The Big Picture - The 2008 Movie Draft

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

We are drafting again! Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan reunite for a draft of the movies from 2008. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Erica Ramirez, founder of Illy and host of What About Your Friends, a podcast dedicated to the many lives of friendship and how it's portrayed in pop culture. Every Wednesday on The Ringer Dish Feed, I talk to my best friend, Steven Othello, and your favorites from within The Ringer and beyond about friendships on TV and movies, pop culture, and our real lives. So join me every Wednesday on The Ringer Dish Feed, where we try to answer the question TLC asks back in the day what about your friends get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian superstore with PC Express shop online for super prices and super savings try it today and get up to $75 in PC optimum points visit superstore.ca to get started. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about the year 2008. And for the first time in many months, drafting as a trio, Chris Ryan joins us. Hi. What's up, guys? How are you? I just want to thank Amanda for doing the work. You know, I think it's important to rebuild trust, and I think we're there.

So I'm happy to be back. I feel safe. It took some time. Yeah, last we drafted, it was a very intense 1993 mega movie draft in which Van Lathan and Rob Mahoney joined us. I, of course, won. I often win these drafts. But Rob came in a sterling second place after he

lifted Sleepless in Seattle from Amanda. And what did you take from Amanda, Chris Ryan? I think I took everything from Amanda. Didn't I take like three movies where you're just like, what are you doing? You took the Pelican Brief. And that was... And also her dignity, I believe, was also taken. I would have liked to have The Firm as well, but

you, live from Burbank. I mean, I think we can blame The Pangolin for that draft. COVID Dave 3. You took one of my favorite 90s movies. Are you out on the lab leak? Is that what you're saying? You don't buy it. There's a variety of ways I think this could break,

but can we get to the real question that I wanted to answer here? Sure. Okay. A lot of what fuels this type of show that we do is the voting. After the fact. People coming in and saying... Oh, good.

I'm glad you're bringing this up. And saying, oh, Sean got him again. Damn. Chris down bad. Dob mob and tatters. King Lord Fantasy did it. And this week, we had some news from Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter,

who said, going forward, only Twitter Blue accounts will be able to vote in polls. Sean, care to comment? Sure, yeah. I'm fully subscribed for Twitter Blue.

I've also fully subscribed both of you guys and Bob as well. No, of course not. No, I've not subscribed. And frankly, if the only way you can participate in polls

is to be verified via Twitter Blue, we will not be voting on Twitter. We will find another way. Maybe we'll use the Google Forms that David Lara has been putting together. Maybe we'll find

a new place. You know, is there a polling function on Discord? Chris likes that idea. The Google Forms, which he has suspiciously won I think all of the Google Form

submissions, except last time. I think I won the last one, which he has suspiciously won, I think, all of the Google Form submissions, except last time. I think I won the last one, which restored my faith in the Google. I think I won one in a landslide. You might have. We can set it up that you have to verify, so you can only vote once, unless you create new email addresses, which at that point, I don't know what's at hand. Let's take it analog. Let's just set up a table in public. I have great news. I've been having this,

I've been reluctant to share this with you guys, but I've been talking to Dominion about getting involved in the big picture. And I feel like there's a huge opportunity

here for us to... They're due for a windfall. And restore their name, you know? Bring them to the light the way that we have with movie drafting. It's a good question.

I don't know what we'll do. We'll find a solution. What do you think that this is going to do to online film discourse? Letterboxd wins question. I don't know what we'll do. We'll find a solution. What do you think that this is going to do to online film discourse? Letterboxd wins again. Okay. We did it.

We did it, Joe. Get off of Twitter. I love Twitter. I've created the perfect environment on Twitter. It's just Jets, Mets, and movies. Yeah, I did. You know why?

I just mute people. If you send me negative feedback, you're just getting muted automatically. Okay. Automatically. It doesn't matter.

Even if I respond to you, as soon as I respond, muted. Do you engage a lot? Do you respond to people? Every once in a while. But not often because, frankly, I've just muted all the trolls. And I feel great about it. How about you guys? You're back. Am I? Yeah. I think you tweet

more than me. Well, you tweeted during the Oscars, right? Did I tweet during the Oscars? I think I tweeted before the Oscars because David Lara um made a really beautiful and I believe Jomie also together created a teaser for the Oscars um to the Top Gun theme song and I thought it was really emotional so I tweeted about that but I think that's the last time I did I thought you were tweeting from Elon's account. Yeah, yes. I'm a billionaire now. And I make electric cars and also tweet a lot. If we're moving off of this voting system, do you think that there's an argument to be had that we go back and redo all the drafts that Twitter may have poisoned? I don't know what else we're going to do with

this pot anyway. I think that's definitely on the table. What do you think? What do you think we should do? I would like to set up some sort of table where we collect paper ballots and then video Chris Ryan counting them one by one. I think he would be great at it. Are we waiting for like from the mail? Like people will mail in their vote? Or they can come in person. You know, it can be sort of like a meet and greet slash vote thing and then i think that chris should have to decipher all of you know the hanging chads the unfilled you know yeah not the first time you've been called a hanging chat is it yeah uh okay that's interesting well we'll we'll we'll look at the options and we'll make a decision maybe as soon as not this vote i think april 15th is meant to be D-Day on the polls.

So for the time being, hug those verified check marks as close to your heart as you can because they are disappearing imminently. 2008, let's talk about that. That's the year that we're drafting from today. Was that a good year for you as a human? I was pretty excited about Barack Obama getting elected president. Were you now? Yeah. Interesting.

And I called that really early. Remember? Yeah, I've heard this story a few times. You've heard this story. We were friends. You know that I did that. But you're like, I'm the new James Carville. Who gives a shit?

Because you saw a charismatic guy who was going to be the president? No. No, I called that at like his announcement. But you weren't like in Harvard Law with him. I also almost called texas they lost to miami but like sometimes i just get hot and you have to roll with it so that's one of the defining things of that year is the election yeah great take and otherwise like i

think i was okay you knew me better than i knew myself back then right wow we were very close uh you were you were you were thriving we had yet met. I think that's correct. How were you doing? What were you up to? 24 years old. So who can say, really? Just drunk in bars. Yeah, I do remember Barack Obama being elected.

I was also there. That was really fun. Some banks closed. And so that was tough. Bad times. Yeah, that was sort of the Obamaama thing was good and i would say everything else both world and film was bad man i was fucking broke in 2008 holy cow did i have five grand in the bank probably not even close what were you doing professionally in 2008 i was

uh i was the associate music editor of vibe magazine that's right that year and uh i loved that job and it was great i wouldn't say it paid very well and i had no savings and then uh that magazine folded sure that was not ideal i was engaged soon to be married i got engaged that year in fact my wife a very passionate supporter of barack obama in the run-up to his election as well like there was obama signage in our presence when i proposed to her because that was such a passionate thing for her which which is so funny to think about now because you guys know. Did you orchestrate that or did you just propose to her on somebody's lawn in Long Island? It was in Obama's home. That's where we proposed.

But we were talking about you actually right up until that moment. Oh, that's cool. Sierra called us. You got it right. And Eileen starts crying. It's just like, what a guy. It was a tough year. I lost a job, but gained a wife and gained a new

president did you get married in 2008 no it was in 2009 okay yeah but um it was it was an interesting year an interesting time to be living in new york city yeah i don't have a lot of movie memories i have so many movie memories from 2010 i'll tell you what when you go back and look at the list there's a reason why you don't have a ton of movie it's kind of a meh year right well i think that there's some awesome stuff. But then when you look at probably what would have been, you're like, it's Sunday or Wednesday, you want to go to the movies?

And it's like, to see what? There's a very big, noisy movie. Well, there were two very big, noisy movies in the two kind of categories that we cover. One of them, of course, was The Dark Knight, the Christopher Nolan sequel to Batman Begins, which, you know, at this point,, the Christopher Nolan sequel to Batman Begins, which, you know,

at this point is just a full-blown iconic film from this century. And it also informed what happened with the Academy Awards because the Academy Awards in this year was completely dominated

by Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle's movie. And those two movies kind of blotted out the conversation in every direction. And so, I don't know if they necessarily

are going to blot out the conversation of this podcast, but it felt like there's a lot of talk of monoculture. There was something very monocultural about The Dark Knight. And if you cared about award season, there was something very monocultural about Slumdog. Slumdog was everywhere and it basically didn't lose any of the races that it ran in. So it's a year without a big reputation, I would say. Like, do you remember going to the movies in 2008? I do. But I, you know, I remember going to see The Reader and being like, huh, okay.

And I remember going to see Doubt and being like, wow, great time. I remember going to see The Wrestler, getting in the fight with my then-boyfriend about the ending, and then basically breaking up as a result of The Wrestler. And he's listening. He's a really nice guy. And I would like to repeat that I was 24 years old and so just an asshole. And that was probably my fault.

But yeah, I remember it. Did you guys break up that night? No, we took a week to cool off. Because of the ending of The Wrestler? I just didn't like it. I don't like the, I think it's a cop-out. With the just not showing us what happened to Mickey Rourke's character? Yes. I was just kind of like, this is annoying. like the i think it's a cop-out would they just not showing us what happens yeah mickey works character yes i was just kind of like this is annoying i was kind of annoyed by the whole movie as you know you're not a darren aronofsky i'm not an aronofsky person

and we were at bam and i think you know i made a typical amanda like or whatever and i i think this very nice man liked the movie and as you guys know, I'm not exactly kind when I disagree. This is like comic revelation. You broke up because of the wrestler. This is the funniest fucking story you've ever told.

Why are we getting this now? This is like... I think I've told you this before. Yeah. I don't know that I knew that you broke up with someone because you guys disagreed

about the wrestler. That seems like a fact I would retain. I'm losing a lot of stuff these days, but that's what I would have put in the do not delete file. It was sort of like the straw that broke the, you know. Sure. You know other things about this guy. Yeah, for sure.

There are some famous other stories that you've retained, including the train to Dublin. Oh, right. Yeah. So, you know, it was like a long time coming. But I will take responsibility for it. You make it sound like you were dating like Robert Downey Jr. or something. What happened?

I'm trying to remember if I've ever broken up with someone over a cultural opinion. And I do not think that that's the case. Gotten close, I'll bet. But you play nice. Amanda doesn't play nice. Amanda's like, this is how I fucking feel. Deal with it. No, we broke up because I don't play nice Amanda's like this is how I fucking feel deal with it

we broke up because I don't play nice and it was time and it was just kind of like you know what we don't need to do this anymore it wasn't meant to be and that's part of the appeal right

if you want to get in the ring so to speak what's the worst fight you've ever gotten with Eileen over a movie I'm just such a blowhard she doesn't even like at a certain point she's just like fine take it like we've gotten with Eileen over a movie? I'm just such a blowhard. She doesn't even, like, at a certain point, she's just like, fine, take it.

Okay. Like, we've gotten into serious fights over other things in our life, but with a movie, with all my know-it-all bullshit, she's like, fine, walk away with that one. I don't care. So not many, honestly. I've been present for you and your wife

fighting over Goodfellas. Yeah. Yeah. That's a tough one. Phoebe is anti-Goodfellas? Well, I was just thinking about this the other day because there was like

a honeymoon period in relationships where I think this is, if I may be heteronormative for a second, where like girls tend to be like, oh yeah, that's a really cool movie

that you're making me watch in the first two weeks of our relationship and it's like watching Slapshot and Miller's Crossing and they're like, wow, you're so interesting. And then that goes away. And I think Goodfellas was like the first one after it went away

and she was like this movie sucks like 20 minutes into it and I was like this is the best thing that's ever been made and like we're we're only clearing our throat here like we've got two and a half more hours we haven't gotten it really Yoda's barely showed up yet and we just left that in the past i think every once in a while she'll be like i still don't like that movie yeah and we have like a half-hearted argument about it but we've got bigger fish to fry but see it's funny that you say that like for me the thing that is more bone chilling is when eileen is like i thought it was okay about like the banshees have been a share and i'm like well this film destroyed my soul she's like it was fine right like Right. I'm like, what?

So you don't want to fight about it, but you also don't really want to talk about it. So it's just nothing to you. Yeah. That is way more painful than Amanda yelling at me, like in a recorded conversation about what a moron I am. I can get up for that. The like, you know, popping the balloon, that's sad.

Yeah. I mean, when she starts going on the beauty of Marvel CGI and Ant-ManMan it's just like you're watching Picasso at work it's true yeah how are you feeling? well Chris you know

cost someone a job it wasn't me unbelievable if only you had just kept your mouth shut Victoria Alonso would still be thriving you know

you're just up in Reddit you know just doing the postings I'm the reason there's layoffs at Disney exactly that's right 2008

any other lingering thoughts about this year? I mean, there's not a whole lot of preamble to do with the Academy Awards, as I said. I have a question. Yeah, sure. So this is obviously, it's popularly known as the year that changed the Oscars,

right, because Dark Knight didn't get nominated for Best Picture, so they wound up expanding the field. I have a take. I do want to bounce off you guys, which is like, I think we should go back to five after this year. But we can do that some other time if you

want to. It's an interesting conversation. I thought that 10 actually helped the telecast this year. I thought it may maybe help the telecast

but there was something really crappy about being like six of these movies have absolutely no shot even if and like I don't understand the math on why Top Gun

or Avatar didn't have a prayer you know. I have a related pitch which is a revision of a longtime Sean pitch, which is instead of... Sean wants them to reveal the votes, you know, and count down throughout. I think that if you... But they'll never do that because it's mean, right? You know, and no one is willing to get on the broadcast and be like, with 75 votes, it's triangle of sadness.

You know? But if you counted down the top five vote getters in a field of 10, then you're providing cover for the other five, but you're still adding some of the intrigue. So I would vote to keep 10 if only to add in some of the math and the suspense. See, this is the great compromise. There we go. I think that's a very good idea. I would love for them to introduce something like that

to draw out some intrigue. Obviously, our big complaint this year was that the telecast was sort of predictable. However, it was better than the Oscars that we're talking about this year. The Oscars stink this year. This year, I mean, the five nominees, and one of the reasons why there was all this

Sturm und Drang around The Dark Knight was because the nominees were Slumdog, which is a movie that I liked at the time, and I still like. I love Danny Boyle's movies. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is, of course, a very accomplished movie, but one of my least favorite David Fincher movies. That's because you're blind. Okay. Frost Nixon, which is...

And you can't feel. Just settle down. Frost Nixon, which is okay. Uh-huh. Milk, which is fine. Uh-huh. And The Reader reader which is bad I did

what's the reader about again a Nazi who learns to read right she learns to read in the bathtub and she engages with like a relationship with a very young man and then he

the like the framing device is him remembering this relationship with this woman she's just hitting all the all the CR pleasure zones illiterate Nazis bathing yeah

Kate Winslet bathing. For sure. I mean, for you, that's huge. So it's kind of like a Mare of Easttown prequel, as I recall. Okay, great. No, I mean, this is just like

a very perfectly fine set of like docudrama, literary adaptations that are nominated that like kind of bore people to tears. Right. And the show still did

a big rating at the time, but there was this sense that it was young people could care less and that was you know 15 years ago now and i think if avatar the way of water and top gun maverick and a handful of other movies are not nominated this year there might have been a similar sense if it was like banshees and the fablemans and everything everywhere all at once and i don't know you pick your poison on the last two then we might have had the same feeling so i I like 10. I would like to keep 10 personally. I think it gives us the opportunity for a few more surprises.

You want to keep 10? I do, but only to enact my grand plan of... And also the other thing, the other problem with this year's Oscars were that there were very few celebrities. Yes. So we need more movies to get more potential celebrities.

Yes. I would be remiss to get more potential celebrities. Yes. I would be remiss if I did not say that this was not just the year of the Dark Knight but also the year of Iron Man. It sure was.

And that also set us on a course. Yeah. It is ending. It's ending. Oh is it? Oh right. Yeah we did it.

Yeah because of me. CR got Alonzo out of the paint and now I have been people coming up to me on the street every day. Thank you for your work. We will never see another comic book movie. Alonzo out of the paint. Yeah. And now I have been, people coming up to me on the street every day. Cheers in their eyes. Sean, thank you for your work.

We will never see another comic book movie. I so appreciate the good work. Now I can finally devote myself to mid-budget adult dramas. Okay. You want to draft?

Yeah. Would love to. Bobby Wagner? Draft order? I can go back to the hat now because we don't have two extra participants. I don't understand. Why can't we use the hat with two extra participants?

Because we lost the Scrabble tiles. Yeah, just because I only have Scrabble tiles. Yeah, you could expense those. Yeah, you're right. I could expense those. Okay, first overall. F for Sean Benassi. Well, at least he'll behave himself.

Yeah. It's unbelievable. Just to be living in this time with you guys, just to be sharing these days. You're a monster. You were in such a bad mood when we started, and now you're just like alive. I'm having a tough week, but you know what?

Bobby, what the fuck? Chris, you're going to be going in the middle. It's better to go third than second, Amanda. I don't know why you're mad at me and the Scrabble Tiles. I had to go fifth in 1993, and that was another source of concern. Take it up with the Top Gun hat, you know? All right. Go ahead.

I need you to lift your energy. Your energy's great. I feel so lucky to be reaching the widest possible audience with these movie drafts and to be doing it with you and you and you. That's what I need you to say right now. What is the widest possible audience? Yeah, what do you mean by the widest possible audience? Because people like these podcasts.

Oh, okay, yeah. This isn't just like two dipshits talking about Scream 6, you know? Because this is being broadcast across Ukraine right now. This is their only entertainment, so stand tall. Do you think that we could do one of these live? No, I don't actually. You don't? Why not? Well, no, I think we could do it. You don't trust me?

It's not you and me I'm worried about. I just think that there's like, I mean, there's I think we could do it. I wonder if it would have the same charm because the charm is the volatility. You're saying you would be reluctant to hurt my feelings on stage because I would not be. I know you wouldn't be. Yeah. I

play fair, but I play tough. I'm like LeBron. I don't cheat, but it feels like cheating. Right, okay. Just keep that in mind when I select number one overall, The Dark Knight. In what category? I'm going to take it in Oscar nominee.

Okay. The Dark Knight, I think for some reason people think I don't like The Dark Knight, but I do. And I think features some of the best action filmmaking of the 21st century. You should never be allowed to talk about Christopher Nolan again.

Got bad news for you. I know. But every single time, you're just like, I know that people think that I don't like him. But in fact, that's some of the most accomplished act in filmmaking. Wait, you just, that's Sean's voice?

That's fucking incredible. Will you do that voice for all of the Oppenheimer pod? You've been plotting your revenge after I did Amanda for. You know, I know some people might have a moral problem with him exploding an atomic weapon for film. But like, it's just really cool. It's like Chicken Little yeah I used to love Josh Peck

when he was on Drake and Josh it's really interesting to see him in an adult film you're just doing Skinnamarink you got no range

at least Amanda broke out something new I can respect it I can respect it you're also you're really hurting you're really hurting me? yeah you're picking hurting you're really hurting me?

yeah you're picking third you think she was gonna go Dark Knight number one? of course I was what the fuck else am I gonna do in 2008 there was no good movies she's in full loser

behavior mode you know she's just like I'm gonna be a brat and I'm not gonna get what I want I'm gonna make fun of everybody

it's fine it's fine throw darts do you like the Dark Knight? I love the Dark Knight do you okay here's an idea was the Dark Knight Rises

podcast well receivedreceived? By whom? Anyone? Yeah, dude. Yeah, it was. Everybody was out there. I got a very nice email from a listener named Gavin.

Christopher Nolan. People approached me on the street saying Dark Knight Rises starting to trend. All my friends watching Dark Knight Rises, everybody's out here.

Okay. BKR. Anyway, Gavin lives in Pittsburgh. I thought it was going to say Gavin Newsom. Yeah, that would be incredible. Gavin Newsom, listen to it at Okay. DKR. Anyway, Gavin lives in Pittsburgh. I thought it was going to say Gavin Newsom. Yeah,

that would be incredible. Gavin Newsom, listen to it at French Laundry. Anyway, our friend Gavin in Pittsburgh wanted to let us know that we were wondering where the last scenes

were filmed and it was all in Pittsburgh. And the Saks Fifth Avenue is in Pittsburgh. He wanted you, specifically Chris Ryan, to know that. So there you go.

Yeah. I had a three-hour Zoom with Bill Cowher to discuss it. And he was all in. He said you specifically, Chris Ryan, to know that. So there you go. Yeah. I had a three hour Zoom with Bill Cowher to discuss it. And he was all in. He said we did great work. So I was very pleased with that. We shall return next March with another Watch Along.

I don't know what that film will be. Next March? Yeah. Oh, it's like once a year. Yeah, we've done one every March. To welcome spring in. Yeah. Yeah. Probably another time for another Zack Snyder movie, I would say. Probably. We make weird choices when it comes to those. They've been very strange. This one was the best received, for sure.

I think it's because people actually have a warm relationship to that movie. The thing I was going to ask you both is, I was thinking about this when Chris and I were recording our Cape Fear Rewatchables conversation, and we have Killers of the Flower Moon coming this year, is should we be doing drafts for filmmakers? So should we have a Martin Scorsese draft? Should we have a Christopher Nolan draft?

That would be fun. Are there enough big Jim Nolan movies? Might not be. Yeah. I don't know. There definitely are enough Scorsese movies. And Scorsese's fun because he's got the documentaries. He's got, you know, 50 years of movies.

You could even do a produce by category for all of the, you know, because it gets in the mix. Yes. So something to, just putting that out there as a parity. I think that's fun. You have the number two pick.

I'm going to take In Bruges and Oscars. Wow. Yeah. Interesting. This is my favorite movie from this year, I think.

Obviously, echoes into Banshee's Vinusharan from this previous year. This is my first exposure to Martin McDonagh. I think it was like, honestly, like I kind of didn't have a lot of competition

for me this year in terms of like, oh, that's clearly the best thing I saw. And still to this day is like hilarious and heartbreaking and Ralph Fiennes is incredible and Gleeson's incredible, but this Farrell performance in the middle of it is just mind blowing to me. Although I guess people would probably say that Gleeson is a little bit more the lead in this film.

Have you guys seen this recently? Did you go back and watch it for Banshees? I didn't, actually. I did. And it's great. The kid stuff, I'm sorry. My baby, my baby. I know, I know.

But it was upsetting. But obviously, it's great. Yeah. Well, I'm also picking this because I don't have a lot of love for the stuff that got nominated, even for the far off Oscar stuff. Yeah, it's a tricky Oscar year. There's a couple things

that I like, but there's not very many. I had forgotten though that In Bruges was nominated for just one award, Best Original Screenplay. McDonough always gets nominated. Always the bridesmaid though.

Never the bride. Tough. Amanda. We have two picks here at number three. You know what? I'm just going to lean into it. My first pick will be an action horror.

And this one goes out to Chris Ryan and Victoria Alonso. I'm going to take Iron Man. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Speak on it. This is where it all started for you. This is when it was really practical effects. Yeah.

And also rooted in real world conflict. Yeah. And you yourself and also rooted in real world conflict. Yeah. And you, you yourself are an arms dealer. So you must have felt like I see myself on screen here. Okay.

Number one, Gwyneth Paltrow. Uh-huh. Number two, I have seen this movie. What was Jeff Bridges' character named? Jebediah Stone.

Stone. Jedediah Stone, I think. Yeah. Number three. Obadiah, Obadiah. Okay.

This is a great podcast. You guys want to keep going? Number three, I forgot to fill out the rest of the action horror category. So... Where was Obadiah on the Knox name list?

Was it fourth or fifth? Obie's actually cute for sure. It's a cute name, yeah. When you saw Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2, did you kind of wonder whether or not you should get back together with the guy? You gotta update your computer, buddy.

I know. Did Iron Man 2 lead to breaking up with anybody? No. Do all Mickey Rourke movies? I did see that in theaters as well. That movie stinks. It was really bad. The first one's pretty good.

They got some banter. You know. I love Iron Man. Changed movies. There's no script for Iron Man. I'm so grateful for everything that came after Iron Man. movies there's no script for Iron Man I'm so grateful for everything that came after Iron Man

you know right particularly Quantumania sure yeah kind of culminating in Quantumania 15 years of transcendence

yeah they're doing their best work right now did you get your first certified bank check from Kevin Feige when Iron Man was released that would be so great.

I would absolutely love to be on the Marvel payroll. Imagine if you were on the Marvel payroll and getting in the room with us and recording these stupid podcasts. That would be sad.

I'd be like, what are you doing? Why are you doing that? You got MCU dollars. It's true. So that's a great pick. Thank you so much. Weird category,

action horror this year. You got a lot of options, Chris? I do. Okay. Amanda has another pick. I do. I'm just going to go for it. In comedy, I'm taking Step Brothers. In the spirit of us being pals,

we're just going to keep it moving on that one. You're mad? Well, I was going to pick Step Brothers. Sure, but I also enjoy the film Step Brothers. It's a great pick. I put it on yesterday at 4 p.m. and I was like, I'll just watch like, you know, 20 minutes before I have to go like take care of Knox. And instead I sent Knox and my husband out on a walk and watch the whole thing.

It was awesome. That movie was really funny. Do you love Step Brothers? Yeah. How many movies do you think you'll actually take that you love in this draft? Or are you just in like revenge mode right now? Oh, I'm not taking like any that are like

a real Amanda movies. There are no Amanda movies this year. Oh, interesting. There are zero like true. Has that ever happened? Yeah, I think maybe like 2014. There were a couple other drafts where I just look at the lineup

and I'm like, there's nothing that like became part of my personal canon or whatever. Fascinating. There are some movies on here that I like really enjoy. Or I can see value in. But nothing that like nothing I can't wait to sit down and show Knox.

Because even though I really do Step Others is very funny. I was like, I don't know whether I can show this to he needs to find it on his own. Okay. Are you Chris? You're hurting right now. I was like, I don't know whether I can show this to... He needs to find it on his own. Okay. Are you... Chris, you're hurting right now. I'm not hurting, but this is a strange year because I think that there's a bunch of movies that basically cross three categories. So it could be box office,

it could be comedy. So you wind up losing one fifth or sixth or seventh of your board there when one movie goes down. I think what I'll do is take I'm going to take Burn After Reading and Comedy.

Okay. This was my backup so we just kind of flipped here. I love the security of your shit. No, this is like a pure comedy from them. It was one I don't know if at the time I got as much as it's like, oh, I have to repeat viewings.

It just like hits so hard. Yeah, you were too busy thinking about the hope and change that Barack Obama would bring to our nation. Yeah, and I was just like, I don't want to see our federal institutions lampooned like this. Yeah, it's not right. It's unfair what the Coens did there. This is the funniest Brad Pitt performance?

Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Maybe funniest Malkovich performance too. He's pretty incredible. J.K. Simmons,

remarkable. This movie has one of the best endings ever. Like the final conversation where they're like, what did we learn here? I guess don't do that again. You know,

amazing, amazing script. Damn, there's some funny movies this year. Yeah, there's a lot of comedies. And there's also the stuff that I think now has become pretty much non-existent.

Is this kind of stoner bro comedy or kind of empty airhead comedy that was just like they cranked them out in 2008 and around this time. Well, that dovetails nicely with where I'm going, which is in comedy, I'm taking Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Yeah. One of my absolute favorite films from this year. Definitely a comedy and a very funny movie, but with a massive wounded sadness at the heart of it.

Jason Segel getting over a breakup and channeling that breakup with a Judd Apatow comedy set in Hawaii. Tremendously funny, but also a very strange movie that persists. And I really just wish Jason Segel kept doing this. Is it okay to say that? I think he thinks he is.

I think if you asked him, like, what Forgetting Sarah Marshall, like, what he loves about it, it's the, like, mopey stuff, and it's the music. But there's not as much... He's taking himself more seriously, which I understand.

As an artist, that's something he wants to do. But there's no Dracula the musical going on in the Siegel oeuvre right now. And he's not making movies either. He's making TV shows. And I just feel like he's a great... Aren't we all?

He reminded me, though, in many ways, of the kind of shaggy dog 70s movie star that I really liked. He's not a bad-looking guy, but he's not a matinee idol has he can do comedy and drama simultaneously and he's a little weird and has odd fascinations and those were always my favorite movie stars so it's a little it's a little bit of sadness that i take for getting sarah marshall because i love

that movie um okay so that's my comedy i guess guess in Blockbuster, I gotta follow my heart and take WALL-E. Okay. That's good. You took it from me there. I'm always circling. You took a Pixar movie recently. I took Up, and you fucking lost your mind.

You had a nervous breakdown. You watched eight minutes of it on YouTube one time. Congratulations. They're making a short film that you can watch while babysitting. What's the name of Ed Asner's character in that film? In Up? Yeah.

Uppinson? Nicknamed Up? Is it Ed? It's not Ed. Okay. It's Carl. Carl. Okay.

Because you haven't seen Up! No one cares about his name. Yeah. I'm more... It's the beauty of the animation that I'm there for. He's going on a first date.

That's right. Isn't the short film that you watched while babysitting, wasn't that also- The Volcanoes? Singing to each other? But didn't you watch another first date? Like, didn't the Inside Out character go on a first date? Oh, yeah. I saw that, too.

So Pixar's just being like, here's what we're going to do. It's just send all our- Like 15-minute Pixar movies for Chris. Yeah, where they go on first dates. It's all IP now yeah it's all IP alright

WALL-E in or out I saw it that's not an answer I wish Mal was here Mal gets WALL-E she really she knows

she knows what's going on there because why because you guys are fucking heartless assholes I'm with you Sean thank you Bobby I'm with you I ride hard for WALL-E.

WALL-E, yeah. Honestly, what's good about WALL-E? Just, can you sum it up? It's a ballet of loneliness. It's about finding love in the middle of the galaxy.

Because I find that people when they talk about Pixar movies, they're like, oh, Pixar. Oh, you know, it's just like, Pixar's great. I mean, Pixar's the best.

It's like, why did you respond to this trash can rolling around? That one is different than a lot of the other movies, though. I mean, the first 40 minutes are basically like a silent film. It's their only real science fiction movie.

It's one of the first 10 minutes to 30 minutes of every single Pixar movie, but whatever. No, you're thinking of montages. It's not montages. It's like there's literally no dialogue because the robot doesn't talk. All right, you guys are just trying to wind me up. This is just not right. Tell us more about robots. Wait,

how does, what's a montage? Quote Eisenstein when you're doing it. I'm the one having a hard week and you guys are the ones acting like fucking brats. All right. You got his first pick. Yeah. You got the dark night.

You got forgetting Sarah Marshall. We're accommodating your schedule. You're just on, you're just the king of Bro Island right now. You know? Just let your life shine. Bro Island? Wally is Bro Island?

Yes, it is. As is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Men love that movie. You just drafted Step Brothers in Ireland. You were born on a mountain in San Diego. You're talking about how you connected Jason Segel's family. You carried a surfboard into this fucking recording. I'm on Grow Island.

She's gonna listen to Park My Take on the way home. You just looked CR on the face and drafted Step Brothers. How dare you? Chris, you're up. In Blockbuster? Jeez, this is getting tight.

In Blockbuster, I'm gonna take Tropic Thunder. Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Get in there. Break it down for us, bud.

What do you think? What you like about it is the black face. What don't you like about it? Would you not have taken this film? Do you feel like it's age-boring? I would have. Of course I would have taken it. It's hilarious.

Yeah, this movie is incredible. It's in on the joke. It knows what it's doing. Would it have been made today? Probably not. I don't think that they would have thought that that would have been a good idea creatively. The whole point of the movie, though,

is that the guy who is wearing blackface is a fucking idiot. Yes. He's an up-his-own-ass actor. You know. I think that this movie is about as perfect a Hollywood comedy can be, especially if you're going to add an action elements to it.

And I just, when we do this rewatchables, is this another one we're saving? You're asking me like I have an answer to that question. I genuinely don't know. I do think it is a rewatchable. Yeah. I haven't rewatched it in a while.

You love it? Tropic Thunder? I have not seen it since 2008. Oh, I thought you were going to say it. Did you leave the theater in 2008 being like, I wouldn't want to sully what a perfect experience

that is by watching it again? Exactly. Okay. Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. I thought the funniest

part of this movie was Steve Coogan. He's fucking amazing in this movie. He's so funny. Yeah. And then, does he get blown up?

Most of them do. Really, really good. Cruise in Tropic Thunder, you in or you out? It's kind of in the phase, it's the post-couch, Most of them do. Really, really good. Cruz in Tropic Thunder, you in or you out? It's kind of in the phase, it's the post-couch, pre-I-just-jump-out-of-planes phase, where he's still really trying so hard to be like, no, but I'm Tom Cruise, and you still like me. It's like a little Rock of Ages, you know, which comes a couple years later.

I hate that one, though. Yeah, but it's, you know, where you just feel the effort. And you're just like, this is not the guy I love. Okay. But I mean, it's still Tom Cruise. I'm not mad. Tell us something you love. I'm not Bill. You have two picks. Bill might like it. I honestly don't know. I have two picks. Okay. Well,

in Oscar nominee, I'm going to take the previously mentioned Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is a David Fincher film starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. And I think is a weird but also beautiful movie about loss and the passage of time. So there. It's okay. All right. There's some absolutely wondrous stuff.

Extraordinary photography. Script is okay. It's based on a Fitzgerald story. What's wrong with you? What does this movie. Extraordinary photography. Script is okay. It's based on a Fitzgerald story. What's wrong with you? What does that mean? I don't know. There's plenty of bad adaptations of Fitzgerald. I hope you and Jason Segel have a nice time with your feelings.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a superior film to The Curious Case of Menderbough, in my opinion. Do you think that Scott Fitzgerald is somewhere in hell where he was sent because he's not as good as Jason Segel watching... Is that the bar? A DVD of forgetting Sarah Marshall being like they should just take great Gatsby off of library shelves. I just want you so you're saying that we all arrive at the pearly gates and

St. Peter says you are either above the Segel median or below it and if you are below it straight to hell. That's the Mendoza line. That's the bar. Well. Well, according to Sean, F. Scott's roommate is William Shakespeare down there.

Right. Okay. Yeah. Straight to hell. Oh, you don't like him? No. I love Bill Shakespeare. Are you kidding me?

Okay. What are you talking about? Hamlet is fine. Yeah. Quotation mark. Sean Fennessey. Yeah. Was that ever uttered

in seriousness? Yes. I like Hamlet. Yeah. Thanks, Harold Bloom. This is incredible uh this is like nolan all over again where you're just like i'm casting aspersions on my character and my literary taste uh it's a good movie but it's him playing dress up it's him trying to be a different kind of filmmaker it's not it's him not maybe it's him trying to explore a different set of references and emotions.

What about that? I think that's what it is. It doesn't mean it's that successful. Cate Blanchett's really good in this. She's really good in this. Luminescent. When Brad Pitt is in the middle at the... When he's hot.

He's the hottest he's maybe ever been on a film. In the middle. This is why you like the movie. Because you're like Wood Bone. You know what? It's not about the passage of time and this majestically shot David Fincher film. In the middle. This is why you like the movie. Because you're like wood bone. You know what? It's not about the passage of time and this majestically shot David Fincher film. You're just like, you know,

pit on a motorcycle. I think I can't remember what episode it was, but I was alone at a bar in Philadelphia listening to you guys with my AirPods on, eating a burger. This is love. This is you expressing your love for me. Match play golf on mute. And drinking beer. This is you expressing your love for me. Match play golf on mute

and drinking beer. What beer were you drinking? Kenwood. Kenwood? Yeah, it's my favorite Philly beer. Wow, amazing stuff. Keep going. And you were teasing her

about how she's all hot and bothered like a Tennessee Williams character for Austin Butler. And I was like, I need to take a beat. I need to just eat my burger. That was too much. He's going to be in heat too. They're not really making

heat too. I read today that Ana de Armas was just cast in the film. As what? I don't know. Sorry, women aren't allowed in heat too? No, I'm just like, what is this? Like, Ferrari's not out yet. Mike's going to do it? I can't deal with it if it gets taken from me.

Oh, that's what you're protecting yourself. Yes. Okay. This is kind of crazy that it's happening. He was supposed to make a Vietnam miniseries a few years ago for XFX. The Mark Bowden book, he didn't do that. Like, I just can't have any, like, Mike's doing Tokyo Vice. Psych one episode. I mean, it's Pacino, Driver,

Butler, and Ana de Armas. That seems kind of real to me. Damn. What are you going to do? I don't know. I feel like... Do we just turn the pod

over to you for a week? Is it just CR's time? When you guys go on vacation, should I just do a series of solo pods about heat? God forbid you've never had a chance to talk about it on any other podcast.

So long. Okay. I have another pick. So long. Okay. I have another pick. Yeah, you do. In drama, I shall take the film Two Lovers, directed by James Gray. Oh. Yeah. Good show.

It's a great movie. We watched it last night. Double Gwyneth for me in this draft. So I guess in some ways I am finding ways to follow my heart. This is... You're more of a Gwyneth or a Vanessa Shaw when you look back at your life I mean that's a great question

um it's not gendered it applies to all of us no that's true no good answers you know so I mean except for the fact that they're both like incredibly beautiful like kind supportive yeah she's like the local girl. Yeah, their families are in business together,

and Gwyneth is just spiraling across the... Great Gwyneth performance. In many ways, sort of closest to the essence of Gwyneth, as I understand her, of any film performance. Interesting. Until Lost City of Z, this was my favorite of his films and I thought it was like his masterpiece. Really great, charming Joaquin performance

that's like slightly, you know, off kilter in the way that like Joaquin performances are. But it's like a depressed guy who somehow is sort of a loser, but like Joaquin, you know, infuses it with enough. I mean, I like Joaquin, but just like thought,

I guess that it's not totally pathetic. I don't know. I think it signals him getting comfortable with his awkwardness as like a persona on screen, you know, because he had been in a lot of mainstream stuff over the years. And there were times when he was odd, you know, and to die for,

he's kind of odd and uncomfortable. But making it like the focus of the performance, it's kind of the first time I can really remember him doing that and being the star of the movie. And he's a weird guy. And so it's easy for a lot of weird guys to also just project their feelings

onto his characters going forward, which kind of ultimately culminates in Joker, which is weird to think about. You guys talked about the photos from the set of Joker 2. Well, you snapped that shot of Gaga from the production, right? That's right.

What's the vibe in? I was just waiting for Trump to get arraigned, but yeah, they happened to be shooting Joker 2 there. I was there to support Alvin Bragg with all of my other resistance Twitter or IRL friends. Who are you selling those images to?

Oh, just the usual, like the images of Gaga coming out. No, like all the Trump, waiting for Trump to be a re-in. Like, is that Getty? Who's by TMZ? The Mueller she wrote

Twitter account. You know? Remember when we lived through like two years of Robert Mueller and what's Robert Mueller going to do? The sheriff is in town now. Imagine how much money we would have if we had JMO Patreon back during the Mueller time.

But I wouldn't have wanted to get sucked into Russiagate. You did get sucked into it though. No, I didn't. You just didn't make any money on it. No, I didn't really get sucked into it. You need to start grifting more. This is how I feel.

Louise Mensch. Me and Juliet would just check in on Louise Mensch, be like tweeting at people, be like, sir, you will spend the rest of your life in prison to like random Trump Commerce Department people. since I have pro-life? Yeah.

That was really good. You will be hung for treason. Did you ever read one of her romance novels? No, I didn't. Okay. I wasn't, yeah. I have no comment on any of these materials. But I recall you spending some time thinking about this era.

Sure. Yeah, I'm an engaged citizen, sorry. You certainly were. Okay, you've taken two films. Chris, you're up. All right, so I have to still get drama, still get action horror, and then wild card. So I'm going to make an interesting pick here

where I want to pick probably the most amazing time i had at the movies this year and in action horror i'm gonna pick cloverfield god i'm just thinking about this one what a fucking cool movie yeah and uh in a lot of ways i miss this level of creative invention uh when it comes to blockbusters and and big genre pictures because i think that they've become basically so important to the ecosystem of hollywood that they can't like fuck with them too much but um this is uh just a remarkable piece of like quote-unquote found footage filmmaking although it's basically happening in real time as you go through this city

uh lizzie caplan is in this movie briefly but for the most part it's just a great monster movie and but it's shot in this really inventive way that was just starting to dawn on people that i think that you would be participating in important world events in real time with video and with like social media and stuff like that like in 08 twitter was still like live tweeting games but like was increasingly becoming something that people would be like, whoa, Barack Obama won, you know? Like, but the idea of there being like a monster

attacking New York City, you can only imagine like what that would have been like, you know, just to like kind of document in that nascent era. Did you enjoy this movie more than the marketing itself? Because the marketing was a masterclass. Yes itself? Because the marketing was a masterclass. Yes. Well, the marketing was a masterclass.

I also think they did something really smart, which is that there's no quote-unquote stars in this movie during the making of it. People have gone on to do good things, but Lizzie Kaplan was a star in this film. And so you really didn't have that true north of like, oh, well, this person's going to live because of X, Y, or Z.

Like, it was actually like a, almost like Texas Chainsaw Massacre where you're watching it and you're like, are these real people? Like, are they going through this? So yeah, I didn't, I didn't, I love the movie as,

but the marketing was, was a minor miracle. There was just that remarkable thing where they cut the teaser trailer and put it in front of Transformers before the film was made. Yeah.

Like before it was finished. And so they created like an awareness of it so early on such a big movie. And it was so amazing. The movie is good.

I like it. It has I rewatched it ahead of The Batman. Yeah. And I was like it's really gimmicky. And the like

found footage of it like all found footage movies kind of strains credulity when you're like an hour in and you're like why would this person

be holding a camera yeah I think that it's one of those things I think is probably more of a visceral experience that it is like something that can be like poked at

because you just start to be like how did this guy get like a great two shot of these two people talking I really feel like they scotched the quality

of this series too. Because 10 Cloverfield Lane was great. And then Cloverfield Paradox just... That was weird. Was that the Super Bowl one? Yeah, that was the...

It goes up after the Eagles won. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was huge. I didn't have any feelings about the Eagles winning and I went home

and watched Cloverfield Paradox and I was like, this has been a weird night. Not a lot of highs, but plenty of lows. You didn't love that your friends were happy? I did. I was happy for you guys, but it wasn't actually my happiness. I couldn't really claim any

of that happiness. You guys were also exceedingly happy. You were tackling each other. No one more so than Zach. And then we left Zach to be Amanda's problem that night yeah that's true and then you guys

fired up the wrestler right I put him to bed at 9 o'clock that night I think okay I've got two picks

I'm stumped here on drama because this is a year of a lot of dramas that have kind of like the films that were celebrated at the time that don't necessarily have kind of like the films that were celebrated

at the time that don't necessarily have good reputations but that I still really like a lot. And so I'm torn. For example, I loved Revolutionary Road when it came out.

I still think I love it. I haven't rewatched it in a long time. I'm not going to draft it here but it's one of those movies that sticks out in my mind from that year. I love that novel.

Two stars that I love, their reunion after Titanic. I really like, you know, men in 1950s America not expressing their feelings and destroying their lives. That's obviously a resonant theme for me. But I feel like people think

that Revolutionary Road stinks now, or maybe they did then because it's so stately and it's so obvious. It doesn't seem like it's a film that's lived on in people's imaginations from that era. Definitely not. Say, unlike like a bunch of the movies from 07 that have. I remember even in the moment and part of it was the buildup of the Kate and Leo reunion.

And there is there was just something. So heavy handed and just kind of like stuck about it, which and not in the. and there was just something so heavy-handed and just kind of stuck about it, and not in the way that the novel is, not on theme. It was just kind of a really heavy furniture throughout. Yeah, that's very fair. It's hard to defend as a great film.

It does have an amazing Michael Shannon performance in it. I don't know why I'm talking about this movie so much. I think I just kind of wanted to process my feelings the movie i'm going to draft is rachel getting married which is a movie that i i really really love um and gives me the feeling that i had hoped revolutionary road was going to give me which is sort of like this is a very emotionally dangerous movie like anything could happen at any moment and it just an amazingly volatile performance from anne hathaway i think best she's probably her best performance she should have won for this.

Yeah. And the way that the film is shot, it's just the perfect marriage of the two Jonathan Demme's. The Jonathan Demme who makes slick Hollywood productions and the Jonathan Demme who makes these kind of like weird

musical character pieces. And he brings those two things together in this movie for a similarly kind of like hysterical family drama. But because of the kind of handheld shooting, because of the music in the movie, because of the way that it like,

it feels like a community movie of all these people coming together for this marriage and this one person doing everything that they can to kind of destroy it and disrupt it. I just think it's a really a beautiful movie in some of Demi's best work. So that's my drama pick. There's a lot of movies I left on the table

that we can talk about that are like, maybe not great great to me and then in action horror i'm gonna take let the right one in uh thomas alfredson's incredible vampire story uh speaking of matt reeves who eventually went and remade that movie and i don't know what the hell happened to thomas alfredson he made tinker taylor soldier spy immediately after this and then made an absolutely horrible film called The Snowman starring Michael Fassbender. Oh, that's Mr. Policeman? Yeah. We left you the clues? Yes. Mr. Policeman! Has he made a film since then? I think he's done some TV, but I'm not sure. Let me look. So I went to Sweden in 2019 and when I got off the plane

in Stockholm, there were all of these images of the great Swedes over the years. So, you know, be like political leaders from over that time, Ingmar Bergman, folks like that. And then Thomas Alfredson, there's a big picture of him. And I was like, is he a great, I guess he is a great Swede. But if he is, it's because of this movie, Let the Right One In, which I think is like kind of an interesting pairing with WALL-E, honestly, about

two desolate, lonely people who find each other in darkness. So that's my pick for action horror. Thomas Alfredson made a movie about bank robbers in Sweden called Jasonglian in 2020, but it hasn't done anything since.

So Snowman seems to have really taken the wind out of his sail. Harry Hole is the name of Michael Fassbender's character. And that's also, that's your porn character's name, right? Is that right? That's right. Okay. For drama, I am going to take Pride and Glory,

which is a Gavin O'Connor cop movie with Colin Farrell, Edward Norton, and Robert Duvall. And Edward Norton is essentially an internal affairs detective who's investigating his own brother into his police malfeasance. And this is one of my favorite cop movies of the 21st century, I think. And it features three absolutely mesmerizing central performances,

but especially Edward Norton, who is like not asked to be, he's like doing straight man to Colin Farrell's like wild Irish, like wet-eyed cop. And Norton's just really, really good in this film. So I thought I would throw that out there for drama. Gavin O'Connor is our most underrated American filmmaker is my take

good take yeah and I had a three-hour interview with him in the aftermath of this film and I think I ran about 800 words really really tough he was like you're gonna be my

like no no no it wasn't like that he was more just like you know Long Island guy who's really interested in cops and athletes. Like that's what all of his movies are about. He made Warrior. He just made the way back, the Ben Affleck movie.

He made the very strange movie, The Accountant. It's a great filmmaker. This is a really, really good movie. Duvall is awesome in this. I feel like it deserves like a streaming second life or something. Yeah. Although I'm starting to get a little cynical about streaming second lives where I like don't understand like the algorithmic bounce

that things get. Obviously, Dragged Across Concrete is the number one movie on Netflix. And yet somehow... A Harry Hole favorite right there. But then you look at the Netflix top 10 are just like, are these SEO words that clicked

that wound up taking this person to this movie? How is this film the number four Netflix movie right now? Do you go streaming service grazing? Like, do you look for kind of what's playing month to month? No, but that's only a function of our job. And the fact that I'm always looking for something. But I was, I think I actually, Slumdog Millionaire is available on HBO Max right now. So I went to rewatch part of it just because I had not seen it since 2008.

And I was curious about it. And I was looking at all the other things that I had like watched on HBO Max recently. And I was thinking about like, oh, like when I do do that, it's always on Max. Right, right. But I don't. That's what I was sort of saying. Yeah. Like the streaming.

To me, it's not the Netflix Second Life. Because Netflix Second Life is like catching a movie on CBS on Saturday night in 1994. HBO Max is a little bit more curated, it feels like. But probably splitting hairs here. Okay, you're up. So I have Blockbuster and Wildcard left. So this is just going to get very weird. I have two options for Blockbuster and Wildcard left. So this is just going to get very weird. I have two options for Blockbuster.

And I think I'm just... I'm going to honor 2008 Amanda. And I'm going to draft Twilight. Yeah. Yeah, that's right, Bobby. Punch it in. That's a good movie. Yeah, no, I know.

It is a good movie. The movie absolutely sucks. No, it's cool. No, it's cool. And I also started watching it. K-Stew's also really good in this. She's so good in it. She's so young now.

I mean, I can't believe that 2008 was 15 years ago. But anyway, I started watching it this morning before we did this just to, you know, check in, see if I wanted to do it. And I was struck by how bad everyone playing a vampire is at acting in this movie. And also that I wanted to keep watching it and like i just did not want to turn it off and it i it's this is directed by katherine hardwick and it is it gets the teenage longing like down in a way that is like pretty awkward because this is a movie about like a vampire. An old vampire. An old vampire who is like in love with a teenager and is also about abstinence.

So, I mean, it's a pretty fucked up movie. But, you know. Anna Kendrick's good in this? She's very funny in it. Yeah. No, I just, I wanted to keep watching it. You're a big Taylor Walker guy? Oh my God.

They're so bad. Yeah. I fast forwarded through all the werewolves. Guys, what are we talking guy? Oh my God. They're so bad. Yeah. I fast forwarded for all the werewolves. This movie sucks. These movies are terrible. I mean, I know that they're beloved

and they are like huge coming of age turning point movies. Like Bob, his heart is a flutter right now as you mentioned the word Twilight. But I mean,

come on. Why don't you just tell us what else Jason Segel taught you about loneliness? I know. Yeah. Yeah. He taught us that

these movies will last forever. You're naked listening to Muppet soundtracks and crying and then you're telling me and Amanda that Twilight is awful. Siegel taught you about loneliness. Yeah. Yeah. He taught us that these movies will last forever. You're naked listening to Muppet soundtracks and crying and then you're telling me and Amanda that Twilight is awful. Twilight is the movie that I've seen more than

any other movie in theaters in my whole life because that was the summer between six years out of the picture. I just, 500 episodes. We've done so well together.

Let me say this to you also. Kristen Stewart and the breakthrough of one Robert Pattinson. Yeah, and I love him as an actor and he's not good in this movie.

And Taylor Lautner should be escorted from the premises. That is true. I mean, it is abominable. That's true. Like, this is a huge movie. It's supposed to be

a huge movie. To be fair, he's asked to, like, explain some sort of, like, werewolf lore that it's not his fault. They cast, like, a big standee

out of a 7-Eleven. Like, come on. I understand. I'm taking Twilight. Many people enjoy this film. Great. And then, in Wild Card,

we have several options here. Two Lovers and Twilight is like the fucking alpha and the omega. It's like the best and the worst. You picked this year, okay? And you picked first. We're running out of years. So, what do you want me to

do? I'm just drafting, okay? Just draft. Draft away. Hellboy 2, the Golden Army was on the board here. Okay. There's a lot really good on the board. Yeah, there's some good stuff. Is there? Yeah. For sure. What am I going to do on Wildcard? Because I

have my leftover blockbuster. I, well, okay. Okay. I don't know, like, which bad movie to pick, basically. Not bad. Enjoy. Just bad in comparison to Twilight. Exactly.

Yeah. They are, I think they're good at what they are. Okay. It's fine. I'll just do Mamma Mia. Great. Great. Yeah, which is based on the musical, adapted from the songs of ABBA,

starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, No one told you you needed to talk this way. We all get really tight when it comes to talking about the thing that we picked everything else is cool but then we're like colin farrell in a gripping central performance as soon as i'm like well here's the thing about wally it's about this you're like oh is that what it's about we put ourselves in a situation where we can't earnestly discuss the stars and themes of the film

for this exercise. This is a movie where Meryl Streep and a bunch of handsome actors just went and hung out in Greece for the summer and did karaoke to ABBA and then they filmed it. Sick. A+. They talk about this movie as if they were just like, yeah, we went on vacation in Greece for the summer

and then we filmed it. This is their Ocean's Eleven. Yeah. Sounds great. I would like to go on vacation in Greece for the summer. This is their Ocean's Eleven. Yeah. Sounds great. I would like to go on vacation in Greece for a summer with, you know, Pierce Brosnan or Colin Firth

or Stellan Skarsgård, all of the above. I also like watching this movie. It's pretty good. For some reason, I was listening to Waterloo the other day. It came on on my Spotify.

Sure. And when we do the Napoleon podcast, can we open it with water? Yeah, sure. That will be, I think, deeply inappropriate

relative to the content of the film Napoleon. But I want you guys to know that I am preparing so deeply for the Napoleon podcast. Are you reading any Bonaparte books?

I intend to, yeah. I have acquired via Blu-ray all of the Napoleon films. Okay. Did you get Stanley Kubrick's unreleased Napoleon film? I have the book that details all of his plans, which is literally a 600-page book.

I saw his card catalog that he had made in an exhibit of all of his notes. Yeah, that was at LACMA, right? Yeah. Five, six years ago. I saw it as well. Man, I cannot wait for Napoleon. It's going to be an absolutely rocking Oscar season. I was talking

myself out of the Oscars back in. Napoleon. That's great. Flower Moon. Killers of the Flower Moon. So K-O-T-F-M. Yes. K-O-T-F-M? I'm just going to call it Flower Moon. E-E-A-A-O? You could call it Killers, but there's also a film

called Killer. Can't wait for that too. film called Killer. You can already chisel me in as a Killers of the Flower Moon guy, and you can call me a grandson, David Gran. That's what we're going to call ourselves. Oh, great. Okay, good. I have no shame about sharing this right now. We just premiered the Jason Isbell documentary

that's part of the Music Box series, and Jason came to the premiere of that film. And he appears in the film Kills the Flower Moon. And he shared a little bit about his experience with me about the production of that movie. Is Sturgill Simpson in it too? I'm not sure about that. That sounds like it's right.

But let's just say it sounded really good. That's my take. Sounded cool to be working on a film with Martin Scorsese. Okay. Have you decided what you're early adopting as an Oscar favorite for 2023-24? Well, I did auction Killers of the Flower Moon, so I'm there for that. I'm still excited about Napoleon. I'll be preparing by moving to Elba for the summer and podcasting from there. And then... Where you'll die? Like Napoleon?

You know what? He didn't actually die on Elba. What Island did he die on? Let's Google it right now. But the last time I Googled it, I thought he did the last time I go, he comes back from Elba, right? Isn't that the thing?

He's exiled. He comes back and he takes his army. He dies in the UK, apparently, according to Wikipedia. Just like I will. Anyway. So yeah,

I'll just have, I will be in Elba. I'm looking forward to Challengers. Yeah. Oh yeah, Challengers. I don't think it's going to win Best Picture.

Zendaya will be nominated and she'll be at the Oscars. I guess she'll be double at the Oscars because Dune 2 will also probably be nominated. In 100 meters,

turn right. Actually, no. Turn left. There's some awesome new breakfast wraps at McDonald's. Really? Yeah. There's the sausage, bacon, turn right. Actually, no. Turn left. There's some awesome new breakfast wraps at McDonald's. Really? Yeah. There's the sausage bacon and egg, a crispy seasoned chicken one, mmm, a spicy end egg, worth the detour. They sound amazing. Bet they taste amazing, too. Wish I had a mouth.

Take your morning into a delicious new direction with McDonald's new breakfast wraps. Add a small premium roast coffee for a dollar plus tax at participating McDonald's restaurants. For my last pick, in Wildcard, I'll take Pineapple Express. There's a lot of really good Wildcard-worthy movies, and I usually think of Wildcard as the throw a little light on a forgotten gem. But I'm also just like, somebody's got to take Pineapple Express. I can't believe you didn't take the Strangers. Well, I know. I just can't believe it.

I'm just blown away. You were the number one Strangers fan in my life. Well, at least we get to talk about it now because now we can talk about how this Strangers was a thing that brought me and my wife closer together by talking about how would you handle home invaders wearing masks.

Full circle. Yeah. And how would you? I think we found out that i would be somewhat of a sacrificial lamb in that situation that i would just be like take me you know use me as a pin cushion and she runs interesting yeah we also had that experience when we went to an experiential horror thing in upstate new york that was like i've told this story before my favorite story of all time but it's basically like we were at a haunted house and then like a hidden wrinkle to the haunted house was like all the people in the haunted house were ushered onto a school bus and driven out into a cornfield. And while you're driving, they're like, there has been a toxic

event. Don't interact with anyone you see. And it's like a fake like zombie attack is happening. And we got out in the middle of this cornfield and it was a corn maze to get back out of you know you had to you had to like get yourself out of there and the first time somebody jumped out at us as a zombie phoebe just like shoved me in front of this guy and ran away i wish i could channel the energy that is in amanda's eyes as you tell this you wouldn't be into that do you remember the one time that i went on the haunted hayride and and i don't like audience interaction i don't really like being scared but um it was phoebe's birthday and it was our first halloween in in la and sophie was like come on the haunted hayride so both of you psyched me up and you're like it's gonna be okay here's what you're gonna do you're gonna sit in the

middle of the wagon so that they can't touch you, you know, and they're not allowed to touch you. They can only come close to you. So you're in the wagon. You'll be fine. We'll be right there with you. And I was like, okay. And we're on the haunted hayride. I'm sitting in the middle. It's going fine. And then suddenly the wagon stops and everyone escorted off the thing. And you, your face, when you looked at me, as you realized that we were getting off the wagon, you were so scared. But then really the nicest thing Chris has ever done is you walked three feet ahead of me and you were just like, so we've got a chainsaw coming up on it right here? And this is a working actor? That's a true story.

And you escorted me through the entire maze and we made it back on the wagon. Anyway, I would sue the maze person. One of the best nights of my life. It was the sickest shit ever. I wish it was real, you know? I don't know how we got here.

From the strangers. Yeah. Anyway, the strangers brought me and my wife closer together and I love it, but I just, I also love Pineapple Express.

Do you like Pineapple Express? I do. I haven't rewatched it in a long time. I've watched This is the End more recently, which has, you know,

the fake Pineapple Express sequel. Yes. I remember thinking it was funny but also that it was trying very hard to get back to 1986. It's also another movie

that maybe the trailer is better than the movie. Well, I had the Paper Planes trailer which was at the moment hit like a cannon. Okay. So I have a wild card pick left will you

take the strangers it's number two on my wild card roster sheet your big board my number one is synecdoche new york charlie kaufman's masterpiece i don't want to hear it amanda don't say shit to me don't shake your head i wasn't going to say anything to you i was recalling that i believe that this was either the Thanksgiving or the Christmas movie that my father selected this year. Yeah. I think it was probably Thanksgiving because it was early November and then it doesn't make it to Atlanta until a few weeks afterwards. This was in the run of years where my dad absolutely failed at picking holiday movies and rights were taken from him for a time. Or did he succeed extravagantly with this epic story

of a man trying to write through his own despair, telling the tale of human life across one big canvas of theater? Is that what you're doing? Yeah, of course. That's what this whole journey is about. All of my movies are about extremely sad, lonely people lashing out at the world. And what do you think that says about me? Including the Joker, mind you, from The Dark Knight.

And Bruce Wayne, frankly. Yeah. And WALL-E. Great. And the remarkable Philip Seymour Hoffman. You said WALL-E is finding connection. Well, Seeking It with Ava. Oh, yeah.

Eva? Eva. But she betrays him, right? No, I don't think so. Oh, do they find love?. But she betrays him, right? No, I don't think so. Oh, do they find love? I just remember the Mound of Trash. Is Eva like the name of the Mound of Trash or is there another robot? No, Eva's like the future iPod robot.

Last 45 minutes of the movie are just the two robots fucking. You guys probably haven't gotten that far in the movie. It's a really good scene. Synecdoche, New York? No. It's not my jam. No. Interesting.

Because you got it all figured out. No, I think I was like... You think you're better than Charlie Kaufman? Yeah. I was like... I went to college too. Yeah. Oh, God. I love it when you become me.

That's so great. Yeah. And what'd you get out of college? Like I had to read a bunch of John Barth, you know, and I was like, cool, better fiction. Duly noted. Chris, you didn't draft man on fire I feel like I've

talked about it too much I've sometimes I try to like try to mix it up I know mof was there let's go through a couple other ones obviously the strangers

you guys like Che watch Che recently I think I'm mistaken it's not man on fire it's man on wire my bad was that seriously you were trying to

get me or no I was just looking at my sheet and I was like oh nope whoops misread that man on fire is 04 Che

have you watched that recently yeah I I didn't know what to do because it's part one and part two yeah so would those be considered one movie

I think Steve would be like that's one film right yeah Steve server Steve yeah let's do it

let's call him I'm gonna start calling all these guys like by real casual nicknames yeah you should just make up names though

like for Martin Scorsese you could just call him Mickey Mickey um okay what else didn't we hit Quantum of Solace

that was really bad not a fan of that one can I shout out one moment in Four Christmases please when Vince Vaughn is doing the nativity play with Reese Witherspoon.

And he's like, woman, swaddle this baby. It's like the funniest thing that ever happened. For Christmases is also got one of the craziest casts I've ever seen where it's like Robert Duvall it's like is in Four Christmases really like that rock and roll

is fun yep and HBTs are what's coming oh yeah Garbage Lads coming soon

the Guy Ritchie pod UK crime so the tricky thing here is that there are two Guy Ritchie movies this year

one is out Operation Fortune colon Ruse de Guerre starring Jason Statham So the tricky thing here is that there are two Guy Ritchie movies this year. One is out. Operation Fortune colon Ruse de Guerre starring Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza is available on your VOD screens. Yeah. And then coming out in April is a film called The Covenant, which is a war film starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Yeah. Oh, wow.

It's about him going back to help his afghan interpreter get out of afghanistan which is i think based on your experience and uh we're gonna interpreter we're gonna use the timing of that film to talk about films that are not like that that's okay i think lock stock snatch rock and rolla and then the expanded universe the non-Richie version of those films. Do you have any awareness, knowledge, interest in that? Layer cake-esque. Yeah. I mean, I like dirt rag British crime lords a bit. I was also thinking about, I think the last, well, the last movie I saw in theaters before the pandemic was The Hunt.

But I think the last, is that what that was called? Yeah, it was. But the last screening I went to was The Gentleman. Do you remember this, Sean? was called? Yeah it was. But the last screening I went to was The Gentleman. Do you remember this shot? Yeah. I do.

Yeah. I enjoyed it. I remember Michelle Dockery. She's magnificent. She's in the New Stephen Knight show. Oh.

She stars in it. In Great Expectations. No it's called This Town and it's about 1980s Birmingham the rise of two-tone and ska music.

When you say ska music, I think of Michelle Dockery. A bunch of movies we didn't get to. The Visitor, Tom McCarthy's really great movie. Richard Jenkins,

thought about taking that in drama. Shotgun Stories, Jeff Nichols' first film. Amazing movie. Amazing movie. Shannon's so good in that. Are you out on doubt?

Is that what you were implying earlier? It's not exactly uplifting. No. Did you like definitely maybe? I have it open as you see on the Wikipedia page. That's what I almost took in wildcard. That's like the best of the romantic comedies of this year, in my opinion, starring your

favorite movie star, Sean Ryan Reynolds. At this time, the coin was in the air. You know, I saw Adventureland. You know, it was like that. You owned Waiting on DVD? I didn't. You know? I saw Adventureland. You know? I was like, ah. You owned Waiting on DVD? I didn't. I actually never got really into that. I know that movie has a cult fan base. You didn't pick W. Yep.

My W story I saw at opening weekend in Union Square and sat one row behind Anna Wintour. Wow. What did she think? Did she stand up and applaud him? Yeah, she did. That's too bad. Do you think that you've modeled your podcasting style

on Mark Wahlberg's performance in The Happening? I've spoken about The Happening on this podcast before. I love that Mark Wahlberg's performance is based on M. Night Shyamalan okay that he

he became friends with M. Night Shyamalan and he was like I'm just gonna do you and how you are and that became the worst performance of the century

yeah exactly it's really fascinating what else did we miss well Chris Valkyrie that's you have two posters of that movie in your office

can I just say Valkyrie's a really good movie do we disagree with that yeah I'm surprised you didn't go Tropic Thunder and Valkyrie, you have two posters of that movie in your office? Can I just say Valkyrie is a really good movie? Do we disagree with that? Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't go Tropic Thunder and Valkyrie together. He's also a Nazi. It's him with every good British actor.

And they lead a... Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh. It wasn't bad. Yeah, McQuarrie. McQuarrie wrote the script. What else? Body of Lies I enjoy.

I know you do not. Never got that one. The Ruins is a really fun horror movie and it was a huge novel. It's hard to understate how many people at the beach were like,

the ruins are alive. This was an awesome in theater movie. I feel like it has kind of disappeared. It has, but I really recommend if you're looking for

a horror movie to throw on this weekend. Did we see this together? We may have. Phoebe was a huge fan of the book, so we were like very like day ones on this one.

Yeah, that was a fun one. Sex and the City? Never seen it. You've never seen the film? The film, Sex and the City?

Nope, I've seen every episode of the series. Yeah. Did you watch and just like that? No, never,

didn't watch any of it. Not one second. Wow. I had been told it was absolutely abominable. Don't care. They can make 150 episodes. I wish they would.

And they are. And I will watch every single one of them. I've never been angrier than when waking up on a Thursday morning at like 7.30 and finding that all the recappers had already spoiled. And just like that for me. Yeah, on the front page of the Washington Post. This is for 50-year-old women. Just cut us some slack.

We're not getting up at 7 a.m. You're not 50 years old. I know, but I was really pregnant, and I just felt like life was basically over. The Sex and the City won. I had a great time. Okay, what about 2? 2 is when they go to Saudi Arabia?

They go somewhere in the Middle East and it's not sensitive. Some SOTC washing going on there. Yeah. First one's pretty good. She has the whole Vogue bridal shoot and then Big, you know, runs away because he's a coward. Then they go to Mexico. Then they get married at City Hall. And there's that nice moment where they push open the doors and all the

girls are waiting for her and it's very sweet. What about Mike Lee's Happy Go Lucky starring Sally Hawkins? Any fans? No fans? I don't remember it. God damn it. What about Marley and Me? What about it?

I know, but there were so many. It was everywhere. It made so much money and there were so many. It was everywhere. It was. It was a big hit. It made so much money and there were so many posters for it. It was a very big hit. Rogue, that Rod and Mitchell alligator movie. That's really good.

Really just went from Mike Lee to Rogue. It's really... It's the guy who did Wolf Creek. It's good. I don't think I've seen that one. I should watch it? Yeah. It's like she gets stuck out in like a marshland. good I don't think I've seen that one I should watch it? Yeah

It's like she gets stuck out in like a marshland There's a gator I'm surprised you didn't go Do you know what to do? When you see an alligator No You gotta run in zigzags

Oh I can do that Okay Yeah Good I used to be a slot receiver Okay In high school I'm surprised you didn't take this movie

because I know it was number one on your list with your year end CR but Gran Torino was your least favorite I leave all late period Clint for you it's one of the few that I really just can't I can't even even on a parodic do you think Gran Torino is better than the mule no no the mule is hilarious awesome oh no better than uh what was the last one the rooster one uh cry macho yeah I do think Gran Torino is better than Cry Macho. But in fairness to Clint, he's 90 years old making a Western.

Yeah. So he did his best. Remember how fucking pumped and jacked we were for Cry Macho? And we were like, it's on HBO Max. Did you ever find out whether he got his office back? Or whether, did Zaz kick him off the lot for good? I haven't heard good things. I don't know.

Wow. I honestly don't know. You haven't heard anything or you just haven't heard good things? Every night I get on my knees and I pray for Clint. Just give us one more day, God. One more day of Clint. I have to watch

the Iger sanction again knowing that he's alive. And so thus far my prayers have been answered. That's good. He's alive today as far as I know. Do you imagine me crying,

weeping on this pod when Clint passes? As soon as you were talking I was like, let's check the trades, buddy, before we send this out. But he's lived such a long life. That's true.

Um, gosh. Well, do you think that when Clint does pass, if he indeed does die, which is debatable. Yeah. It's true. Hopefully I die first.

Will it really, like, color your viewing of Iger Sanction? Will you feel like that really gives it, like, a sort of tone poem-esque? Yeah, he's like doing Free Solo before Free Solo in 1978

and definitely could have died while making that movie. So yes, it would. Okay. Thank you. I think, have you seen Cry Macho? Yes, I did.

I watched it at home during leave. Cry Macho watch-along? No. I'm sorry, I can't. Was the film Taken released in 2008? I thought it was. I believe it was. No one takes Taken? No. I'm sorry. I can't. Was the film Taken released in 2008? I thought it was. I believe it was. No one takes Taken?

No? Not interested? Let's see. CR, you love Red Belt. I think Red Belt's pretty interesting, but this is where it's kind of like, is David Mamet okay? This is where? That is the turning point. I agree. I am not sure what he saw in that. You know, the movie that I agree I am not sure

what he saw in that you know the movie that I think has gained the most go ahead Taken was released in January January 30th 2009

in the United States aha okay in the United States that explains that right but if you had been in Elba you probably could have seen it

in 2008 were you aware that Elba is that close to Tuscany I wasn't it's like basically an extension of Corsica I feel great about my plan do you know what film has gained the most Were you aware that Elba is that close to Tuscany? I wasn't. It's like basically an extension of Corsica. I feel great about my plan.

Do you know what film has gained the biggest cult following since 2008? Tell us, Sean. Speed Racer. Oh, yeah. I don't think I've ever even seen it. We put it in the... We didn't do a Wachowski's Hall of Fame. We did a Top 5, right?

And Rob argued very passionately for it. You did it for your Emile Hirsch solo episode. Right. I like it, don't love it. I think that's what I said at the time. I get what they were going for and they achieved it. And I know why people love it. It's quite beautiful.

I never saw it on the big screen. Every time Clint Eastwood puts out a movie, people are like, the changeling is the one. I think it's just Changeling. Oh, I'm watching a different film then? Yeah, the Changeling

is a George C. Scott film. My bad, yeah. But that Angelina Jolie one Changeling is that well respected? I thought it was really bad. Okay. Did you see that one?

Yeah, I think so. She wears a cloche hat. Well, what do you want me to hold on to? It's very memorably so. Be Kind Rewind? No. 27 Dresses?

Yeah. Don't think I've seen that one. Really? The Katherine Heigl? I don't think so. Who's the guy in that? I have an aversion to her. I do as well.

It's not in my... Who's the journalist? What's his name? I can see him. He's also the guy in the notebook that she does with James Marsden.

And Edward Burns is the groom, right? that she does. James Marsden. And Edward Burns is the groom, right? That she's in love with. Yeah. Love Edward Burns. You know what's pretty good is The Bank Job with Statham.

It's a good movie. Foot Fist Away introduced us to Danny McBride. What else? Gosh. I don't know. Are you satisfied with this draft?

You mean like my performance or your performance? Your performance. We have to look within first. I stopped worrying about winning. I just started going with movies that I really love. Like Rachel Getting Married and Snake the King of New York.

Cool. So yeah, I feel good about it. I think that this pod needs to get back to recommending good movies. Okay. Amanda did that. We need to talk about

the biggest movie at the box office. And I'm like, Amanda, chill out. Okay? What about Total Cinema Baby? That's what we agreed was the premise of the show. And she's like Amanda chill out. Okay. What about Total Cinema Baby? That's what we agreed was the premise of the show

and she's like no we have to do another Wick 4 episode. Chris did you see Wick 4? I haven't yet. I was going to see it on Friday. Okay. Alright that's good by me.

Okay. I just want to talk about the ending of the show. Have you seen Wick 4? Yeah I went by myself and I had a great time. Alright I can't wait. It's really fun.

Yeah. Bob you saw it. Yeah of course. I saw it on Friday night at the Nighthawk Prospect Park. It was great. What did you have? Yeah, what did you drink?

Burger, fries, a couple beers, you know, very affordable. Rowdy crowd, just talking, having a good time, you know. Such a fun film.

See how you're failing. Step it up. Didn't draft The Strangers, didn't see JW4 on opening night. I've just been watching Great Expectations. How is that going?

It's a, it's, that's a quite, quite a good, great expectations adaptation, but I talked to Stephen Knight today, so I was, I've been deep in the night verse.

I feel like I read that. Great expectations. Dickens. The novel with Charles Dickens. No, you don't. I haven't read that. Pip,

that character. No, I don't know. Not on my radar. There's a, there's an iconic nineties adaptation with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. Yeah. I don't think I've seen it.

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Yeah. Wasn't there like a grunge soundtrack on that film though? Yes. Yeah. That's cool. Great. You're not a Dickens person?

No, I like him just fine. What's your favorite Dickens novel? The last time we'd had this conversation, you were pro Dickens and you and I, eh, on Dickens. Yeah. I know that I haven't read Bleak House and that's the jam apparently. I haven't read Bleak House and that's the jam, apparently. I haven't read Bleak House either. It's kind of like being like,

I like The Dead, but you haven't listened to, you know, Live 72, you know? I don't know. What are Dickens' best books? I mean, obviously Christmas Carol, right? Oliver Twist. Right.

Bleak House. I hated David Copperfield. Hard Times is supposed to be jamming. Pickwick Papers, I read that. Sure, yeah. I never read Great Expectations. I don't know why. It's a good one.

It's probably my favorite of the, but I haven't read Bleak House either. A lot of prestige TV. I'm meh on, that's disrespectful, but it's just,

it's not my jam. Well, we've accomplished a lot here, including a pocket history of Charles Dickens' literary fiction. And Elba. And Elba,

and Napoleon, and many other things. Let's recap the draft very quickly. So, CR, why don't you read us your picks for the 2008 movie draft? Alrighty.

For drama, I had Pride and Glory. For comedy, I had Burn After Reading. For Oscar nominee, In Bruges. For action horror, Cloverfield. For blockbuster, Tropic Thunder. And for wildcard, Pineapple Express. A lot of laughs. For drama, I had Rachel Getting Married.

For comedy, I had Forgetting Sarah Marshall. For Oscar nominee, The Dark Knight. For action horror, I have Let the Right One In. For blockbuster, I have WALL-E. And for wild card, I have Synecdoche, New York. Amanda? For drama, I have Two Lovers. For comedy, I have Step Brothers.

For Oscar nominee, I have The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For action horror, I have Iron Man. For Oscar nominee, I have The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For action horror, I have Iron Man. For blockbuster, I have Twilight. And for wildcard, I have Mamma Mia.

I think she might win. He's got all his little sad boys with the Dark Knight. They're all about to be broke. Elon took their checks. It's true. You're saying that the Twitter voters are my sad boys? Yeah. That might be true. That might be true. That might be that the Twitter voters are my sad boys?

Yeah. That might be true. That might be true. That might be something to that. I think the Step Brothers pick was very savvy. It really was.

Thank you. I'm a little dubious about your passion for Step Brothers. You should have been in my house yesterday when I was just chuckling.

Zach came in and was like, what is happening? Good draft. Weird movie year, but a lot of good stuff. Not a lot of transcendent stuff. We named a lot of good stuff not a lot of transcendent stuff we named a lot of wild cards

yeah that we didn't pick no but it's out there you sure you don't want to swap in Hellboy 2 that was all you okay

Bob thanks for your work on this episode that's Bobby Wagner he's our producer later this week I think we're just devoting an episode to Dungeons and Dragons

Honor Among Thieves are you going to be just doing that solo or is the two of you? Amanda has seen the film. I went by myself once again to Burbank to see Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves. I took a 10 minute break, but in the middle to buy some things on Amazon. But otherwise I was there. Unbelievable to admit that publicly in front of God and us.

They went into the underworld. It was all CGI. I was like, so you stepped out or did you look at your phone? I was not going to into the underworld. It was all CGI. I was like, they can catch me up on this. So you stepped out or did you look at your phone during? No, I stepped out. I was not going to disrespect the, it was a preview crowd. They were all psyched

to be seeing a Dungeons and Dragons movie and I have respect for them. That's great. Even if I didn't really need to journey to the underworld. I also got back before they left the underworld, so I got the gist.

Okay. Woo, save it for the pod. Okay. Thank you, Chris, for everything that you do for the big picture and for me gist. Okay. Save it for the pod. Thank you, Chris, for everything that you do for the big picture and for me as a human. You got it.

Amanda, thank you as well. We'll talk more about D&D soon. Thanks to the listeners of this show. I won the draft. See you next time. you