again and now the cast of that show looks amazing in retrospect um it's obviously a beautiful film you know Park Chan-wook this is the director of Old Boy Lady Vengeance Stoker The Handmaiden he is literally one of the best living filmmakers this film premiered at Cannes um it's coming out on October 14th. Here is the log line in case you are curious. I think this is going to check a lot of boxes for us. A detective falls

for a mysterious widow after she becomes the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation. Pure noir. That sounds wonderful. This is basically going to be a Humphrey Bogart movie. Tang Wei and Park Hae-il are the stars of this film. She's pretty much hugely celebrated at a Cannes, which is a good sign. This is already, I think, the South Korean submission for the International Feature Film for the Academy Awards. I don't know what we're going to do to celebrate it, but hopefully we'll do something cool in the show. I'll be surprised if this isn't a good one. Okay, number six for you. Empire of Light, the new Sam Mendes film, starring Olivia Colman and and colin first let me

read you this log line a love story that takes place in an english coastal cinema during the 1980s wow okay yeah wonderful thank you i'd love to this sounds a little bit like cinema paradiso i don't know if you've seen that italian. It's like an homage to going to the movies. Sam Mendes, coin flip filmmaker for me. Same. Half great, half,

hmm, this didn't really click for me. Olivia Colman, pretty safe to bet on her at this point though. Has she made a bad movie? Gosh. I mean, I'm sure,

but like in recent, you know, since the glow up, has she, she picks really well. Sounds like Olivia Colman Hall of Fame is in our future. I can't wait. Okay, number six.

Surprised you didn't have this one. Women talking. I love everything about this, but it sounds really grim. Yes. And that has its place, obviously, and we've talked a lot about what we process through art, but it's hard to get excited about

this time spent. It's going to be a very difficult film to watch, I think. This is Sarah Polly's latest film.

It's been years since Sarah Polly has made a movie. I think she's been one of the best directors the last 15 years. Very briefly,

it's a story, one evening, eight Mennon night women climb into a hayloft to conduct a secret meeting for the past two years each of these women and more than 100 other girls in their colony has been repeatedly drugged and raped in the night by their the men of their colony who they are told are demons coming to punish them for their sins very intense yeah um all-star cast of this film i'm just gonna say say, the cast, I don't know. I didn't put it on the list. Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy,

Jesse Buckley, Ben Whishaw. You know, this is coming out from United Artists. It's a Plan B production. Plan B Brad Pitt's production company has incredible taste. It's based on the

Miriam Tev's novel. Hopefully it's great. I think it's going to start premiering at the festivals this fall. And I don't mean to say that you shouldn't make art about difficult subjects. I just, you know, it's going to's great. I think it's going to start premiering at the festivals this fall. And I don't mean to say that you shouldn't make art about difficult subjects.

I just, you know, it's going to be intense. It's hard to be like, let's go, Black Panther! Right, right. Women talking! Right, exactly. But it's going to be

an important film this fall. Okay, what's next for you? Blonde. Let's do it. Come on, show me the movie. This is Andrew Dominic's long in the works. Gestating.

Anticipated Marilyn Monroe film starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. What'd you think of the accent in the trailer? I don't care. Okay. I don't care either. I just want to make sure. Yeah. I'm glad that we're not caring.

I am still in on Ana de Armas. Same. And I think. Has she given us any reason to not be? I don't know. I think somehow the timing of her moment and all the releases got delayed

and then, you know, Ben Affleck has moved on. He's remarried. He is remarried. Congratulations to them. I have a lot of questions about the decorations at that wedding.

So I guess some people would say her stock is down, but I think it's a great time to buy it and I am a huge fan. I mean, Gray Man was a paycheck job. That character was underwritten. Right.

No Time to Die. She is arguably the best part. Right. Deep Water. I loved it. I don't care. I support what everyone is doing. I don't really care.

She's having the time of her life as all actresses working with Adrienne Lyne should try to. I forgot until just now that I was supposed to read the Joyce Carol Oates book that is... Isn't that like an 800-page novel? Yeah, it is 800 pages. I made it like 60 pages, and I was going to try to read it by the time this film came out. I don't think that's going to happen.

It's playing at Venice, and then is supposed to be on Netflix September 23rd. So that's a long time. That's one month from now. I could try. I wouldn't read it. I'm not going to read it. Okay.

I'm just going to watch the film. I love cinema. Yeah. I love the cinema of Andrew Dominick. You do. I've seen all of his films. Chopper. I saw that.

That'd be a great podcast if we just like, I've seen all of his films. That's kind of what I do. Yeah. That's kind of like, that's really why this show kind of sucks ultimately.

Okay. My number five is Tar. Tar is, speaking of filmmakers who haven't made a film in a while, Todd Field's new movie. Todd Field hasn't made a movie

in, oh, 14 years, 15 years, 16 years. Little Children was his last movie starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson.

Oh, yeah. And the dishwasher. No, the washing machine. The washing machine. That was one of the great sex scenes of the 21st century. His first film was In the Bedroom, which is an absolutely harrowing drama. He's also Nick Nightingale from Eyes Wide Shut.

I don't know if you saw Eyes Wide Shut was named the best film of the 90s by IndieWire last week. There was an IndieWire 100 best films of the 90s. Did you see that? There were a lot of ads. I couldn't make it all the way to the end. I thought it was a very interesting list. I thought it was a great conversation piece. I thought it was you see that? There were a lot of ads. I couldn't make it all the way to the end. I thought it was a very interesting list. I thought it was a great conversation piece.

I thought it was very provocative in terms of placing a lot of films that people maybe hadn't heard of. I think I clocked 22 movies I hadn't seen on the list because it really reached for some films that are pretty out there that are like largely unseen

in an attempt to celebrate them. And then, of course, there were the classics, the Titanic's and the Pulp Fiction's. They also interviewed a lot of filmmakers and people in the industry. That was so cool. Doing with their top 10s. That was awesome. Really great. I really, I loved reading through all those

people's suggestions, recommendations. I love clocking. Speaking of, Paul Schrader contributed to that and included one of his own films on his top 10. I believe it was Affliction this time. Absolute legend. Anyhow, so Nick Nightingale from Eyes Wide Shut is a filmmaker and he hasn't made a movie in a really long time.

And I cannot wait for this. It stars Cate Blanchett as a conductor of a symphony. That's all I know. I'm not watching anything else. I'm not reading anything else. I don't want to know anything else. Wow, I was just thinking about the missed opportunity for the Bradley Cooper-Cate Blanchett,

like actors on actors. I bet there'll be some comparisons. Yeah, I'm sure there will. But you could have really just had Bradley Cooper just like talking at Cate Blanchett about Mahler and like the, you know, for three hours. Maybe he should rush Maestro to the finish line just so we can make that happen.

That would be great. Tar is coming out on October 7th. It's premiering at Venice as well. I feel like we're seeing Venice quite a bit on this podcast. Here's your opportunity to riff on that. I would like to make a pitch to you. So I did hear the ground softening

for you finally allowing me to go to Cannes. What is this allowing? Let's just go. Let's go to Cannes. Okay. Let's go to Cannes next year. Why can we not? Well, I just took a cross-country flight

with my one-year-old and it was absolutely hellacious. So if our families are being included in this. But I think it would be fun if we all went. When I talk about this at home, Zach is like, why are you trying to bring us along? And I'm like, don't you want to go to Europe? You should call Eileen after this recording. Okay. And you guys can chat about that. Because on the one hand, I think Eileen would love to go to Cannes. Sure. On the other hand, Cannes with a one-year-old could be a challenge. Although she'll be almost two by then. Yeah. And Alice is a delight. And what we would do.

Said by someone who only sees her once a month. I miss her. And I'm looking forward to seeing her very soon. She's thriving. And I'd love to take a plane with her. And then what we'd do is we'd, you know, get a place like somewhere near Cannes, like in the countryside. Yeah, yeah, sure. And then you and I will go see movies.

Whatever. Okay. Definitely. And then next year when you go to Telluride, which is your annual, you know, Sean, like, search for self, like, in the mountains and the cinema. And it's really beautiful and a special time for you. I'll go to Venice. Same time. Yep.

And then we'll meet back and we'll, you know, share what we've learned. Well, the latter I support. If you want to go to Venice, I support it. Okay. If you go. Yeah. You can't just see the three american movies they're premiering though you gotta see the very weird greek abortion dramas okay i will do it okay yes okay if you do that as long as i can take the gondola to the greek abortion drama my name is not daniel ek okay so if you want to go you gotta just make the make the requests. I'll approve whatever I can approve.

I support you discovering cinema across the pond. Amanda's Grand Tour. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. We should do it like the trip style. Yeah. Like Steve Coogan films though,

where we just kind of bounce from European festival, the European festival. We drink wine. We do impressions. This is what I'm saying. Let's do it. I will practice my voice work and then we'll see

all the films. And then, this is my argument to Eileen, if we go to Cannes and you go to Telly Red and I go to Venice and we've seen everything in a short amount of time

and we don't have to drive back and forth to all the screenings all the time. I mean, I love that as an idea. I've been pitching that idea for years.

Okay. So, you think listeners can tell you and I haven't had a conversation in like a month? We have a lot to say idea for years. Okay. So can you, you think listeners can tell you and I haven't had a conversation like a month. We have a lot to say to each other. I'm in, I'm in,

I'm in. I'm going to work on it. Okay. Because yes, a lot of these films are at Venice. Give me your number four. It's including my number four, which is the eternal daughter,

which is Joanna Hogg's secret COVID project starring Tilda Swinton. It's about a ghost. Sure. Great. I love Joanna Hogg's films. She's one of the most important filmmakers. Is that what it says on the poster? Yeah.

That's all I know is that it's about a ghost. They made it during COVID. It's produced by Martin Scorsese. Correct. Yes. Sounds great. I am a huge fan of Joanna Hogg's. She was a guest on this show last year for the souvenir

part two in which she recommended the film heat directed by michael mann she's a queen have you read heat too not yet but i do own it and i did recently rewatch heat uh well heat is marvelous yeah i i would like to talk about heat too on a podcast okay i've started reading it as well very good i actually also downloaded the audiobook book. Oh. Which I find interesting because the reader of the book has like trailer guy voice. Yeah. This is my issue with fiction audio books in general. I know that it's like a big market for a lot of people, but the reader really makes a huge difference. When I was in labor, I tried to listen to an audio book and then the person was doing a

southern accent that I found offensive and almost broke my phone throwing it across the room. Anyway. That's not ideal. I will say I also listened to some of Killers of the Flower Moon in audio book form over my vacation. And Will Patton, the great actor, contributes a lot of the narration. There's multiple performers on that audio book, but Will Patton was phenomenal. But you're right. That's everything. If you're on board with the person reading the text,

it can be great. If you're not, it's like, oh God, turn this off. He too is still undecided, but started reading the book too. Really, really unsurprisingly

digging it quite a bit. Could be a fun pod. It's hard to do a book pod. People are not going to read books. They're just not. But they can listen. It's the heat universe. So we can still,

it's just, it's a reheat adjacent podcast. Yes. You know? Yes. It's a, not a re-reheat. It's a defrosting.

What's, it's not pro-heat. It's like a heat forward podcast. Sure. Right. Yeah. That like when you cook something spicy. Yeah.

And it's heat forward. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I don't know. That sounds good. My number four is The Fableman's this is the new movie from steven spielberg this is a reportedly his most personal film it's memoiristic portrayal of his youth growing up in arizona i guess learning to make movies and love movies um stars michelle williams

paul dano as his parents and set Seth Rogen as his beloved uncle. Yes? Correct. Yes. The film is opening on November 11th, the same day as Black Panther Wakanda Forever, which I find fascinating. This is a little bit of a Venom of Stars Born situation going on here. It's also premiering at TIFF. Do you think that'll stick? Are we too close to have things move around?

They moved The Fablemans up. It was originally November 23rd over the Thanksgiving weekend, and they moved it up. And I don't really know why. There is some speculation. You know, December is now like a no-fly zone for Oscar movies in a weird way. Like, most of the films that opened in December now don't win. It's like six weeks that you can do it from the very end of October through December 2nd. Yeah.

Yes, I agree. And so that might be part of the reason too, just to get ahead of it. We'll be spending a lot of time on the Fableman's this fall. That's so stupid though, because the Oscars are in March this year again. I'm so mad about it. We have a lot to discuss there.

Oscar episode's forthcoming. Okay. Okay, what's your number three? Bros, I'm excited. Yeah. Your concerns about Billy Eichner not getting to yell at people on the street have not dampened my enthusiasm. Also, this is coming out September 30th.

And otherwise, there aren't a lot of movies in September, as you discussed. But I am very much looking forward to a studio comedy, a romantic comedy, written by Billy Eichner, starring Billy Billy Eichner directed by Nicholas Stoller who knows how to do this stuff. Great. I want it to be great. I hope it's great. Yeah. I like all the people involved.

Studio comedies actually speaking of Matt Bellany who I cited earlier had a long piece in his newsletter about kind of the death of the studio comedy he's talked about on his podcast The Town.

Fascinating to hear people around the business talk about this because it's not like comedy is dead. And I certainly don't subscribe to any of that cancel culture bullshit. It's much more than it is. Just completely move to television and become utterly atomized. And so people's particular taste in comedy, we're no longer serving millions of people at a time. We're serving hundreds of thousands of people at a time. In some cases, tens of thousands of people at a time. And so it's rare to see a big swing like

this. What I presume is a $40, $50 million movie opening on thousands of screens in the middle of the fall, starring someone who's never opened a movie before. This used to happen all the time. The announcement of a big new comedy star. Now, Billyichner's been around but not in this capacity fingers crossed hope it's great my number three is uh speaking of things that don't come around very often anymore avatar the way of water this is james cameron's sequel to the film avatar i've heard of him and it which was the most successful film ever made until avengers endgame came along this movie stars sam worthington, Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, and a lot of assorted Navi.

Will it be the best movie ever made? Will it be the worst movie ever made? We'll play the James Cameron game once more, in which he is hugely doubted until he proves everyone wrong. And mocked. Yes. You shan't be hearing mockery from me. I took this in the movie auction.

You did. And I think this is how I, I believe that. This is how I win. Yeah, this is how I win. I believe that I did win that auction, right? In the voting? Yes, because then David Lara,

our social media editor, posted some Minions gifs, which is really the only way to get my attention these days. Yes, I think that's right. We'll see. I'm utterly intrigued. Do you know what this movie is about?

Well, as with all James Cameron movies, I think it will be an ecological fable. Okay. Wow. I think it will be... Everyone who is still listening to this podcast turns it off. I mean, the first one really was that. I know, but let me tell you why movies are doomed if we're accepting that.

It's because you're turning freaking the Avatar sequel into an ecological fable. That's what it is. I know, but let people discover it for themselves. Just talk about his avatar. He's just been in a little ship under the water for 10 years, and now he's making four movies. Cool. Let's go. I'm not convinced he's making four and five.

I do think he's making two and three. Okay. We'll see. All right. I think James Cameron is trusted in my book. He has made not a single movie

that I dislike. Okay. So are they all perfect? Are they all Terminator 2? They're not. But they're close. Aliens is perfect. Yeah.

Titanic is perfect. I mean, we talked about it on this show. It is really, even the things that I don't love about it, I'm like, I can't really criticize what you've done here Titanic is eternal yeah it is so James Cameron is eternal so we will trust in the way of water okay uh what's your number two this is getting to the point where we're sharing I think yeah for the most part or

certainly we're sharing this one which I took from you because you've already seen it so you can't anticipate it Armageddon time the James Gray film starring Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Anthony Hopkins. I too am a huge James Gray fan. This is another personal. This is sort of being compared to his Roma. Yeah, kind of a companion to the Fablemans in a way too. It feels like they have a lot in common

given the age of the protagonists of the film. And I am just looking forward to an emotional memoiristic time at the movies it is it debuted a can and is out october 28th i believe or starts and then we'll expand yeah i think it will i think it's playing the new york film festival as well um you know james as listeners of the show know one of my absolute favorites one of my favorite people to talk to about movies well he'll definitely be on the show this fall. Um, it's a great film.

Yeah. I think it's, there's a lot to unpack and discuss. I think there will be a divisiveness to the film for sure, which I look forward to discussing with you and others. Um, but certainly as somebody who grew up in New York, very recognizable milieu to me in this movie.

Okay. Uh, number two for me, this is the film that i know the least about on all these lists and it's the film that has been the least touted thus far in terms of details it's called babylon it's damien chazelle's new movie he hasn't made a movie in four years since first man it's been a long time oh wow um this is a film set in the uh i want i think it's i believe it's the 1920s in Hollywood, perhaps the 1930s as a sort of like shift into sound is happening. And it's a star system is starting to grow throughout

Hollywood. It stars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt and newcomer Diego Calva. This movie got a little bit of flack, the coverage of this movie for not necessarily platforming Diego Calva, who's a relatively unknown Mexican actor, who I believe is the star actually. Brad Pitt is not the star. He's very much in a supporting role. I believe it's a black and white film i'm not totally sure of that there's just not been a lot of discussion of the movie it's very exciting that it's happening it's a christmas movie i hope it's good speaking of guys who don't let me down even when i think they let me down and i revisit their work and i'm like oh there's more going on here than i thought I'm not as smart as I think I am. I'm looking forward to it. It's not like a lot of films that we see these days.

I guess Empire of Light has something in common with it too, not just in terms of being about movies and Hollywood and filmmaking, but in terms of being an original story,

a personal story. We'll see. I'm looking forward to it. I've seen some paparazzi set photos where they just all look like they're going to a

Halloween party, you know? Seems great. Yeah. My number one, I don't know whether you share this one. Let's talk about it. This is absolutely my number one, and it's She Said, which is the adaptation of the Jodie Cantor, Megan Toohey book about Harvey Weinstein and their work exposing his many crimes. It's directed by Maria Schrader, and it stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe

Kazan. I loved the book, she said, as a journalism nerd, basically. I thought it was a really fascinating and clarifying account of how they put the story together that tells you a lot about journalism, which is great in investigative reporting, but also how difficult these crimes are to prosecute or to pen down, which maybe doesn't explain, but at least shed some light on why Harvey Weinstein was operating as he was for operating is definitely a euphemism for so long and then also you know sheds a lot of light of the network of these sorts of things and and kind of like the way that someone like harvey weinstein kind of takes over hollywood and how many people are a part of it so i i think it's a fascinating portrait a trailer was released and it did have a lot of sort of like journalism buzzwords in it, you know, that made me a little, I guess, nervous. It's a trailer. Okay. So it's a trailer and you're just like nodding your head. I know. I know. And I think it's good if we get out in front of our anxieties because then maybe they won't be confirmed.

They got to sell a movie and they're not going to sell it with like nuanced portrayals. Did you like Spotlight? Yeah. Here's another movie like Spotlight. It had that energy. And they are just kind of like yelling all of the, we found the facts or whatever. That's what I often do in the newsroom right when which one spliced together sounds like very silly it's a hard movie to sell yeah it's a

procedural non-fiction right and i think our hope my hope at least is that it is similar to spotlight as you mentioned but also all the president's men um and which are movies that we, I'm speaking for you as well, but I hope that's okay. Just like love, both for journalism and then just the cinematic history of both of them. So I'm hopeful it can get there. I love Carey Mulligan. I love her. Just one of the most underused people, even when she's in movies I'm not wild about, like Promising Young Woman. Huge Carey Mulligan fan.

Zoe Kazan is wonderful. I really want this to be good. This isn't number one because I'm like willing it to be good. I get it. I think you're right to be hopeful and anticipatory. Same way I am about my number one. I think that there are a couple of challenges with the film.

One, unlike Spotlight, for example, or all the, but this is true of all the President's Men. Like Spotlight, you didn't really know

the end of the story. You knew that there was a scandal. You knew that there was shoe leather involved in sort of pursuing that scandal and uncovering the story. But there was a kind of, you know, thriller aspect to that movie. There will be thriller aspects to this movie too that will make it quote unquote entertaining.

That doesn't take away from the meaningfulness of the reporting that Cantor and Toohey did. Everybody knows the ending here. Harvey Weinstein is in prison. I don't know how to get people excited about that as a challenge. Now, whether or not it's going to be a great film, we have no idea. I don't know how to get people excited about that as a challenge. Now, whether or not it's going to be a great film, we don't,

we have no idea. The other thing too, is that I think something will be held against it because it will feel like kind of like a little bit of like a Hollywood patting itself on the back kind of a thing after doing the opposite of that for 20 years. That has nothing to do with Jodi Kantor and Megan Toohey. It has nothing to do with the New York times, but it does have something to do with studios and how power operates in the town. And, you know, the

film, when it was announced, was hotly tipped as an Oscar contender. I've heard people in the industry say this is definitely a Best Picture contender. Maria Schrader is an interesting filmmaker. You know, she made a film, I'm Your Man, a couple years ago. It was really good. I love the actors as well in the cast. I like

movies about the newsroom, even when they make me cringe a little bit. But it's kind of hamstrung by its own nature. It has a high bar to clear for people like you and I to get on board with it. So I don't know. I mean, I'm cautiously optimistic is what I'll say. I'm anticipating it.

I'm looking forward to it. We'll see. Well, I'm anticipating the airborne toxic event. My number one is White Noise. I think you and I share this one for sure. This is another, you claimed this one, but I'm rereading White Noise right now. How's it going? This is Don DeLillo's masterpiece. My favorite novel of all time. Yeah. It's still really good. Let me just tell you. It's so funny. I was reading a different book. I was reading a debut novel that was a campus satire.

And I actually thought it was like pretty successful as a debut novel. And but which they aren't always. And but it got I got about 100 pages in and it like all the people clicked into place. I had an idea of what the setup was going to be I knew where it was going and I was like I don't need to finish this which I you know is is me being a bad person but I have limited time and also I was like instead of reading this campus satire I could just reread white noise which I want to do anyway before the film comes out and the language just that i'm it's unbelievable and also reminded me how unfathomable so much of this is because just the tone and just like the flights and the asides and the and almost the the structure and the the incantations in

the book there is so much i think even the dialogue that is so funny, the family bantering back and forth and almost the screwball nature of it, even if you pulled it one-to-one, that's really hard to recreate. It is. So we should say this is adapted by Noah Baumbach, directed by Baumbach, one of our favorites. It stars his partner Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver.

He most recently worked with Adam Driver in Marriage Story directing him to an Academy Award nomination. It's all the right people. You know? It's a filmmaker

who has the kind of acidity and persuasiveness that I always found in Don DeLillo's best work. I don't know that Noah Baumbach has quite the level of paranoid revelation that operates in Don DeLillo's work.

Now, when the book is funny, I think the movie will be funny. When the book is totemic, I don't know if the movie can be or will be. This is a Netflix film. I pray to God. Yeah. I pray to God that it's good. Reportedly $140 million Netflix film. Now, I presume, so we should just say,

the book is about this professor of Hitler studies named Jack Gladney, his wife, Babette. They're on a kind of road trip after an accident that leads to this airborne toxic event and kind of rips this town apart. That's kind of all you need to know going into the movie. The airborne toxic event, I guess, is what is going to be rendered in the $140 million

in addition to the period piece aspect. I'm not really sure where the money's going. Also, is $140 million confirmed or is that just- It's not confirmed. And the other thing to consider, and this is also true of The Gray Man and other things, when we talk about budgets like this, Netflix buys out the back end of everybody who participates.

So when you're talking about someone like Adam Driver, he makes more money than other actors because he's very successful. And so he gets paid up front. He doesn't participate in the back end of any of the movies when it's on Netflix. So it's different. It's not the same. I mean, what, if you're giving him $80 million, then it's still $60 million on cassettes. You know what I'm saying? That's a very good point. It's just a fact that is amazing and we like saying a lot. So who knows?

So a couple of other interesting things about this. Danny Elfman did the score. Oh, I didn't realize that. I don't think Danny Elfman and Noah Baumbach have ever worked together. That isn't true. Which is pretty cool. Yeah.

Lowell Crawley shot this movie. Lowell Crawley's never worked with Noah Baumbach before. He's made a couple of movies that I would say people don't, are not necessarily beloved, but that look amazing. He shot Vox Lux. He shot The Humans. He shot The Devil All the Time. I think all those movies are kind of like,

people don't totally know if they love them. He comes from that school. He shot Four Lions, one of my favorite satires of all time many years ago. Very, very talented cinematographer. First time working with Baumbach. And the rest of the cast is, I mean, Andre 3000 is is in this movie jody turner smith is in this movie alessandro navolo don cheetle like it's a really really great cast so i want to believe i texted you

recently being like is this actually going to be good because i think it it's opening the new york film festival isn't that right it's it's opening the New York Film Festival. Isn't that right? It's opening the Venice Film Festival and then opening the New York Film Festival. So that bodes well. I agree. That's a very big slot for this movie. But there was something in the back of my head of just thinking it's amazing that Baumbach, who's one of my favorite filmmakers, is trying to do this. Adam Driver, one of the great actors of his

generation greta gerwig is my personal hero and by the way it's very funny rereading it imagining her as babette like that is i never would have pictured that i never would have pictured but you can you can hear the greta gerwig voice it's very funny and i love that they were doing it and i was like cool take that 140 million dollars and just like go for it it's like the corrections pilot that we never got to see but to infinity yes and at a higher risk level but i don't know that i expected it to actually like work and be transcendent and if it is it works and is transcendent i all-time stuff i i couldn't have said it better i've been vibrating since i heard that they were doing this.

It's great. As much as we crap on Netflix all the time and as bad a year as they're having, they still do this stuff. This is like, this is Bombax. Is it his fourth film with the studio? I mean, he is Meyerowitz. Marriage Story. Am I forgetting one? White Noise.

I think that's it. it okay so his third film with the studio they're bankrolling this you know i you can't take that away from them they have continued to give filmmakers big budgets to make movies like this which is really really cool will it be a good fall you think i told you i'm bringing my optimism honesty but optimism and enthusiasm i'm ready to see some good movies. Show me some good movies. Everything looks like garbage. And then people forgot to finish it.

Will it be a good Oscar season? Oh, no. No, I don't think so. I think it will be a discussable Oscar season. I'm sure that we will. Discussable. I'm sure that we will spend a lot of time. We still haven't discussed Will Smith,

and we're not going to do that today. Yeah. We all got to let go is where I am with it. We just all got to let go. Why don't you save it? We'll talk about it soon. Amanda, thank you. So good to be with you. It's great to see you, Sean. Thanks for listening to The Big Picture. Thanks to our producer, Bobby wagner for his work on today's episode please tune in later this week george miller the director of man max fury road has a new film no he's not gonna be on the show i thought he was gonna be on the show i was like wow no he's 83 and in australia and he's not talking to me but uh i am going to talk about his new movie three thousand years of longing we're going to talk about this this fantasy moment that we're having. You are.

Don't include me in that way, but the world is having. Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Dune. That's fantasy. Yeah. All that stuff is back, as is 3,000 Years of Longing, which is a fantasy story. So tune in then if you want to hear us talk about that.