The Big Picture - The 2002 Movie Draft

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

We are drafting again! Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan reunite for a draft of the best movies of 2002. To watch episodes of ‘The Big Picture,’ head to https://www.youtube.com/@RingerMovies. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Y'all, it's the Midnight Boys. Pew pew pew! And we're opening up the kitchen again to talk about The Bears Season 3, returning to Hulu on June 27th. That's right, the Midnight Boys are taking over Prestige TV. How you feeling, cousin? Cousin! New restaurant, new takes, new ups, new downs, new season.

I'm raring to go, Chuck. That's what I'm talking about. Make sure you plug in to the Prestige TV feed. Van and I will be talking about every single episode of The Bear. That's June 27th on the Prestige TV feed. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about 2002. Chris Ryan, CR, is here.

We're drafting again. Chris, are you ready to draft today? I am. But I also want to find out which inside-out emotion am I. Well, I have some thoughts about that for you. We are going to get into our draft. Interesting movie year, but a lot of news has happened. I also want to find out which inside out emotion am I? Well, I have some thoughts about that for you. We are going to get into our draft. Interesting movie year, but a lot of news has happened.

The box office is back. Amanda, we did it again. I'm not listening to you. I'm just thinking about which emotion he is. Joy? Of the existing emotions in the film? Yeah. Well, I saw the film for a second time this weekend,

and I've given this a lot of thought because Alice's new favorite thing to do is sit in my lap while I hold the phone up and we play the score from the movie so she can see the animations from the movie on Spotify. And this is a very unfun thing to do. You're not sadness. I'm sure I am not. You are not fear. You are not on we. Eroticism. Not introduced yet.

I don't think that's a feeling. Yeah. It's probably most closely aligned with what we think were the hormones, which are portrayed as like a construction crew that comes and just demos. I remember the first one. No, no, no. This is the first one. And then, no, no, no, this is in the second one. This is in the second film.

Okay. Because she experiences, like the puberty siren goes off. Oh, yeah. And then a bunch of chaotic little blue people that are construction workers come and demo Riley's inside

emotional world and then leave. I don't think there's a corresponding emotion in the film for the essence that you bring. Okay. What about you? I mean, a little bit. He got a little anxiety. Got a little joy.

Depends on the day. Yeah. Excuse me? The box office numbers or the way they are. Do you have joy? I'm the boss of my own body. What are you talking about? I'm total personal independence.

I'm doing great. That doesn't have anything to do with joy your version of joy yeah is very narrow and very small you just want to go to europe and drink that's all you want to do i got so many versions of joy you can't even fathom the numbers of joy i have yeah and you enjoy and you do enjoy everything That is like you're a man who experiences happiness and enjoyment on a daily basis. I do, but you can't understand the complexity of my joy. You know, that's why this film, that film doesn't really track for me ultimately inside out. You know, I've got 75, 85 emotions.

Too bad you only have to see it 75 more times. I know, I know. You know, a lot of people saw it in America. $155 million worth of people saw it in America this weekend. Really quite amazing. This is what's going to keep happening. Some stuff's going to overperform. Some stuff's going to underperform, as we've been talking about the last few weeks. One thing I'd like to just affirm, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the show, box office tracking, we got to just junk this. Yeah, they're very bad at it. They're almost

as bad as the national pollsters. What is the point of this? So if box office tracking didn't exist, would Fog Eye or Challengers or whatever the movies that quote-unquote underperformed, would any of them... Challengers didn't underperform. I know, but did it underperform relative to tracking? Yeah, I think

it set an expectation for people who follow this stuff closely that is unnecessary. I mean, it's useful, I imagine, for the studios. But like, why does that have to be publicly reported? Is it useful if they keep getting it wrong? I mean, like every company has internal data that they look at and analyze again. So that to me makes sense. But why we're in the press, we're like, well, this movie is tracking at $78 million and

then it makes $140 million or vice versa. I don't know. It just seems like kind of a waste of time. I agree. It just seems like a game and not really worthwhile for analyzing how this works. So I say let's just get rid of it. Okay. Maybe we shouldn't care about box office at all.

Maybe it should just be, is art successful purely on aesthetic terms? Well, you know my take on that, though, which is that we want to know what kinds of movies are going to get made, and success does dictate that to some extent. Films like Megalopolis, which will be distributed in America. Speaking of my joy. I actually do feel like Chris and I came in here

with a good and excited energy, but you're on a different level. You attacked me. You attacked me, and now I've got my haunches are up, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a lot of energy today. I don't know why, but I was really excited to see. As you were driving in, the news broke that Megalopolis will be distributed in North America. I'm glad someone stepped up to be accountable. Thank God we're going to see it. So what do you think happened deal-wise

to allow this to happen? Because obviously the film costs a lot of money. What did Lionsgate have to do to acquire the rights? Is this one of those like we will literally physically put this in a movie theater, but like everything else, P&A, somebody else is going to have to pick up? I mean, that's more or less what's happening with the other big self-financed gamble this summer, Horizon Chapter 1, An American Saga. See you in it tomorrow. So I feel like that's probably what happened, but I don't know. That's

total speculation. I mean, I don't feel like Lionsgate has hundreds of millions of dollars lying around to spend on the P&A. To give away. Love the idea that there's somebody out there named Charles Lionsgate like Jack Warner. Jim Lionsgate, yeah.

And he's just like, the Lions yeah Jim Lionsgate and he's just like the Lionsgate family fortune has been dormant too long well that is what happens though is that you have these billionaires

who want to get involved in these things but that's not the state that Lionsgate is in which is effectively like the sixth major of the major studios and the smallest

I can make the case for it you know I can make the case for why this isn't a big it's a financial gamble I'm sure in some regard but like this does

seem to be a movie that lots of people like writing about so i do not think buzz or attention will be a problem i think people are going to write about the coppola piece uh the interactive nature of the movie possibly what it means for the future of films like all these different things like it's going to be a divisive and and buzzy movie i think even if 80 people see it and so i think that they'll like at least get some like exposure you know it shouldn't i mean it's just about how much they put in coppola put 120 million of his own dollars i i'm doubt he's getting that back i would be surprised yeah from lionsgate a big chunk back. From anything. So, you know, for Lionsgate, sure, if you can build up

enough interest and you don't have to spend too much money. There were reports that Coppola wanted a very large and old school marketing spent.

You know, like $100 million or something. And I think he'll want an awards campaign as well. Yeah. So I'll be curious to see how much of any of that

he's gotten out of this deal. But you know what? Honestly, to the point about box office and tracking, who fucking cares? I know. The movie's coming out. That's amazing.

And that's what he wanted to spend his money on. So that's good for him. I'm very excited. September shaping up to be an intriguing month at the movies. And that just means

a lot of Francis Ford Coppola content in the fall, which I'm really excited about too. Did you see Inside Out 2? No. Do you think you'll see it? No. Okay, so you won't be contributing. lot of Francis Ford Coppola content in the fall which I'm really excited about too uh did you see Inside Out 2 no do you think you'll see it no okay so you won't be I saw Inside Out 1 in the movie theater and I watched the short on a babysitting job once uh oh right Riley's like first date yeah yeah yeah I remember so I feel like I got it I I have never seen Riley's first date I just remember that segment of the watch when you talked about watching Riley's First Date.

You make it sound like you run a babysitting service, which is something that I think is a favorite. He did just offer his services. As soon as your child is potty trained, Chris Ryan is available. And I just don't know how to change diapers. So I just, that's the only problem. Okay. There are some other issues that could be challenging. Do you think that...

Do you think I wouldn't be a good babysitter? I didn't say that. I think you'd be an amazing babysitter. Do you think you can't be a good babysitter? I didn't say that. I think you'd be an amazing babysitter. Do you think you can't learn to change a diaper? I just... I think that, like, the trade-off is I don't have an heir, but I also don't have to change diapers, you know?

I don't have an heir. So... What's in your amassed fortune? What will you... First of all, who will you be giving it to? Why are you both looking at me like that? My name better be on the list. Second of all, what's in it?

Is it in a vault? Like Scrooge McDuck? Do you think I just dive into gold coins at the end of every podcast? The great fortune, the magnanimous fortune of King Ryan. We'll find out. It'll be kind of like Logan Roy, you know? You have several conservative cable news outlets. Wow.

I wanted to chat briefly with you both before we start drafting about the movie Bratz. Yes. Now, Chris and I and Bill Simmons were texting about this movie on Thursday and Friday. And it got to a point of rage, candidly, in the texting. So you asked me to watch it on Saturday morning. Chris and I had dinner on Saturday night. By the way, I just, as we were finished having dinner, a young woman handed me a note and then left the restaurant. And it was a lovely note being like, I love the big picture and rewatchables and everything that got me through law school. And I thought it was like a very classy hi from a listener, but also I didn't

get to say thank you so much. So I just wanted so much. It would have been so much cooler if she had handed you a note that said, I know what you did. Anyway, I didn't want to put her on blast. That waitress had a hook for a hand. How strange. I thought that was a really cool thing, but also I wanted to be like, thank you in return. But it didn't say PS, did you see Bratz?

Like there's no transition here. No, no, no. Anyway, Chris and I did talk about Bratz at dinner. Oh, I see. So then I went home and watched it Saturday night and I was just angrily texting Chris. Okay, okay. Instead of, I didn't bring you into it. I almost did, but then I was like, save it for the pod.

Let's close the loop. Yeah. Let's close the loop. Bratz is a new documentary available on Hulu. It's directed by Andrew McCarthy. Andrew McCarthy, very popular actor in the 1980s, a member of the Brat Pack. This documentary is, I guess, an exploration of the after effects of being written about in a magazine. This is one of the strangest things I've seen in a long time.

It's a portrait of a man on fire. So Andrew McCarthy, what he does is he goes back and he goes and has conversations with his contemporaries, his friends, people he's lost touch with, people he worked with back in the 80s when this young cohort of actors, and some of our young listeners may not be as familiar with this moment. Maybe they know The Breakfast Club or they know Pretty in Pink, but they don't know that there was this group of people who were cast frequently together. Among them were Emilio Estevez, Ali Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Demi Moore. Some of them went on to an extended period of success in their careers. Some of them kind of faded into obscurity andrew mccarthy faded into obscurity candidly um i always kind of liked him as a screen presence he was great uh in those films in those movies but he's he's clearly got a lot of issues yeah because he's made this entire film in which he sits down with people

who almost all of whom seem pretty balanced and happy and not. Almost all of whom are more successful than him going on. I mean, the first third of the movie is him doing solo therapy sessions to the camera in his car and then leaving voicemails for people who are more famous than him while feeding pigeons. Like I'm not, that's not an exaggeration. That is a very honest a very perfect honest recap of the first third of the movie you're also leaving out the idea that he is using multiple film stocks i mean the angle i can't like when he interviews ali sheedy she's like why is there an iphone like

on the floor and he's like that's another angle we're using and she's like cool yeah yeah he's definitely getting his true foe on, which is a really, really confusing approach to this movie. You know, there are a couple of different schools of thought about the right way to tell a story like this. Obviously, McCarthy has thrown himself into this movie because it is in part about his life. And there were a couple of things that I learned

that were interesting, and it was interesting to observe the very tense agreement between McCarthy and some of his interviewees, particularly Emilio Estevez. Emilio Estevez and Andrew McCarthy clearly have not spent any time together in the last 35, maybe more years. They were going to embark on a project, which comes up briefly, right before this article hit. And the story that was written by David Blum in New York Magazine in 1985 was built around Emilio Estevez. Blum spent a lot of time with Estevez. And then after the story hit, he clearly like panicked and rejiggered his entire career so that he no longer made any movies with anybody in the Brad Pack because he did not want to be associated. Estevez and McCarthy have this

fascinating like, we're in our 50s now. Is this okay? It isn't, but we'll just say that it is kind of. They taunt. Right. Everybody else seems to be a lot less tense, but a little bit bemused. Well, Rob Lowe and Demi Moore are like, we are very successful and well-adjusted people. We look amazing.

You know, we've had the good work. Yes. Rob Lowe is clearly the- And we're sitting in incredible vistas. Everybody else just refuses to talk to him. Yeah. Well, I mean, he tries to bring in some voices who are not technically in the Brat Pack. john cryer leah thompson very familiar actors

i can't oh that was one of them when i texted you very curious you know like an author of a book a film critic some supporting voices who just says like yeah man that's how pop culture works yes straight up to him yes uh the most bracing part of this is the final confrontation, like the final boss, the big bad, which is that at the end of the film, Andrew McCarthy manages

to track down the long-working journalist who wrote this piece when he was like 29 years old and who, I guess, tricked Emilio Estevez into thinking he was going to be his friend

and then wrote a somewhat scathing feature profile of this group of young actors. But not unremarkable for that period of time in celebrity profile journalism. Totally right. Whereas sometimes it would be fawning,

but very often, especially in the sort of urbane New York media, they would cut your heart out. Yes. And that was just kind of like what happened if you rolled the dice with them. You went out with a journalist a bunch of times in a social setting. Yeah.

All the way up through Maya truffle fries, you know, like, right, exactly. And they made you feel at ease and that you could do anything in their presence. And then all of a sudden when the piece comes out,

you realize, Oh, this is not my friend, which is something that McCarthy literally says. Um, I thought the conversation with David Blum was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. One David Blum was just wildly ungenerous.

Um, and definitely thought he was the star of the film. And I don't disrespect anything he did in writing the piece, but I was like, your performance is also quite strange here. But Andrew McCarthy basically getting worked in real time by a 60-year-old journalist that upset the entire premise of the movie. He let the end of the movie, he let the journalist kill him again? Yeah. And then that was the end of the film?

I thought it was one of the weirdest creative choices. You could have just cut that out of the movie. Andrew McCarthy's not in the piece. I know. He is mentioned as part of the Brat Pack. And I think he obviously feels like he took shrapnel from this piece. It was not about him. It was about Emilio Estevez Roblo and Judd Nelson yes who are out one night David Blum goes out with

them they're obviously like cutting lines at clubs and getting like recognized at bars and basically doing movie star shit especially 1985 movie star shit and Andrew McCarthy is like a tertiary part along with Tim Hutton and all these other people who are also mentioned in it. Various people have had various careers since then. The premise of this film is that this article and specifically the term Brat Pack fundamentally changed the course of Andrew McCarthy's life.

Not him choosing to live in New York instead of Los Angeles. Not him possibly growing out of the erudite bookish young roles that he was known for. It was that this guy said he was in the Brat Pack. And then the weird thing is, is like, he doesn't say, okay, how did it change your life? So what happened? Did you, could you not get cast in roles? Did you start to become completely cynical about Hollywood? So you didn't want to do movies anymore. Did you just want to be a theater actor in New York? Andrew McCarthy was a guy who like six weeks ago, I was like, you know what? Cool career. You know, like weird that he never really popped off, but was a travel writer. Seems to really like be like a consummate New Yorker. Seems to

have his shit together largely. And it's really not for me to say whether he does or doesn't, but he directed this movie. So he was in charge of the portrait of himself. And it's quite strange. It's quite a strange choice. Very questionable outcome. Yeah, I don't think it's going to radically change his legacy as a performer,

but I felt very awkward watching the entire movie. I mean, the entire project is somewhat misguided and is also just, you know, once again, we are crying out for basic media literacy in this country. And it almost gets to like,

the part of the movie that was most interesting to me was when he was tracing how the term Brat Pack, which comes from this one New York Magazine piece in 1985 written by David Blum and the cover that goes with it, which frankly, I just think is great magazine making. And I was like, I'm proud to have worked at New York Magazine. I mean, it is- And David Blum wrote a follow-up article for Vulture where I was like, I'm proud to have worked at New York Magazine. I mean, it is- And David Blum wrote a follow-up article for Vulture

where he's like, I'm glad I did it. And I would do it again. Like that was a good line. And to me, the most poignant line of David Blum's scene with Andrew McCarthy is when he was like, well, it affected me too. I thought Tina Brown was going to come calling me and it never happened.

And I was like, oh, here's another, you know, the 80s magazines, we were all swinging big. So it started there, but then it very quickly became like a catch-all term that was used throughout media and basically became like a packaging for all the tabloids, all the talk shows. And I'm sure had an effect on how the industry perceived these people and how they were cast and how they were selling these movies and these stars back to the audiences, the teen audiences. Then it like totally drops that ball and it's like, okay, so now I'm just going to really, really obsess over this one journalist and this one piece of writing that I could never get past. I think the block for him is that he clearly was actually never in the crew.

Like he was not really, he definitely had a night out with Rob Lowe, which they recount. Rob Lowe and Liza Minnelli? Yeah, which sounds really fun. I wish there was more stories. And Spago after Spago and Liza Minnelli. But he was like, why am I paying for the sins

when I don't get to reap the benefits of this? I'm a different kind of dude. I'm an East Coast guy. I'm not a movie star type. I'm an actor, even though I'm in Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie's. I'm an different kind of dude. I'm an East Coast guy. I'm not a movie star type. I'm an actor, even though I'm in Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie's. I'm an actor.

And why wasn't I afforded the kind of respect that say like, Demi Moore was able to build up over the course of her career. But some people get it and some people don't, you know? And like, ultimately the answer is like, it's the breaks of life.

I'm sure it's very painful for him. The decision to go out and do this is utterly strange. Right. And to not understand, maybe even at the end, sure it's very painful for him the decision to go out and do this is utterly strange right and to and to not understand maybe even at the end but certainly when you're putting this all together and putting yourself in front of the camera with all these other people who have figured it out that the problem's you you know that's that's tough do you think he got a lot of time with

demi more and roblo it seemed like afternoon, a couple of hours maybe. I mean, they cut pretty hard around all the time. I would say that the film is edited in this unusual way where you can see that he just doesn't have chemistry with these people. So we don't get these long, discursive stories. What you really would want from a movie like this is great anecdotes. And you kind of get a glimmer of that when Liza Minnelli shows up in the story. Okay, so this is when we did St. Elmo's and then after that you did this.

The Liza Minnelli Spago night out story contradicts the thesis of the movie, which is that Andrew McCarthy was never involved in the Brad Pack and so feels sad. And then as soon as Rob Lowe gets on camera, he's like, hey, remember Liza's? And then we went to Sammy's house and they're saying Sammy, not the full name. You know? So it's like, okay. Strange. Yeah, really strange. I think it's just a fascinating artifact of contemporary media.

But on the other side, I'm like, this is absolutely amazing that this was all filmed, recorded, and is available for us to watch. Like, I don't think that's what Andrew McCarthy wanted,

but I'm like, I have an insight into something. I don't know what's what Andrew McCarthy wanted, but I'm like, I have an insight into something. I don't know what it is that he wanted. I mean, the thing is, is that a lot of those movies, you know, some of them have an age well or whatever, but a lot of them are pretty great. A lot of them are really fun to return to. And in a way, this kind of soured me on some of those movies.

It's not just the idea that they were like a ginned up creation of a journalist or that they weren't actually all buddies. I don't really, I never cared about that when watching the movies. The characters were so good in so many of a journalist or that they weren't actually all buddies. I don't really, I never cared about that when watching the movies, the characters were so good in so many of those movies that you, that's what you fixed yourself to. I think that the big missing piece here was that a lot of the people you talk to either seem to have had either left Hollywood or had decent careers afterwards. So like Demi Moore and Rob Lowe have had ups and

downs in their careers, but have had career-defining roles way after the Brad Pack. If you talk to Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald, who I think are still frozen in amber in that time to a large extent, and Molly Ringwald herself has written beautifully about those movies and The New Yorker and stuff, I think that would have been fascinating to see him kind of have two people who were like, yeah, my life was not the same after this and i never

really in terms of how i was perceived publicly changed you know like molly ringwald has done lots of good work since then judd nelson like hasn't really like been able to keep it like together like for a sustained amount of time but yeah like i you know and then they end with this it ends with a kind of like did you get juddd Nelson on the phone and he talked to you or is this just a breakfast club? Bizarre ending. Also, there's a real lack of self-awareness of the role that Andrew McCarthy played in those movies and in the so-called Brat Pack of he was like the 80s yuppie. And, you know, the embodied sort of like this the reagan era moment that a lot of people and culture wanted to move past and so you know like maybe he would have been in a witt

stillman film but also you know they they found other people as well and so like it but it doesn't have the examination of like oh my time passed me by it's all based somewhere what allowed me to get in is why the door closed on me in a way. No, I think that's very true. The exclusion, the non-participation of Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald is glaring. My suspicion was that maybe Molly Ringwald working on a documentary of her own just because her life and like kind of what she represents generationally is so big. Just the gut thing. She did it at Ad-Rock.

She was so much more than Brad Pack. Totally. She's so cool. But she was probably the actress of the 1980s. The most representative actress. And she was just in the Truman Capote show, right? She was. She was one of the swans.

And she's still working. I don't remember. I listened to an interview with her as well. But she's still working pretty regularly in television. But she's a bigger deal. The Judd Nelson thing is just one of those things where it's like, you shouldn't have made this movie. Like, if you can't get Judd Nelson to sit down for 10 minutes,

like, then why did you even make the film? Right. Anyway, I bring all this up. And I thought this was an interesting transition point because in 2002, I was kind of in my backpacker. You know, I was rising. You did it. And so I thought we should start there in 2002.

Who were you? I graduated from high school. Okay. I started college. I didn't see movies. Like what? I mean, Chris and I were talking about this is a bad year. Well, I know you're going to say there are high points.

There are things, there are gems you can find. We'll make it work. But like, woof, my guy. Yeah, I've been turning this over because we held i held off on this year for a long time i don't really i think it's because every time i looked at it i was like is there enough stuff there's a lot of personal favorites for sure but maybe not a lot of consensus there's several rewatchables in this there are several like personal like all timers but in terms of like i think that the most jacked we get to about a year is when we have seen oh i remember that was a year i went to the movies like 50 times yeah and this was a year i went to the movies like 10 times i think now

part of that is because i was like i'm living in new york and working at a record store and going out on friday nights instead of going to the movies. And part of that is because the tick over new release Friday was about as far from something I was interested in as I feel like I've ever been in movie history, like in my movie history. Interesting. Where when you look at the week-to-week releases and the stuff that's just the Hollywood blockbuster or the comedy or this, I was like, I just don't care.

I'm not interested. This is not something I want to vibe with. And so it's really interesting to look at an 02 versus something like some of our more favorite years, like an 07 or a 19. And even years that are underrated, but you're like, damn, I saw so many films that year. This is one where I'm like, I actually don't have that much interest in revisiting half of this stuff. And when I did revisit a lot last night, it was a lot of, this is on for 15 minutes. And I was like, oh, I don't, I haven't seen this since 2002 and I don't want to draft

it. Close. Next one. And I'd honestly say, I mean, this is interesting. I wonder if it'll be a little bit of an age difference or just differences of where we were in our lives. I was not that into mainstream popular culture at the time. Like, this is right before Strokes and White Stripes musically, but like a lot of music was, like, I was not into popular music at this time.

And I wonder whether or not, like, sometimes there are just like turns of the wheel and you're just like, yeah, this is not my moment right now. it's always hard to say whether that's the stage you are at in life or what the culture is at that time and the intersection of those two things yeah i mean do we want to bring it i mean it was tough times 2002 wild year in the united states of america george w bush era yeah post 9-11 um i think like socially it felt like a very fraught moment especially for young people i was on a college campus i wouldn't say everybody was super happy there were protests every single day on my college campus um i i don't i don't quite like align with the experience you guys were having i think the one thing that happened for me that makes it a little bit different is

i started reviewing movies for my college newspaper so i was starting to feel like a responsibility to engage with it yeah and so I remember the first movie I ever reviewed was Cronenberg's Spider which came out this year the Ralph Fiennes movie very small movie and I was just found myself down at the indie movie theater all the time and I liked some of the I also was like happy that there was a good Spider-Man movie from the guy who made Evil Dead 2 I mean to me that was really exciting yeah I liked the Lord of the Rings movies like there was mainstream stuff that I liked. There was a lot of stuff that I didn't like, like the second Harry Potter movie and Ice

Age and shit like that that I couldn't care less about. Yeah, and to me, I might be like Meatballs or Stripes is this classic, and some people might be like Van Wilder is that to me. You know what I mean? Because I was 16 when I saw that, or 15, and that just opened it up for me. It just wasn't that for me, because by that point,? Because I was 16 when I saw that and like that, or 15 and that just

opened it up for me. It just wasn't that for me because like by that point I was just like, I don't need to see another one of these kinds of movies. What was this? What was,

were you at Kim's at this time? What was the vibe at Kim's like? Definitely not engaged with the popular cinema of the time. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean,

it was a, the vibe at Kim's was you know a lot of like late era video store like lionization of like b movie and exploitation movies and then european art house stuff in the video video department and then for music it was like a lot of experimental stuff and a lot of like i, I mean, was this before, is this like Latigra comes out around now? Like, that was a big record then? Yeah, yeah. It was definitely apart from mainstream culture.

It's a very bad Oscars. Catastrophic. Maybe a world worst, like in the top 10. Just all-time forgettable. The Best Picture nominees this year were Chicago, which won The Hours, Gangs of New York, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Pianist. Now, not necessarily like horrible movies, but just like no juice, you know?

You think they're horrible movies? I know that The Lord of the Rings, people love The Lord of the Rings, and I'm happy for my two hobbits. But yeah, other than that, like who wants to, no disrespect to Gangs of New York, but I don't want to rewatch any of these movies. Like, sorry. I've been working on a 22-year-long project to find my in for Gangs of New York is wildly misunderstood. It was on a lot recently, so I've been watching parts of it. And there are parts of it that are incredible. Well, there's an all-time Daniel Day-Lewis performance stuck in the middle of this movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio's bad accent and Cameron Diaz's worse accent.

And, you know, so that part of it is tough. But there's really cool, you know. Cameron Diaz. My guy Priest Fallon, Liam Neeson. Love that guy. John C. Reilly's great in this. He's great. But yeah, the, you know, this is famously, infamously,

the Roman Polanski Best Director win and Adrian Brody's win for Best Actor. It just kind of feels like an awkward year in general. Like maybe the culture doesn't know what it is trying to say you know chicago is just like a revived musical directed by rob marshall maybe the worst director to win best picture in movie history um i it is a bit of an awkward year i don't think it will be a hard year to draft from tom hooper also quite quite bad yeah quite bad uh did what oh yeah he he directed king's king speech yeah i was thinking that's right who did he beat um david fincher for the social network not ideal yeah not the best this one's up there i'm trying to think of what

is like what other big takeaways obviously 2001 was the damn bursting on franchise stuff you know that harry potter and lord of the rings starts and then spider-man comes the following year and then the kind of the die is cast for what mainstream movies will be i still think indie movies are in a pretty good place at this time there's also a few like masterpieces of forms that you know maybe you guys don't love as much um but like what Spirited Away is released in America this year. Congratulations.

That's Wynn's best animated feature at the Academy Awards. Like widely considered one of the greatest animated movies of all time. Don't really have to worry about saying it out loud

because neither of you will take it. And if you do, you're spiteful. So we're just putting that on the record right now. That would be really funny. Yeah.

Okay. Do you want to draft? Yeah. Sure. I'm going to be very honest. I forgot to look at the categories. I mean, we discussed them. Okay. Do you want to draft? Uh, yeah. Sure. I'm going to be very honest. I forgot to look at the categories. I mean, we discussed them. Oh, yeah.

You should mention that we have a new category. A couple of changes. I knew generally, but I'm just not very prepared. Okay, great. Thanks so much. So, I mean, I did a lot of work, but, or like more prepped than usual. Like I was really, I was crushing tape last night um but it's it didn't yield anything okay you gotta get that play sheet in front of you when you're doing

it that's if anyone is watching i for the sake of filmmaking i don't have my laptop on the table so i'm not texting yeah i'm actually just doing how's your wife doing is she well uh this is what we're gonna do at the live event so six categories people can get used to it okay will we be using phones did we agree to that yeah okay because we're not gonna have a table so live events coming up soon yeah it's in three weeks do you guys want me to do a quick like a 15 minute set just to warm it up warm up the crowd do you know that you're a part of the live event do you understand that like we're planning on you being there the whole time because i'm really what do

you have cooking on july 9th six o'clock okay so do i need to send you a google account no i can't wait to participate okay thanks so much yeah but like you were in the event description so like also featuring or yes but it was like written there your your first and last name, when people bought tickets. Are you trying to like negotiate for third chair status? No, I thought I was thinking about what would happen if I tried to book a rival event that night. Like either go to the comedy store. Do you have another podcast? No, I'm really excited.

The six categories are as follows. And I'll say I made this change because originally when I was thinking about O2, I thought it could be an upside down draft year contender. I have already been voicing my skepticism of this year's quality in text. So you made some changes to respond to it. The problem is, I don't think there's enough to account for an interesting upside down draft. So the one modification we made is, you know, we'll start with drama. We've got action horror thriller as two mainstay categories. Number three, we have misunderstood, aka sub 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Which is open to interpretation. You know, like you could say critically maligned. You could say a B movie that was in fact closer to an A minus, whatever. But it has to be sub 60 in Rotten Tomatoes. 60 or below. Yes. You asked for that delineation late last night so that you could get something across the board and I can't wait to see what it is. I wanted to know what my options were at that moment. Number four is Blockbuster. $100 million or more this year. 24 films qualify for Blockbuster. That is a lot. The box office was robust

at this time. Number five is Oscar nominee and number six is wildcard. I feel like maybe I have the most optionality here in terms of movies that I like. That's interesting. Where are we at with keeping track of who's winning these things? I don't even think we've posted polls recently.

We did post for 99, but maybe the previous two we did not. But yeah, then the... We're post results. It's just process. Welcome to my life. Yeah, you know?

Sort of like our national leaders in some ways too, you know? Just going off vibes. I think this is the way the nation is leaning. Stick my finger in the air. Bobby Wagner, can you help us with the draft order? Yeah, I can do that.

Can you help us with our national politics? I'm working on that in my free time. Going first will be Sean. Fuck. Wow. Jesus Christ. Wow. We are so back.

And selecting second will be Chris. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. We get two. Yeah. I'm just like, should I go get some snacks and just like chill out, you know? What, like not draft? I mean, this will be fun. There's so many movies here.

What do you mean? I just didn't. I didn't. You have an entire list. Can I give you a tip? Yeah. If you go to the Letterboxd list, you can sort by highest rated. And then you can see all the good movies.

But Amanda has her own rating system. She has her own. Once again, I found last night something on your letterbox was actually only 2002 at Venice. Then it was 2003. Oh, what was it? Tell me. No, Ripley's game. Oh, sorry about that.

It's okay. Were you planning on drafting Ripley's game? Listen, it's not a great year. Okay. What am I supposed to be doing out here? Gosh. All right. Can I ask you guys, while you decide what to do, Sean?

Mm-hmm. all right can i ask you guys while you decide what to do sean how often do you experience the sheer panic of having the soap fully lathered on your hands and then you can't get the automatic faucet to turn the water on and you're like now i'm just going to be stuck here with soap on my hands for the rest of my life interesting question i'll tell you why uh i'm gonna go for the water first guy yeah but so and so you go so i already know that the sink works yeah yeah but still what if you can't get it back on can't say that's ever happened to me okay i i would say i experience it two to three times a day like i perhaps you're having an issue with the way that you're i am having an issue with automated faucets but it's like

I just had it I always have it in the bathrooms here had it at dinner Father's Day dinner last night and I'm just like

what are you supposed to do like I sheer every single movie theater there's this sheer panic of like now I just have all this fucking soap on my hands and germs

and I don't know how to get it off you have soap and germs on your hands because I haven't rinsed the germs off yet you know so maybe the soap soap has deactivated you gotta make sure you got that antibacterial going you know then just kill those germs on national institute of health this is actually how covid started was it was a water faucet issue just couldn't get that automatic faucet to turn on. It's very stressful. My heart rate just goes up several times a day, you know? In Blockbuster, I'm taking my Nardia report.

Okay. Okay. What color is the blue gummy bear? What flavor you mean? I mean, what flavor? This is incredible. Subterfuge by you. You're like a saboteur.

He just said a film by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Cruise. Right. And that is honestly becoming more prescient by the day. Thank you for saying so, Chris. One thing I remember is in the early days of meeting you, you having a kinetic emotional relationship

to Colin Farrell. And I believe you cited this film in addition to Joel Schumacher's Tigerland. Yeah, with the Joel Schumacher film. Yeah, I do remember having earnest conversations looking Chris directly in the eye in a bar, clutching a Miller High Life and him just waxing poetic about Colin Farrell.

Look at him now. Now he's the penguin, you know? Life comes at you fast. Minority Report is just a masterpiece. It's in my top five Spielberg movies. I think it's absolutely amazing. One of the best of the 2000s. And Blockbuster is pretty loaded, but also I want to have the good one, the best one possible.

Speaking of Spielberg movies, one small point that I enjoyed slash objected to vociferously in the Andrew McCarthy Bratz documentary is when he's commiserating with Emilio Estevez and he's like, if it hadn't been for Brat Pack, then Martin Scorsese and Spielberg would have called me. And I was like, well, Leonardo DiCaprio was in the pussy posse and then Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg did not stop calling. Yeah. In this, you know, one of them in this calendar year. I actually thought of the movie After Hours while I was watching it. Because Griffin Dunn, you know, like Andrew McCartney could have been in that movie, but he was not in that movie.

And Griffin Dunn was in that movie. When did After Hours come out? To your point, the yuppie of the Reagan era. I think it's 85. Oh, wow. So it's right in the heart of that moment. Anyway, Minority Report, just a banger. Can I tell you something, you know,

on and off again with Twitter, but one of the funny, like, sub-genres of, like, my For You feed is dudes who are just like, look at the goat work and it's some random shot from a Spielberg movie and be like,

you guys don't understand blocking and it'll be like Tom Cruise walks into a Spielberg movie. And be like, you guys don't understand blocking. And it'll be like Tom Cruise walks into a room. And then they're just like, this is true fucking modern art. It's usually guys who work in the industry. And he makes things look effortless that are obviously not effortless. But I watched so much behind the scenes minority report stuff of him staging like the hoverboard chase and everything. And it's awesome I mean I picked it the algorithm does work

oh yeah well and if you open that tweet as a standalone then all of a sudden you'll get served that for the rest of your life and honestly great that's so wonderful you know many people are now coming around to West Side Story and the Fablemans have you been seeing this? the discourse is shifting to actually

it's okay to be 78 years old and making movies if you can make them like this well that kid from Fableman's fucking goes pro in Snack Shack

that's right Gabriel LaBelle I agree thank you for saying so I am locked in on that dude yes he's got the juice there's no question about it wait till 35 under 35

circa 2025 cause he's he's climbing the charts right now Gabriel LaBelle you don't agree no I was there with West Side Story when it came out.

Yeah. I was there with Fableman's when it came out. I'm not accusing you of anything. I've been there with the concept of Snack Shacks since... Childhood. 1992. And yet you won't watch this film. Why won't you watch this beautiful film?

Because I have to watch every single bad Kevin Costner movie since 1994. Yeah, I've been doing the same. 20 years. A lot of misses. You forget. He had a bad one this year. Yeah. He said quite a few.

I thought about, I was like, oh, should I just watch 20 minutes of this Costner movie? So I have something in my back pocket for 2002. And I have one more off my list. I didn't do it. I made other choices. So the movie that came out this year is actually not available to be streamed. The film is called Dragonfly. It's directed by Tom Shadiac. He's the man who directed Ace Ventura Pet Detectives. I had to just read the description of this film because I couldn't find it even. It's remarkable that it even happened. It's one of two Kevin Costner movies that are literally

not available. Thank you very much. I believe it's Blue Raspberry to answer your question. This is like... What is going on? Little girl wakes up and she realizes

she forgot to study for her test but the nightmare is real and she didn't study for the 2002 movie draft. Well, now I touched it too much to eat it. You don't even know

if you washed the soap off your hands. I would upset you if I put it close to you. You just gave a whole speech. I know, but look at me. It's so bad. I'm not worried about it but I'm not going to touch it. I mean, I don't even know if you washed the soap off your hands. Well, I thought it would upset you if I put it close to you. You just gave a whole speech. I know, but look at him. He's so bad. Well, I don't,

I'm not worried about it, but I'm not going to touch it. Listen, I was like, oh, they're filming this. And I had a moment of inspiration. You're like a young Spielberg.

This is, this is your like hoverboard chase is putting a, a handled blue, blue raspberry gummy bear. But look how uncomfortable he is. I feel fine. Literally no one can even see this. Aleja's not using

a super zoom lens here. Aleja, can we do a little handheld? Here, hold on. I can, there we go. Would you like me to go?

I would like you to draft, yeah. I have two wolves inside of me, but I have to go with the one who at least holds some interest in winning these things.

So for Oscar nomination, I'm going to take Catch Me If You Can. Oh, interesting. So two Spielbergs off the board. Can I tell you something? Yeah, sure. Thank you. For what? I was in some real deep trouble and you helped me out just now.

Okay. I think that means you're going to take what I wanted. Yeah, sorry. Fuck. Anyway, I'm going to take Catch Me If You Can for Oscar nom. This is Walken

got nominated for this. Who got nominated for this? Yeah, I think multiple nominations if I recall. When you see me going to Google, you got a vamp

as the co-host of the podcast. Can you get with it today? I was vamping and I was putting the blueberry. No, that was disrupting. Four nominations.

Supporting actor, adapted screenplay, score, of course, John Williams, and best costume design. Okay. Well, we did this for

Rewatchables recently. An example of a film where podcasting about it just made me love it even more. Yeah. I feel like studying this movie in a weird way

made it pop for me uh so this is more of a late breaking one but uh it's a thin oscar year and that is what i'm gonna go with so for oscar now i'll take catch me if you can amanda you're on the clock thank you so much in blockbuster i will take the born identity okay yeah i Okay. Yeah. Then I'm okay. Oh, okay. All right. I was actually, until about two seconds ago, when I realized that another movie could qualify for Thriller, I was very nervous because I thought Action Horror Thriller was pretty low, but was pretty thin for me. But the Bourne Identity rules, and we've talked about it many times.

I drafted the Escape from the Embassy as in our action set piece draft. We have talked about that farmhouse. We've talked about the shaving of the head. Yeah. Just really good stuff. So that'll be in Blockbuster. And then. The shaving when he dyes her hair.

We dyes her hair. That's what I meant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he is like closer cropped. He is.

You know. Yeah. And good sweaters. Just observing. Okay. And then in action horror thriller, I will take Unfaithful. Okay. You could have had that for Oscar nom.

I could have, but... Diane Lane, what a shocking Oscar nomination, honestly. She was wonderful. You know where you could have had it? It's Misunderstood. Because it is sub 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. I actually have some other Misunderstoods that worked for me in this year. I wonder how many movies in the history of cinema have had Oscar noms while sub 60 RT. That's a great, great question.

It would take a lot of research. Right. Bobby, good luck to you for compiling all that data. Probably a lot of acting nominations. So we can do an episode on that. It's always like, you know, Peter Fonda

and something that... Uly's Gold? Yeah. I bet Uly's Gold is above 60. Right, but okay. Sundance Sensation, Uly's Gold.

All right. Okay. Thank you. You guys are the ones making the Rotten Tomatoes scores. But I think probably acting or song nominations. You know, you can game the system.

That's a good point. There's a lot of those. Unfaithful. An action horror thriller. Yeah, well, it's definitely thriller. I agree with you. Richard Gere just getting

cucked. Right out of the paint. It's tough. Yeah. It's really not what you want. And then. From Cucky to Cuck that's right

the gear story that's gonna be my 700 page bio yeah from Gigolo to Cuckold okay yeah it's good

that's a monograph for CR this is a great movie I know that it's okay you know what I'm with Bill and Wesley Bill and Wesley you sure he's good

oh my god Bill and Wesley have been letting me down a little bit recently. I love them so much, but we haven't been aligned, but they love this movie and the Diane Lane performance as do I. Also, it's like that sex scene in the bathroom is really hot. And I'm a big fan of Adrian line.

And this is also like the last return to form for Adrian Lyne before things get experimental. Speaking of sex, I'm really excited for you to check out Jake Gyllenhaal and Renat Rinsve humping in Presumed Innocent on Apple TV.

It was a strong focus on their sexual lives in the first episode of Presumed Innocent. Can't say I was complaining. Yeah. It was pretty exciting stuff. Jake, I think he might be unwell.

I'm just going to put that out there. I think he's got a lot of issues. I really like what he's doing on screen. Yeah. But he's just deeply weird in the most traditional movie ever. What was the quote that I sent to you? Hold on.

Let me find this. I mean, he's been on the press tour of all press tours for like six months now between Roadhouse and then this and then also that time where he's like if i see the sea i swim in the sea yeah you know which was not verified but did he say that yeah what was the movie that didn't happen that was very troubled the production was troubled the david o russell movie with the hammer the nail in the head that came out no no no it was something

that never came out and there was a piece so none of this is this is all one-sided you know but it attributed

a lot of idiosyncratic behavior in quotes to Jake Gyllenhaal as part of the reason the film didn't get made and one of them was like if I see the sea

I swim in the sea and so he had to go swimming instead of film and that is your mantra yeah but here's another one Jake Gyllenhaal is legally blind with a prescription of 20 to 12 50 and then this is the quote I like to think it's advantageous what I can't see in the morning before I put on my glasses it's a place where I can be with myself do you feel that way well I literally sent it to you with same and then no one responded um no I don't because my phone is just like right at my nose as soon as I wake up in the morning. That's because I got to see what time it is. And then I'm no longer with myself.

No. You're with Steve Jobs and Heather. It's a nice thought. Chris, you're up. In drama, I'm going to take 25th hour. Oh, yeah. I haven't really going to take 25th Hour. Oh, yeah. I haven't, you know what? I haven't really gotten to take 25th Hour that often.

I wasn't on the rewatchables. I think I was away, you know? And it's just one of those things where I need to speak on it. This is one of my favorite movies. It's one of my favorite Spike Lee movies. This is back when Dave Benioff wrote about real people and not scientists or dragons.

And it is fucking incredible. Edward Norton's amazing. Barry Pepper's amazing. Philip Seymour Hoffman, What Needs to Be Said. Just an unbelievable portrait of New York after 9-11, but also like this blindingly good

family drama and crime story. And Brian Cox is fucking incredible in it. So happily. One of the all-time endings. endings yeah and one of the all-time great endings thought about taking this first overall perhaps i should have painful to not have this for me just an amazing movie one of my favorite movies release this movie on 4k please that's something i'd like to say to the studios right now please do you like leah thompson's little introduction about physical media i thought that was very rude but you know what we stand with kevin costner it's a joke physical media of course that's a profit center for him as the financier of the horizon films right because

those fans are still buying blu-rays those men who have their stacks and stacks of yellow you think that they have for like perhapsrays? For like 12 minutes, yeah. Perhaps, perhaps. I think they have Xboxes, and they still play Halo a little bit. No, you're thinking of like 42-year-old men, but I'm saying the 62-year-old men. Oh, okay.

Who are like, I need to pop in Lonesome Dove again. You know, that's the energy that we're getting in our eyes. What are Lonesome Doves on 4K? Probably not. Probably not. I don't really know what it would do for a day. Anyway. Was it even shot on film?

I don't know. I guess it must have been. Anyway, I've got got two picks 25th hour was next in my my sights so i have only one way to bounce back which is to take my two boys yeah in drama i'm taking punch drunk love yeah fascinating post magnolia anotherolia stripped down mattress man. One of the funniest moments in movies in the 2000s. Remarkable Adam Sandler performance. Just a story

about a very relatable kind of a person. To Amanda's point, a man who's just struggling to feel joy. Who's really bottled up inside. Who is surrounded by hateful women um who don't understand him until he finds the perfect one and somebody who really opens their heart to him and uh great film second pick is an action thriller horror i'll be taking panic room

from from my dad david fincher nice job yeah i'd like to thank david fincher for all of his work you know lesser fincher butesser Fincher is greater. Lesser Fincher is better than 90% of movies. Yeah. So how can it be a bad movie year? Yeah. When we have Scorsese and Spielberg and Spike and Fincher and Anderson. Yeah, but nobody's drafted the Scorsese yet for a reason.

Well, we'll see. We'll see. So I've got light pink and clear gummy bears here. My turn? Yeah. You know what? Chime in when you get to the chocolate part of this cup because I want to know what the flavor change does

to your brain chemistry when you go from fruit to... And there are like three different shades of green? I don't know. I will be selecting an action horror thriller 28 days later. Yeah? Yeah. Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic zombie movie with killian murphy uh i remember seeing this in the theater and just being like this this is what they

felt like when they saw 400 blows dog you know he emptied out london and shot like with a fucking camcorder is that what he did yeah he said you guys have to leave? No, he basically shot it like a lot of this stuff was shot at dawn. It was like 3 a.m. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so what an amazing conceit

for a movie. Is this Garland? Of course it is. God, the fucking king's cooking. Yeah, and they're back. They're so back. The grill masters. Yeah.

Boy meets grill right here. Just getting a char. The grill masters. Yeah. So Garland and Boyle, that's your nickname for them. Yeah. Because they're cooking up something special. Nice.

Yeah. I love it. This movie has aged great too. I know some people don't love the third act with Eccleston. I love it. I think it's like, yeah, there would definitely be some fucking freak show out there who is like time to time to breed absolutely are you where are you that's a single thing about this movie well i was plotting my next move and also you know contemplating gummy bears but really plotting my next okay and i was trying to find the link to the

letterbox piece because I, you know, there's one category I could spend a little more time on, but that's what I was doing. Okay. Great pick. 28 Days Later, do you love it, hate it? Yeah, sure. Zombies.

Never seen it. Great stuff. You've never seen it. No, of course not. You've never seen 28 Days Later? No. Man, I don't like zombies. And the zombies were fast.

I don't, yeah, I mean, I know, but I just don't we hadn't seen that but they didn't we didn't know we didn't know we could do that obviously at that time you know

which was a very fraught time in our history the story resonates deeply too you know the sense of panic confusion in a society

and perhaps no more it came back around in 2020 where it was like oh man the cities are empty nature is healing but not you know

I love that for you guys yeah Killian Murphy are you excited about the edition in 2020 where it's like, oh man, the cities are empty. Nature is healing, but not. You know? I love that for you guys. Yeah. Killian Murphy. Are you excited about the edition? Yeah, he talks about it all the time. I'm really excited. I'm glad that Garland is back behind the typewriter.

Where he belongs? I didn't say that. Away from the lenses? I didn't say that. Civil War is still one of your favorite films of the year? Number four. I was just looking yesterday

at my list. Okay. How often do you check your list? This has been such a wild year for me. Say more. I'm just doing what I want. I'm going where I smell interest, you know? So I watched this movie, The Land of Bad,

which is directed by William Eubank, who also directed Underwater with Kristen Stewart, the underwater alien. He's got a really stripped down sensibility with his titling. Underwater is set underwater. Land of bad, set in a land of bad. Non-Chris Hemsworths. So Luke and Liam,

and they play like Delta Force, like SEAL guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Trying to rescue a JSOC asset from a cartel in the south china sea so what and what russell crowe plays a drone operator all right so no no so that sound you just heard america is the 4 000 men screaming crying jerking off simultaneously as chris describes the plot of land of bad and i to say, Milo Ventimiglia is fucking incredible in this as another soldier. What is the search term

that actually leads you there? Is it Russell Crowe? Is it Cartel? Is it Special Forces? I saw some dude on Letterboxd be like, Challengers is up there with Land of Bad.

It's one of the best films of the year. And I was like, huh. I had thought about it. That was me. It was me. You found my account. Did you watch it? I haven't seen it yet. I'd like to see it. I had thought about it. That was me. It was me. You found my account. Did you watch it?

I haven't seen it yet. Okay. I'd like to see it. I'm also going to watch In the Land of Saints and Sinners, which is a Liam Neeson film, an Irish film, that apparently is very good,

but in a similar mode, I think. I've been grinding a little bit, but still, I'm catching up all this big stuff that I missed earlier in the year for a variety of reasons. I'm all caught up.

You're just VODing, though. You're not going to the cinema. Well, we went and saw Thief on Friday. Let's go into the cinema. How about that? How about that? How was it?

Shout out to all the women who came out to that. A lot of great gals. Nice to see them. Some women who understood us for a change. How many? At least a dozen.

How many more? Yeah. 16? Wow. 18? Okay. And honestly, for the men men it was like they were like a three stooges movie they were just laughing the whole time they couldn't believe yeah the incredible work on the one hand you have to think that a thief screening at our beloved vidiots

is like if is if you're interested in dating men a target rich environment but at the same time it's like what is the target yeah yeah well the target is constantly moving because these men are locked off they're locked in a vault of their own designs right and the only thing that unlocks the vault is jimmy kahn saying let's get on with this big romance big romance. That's the only thing that can be said. What an amazing movie. Just a five-star perfect film. Where were you? I was with my in-laws.

It's tough. Yeah, so listen, it's just, it's kind of... One fewer woman at that screening. It would have been awesome if you showed up wearing like a heat t-shirt. You know? Maybe next time. Okay.

Do you know that there are a lot of heat t-shirts at travel town in fact i think you do because every time i see a heat t-shirt at travel town which for those not on my wavelength is a local los angeles park where there are a bunch of trains um and the kids get to see the trains but then you just see a lot of dads with heat t-shirts good for them um so maybe you can take our children there when you're babysitting. Well, we all know what has to happen first.

Amanda, you have two picks. I do. Okay. So in Oscar nominee, I will take Adaptation, which is my favorite Charlie Kaufman film.

Okay. Which is what? I thought for a second you were like, which is a movie made in 2002 no i actually i've seen this i know i'm not doubting you yeah don't not your second chair look i'm not spike jones in 2002 uh-huh is very important culturally and pop culturally to me

because also think of where he is in his personal life at this point. Married to Sofia Coppola. Yeah, and having Lost in Translation made about him at this moment. Okay. But also incredibly cool. And I like the Spike Jonze Charlie Kaufman's more than just the pure Charlie Kaufman's. Shout out Meryl Streep.

She's great in this. Really great performance. Going for it. Yeah. And this is also like the Nick Cage wavelength that I can get on as well. This one, this, this, he, I think he could have, should have won again for this. Yeah. And I, I do think I also saw this maybe not in 2002, but definitely in college, like relatively early in my film going life. And I was like, oh, movies can, you know,

one of those like, oh, wow, movies can be like this, movies for me. So adaptation, great film that I have seen, Chris Ryan. I think I am just, I mean, I could be cute and do Gangs of New York, but I don't really want to. Then don't. I mean, you know, I...

What? Nope, nothing. I'm just... You know what? It is... It's like when you get to a great point in a novel and you're like, I just don't know where this is going to go next.

And that's how I feel right now. I have no idea what you're going to say next. I got you these. Two more gummy bears. The amount that you're handling these completely precludes him from eating it. It's truly disgusting. That's why I'm doing it. It's loathsome.

But you can't really eat while you're podcasting. No one wants to hear that. Are you sure? Because you're pushing it. Well, you guys can talk about zombies some more and I'll just house this thing. So I have drama, misunderstood, and wildcard left. And I don't really feel that I'm going to have to share my misunderstood or my wildcards with you. Okay.

Okay. Is there some Amanda stuff? Well, I'm holding this cup now of gummy bears and the fragrance is quite something. So, drama wise, I could like make a play and do Gangs of York but my heart's not really in it.

So instead, I will go with another movie that I did see in 2002 and because I was 17 turning 18 in 2002, I thought it was the most profound, important movie

I've ever seen. Igby Goes Down. Yeah. Good movie, yeah. It's a great movie. thought it was the most profound, important movie I've ever seen. Igby Goes Down. Good movie, yeah. It's a great movie. It took the long way to get there, but this is a great shot by you. You might want to turn Waze on next time. This is great. I love Igby Goes Down.

He told me to vamp. No, that's not what I said. That's not what I said. Let's keep going. Go ahead.'s not what I said. That's not what I said. Let's keep going. Go ahead. Pontificate, please. You know, it's about like an unhappy rich kid. Yeah.

But brings us older Kieran Culkin, which becomes very important in the unhappy rich kid canon. And just a stacked cast. Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet, who I think I knew about, but was a revelation to me in this. Ryan Phillippe, Susan Sarandon, Bill Palma, you know, everybody. And I remember being like- Directed by Bert Steers, correct?

Yes. Bert Steers. Bert Steers. And he was in- He was in Last Days of Disco. Last Days of Disco, right. He was in Last Days of Disco. He's in Pulp Fiction.

And he quickly follows this movie up by directing How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, nine months later, and then does not direct another movie for 15 years. And what did he direct in 15 years? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Zombies, there you go. God, Hollywood. Yeah. Excuse me, I misspoke.

He wrote How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. And then he doesn't write another movie until Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Anyway. So Adaptation and Igby goes down. Yeah. Okay. There we go.

Back to you, Chris. I'll do Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers and Blockbuster. I've long said... What happens in this movie? I'll tell you. There's three major plots you've got

the Rohan situation the Rohirrim right? and they're like on the horses and what is that situation?

well their king has been basically like incepted by Grimer Wormtongue the steward or not steward

he's like the like concierge to the king you're just in major Toth the Thrones mode right now. And he has poisoned this guy's brain and made his eyes

go all milky. And he's like, you don't have to fight against Sauron and Saruman. Portrayed by the great Brad Durif. Yeah. So there's that whole thing

happening in Rohan. Then there's two hobbits are with tree people with Ents. Do you remember this? I remember you guys telling me about tree people last time, and then I learned later.

Treebeard is the name of the character. That tree people. And there was some confusion about the relationship between hobbits and tree people, but I'm clear on it now. Okay, great. And then Frodo and Sam are continuing their walk to Mount Doom with Gollum. And honestly,

when I rewatched this movie... Who's Frodo and who's Sam between the two of you? I think I'm Sam. Probably. Publicly facing, at least. Maybe personally, you're my Sam.

I've been unfavorably compared to Gollum in the past, so I might have to take that L and hold it. Why? What's your precious? The cinema.

Yeah. The great works. Yeah. 24 frames a second. That's right. Just my precious flickering. This is not complicated.

Helm's Deep is still one of the most incredible set pieces and this is my favorite of the three, I think. Oh. I think.

Interesting. I love a second. Kind of an empire. I love a darkest before dawn moment, you know? Interesting choice. A lot of seconds this year. None of them. There were.

Yeah. As quality as this one. I have seen this. Yeah. I mean, I think this is very entertaining. I saw this in Return of the King back to back in college. Like the same day? Yeah, they aired it.

Yeah, they did like a thing. A marathon. Yeah, they screened it. Yeah, they did like a thing. A marathon. Yeah, they screened it. Oh, they screened it. You went to a Lord of the Rings marathon? Well, it was two movies. So it was like five hours. Yeah, I don't know.

I tried a lot of things in college, you know? My mind and heart were open. Some women explore their sexuality. Amanda. Some sit for six hours to watch hobbits yeah um i have two picks i like two towers haven't seen it in forever i think i watched the i think i watched all three don't you do like a re-watch every two or three years uh i did one during covid but i think it had been a while before i did it actually you know fellowship is in was

in theaters this weekend it was in the top 10 oh Oh, I mean, if they put those movies out, there's like 10 or 15 movies from the 21st century that I feel like if they were just always in, they would do fine. Yeah. Interstellar, the Fellowship movies, Dark Knight. Yeah, agreed. So anything by Nolan or with Hobbits will always work.

When will Chris Nolan make a Hobbit movie and save Hollywood? I heard my buddies El and brian on their podcast um on the pure cinema pod talking about a story that they heard so this is pure conjecture but i quite enjoyed the story which is that a friend of theirs watched christopher nolan exit uh the vista for a noon screening of bad boys 4 which i just think rocks that's just amazing like he had completed it or exit before it? No, no.

Like he just went to go see it. And he goes to the Vista because they show everything on film. Yeah. And also. And he loves movies. And he lives near there. Sightings in that general area. Yes.

He lives on a regular basis. That was noted on the podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He lives in my garage. He's perhaps the most fearless. Yeah. In the mind of your garage or your garage's mind. I'm not sure which one.

Some legendary sightings of him at that Gelson's. Is that true? Yeah. That's great. I hope he's happy. Yeah. He won best director and best picture at the Academy Awards. What do you think he's going to do next?

Any rumors? 63 minutes into this podcast. Take my L2. I thought it was strange that you didn't take him when you're making up a movie studio thing. I thought about it. Okay. I thought about it. He's, um, and we did get some feedback.

No mention of Nolan? So did you know the listeners were frustrated by a lack of respect for Christopher Nolan? A little old? Oh, ageism. Okay. Yeah, you walked in here so hyped because Coppola is getting distribution finally. Listen. But that was when I had all my studio executive hat.

The more that you need to open your heart to the power of... Do you know what's changed since then? What? You putting a bunch of warm, fingerprint-laden gummy bears in front of Sean. I'm near death because of the way in which you've poisoned me with soap bears. This is deranged material. You know, Chris Nolan. I agree.

We've got a mixed history. I put too many gummy bears in the cup, okay? I was just looking. It was a scoop situation, and I didn't think through it. We're going to have to fumigate this room after we're done recording in here. I've got two picks. So you picked? I haven't picked anything yet. Oh, okay. I need misunderstood two picks. So you picked? I haven't picked anything yet.

Oh, okay. I need Misunderstood, Oscar nominee. Would you like me to fill this time right now while you think? No. Okay. I will take an Oscar nominee spirited away, Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, which I mentioned earlier in this discussion.

Have you seen this? I don't think so. Has Alice seen it yet? No, I think we're a few years away from this. It's a little bit more complicated. Phantasmagorical. Complex. Beautiful movie.

In wildcard, I'm taking Jackass, the movie. Probably the hardest I laughed in a movie. About time that it's been selected today. What is that? Fourth round? I mean, for me, fifth round. Wow. Didn't I pick Jackass 2

like really high up in a draft once? Yeah, you went Iron Man 3 and Jackass 2 in succession. I can't recall. Jackass the movie, you know, it isn't actually all that different from Jackass the TV show, but what it did was it allowed you to experience that different from jackass the tv show but what it did was it

allowed you to experience the joy of jackass the tv show with 300 people on the big screen and it was absolutely magical i will see every jackass movie as long as they're putting movies in theaters i hope they do another one me too the one the one that came out two years ago chris we had an absolute blast at um those guys are the best they're unfortunately going to die on screen though like they're just getting older it's in play yeah it's definitely in play but the polarity of cinema spirited away jackass the movie you did it cr europe all righty well i'm pretty happy with where i've gotten to so far i got my oscar i got my blockbuster. I got my action horror thriller and my drama. I'm pretty confident that no one's going to take my misunderstood. So in wild card,

I will take, I'll take the ring. Hmm. I love this. Gorbachev. Great movie. A remake of a classic Japanese horror film. This one with Naomi Watts.

Great, like kind of overqualified for the role, but does a really good job as this mother who's worried that her son is going to be killed by a mythical videotape in seven days. So she has to solve the mystery. Another great Brian Croft's performance

in this one. Did you ever see this one? No, but now I'm very concerned about menacing videotapes. This is an argument against physical media. Yeah. Yeah.

Or is it? Sometimes people got to die. Yeah. We got to thin the herd. Yeah. We got to show them these tapes. Just won't ever forget the cold open kill of this film or some of the more horrific moments in it.

Just and the girl crawling out of the well is still some of the more horrific moments in it. And the girl crawling out of the well is still one of the iconic art images. Out of the TV and in the direction of Martin Henderson. That was a real, wow, holy fuck moment. Amber Tamblyn is the woman

in the beginning? That sounds right. That sounds right. I haven't seen this in a while. My beloved Gore Verbinski. Was he the first interview on this show i think he was i think mike mills was first oh that's nice for 20th century woman good stuff yeah okay mandy you're up i have two picks i have misunderstood and wild card which are really in in my case sort of the same thing um i am going to pick two films that reflect who i was in 2002 which was just frankly an idiot uh they are both romantic comedies okay this is kind of the last gasp it's not really because as you mentioned 2003 is how to lose a guy in 10 days and then

there's like the whole katherine heigl of it all in the mid-2000s but i those didn't speak to me in the same way so this was the last time i was really locked in and consuming these movies over and over again so i've seen both of these movies upwards of 30 times at at least. I honestly don't know what you're going to say. In Misunderstood, aka Sub 60 on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 38%, it's Sweet Home Alabama, starring Reese Witherspoon. Just absolutely not.

I mean, listen, do you want to know how many times I've seen this abjectly terrible movie? I kind of have a question for you, but I really don't want to know how many times I've seen this abjectly terrible movie I kind of have a question for you but I really don't want to upset you yeah do you think that Reese Witherspoon might be evil she could be because I saw her talking about her book club yeah and she was like it's important that like basically no one be challenged and like these books wind up like with an affirmative overall message and I was like that's not really the point of literature which i think it's totally fine for her to i you know listen with her the stranglehold

on the book clubs and also literature in general are in like truly the worst place ever i mean it's really really really bad out there and i blame a lot of like worse than movies yeah and i blame the influence of the book clubs, but also just they're, they're just publishing stuff that I certainly don't want to read. Sure. We need to get back to like Cheever, Updike, the great American white men,

William Styron, you know, just let those guys drink all day, let them abuse their privilege, let them write mellifluously about cheating on their wives and drinking a handle of vodka at 9 a.m.

Absolutely. You know, that's what built this country. But what she's saying is like reflects the general publishing strategy

right now, which and also then all of those movies just become Apple TV shows. They sure do. So The question was

is Reese Witherspoon evil? She also did a Nicole Kidman lifetime achievement speech where she was kind of like, Nicole Kidman got us Andrea Arnold and I fucking nixed that. She didn't really say that, but she was like,

Nicole is really good at finding new directors and watches everything. And I'm like, I'm just a simple girl. And I married an agent. Right. Yeah.

And then when... I mean, are you familiar with Draper James? Who's that? That is Reese Witherspoon's clothing line, which is inspired by her upbringing in Tennessee and just features a lot of gingham. And her Instagram presence for it is like all of those like letter boards.

Yeah. You know? What? But I'm paying for. Yeah. You know? What? But I'm painting a picture. You know exactly what I am talking about. You know? So she knows her audience. Funnily enough, watch me segue.

She also plays a fashion designer in Sweet Home Alabama. Okay. Good job. And she's marrying Patrick Dempsey, who is the son-in-law of Candace Bergen, who is the mayor of New Yorkork you remember this and he shuts down tiffany's to propose to her oh wow and then she has to but she's secretly married to josh lucas her hometown sweetheart and so she has to go home to alabama yeah um and you know then ultimately she gets this is up there with the notebook in terms of, wow, you like really, really feel for the guy who gets lost at the altar.

Like Patrick, she probably should have just married Patrick Dempsey, just like Rachel McAdams, like James Marsden. Well, I mean, I guess he owned plantations, so that's bad. No plantations in Sweet Home Alabama. No, this is actually everything about this is really racially and culturally sensitive. Oh, I'll bet. Yeah, it really reflects wealth. No, I'm definitely. Did Spike Lee direct this as well? Just kidding.

It's it's listen, if there's a reason it's 38 percent. I have seen it so many times and it is one of the better Reese Witherspoon rom-coms. And it's one of the better, well, listen. One of the better fascistic wars. Four Christmases. I love Four Christmases. Okay, what's the James L. Brooks one that she did? How do you know?

How do you know? She's a softball player, right? Yeah, that was tough. Yeah. The one with Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. This means war. This means war. I saw all of these in Yeah, that was tough. Yeah. The one with Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. This means war. This means war. I saw all of these

in theaters, by the way. Just to say like I... It's like a little bit of a Reese Witherspoon issue if you ask me. Have we talked about Marion Cotillard being on Morning Show Season 4 yet?

You and I have talked about it in ways that I don't feel are appropriate for this podcast. But I hope that they really lean into what Marion Cotillard is bringing.

Is she playing a conspiratorial journalist of some sort? We don't know yet. Okay. That would be a good opportunity for her to vent. Also, but Julianna Margulies

is not returning. Yes, I saw that. So... May have run out of road with that character. Right. But so maybe Reese Witherspoon's character

has a new romantic interest in Marian Cotillard. Oh, I see. And then they... Reese Witherspoon's character on that show is a. Oh, I see. And then they... Reese Witherspoon's character on that show is a lesbian? Mm-hmm. And was in a,

like, a relationship with Julianna Margulies who's playing, like, gay Diane Sawyer. Okay. That's actually the name of my monograph. And they...

They spent the whole pandemic together in Julianna Margulies' home in Montana. And they did the broadcast side by side. But then Reese Witherspoon leaves to cover January 6th. Yeah. Then what happened? Reese Witherspoon leaves to cover January 6th?

And then, spoiler alert, spoiler alert, if you don't want to know. When she's covering Jan 6th, she gets a video of a protester. Not a protester, a rioter attacking a cop. Sorry, sorry, sorry. A freedom fighter? What? From the woman who brought you Sweet Home Alabama comes the freedom fighters of January 6th. It's like there's a rioter, but he's attacking a cop. And then it's her brother.

And he's unmasked to be her brother. And so then she deletes the video and then hackers take over the morning show and they find the deleted footage and they hold Corey, AKA Billy Crudup, not our Corey, but Billy Crudup. That would be amazing. Corey McConnell. Stunning turn of events.

Um, but they hold him. Billy Crude up. That would be amazing. Corey McConnell. Stunning turn of events. But they hold him. Did someone ask you to do this? Like, what do you think happened here? He started it. He brought it up. Sorry. I think you have another pick.

Oh, my God. Really? What did I do to you today? Nothing. I just think. What did I do? This is just. You're doing a great job. You got 25th hour. I did. I? Nothing. I just think. What did I do? This is just. You're doing a great job. You got 25th hour.

I did. I'm fine. I brought energy. You did. You did. Listen. This is like the third gummy bear has kicked in. Okay.

And you're distinguishing between protests. So wait. So one more thing that I wanted to say about Alameda. Please, by all means. Do you remember this? Josh Lucas is like an artist, quote unquote, but the art that he makes is waiting for lightning

to strike sand. Oh yeah. And then he like digs up the crystal, like whatever the alchemy between the lightning and the electricity and the electricity and the sand is, and it makes these glass sculptures. Like, is that a real thing? Can you do that? I don't know, science corner. This is literally your job. I wonder. Should we just be camping out waiting for lightning to hit the beaches?

That seems dangerous. Right, it does. I mean, that's, you know, if we can keep going. He's the dangerous choice, but he's the one she really loves, Sean. Seems like an Aristotelian examination of dramatics. If Twisters does well, I think we could probably spin off some sort of like the lightning artist. Okay. Yeah, there we go. A guy who chases lightning. An archetype of the dangerous man.

See, he's building with me. You. Yes, and. Yeah. You have nothing. It's not true. I continue along. You have another pick, though. You. Yes, and. Yeah. You have nothing. It's not true. I continue along. You have another pick, though.

Okay, sure. In Wild Card, I will take another romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant, two of my faves. It's two weeks notice. Never seen it. I don't think I have either. Oh, this is actually underrated. This is, I mean, I guess I should have switched them, but this is.

Somebody's in a coma in this one, right? No, that is While You Were Sleeping, which is one of Juliette's favorites. Two Weeks Notice is also eligible in Misunderstood. It is. It's at 59%, but because... 42%. 59 audience score. Wow, the audience is very wrong.

Well, Sweet Home Alabama was lower, so I put it in Misunderstood. And then Two Weeks Notice is genuinely good. And you know how there are those online campaigns like Edit the Rat out of The End of the Departed? Yes. We should do literally one of those, but edit Donald Trump. Put the rat in this movie? This movie features Donald Trump. There's a Donald Trump cameo in this, but we need to edit it out.

Interesting that you'd be interested in this and that storyline from The Morning Show. Wow, it's a film about Alabama. Right, exactly. It's kind of interesting. Were there any statues in this film about Alabama? I don't think so. I mean, this movie has some other problematic issues, including that Sandra Bullock is Hugh Grant's lawyer. And then they fall in love,

but he's not respectful in a professional way. Like he, he doesn't treat his employees very well. Okay. I would say, uh, cause he's just like an entitled, like he is also playing like a Donald Trump as he's a billionaire character.

Yes. Who has like a lot of real estate and, um, doesn't make a lot of sense and doesn't take things seriously until sandra bullock his in-house counsel who is trying to save the community center in coney island or thereabouts and and who is like a real do-gooder um she agrees to work for him in order to save the community center. And then... And then... We don't recap the entire film

when we draft a movie on the pod. I don't know if you've been picking up on the previous 3,000 choices. So she... To be fair, I did do a fair amount of Lord of the Rings, Two Towers. So I'm just... I'm trying to bring you up to speed.

Because I asked. I'm trying to bring you up to speed. Thank you asked. I'm trying to bring you up to speed. Thank you. And I'm trying to tell you all the ways that this movie hasn't aged well. So she agrees to work for him, like, to save her one thing. But then she's compromising her principles in other ways. And then also, you can't really be starting a relationship with your employees. So that's bad.

And then also there's this running thing where she like is a compulsive overeater and just orders like a tremendous amount of chinese food and that's like the last joke anyway problematic but they have great chemistry and it sounds really good it's honestly it's pretty good so if you haven't seen it we'll just edit out some of the issues. And I recommend two weeks notice. Yeah. Will you also be drafting Birth of a Nation here? Just editing out the issues that don't work? This is the problem.

All romantic comedies pre-2015, if you really want to boil them down, they're... They're about Trump. They're like illegal. Yeah. Why do you think that is? They're conservative. Because, you know, they're about upholding They're like illegal. Yeah. Why do you think that is? They're conservative because, you know, they're about

upholding men's ideas of what women want. and traditional notions of relationships and the family and also women have to fall down

until they find love, like literally, and then it works out, you know. You think that's true? You think women should suffer before being able

to feel your love? No, I think around knocked up, it changes over. And it's like the men who are the, like, need to be lifted up by a woman. So where are we now? We don't make romantic comedies. Yeah, no sex is where we are.

Yeah, that's true. Except for Glenn and Sydney. Right, and Presumed Innocent, apparently. And Jake and the worst person in the world. I'm going to check that out. Not a lot of comedy in Presumed Innocent so far, just putting that out there. Based on one episode, fairly

dire circumstances. There's sex in Hitman too. There is. There is a lot of sex and comedy. Chris, you have one more selection. For my misunderstood, I'm going to pick State Property. Wow. So this is a movie starring most of the roster

of Rockefeller Records. Wow. At the time starring most of the roster of Rockefeller records. Wow. Uh, at the time, one of the central preoccupations of my life was Jay-Z. And, uh, I always remembered that the first significant thing I did after 9-11 was go see the Jay-Z tour in Philadelphia and write about it for 360 hip hop. Sounds right. For John Caramonica. Uh, real one forever. And they. For John Caramonica.

A real one forever. They can never take that away from you. No. No matter what they say about you. You always did that. What else would they say about me? I don't know. We'll see.

I mean, we know what they'll say about Amanda. Treason. She was interested in tearing down our democracy based on her movie choices. State prop is mostly focused on Beanie Siegel. He's the star of this. This is a movie that has, I think, like 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. But sometimes you just got to go with the one you watched a lot. And I watched State Property quite a bit back in the early 21st century.

On DVD? Yeah, I think I bought it at like 14th Street. Yeah. Sounds right. So I love this movie loosely about Junior Black Mafia, but not really. Can I ask you a life question about 2002 that I was hoping would come up before now? Sure. Was the Greyhound still around in 2002?

I mean, I think it was alive. Yes. Yeah. But was it in your life? Not as much. Okay. No. All right.

You had a Greyhound for a while? I had a relationship in which there was also a greyhound in play. Yeah. The dog? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Not like the bar, the greyhound in Los Angeles.

You had a period in your life where you were proximate to a greyhound? Yeah. And why is that of note? I don't know. She thinks this is like a charming characteristic of me, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you adopted in the late 2001.

Yes. Right. Yeah. So, which I always think of. I was like, there's the timing of events. And then I was just wondering whether there was...

It was still around at this time. And then, yeah. But not so much in my life. Okay. Did the dog pass on? No, I just was not with the woman that we adopted the greyhound. You the dog pass on? No, I just was not with the woman that we adopted the granddad.

You were with a woman. Oh my. Did we know each other in O2? We did not. We did not. Not yet. No. That's when you stopped knowing women is when you met me.

I filled the void. Okay. Speaking of filling the void. Do you think Stay Prop's a good pick? I love it. It's very you, and I definitely watched it multiple times, and I was like,

this is pretty cool, even though it's very bad. But I'm glad that Beanie Siegel got to be the star of a major motion picture because he deserves it, and he deserves everything. I'm taking the rules of attraction. I was thinking about this.

Former guest of this show, Roger Avery, wrote and directed an adaptation of the Brett Easton Ellis novel. This is a... Sick film. A really, really cool movie. It is a little bit evil, and it is very acidic in its portrayal of college life.

Shannon Sossaman is in this? The great Shannon Sossaman. The greatest two for two of my adolescence is Shannon Sossaman in 2002 appearing in this film and in 40 Days and 40 Nights. I'm not sure if there's been a hotter person when I was in my late teens, early 20s than Shannon Sossaman. James Van Der Beek going hard against type

away from Dawson. Kit Pardue, I had a lot of stock. Incredible Kit Pardue montage in this movie of his journey to Europe. Roger Avery self-financed his trip to Europe and they shot like it was a documentary. Yes. Very, very fun.

Very, very crazy movie. Probably not looked upon as safe in 2024. I think you can get it on Blu-ray. I really liked this movie when it came out. It was on HBO all the time. Yeah. And I dig it. You're a Brett Easton Ellis fan?

Somewhat, yeah. I'm excited for the shards. Sure. Though it was originally going to be a Luca experience. Oh, was it? Yeah. And then he's not doing it anymore. And I would have really been interested in that.

Bringing it full circle, Brett Easton Ellis also just seems tremendously rational in the Bratz documentary. He should have just went straight to Brett Easton Ellis and been like, explain this to me because he really had a handle on the narrative. The thing is, it doesn't seem like he checked with anyone first. Yes.

It's totally true. He was like, I have an idea and I'm headed out on the road, which is kind of how this podcast has gone. Amanda didn't really check beforehand. Of course I did. I've seen every single movie. I bet you're happy with your picks.

They reflect my 2002 movie going experience. Nobody picked Gangs of New York. Where you still have another one? Nope. I'm all done. So we're all dead and nobody picked Gangs of New York. Nobody took Gangs of New York. I mean, there are quite a few films.

Nobody took The Hours. Nobody took Spider-Man. Nobody took Gangs of New York. I mean, there are quite a few films. Nobody took The Hours. Nobody took Spider-Man. Nobody took Signs. Nobody took 8 Mile. I mean, E2 Mama on time, yeah, is a big oversight. Do you know, can I tell you something? It's almost impossible to watch. Not if you come to my house.

Okay, well, I was not going to come to your house at 9 o'clock last night. Because, like Judd Nelson, you just wouldn't answer the phone. Oh, I fucked up I forgot to take something although it speaks to it's weird genre designation was it NARC?

no it's 24 hour party people yeah that was another one on my list you told me not streaming? I believe it's available on IFC

but like not if you have IFC through AMC I mean it was I was in like streaming right now for like 20 minutes and I haven't seen it in 15 years

so great film yeah I really wanted to rewatch it last night it's a big oversight how do you feel about the cast of

E2 Mama Tambien reuniting for a boys spinoff called Boys Mexico the boys the TV show yeah the two guys are also I think

the actress as well oh no just the guys I love them both so I would watch it I haven't really been keeping up with the boys though The two guys are also the actress as well. Oh, no, just the guys. I love them both, so I would watch it. I haven't really been keeping up with the boys, though. It seems like four seasons has been good. Are you watching it? I haven't watched the fourth yet.

Okay. Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes' film. Undrafted. Really like that movie. Eight Mile? I rewatched much of it last night. I forgot that was Anthony Mackie at the end. Yeah, sure. Yeah.

Clarence. Yeah. Yeah. He went to Cranbro at the end. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Clarence. Yeah. Yeah. He went to Cranbrook. That's a private school. The sum of all fears. I saw that in the theater. All right.

You saluted at the end of it. Well. Thank you, Tom Clancy. It's a pretty dark movie. Is it? A nuke goes off in Baltimore and Morgan Freeman is the president and he gets killed and then Jack Ryan becomes president, right? Am I remembering this correctly? And also Ben Affleck is Jack Ryan, so he becomes the president and he gets killed and then Jack Ryan becomes president, right? Am I remembering this correctly?

And also Ben Affleck is Jack Ryan, so he becomes the president. Ben Affleck becomes president in the sum of all fears? Yeah, I think so. Okay. Do you think that Ben Affleck himself would make a good president? Relative to the present competition? I think it'd be an interesting... Now that is a debate I would watch.

Wow, me too. Big Ben, Sleepy Joe, and Donald. I would watch that debate. I've watched Ben Affleck debate people on Real Time with Bill Maher. I've enjoyed it every time. Would you vote for Ben Affleck? As an independent or a Dem?

I mean, he'd have to run as an independent this year. He's got the... I mean, he's... He's got the I mean he's he's he's got the mold of a person who would run for president yes no just like

no one wants to get anywhere near is there anything else that we forgot I'm still reading this some of all fears Wikipedia trying to find out

if he becomes president did you like the movie the sweetest thing not really I think Signs is a pretty big oversight. Signs is a big oversight. Yeah.

I really like Signs. I prefer The Village. Is that weird? No. I think they're both good. Are we going to do some M. Night stuff? For Trap?

Yeah. You saw what they did. Yeah. Now it's on vacation. I'll wait. I'll wait. It's okay. They moved it up a week

to fuck you. But I made a whole big thing. Yeah. I know. But now it's... It literally felt like they listened to the pod and then the next day they're like you know what fuck him well now it's now it is quite literally it's my birthday movie so that is nice i saw that yeah i'll be back for that tuesday episode so we can do it for after the the weekend don't rush you You know, you should take a break.

Well, I am. Thank you for saying that. I am. Just take care of yourself. But then I'm taking another break later in the summer. Yeah. To do what? Like go to movie festivals?

It's not the same thing. No, no. I don't know. I'm going to go. My family and I are going to go somewhere. I don't know where. Okay. But we're going to take another week at the end of August before I go to the film festivals.

There's a chance I'm going to telluride, TIFF, and New York. I love that for you. For me, it will be fun. For my wife, not so fun. Yeah. I don't think that will be ideal for her. You can't bring your daughter to Telluride?

I still think you guys should. And I will try to... Yeah, I couldn't convince her. I do think maybe at four, I think it will be more achievable. No naps. They can go hiking together. She would enjoy that.

Alice would like that. Yeah, but no naps means more achievable. No naps. They can go hiking together. She would enjoy that and Alice would like that. Yeah, but no naps means more time taking care of a child. There's also sitters there. Yeah. There's like whole sit because a lot of people

go with their whole families for the festival and then they just dump their kids off which I think is kind of cruel but I get why they do it. Guess who owns that sitter service?

National baby. That's why you're the goat right there. You did it. Any other yeah I just want to let you know my misunderstood long list state prop yep k19 the widow maker right on that 60 percent line uh let me tell you something right now tried to watch it a few years ago unwatchable catherine

bigelow so boring who just got cast in the catherine bigelow movie for Netflix? Idris Elba and... I know what you're talking about, but... And it's about nukes headed for America, right? Yeah, I think it's specifically what if there was a nuclear attack aimed at the White House? And it's Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba. Oh, sick. To which I say, thank you.

The other one was Ghost Ship. Ghost Ship also stinks, but I respect you. Ghost Ship has a sick kill. Does it? Yeah, the wire going across the top of the ship. I know exactly what you're talking about.

They bit that for three bodies off. Is it Yon de Bont? Yeah. Margulies, Eldred. Okay. You have a bunch of misunderstoods? Not a bunch of misunderstoods, but My Big Fat Greek Wedding was the fifth most popular film of this year. Never understood this.

It made $241 million domestically. Yes. I rewatched it last night thinking, oh, it'll definitely be in the Amanda bag. And I was like, absolutely not. After 20 minutes. I thought it was really bad then. Yeah. I haven't revisited it.

No, thank you. Never saw it. Misunderstood, Reign of Fire. Matthew McC thank you. Never saw it. Misunderstood. Reign of Fire. Matthew McConaughey rides a dragon. Oh, yeah. Pretty good.

40 Days and 40 Nights, I mentioned. Austin Powers in Goldmember. Right, that was... I like gold! Right, that happened. That's Beyonce, right? That's Beyonce, right?

Yeah, I saw that one in theaters. I definitely saw 40 Days and 40 Nights in theaters, speaking of Josh Hartnett. That's where Josh Hartnett can't nut, right? Yeah, exactly.

40 Days and 40 Nights. He can, but he's trying not to. That's where Josh Hartnett can't nut, right? Yeah, exactly. For 40 days and 40 nights. He can, but he's trying not to. That's the letterbox synopsis, yeah. Josh Hartnett can't nut for 40 days and 40 nights. See you at the movies. Swim fan? Oh, yeah. So I watched The Upside of Anger last night,

which is the Joan Allen, Kevin Costner movie that I'd never seen before, where they both just get super drunk. They're like, we're 48, let's drink a lot. Great premise for a movie. Erica Christensen, absolutely smoking hot in that movie. Beautiful. Swim fan, it's not very good.

I wish it was better. It's kind of like Fatal Attraction in a pool, but if you were 19. I've rethought, you know, because like I really held a lot of what I didn't like about traffic against Erica Christensen. And I just want America to know that I've rethought that position. You think that plot line works? No. Yeah, that's the worst plot line in the movie.

But she's good. She's a very good actor. Traffic, if Traffic was just about Benicio. Oh, I knew you were going to say that. Yeah, you got to have Michael Douglas in there, though. And Catherine Zeta-Jones is really good into it. Yeah. Was Blue Crush a thing for you guys?

I never saw it. I enjoyed Kate Bosworth, though. Yeah, Kate Bosworth. But it was like teen surfing. And I think we never saw it. I enjoyed Kate Bosworth. Yeah, Kate Bosworth. But it was like teen surfing and I think we all saw it and we're like, oh, I guess we should all like become surfers now and try to be like Kate Bosworth.

I had a funny experience. Went to the beach with my family for like an end of the year thing for my daughter's school. And when we got out to the beach where it was organized, that it was organized that

it was at the Topanga Beach in Malibu. There were like hundreds of surfers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like at 11 a.m. And I was talking to one of the beach where it was organized that, it was at the Topanga Beach in Malibu. There were like hundreds of surfers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like at 11 a.m. And I was talking to one of the dads and I was like, look at all these surfers. This is crazy. And he's like, yeah, I've surfed here hundreds of times.

I was like, oh, geez. Like if you're a native Angeleno, you're raising your kids and sending them to the school that I'm sending Alice to. Of course, you're a surfer. And this guy was like, yeah, I've crushed these waves hundreds of times. I was like, I'm just a guy who reads books about guys who do that. But you never really said, like I thought you were like have no interest in surfing. No, I have surfed. I crushed these waves hundreds of times. I was like, I'm just a guy who reads books about guys who do that. But you never really said, like, I thought you were, like, have no interest in surfing. No, I have surfed.

I have surfed a few times. But he doesn't like the beach or the ocean. I don't like the beach. I love the ocean. I hate the beach. That's my, I don't like sand. Right. I'm against sand.

One more reason for us to go to the Mediterranean for the film festivals next season. Okay. Because the sand, it's, you know, rocky and less sand and usually they take you on a boat and just deposit you right in the water and you swim.

I love swimming in the ocean. Okay. I suspect my child really is going to want to go to the beach a lot. I was actually going to invite you guys to the beach this weekend.

Sounds good. Okay, great. See you there. Okay. And by see you there, I mean my wife and Alice will see you there I was gonna say

any other movies Moonlight Mile that's a movie I kinda like is that one of those did you see Lilo and Stitch never seen it was gonna show it to Alice because they're doing

next year a live action yeah it's cute I saw it you did yeah yeah it eluded me because I was in college

Jason 10 Jason in Space Jason X I don't really like Jason X. Me neither. About a boy? I never really... Steven Soderbergh's Solaris?

I like that he tried. I think it's underrated, but not great. The first hour is very good. Yes, I agree. I think that the second hour is not to my taste. Natasha Maclone, a little bit of black licorice for me. Can't really get into her. Oh, she's really good in Ronin.

Do you know what was one of the biggest movies of this year? A phenomenon, really. It was Bowling for Columbine. Oh, yeah. Did you guys see that? It's about gun control in the United States. Yeah. I mean, I guess I did at some point, but... I actually don't know if I did. Because you didn't agree with its message?

No. Oh, God. I did at some point, but... I actually don't know if I did. Because you didn't agree with its message? No. Oh, God. This is... How do you feel about this one? This pod? Mixed bag. Imagine if I was like, and now let's go to my conversation

with the corpse of Akira Kurosawa. What's the only way to follow this up to make it even more weird? Thanks for everything. Amanda, thank you. I don't think that was very sincere. That's not true.

Thanks so much for showing up today, for being here, for drafting films. I had a good time with you. Thank you. Listen, I know that I was just a little more on like an Amanda world, but. That's okay. You know, I have my interests. Thank you. You do.

You do have your interests. You're holding fast to them they include uh statues and donald trump films chris what do you what do you got cooking up talk the thrones is back talk the thrones is back sunday nights after the episodes of house of the dragon you can find that on the house of House of the Dragon. You can find that on the House of R audio feed. And you can find that on the Ringerverse YouTube feed. And also, if you're listening to this and you're in Los Angeles, I'll be appearing at the Ringer NBA Show's live show,

the El Rey Theater, on Tuesday, June 18th. Wow, so you're going straight from Horizon to... I have a long day tomorrow. I'm doing Bandsplain Horizon live show. If you... I wish I'd known that, because I did sort doing Bandspleen Horizon live show. If you... I wish I'd known that, because I did sort of like bully you into going to see Horizon with me.

Nobody bullied me into seeing Horizon. That's true, but... Will you be joining for the Horizon episode? Well, if I'm not, I won't go to Horizon tomorrow, because I'll just spare myself. I don't even remember if you're on the list. He's on the spreadsheet. Then you're invited.

I'm on... The most important thing is I'm on Bike Riders on Thursday. Yes. Our next episode will be a discussion of the film Bike R also kinds of kindness which i don't think you will have seen by then right i will not have seen that but you should just pontificate about it anyway i might is it a funny bit if i'm just like no more yorgos for the rest of my life you you road tested this with me a couple of weeks ago i think it's funny i think you should go after it do you think it's funny i'm i'm open to it okay alright

did you ever see poor things or you were at I did not you never you never watched it I watched the first 10 minutes of it on Hulu

and then I I stopped why why did I start it or why did I stop was it too just too bracing for you I was like I got it

I know you know that the the life of a woman's mind is more complex than you could possibly fathom? I do this five times. How could I possibly ever have done

misunderstanding? Poor things. More like rich men. Am I right? No, that's not what I did. Thanks to Alea Vaneiris. Thanks to our producer Bobby Wagner

for his work on this episode and for your infinite patience with this show we are talking about the bike riders have you seen the bike riders yet? I'm seeing it on Wednesday it's a very big week for me

and dudes exploring the American West in various ways is there a third? no but you know we gotta get you into long legs that's the next move get you into long legs that's the next move get you into long legs

that's a big one speaking of exploring the American West we'll see you later this week