The Big Picture - The Top 10 Underseen and Overlooked Movies of 2025. Plus: ‘Is This Thing On?,’ ‘Ella McCay,’ and Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Sean and Amanda kick off the show by reacting to the brief teaser released for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘Digger’ starring Tom Cruise (1:08). They then cover two new releases that they found absolutely baffling in Bradley Cooper’s ‘Is This Thing On?’ (4:17) and James L. Brooks’ ‘Ella McCay’ (23:17). Finally, they share their top ten most underseen and overlooked movies of the year (45:01). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producers: Jack Sanders and Jacob Cornett Shopping. Streaming. Celebrating. It’s on Prime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessy. This is the big picture of conversation about some weird and wild movies. Today on the show, we will dig into two of the more strange new releases of 2025. I'm referring to Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On? and James L. Brooks's Ella McKay, his first new film in 15 years. We'll also shed some light on some smaller films from this year by sharing our top five most underseen and overlooked movies.

We're also going to talk about Tom Cruise's next film, which just got a teaser. We'll do it all next. This episode of The Big Picture is presented by Amazon Prime. You know how in every great holiday movie, there's that last minute scramble to make it all come together? From gifts to hosting essentials, Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holiday.

days, especially when it's last minute and just can't wait. So if you need fast free delivery that saves the day, it's on Prime. Head to Amazon.com slash Prime to shop now. Okay. It's Digger time. Tom Cruise is Digger. Yeah. Digger is the character of these playing in the new film by Alejandro Gonzalez in Oritou

coming out October 2nd, 2026 from Warner Brothers. Yes. We saw a teaser trailer of Tom shot from behind. Dancing to a guerrilla song. Oh, Green World. Yeah. What did you think? Oh, brother.

You're nervous. Yeah, of course I am. Okay. I mean, this looks like Tropic Thunder reheated, like with Inorritu thinking that he's funny. It's a bad sign anytime the movie poster has to have an explanatory blurb that proclaims itself a comedy. Because that's when you know It's not obvious Yeah

That's a really good note You don't want to self-identify the genre On the poster So the poster of Digger does in fact say A Comedy of Catastrophic Proportions Okay I really like the poster Very clearly Saul Bass-inspired poster

Looks like Anatomy of a Murder Or Billy Wilder's 1, 2, 3 That orange palette is really nice I thought it was fine Okay. I thought it was fine. I'm not like, no. Yeah.

It's Tom Cruise, finally breaking free of the franchise shackles after several years of not making any movies that are outside of that space. So I'm into that. Inor It, too, you know. Yeah. This has, the release date has Venice written all over it. Ooh. Yeah. Wow.

Dang. Just floating that for you. For me? Yeah. What about for you? Well, I'm just, I'm just circling. it. You want me to go to Venice this year? Next year? Last year you talked about it. Or I guess this year, you discussed. Yeah. You know what? It all shook out. I didn't think the tell you ride slate was that great. And then I look back on the Venice slate and all I can. Yeah. That's true. I mean, I guess the answer is that we should go to Cannes. Yeah. Yeah. You're right about that. I mean, maybe this would be can. Possible. And then they could sit on it for a while? Certainly possible. Okay, we'll see. You know, this film also stars Jesse Plemons, Sandra Huller, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde, Emma Darcy, Robert John Burke,

Byrne, Byrne, Michael Stoolbarg, John Goodman. I got any movie with Burn, Gorman, Michael Stoolberg, and John Goodman, that's like, it's hard to make a bad movie with those three guys. I'm just putting that out there. Okay. Chivo shot it? Listen, there are always a lot of very talented people on both Tom Cruise films and Inoritu films. We'll see. Okay.

So you won't watch this film. Just confirming here. I will go to any European film festival that shows it. You know, this is an interesting slot where this movie is October 2nd. It's actually the Star is Born Venom slot. And we're about to talk about the legacy of A Star is Born and Bradley Cooper here. We sure are. We're going to pivot into Is This Thing on.

Now, this is the new movie co-written and directed by Bradley Cooper. his third feature film after a star is born in Maestro. It stars Will Arnette, Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper, Andre Dei, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Eberson, Kieran Heinz. The story is thus, after many years together, Alex and Tess have reached an amicable end to their marriage, thus beginning the awkward stage of figuring out how to live separately while raising two boys and maintaining their friendships. Alex discovers a new hobby and in the process learns more about himself and his relationship. Mm-hmm. Bradley Cooper has been a bit of a totem of this show.

That's true. Some might say an icon, certainly someone we love to talk about. That's true. We started really cooking with this show right around the time of a star is born and both loved that film. And, you know, I think the ringer in general was like really out on the barricades for a star is born before the other people got it. Yes. And I think we were maybe still waiting for some other people to get. get it, but I stand by that. And then, you know, Bradley Cooper still acts while directing. He's

certainly a presence in the Philadelphia sports world. Rocket Raccoon. Sure. The little guy in Dungeons and Dragons, Hunter Among Thieves. Give him some good performances. Yeah, he's around. He's present. Somebody is always thanking him at an awards show. It's true. And... Multi-time Academy Award nominee, never won. Yes. And so, we, have been you know podcasting along with him you know and and now here we all are once again so the first question that i want to ask you i usually ask what did you think of this movie right this time i'm going to ask you why did bradley cooper make this movie what is this movie this is this is loser behavior is what this movie is that is that's my review is that like

this is top to bottom loser behavior which is different than Then saying that it's distinctly bad. Mm-hmm. I don't know if it's totally bad, but I think all of the characters and the choices made are losers. So, and I just, and I don't identify with it in any way and was very irritated by it. I don't, I mean, Bradley Cooper is, if he's divorced, he's not divorced in this way after like a long, time, you know, a 20-year marriage and two children and... The star, Will Arnett is.

Yes. The star, Will Arnette is divorced, and you can feel him bringing, I'm sure, some of his personal experience to it. And he's a co-writer on the film as well. I was going to say. And it is, in fact, based on a person's true life story, a man who worked in finance and who discovered stand-up comedy. That's the hobby that I was alluding to, and who used stand-up comedy to kind

of figure out his place in the world, which is, you know, a little bit of a groaner. No disrespect to that man's actual life. The premise itself is a little bit eye-roly. Yeah, again, loser behavior. But the answer to the question, why did Bradley Cooper want to make this? Is that it really just does feel like he's doing a solid for a friend?

It's possible. Obviously, we learned out and Bradley Cooper are friends. It feels to me like a very conscious, purposeful kind of like slowdown after the mania of Maestro, which is a movie that I thought was ultimately successful, but very flawed, had really high highs. I still am somewhat conflicted about it because, you know, as many people have said,

it's not really a very good movie about Leonard Bernstein, but it's a really interesting cinematic exploration for him. You know, he's really challenging himself to do some big stuff. This is a huge pullback. This is a hyper-intimate,

I don't know, somewhere in that, like, Woody Allen Paul Mazursky mold of, like, intimate character drama with some funny moments and very sincere, but also dopey at times. But with like none of the stick-to-itiveness to make the movie as sour as I think it should

be if it really wants to impact you. It has a softness on it that I don't think really does it any favors. I think this is a movie that has some good performances, has some interesting ideas that are not totally realized. I absolutely hated the way that this movie looked and felt. The filmmaking style kind of made me sick. It's weird because I really like Cooper as a director. I think he's got Real Panash, and I think he's really interested in a kind of classical

filmmaking that is exciting. And this is like an experiment that he decided on and had to stick to, which is hyper intimate right on the shoulders of the backs of his actors. Intense, extreme close-ups. You know, I will say I also had to sit in the front row at my screening of this movie. And so that made it even more challenging how close the camera was to everything that was transpiring, whether it's Will Arnette on stage doing a comedy routine or Laura Dern in crisis in her car.

the forced intimacy of the movie made it very uncomfortable but not in the exciting way that I was hoping for. Right. Just a slightly irritating to be watching. I completely agree.

My instinct to having to spend two hours with these people very close up in their faces as they worked through these problems was just grow up. You know? Like I... It does want to bring you

like intensely into what's going on with them, but what's going on with them is pretty, like, mundane and annoying and um, stakesless and...

Well, it didn't have to be, but it does turn out to be, you know? Like, I don't want to spoil the movie for people haven't seen it, because it's just come out, but you know, like, when it concludes, you're like, what did we even... What did we learn? That, like, you got to find something for yourself that makes you happy? Like, no shit. Seriously. I mean, I was thinking about driving on the way in, like, we are two children of divorce and we are scholars in the divorce movie genre. I think many of our favorite movies are about, are either told from the perspective of the child of divorce or they are written by the, they are told from, I guess, the perspective, or they are at least about.

one of the parents, but the parents experience a tremendous amount of guilt and often punishment and are really put through the ringer, forgive me for the pun, for going through this divorce, like they've made a mistake, they fucked up, and it's cataclysmic, and it aligns with, I guess, our experience of being kids of divorce and also, like, the characters are taking some responsibility. No one's taking any responsibility in this one. I don't even really know what happened. It's a classic divorce of two people who, like, just kind of fell out of love and had enough fights that they realized they shouldn't be together.

There's not, like, a big dramatic cheating incident. There isn't something that they're trying to show us, like, I think, a more modern version of divorce where it's like two people who were really in love and kind of drifted. And, you know, having children can be very challenging and hard on a relationship. Right. You know, there's something sincere about the movie. Also, Lord Dern has a volleyball career that just went away. Yeah. But seemingly 20 years ago.

Sorry, I just saw Jack's face Me like, what's going on? Yes. Did you see in this film? Yeah. No, I was supposed to. And then we had Clint Bentley coming for train dreams

and he was like, what are you doing tonight, sir? And I'm like, oh, I'm going to go see is this thing on? He's like, actually, you're going to come see train dreams at the arrow. And then I never got back to it. That's really nice. That's better out of him.

Yeah, a better film. Yeah. Good job, Clint Bentley. I don't mean to get too in the weeds about some of the stuff, but Laura Dern's volleyball career. And Laura Dern is like, she, in her late 50s, like, whoa. She just is also not coded as a volleyball player.

Like, I brought Jack into this because the look on his face of total confusion of, like, what do you mean? Is she supposed to be an active volleyball player? No, she's a former. She's a retired. She had a stellar career as a volleyball player, presumably collegiately and maybe even in the Olympics. But, you know, if we're tracking Laura Dern's life, like she's got two kids under 10? No, no, they're 10. They're 10.

Yes, they're 10. Then I think they turn 11 because we see one of the birthday parties. Okay. And she's like thinking about going back to coaching volleyball and she's like an icon in the space, which of course there is like, first of all, volleyball in general, fantastic sport. I played it all through high school. Women's volleyball, genuinely great spectator sport. It's no disrespect to volleyball.

I fucking love volleyball. Yeah, it's not. But as like a plot point in the movie, it's very odd. It's not introduced until an hour in. All respect to Laura Dern. just one of the great American actors, very cool. And, you know, is a spry 59. I did not bump on the ages of her children at all.

And I didn't bump on the age of... I just was like, Laura Dern does not read volleyball, you know? And there is a... Maybe. To me, she does not read volleyball. Well, there's a very famous image that is created in this film of her from behind. Right.

Getting ready to strike a volleyball. What position would you have played if you, would you have been a hitter? Would you have been a setter? Would you play back row, play defense? Like, what would you have done? So, do the setters have to be the tallest? No, the hitters are usually.

The hitters are the tallest. Yeah, but setters are second. So I would probably be a setter, right? I was a setter. I'm like mid, you know, I'm on the taller side for women, but I'm not six feet tall. Yeah. Okay. Good to know.

But then I couldn't have done that because, you know, that jams your fingers and then I need to play the piano. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to have soft hands. Let's talk about the comedy part of it. Yeah, because the volleyball part of it is so confusing. The movie attempts to kind of just like turn the car around mid-movie and be like, well, what about the woman's perspective? And you're like, you didn't really invest me in this at all through the first hour of the movie.

The first hour of the movie is really about Will Arnett. And again, I'll say Will Arnett, I think one of the funniest people alive. Joe Blues, maybe my favorite TV character of the century, very few actors can make me laugh as hard as he does. Watch him on Conan doing bits about Jason Bateman, nothing funnier in the world. I really like Will Arnette. I feel something very sincere coming from him in this movie. You can tell he's trying to get through some stuff. There's a weird thing, though, where it's a movie about stand-up comedy,

and understandably it's an amateur who has no experience. Right, but it's that thing you do, problem. And that's the thing. The jokes are not funny. He's not that funny in this part. It does make sense dramatically for him to be not that funny or that seasoned. But the other comedians, some of whom are professional and very successful comedians, are like kind of funny, but there's not a lot of laughs.

We saw this in a movie 40 years ago. You know, Tom Hanks and Sally Field made puny. launch line. Another dromedy about the world of stand-up comedy that isn't that funny. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had the same exact problem where it was like, this is a show that's kind of about SNL, but it's not as funny as SNL. Do you buy it? This is dangerous stuff, man. This can sink a movie when that stuff doesn't work. And, you know, we were talking to Chris Ryan and he saw this and he liked the comedy stuff. He liked the stand-up stuff, which takes place at the comedy seller in New York. I couldn't get into it. I just couldn't get invested in it.

I didn't. I was, I'm kind of baffled by the whole movie. I sat there thinking if I were a person even going to open mic night at the comedy seller and this is what showed up I would ask for my money back. I'm just like the

comedy seller 15 was I think the rate. You see five bucks when I was in New York. Yeah but still that's a legendary that's like a hallowed place and I'm like this guy just gets to wander up on stage.

It seems so easy for him to just get up there. Like how did that happen? There is also a thing in the movie where it's just like it sure seems like every woman wants to fuck Will Arnett in this movie. And I'm like, what's going on here?

This is fairly unexamined. There are like a lot of shots of, I mean, his dad bought is like a recurring bit in his comedy. But there are just like more shots of his so-called biceps than I personally needed to see. I'm not there on my aging journey. No, I thought that it's like this serious actor playing the emotions. He's pretty good. He's pretty good. I agree.

I would argue that's the best part of the movie is his performance. as this guy going through this thing. There's one moment with the kid's socks, which again, like, logistically, I wasn't sure why they weren't there, but he had their socks. But I, like, I felt something in that moment. That was, you know, that was good, sad filmmaking. Everything else was confusing.

Let's talk about Bradley Cooper's performance. Well, that I enjoyed. I think Bradley Cooper is an amazing director of himself. I agree with that. He has done a curious thing in the movie, movie, which is a movie with like low stakes and a kind of confused narrative structure and he shows up every 32 minutes to be the funniest person on screen for five minutes and then disappear again. And also so handsome.

Yes, he's got long hair and a beard and a mustache at a certain point. And he's an actor who is close friends with Will Arnett. What does Will Arnett's character do? We don't know. That's another thing. He works in finance. I think of the idea. I guess so, but you never really, you see him in a suit.

Right. And he keeps talking about some job and the mortgage that he's paying for this house because they live in, you know, somewhere on Metro North. He gets an apartment at the city. Presumably in Connecticut. You know, money is never really discussed, but everything's fine. But they're old friends, Cooper and Arnett's characters, and Cooper's character is married to Andrew Day. And they're part of this crew of people who've been hanging out and spending time together for years. And they're at that stage of their lives. You know, we're getting to that stage of our lives. We're like, you know, maybe some marriages aren't working out or, you know, people are confronting, like, what happens when my kids get older and where am I in my life and am I happy? All that stuff, I think, is rich.

And, you know, this movie, NL and McKay are fascinating examples of things that we want at the movies that represent a kind of movie that no longer really gets made unless you have a really powerful force like a Bradley Cooper or Jim Brooks to get a movie like this made. but just because the movie like this exists doesn't automatically make it good. It is like careful what you wish for conundrum because with the wrong script or just like the wrong...

I feel like if you made this movie in 2023 or in 2026, maybe you'd get like a slightly different stew, you'd get a better outcome. Like you just make one choice a little bit differently or you wait for the script to simmer a little longer so you pivot away from something that wasn't working. Like it just feels like it wasn't... The cake wasn't ready to come out of the oven

is how this movie feels to me. Yeah. It's it's just a movie about a dad finding himself. And it's, but dressed up in the clothing of a divorce movie and, you know, another, like a performer movie and how is like a man who is in the arts going to reconcile his personal life and his professional life, which has been the theme of Bradley Cooper's other two movies as well. It's true. But it's really just like, I don't know. can this man be happy? Why is Peyton Manning in the film? I laughed a lot. Because they introduced him from a distance, and you're like, wait a second, is that Peyton Manning?

Is that Peyton Manning? And then Laura Dern is on a date with Peyton Manning and almost maybe got to sleep with Peyton Manning. That's really funny. That is the funny. Does he play himself? No, he plays Laird. A former volleyball colleague.

Now we are cooking. Yeah. Yeah. He's maybe in charge of the national team. And the incident that they, like, find themselves in where Laura Dern's character goes to a comedy club with Laird after their dinner, which is turning into a date in real time because we learn that they're both divorced. And then they stumble upon seeing Will Arnette's character performing comedy. And that comedy is very much about his marriage and about his wife. And some things are uttered that are hurtful to her in that exchange.

but everything that happens after that where Laird disappears Laura Dern's character confronts Will Arnette's character and then that leads to like a kind of tentative reunion between them and like heat like a chemistry

I didn't buy it all I was like this is complete fantasy like I have no idea what they're trying to communicate with this so it's like is the idea that you should publicly humiliate your wife in front of her so then she'll want to sleep with you again what is the movie

what is the movie trying to tell us about that I have no idea. And the way where those characters end up is that she rediscovers her love of volleyball and she, like, finds a purpose and she's coaching. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because the Olympics are going to be here in two years.

That's right. Okay. And then he has, like, rediscovered himself and his happiness because he stands up on stage in the comedy cellar and makes fun of his family for laughs. and then that means that they can be happy together to the strains of under pressure as performed by their children. Okay.

Listen, listen. So, listen. No, this is important because, you know, this is not an AfterSun podcast, right? We don't love the movie AfterSum. We just did the 2020 draft. People pulling their hair out crying in the street. Why did you guys not talk about AfterSun? It's just not a movie that Amanda and I love.

Clearly, Chris doesn't love it either. He didn't bring it up. But AfterSun used the acapella of Under Pressure already in the movie. It's like it is the most, like, powerful thing in that movie is the use of that music in those club scenes and then at the conclusion of the movie. And this movie does the exact same thing three years later. You can't use that, that musical cue. Three years after, after son, what are you doing, Bradley Cooper? It's just, it's also the just most creaking obvious, the kids are practicing it for 90 minutes of the two-hour movie.

And you're just like, okay, so I know exactly how you're going to end. this. At one point, Laura Dern's character says that performance isn't for like for so many months from now. And I'm like, oh, great, okay. So you're just going to set up the dumb. I don't know. I guess the family turns out okay. So it's not loser behavior, you know? You got to do what you got to do. But maybe I don't need to be a part of it. This conversation feels like Sam Jackson shooting Robert De Niro and Jackie Brown. I'm like, what happened to you, man? Your ass used to be beautiful. Like, this is a real misstep for Coop. I need him to bounce back.

I need like a crazy three-hour massive period piece for the next film. I need something. I need him to reach back and to just go beast mode on whatever it is

he's getting into soon because this wasn't it. No. El Le McKay. Yeah. Ela McKay is written and directed by James L. Brooks. A television and movie legend.

This is his seventh film as director. It's his first film in 15 years. How Do You Know, which was a debacle. It stars Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Loudden, Camille Nanjani, Iowa Debris, Spike Fern, Julie Kavanaur, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, and Woody Harrelson. A log line that I pulled from the internet is as follows. At 34 years old, Ella McKay becomes the governor of the state she was born and raised in. However, navigating relationships with her husband, father, and brother may just be her biggest challenge yet.

Yeah. So I would love for this to be a zag for us, right? You know, like you and I are both invested in the work of Jim Brooks In many of the actors in this film 100% In the idea of, you know, late career Big Swings, Masterpieces

Let This Octogenarian Cook Yeah We like we really end original movies about feelings and centered on women strong women and so I would love for us to be able to reclaim this absolutely cannot like just absolute disaster it really is a disaster it pains me to say that really it's really very dire yes I was a bit mortified watching the movie sure and there are components of the movie that I found appealing or at least worthy of discussion okay I don't want to dismiss it entirely.

The movie is about a young woman who is very type A and very dedicated to her vision of the world and uses her career to further what she believes to be the right way to live and the right way to create a better society. Right. She eventually becomes the lieutenant governor in the state she was born and raised in, which I think we can safely assume is Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine. It feels New England-y. It's never named, which is... It's never named purposefully, one presumes. But it becomes quite obvious. And I was chuckling at the state you were born and raised in

because when she's promoted to governor, Ella calls her aunt, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who says the now mortal line, Ella, you are going to become the governor of the state you were born and raised in. And in a sentence right there is everything that's wrong with this movie. It is, which is that there's like a tremendous amount of specificity in all the wrong places and a total lack of specificity in the important places. Yes, and also rampant miscasting. Very true.

I'm a fan of Emma Mackey. I think she's trying really hard in this movie to meet the moment. And she's really carrying on her back the ghosts of Deborah Winger and Holly Hunter. and Helen Hunt and Mary Tyler Moore and who's the actress who played Rhoda. Her name escapes me. The incredibly strong, complicated, at times difficult women that James L. Brooks is best known for. You know, Aurora from terms of endearment, Shirley and Clayne's character, these ferociously idealistic but also sometimes quite sour figures that. Deeply capable outwardly and professionally and personally, like they're never dependent on a man, which is like amazing and especially in the 70s and 80s, pretty groundbreaking.

And so, you know, men coming in and out of their life, they're not like, you know, sexless people. But they're trying to figure things out for themselves and they've figured out what they want to project. got into the world, and they're trying to reconcile it within themselves and with the people around them, which was, you know, a more progressive idea in the 70s and 80s than it is now. Well, it's also interesting in the movie Ella McKay because it's a movie about politics, right? It's a movie about politics with a kind of Obama-era optimism that confronts, like, the bureaucracy and bitterness that tends to define career politicians. Yeah. Albert Brooks plays this long-time governor, beloved governor, but Governor Bill of a small state, presumably in New England, who has been elevated to a cabinet position in the White House. And so he's leaving and Ella will be filling his in his place. And she's clearly like the architect of a lot of his policy over the previous decade. She's a real like go-getter type who probably came right out of college and joined up with his campaign and rose through the ranks and was his chief of staff and did all this work. And so she believes that rather than

maneuver and manipulate the way that a politician does, she can kind of blunt force her way to change in the world. And she finds out that just like she can't always do that with her personal life, she can't do it in the real world. So when I say that there's stuff about it that I like, as an idea, that's a good idea for a movie. And I kind of admire that Brooks wants to make a movie about this where it's like, it's not unlike a one battle after another,

where it's like, we fucked up and now I'm Governor Bill. And like Ellen McKay wants to come along and kind of fix things and improve the world. And, you know, her father was a real asshole. And she's like, she's entitled to not forgive him. Right. You know, and that the only people in her life who she can really trust are women

and these strong older women. So, like, all of those ideas, I think, are sound. Yeah. The movie, it feels like people took laughing gas before they started making it. Like, it is bizarre. Yeah. The tone, the joke writing, the performance style, the editing.

It's so misshapen all over the place. really goofy. And so those basic ideas are also the ideas that, you know, undergird Mary Tyler Moore and certainly broadcast news. And, um, but the, the tone is Leslie Nope and Parks and Rec. And in a way and, and because it is this like small town unnamed vibe, there is a like, you know, unspecific sitcom quality to the way they're all speaking to each other that undermines a lot of the situations. And then the stakes are both really big, but in the sense that she's like a young woman

like trying to figure out the world and make the world a better place. But it's also, you know, it's like her ultimate downfall is like a four-figure bribery scandal like by her dumb husband and like the local news reporter. It's not even like Axios or something. You know, it is like really very, she works so hard for like an incredibly admirable,

Like, we need, like, child health bills in this country now more than ever. But, like, they just yell tooth tutors a lot to talk about it, which, again, is good. Like, teach children how to take care of their teeth. And she's got a lot of statistics about it. Yeah. But they're just screaming tooth tutors in a way that is, like, cutesy and gimmicky. And it is also, you know, not the Pentagon Papers. So it's a real.

It's silly. And then the interpretation of this script and this is not played as silly. It's played very sincerely. It is. And it's quite confusing. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Like an action blockbuster, the holidays move quick. But with Prime, fast free delivery means those last minute gifts arrive right when you need them.

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for their times perfect movies. I like broadcast news more. That's one of my favorite movies of all time. I think a total classic. The great movies, yeah. In terms of endearment, very effective melodrama. You know, terms of endearment based on a Larry McMurtry novel, broadcast news is not based on anything, but Susan Zorinsky, the CBS News producer,

was a critical component, and the Holly Hunter character is based on her. It's interesting to think about that and then the other films that Brooks has made. As Good As It Gets was a very big movie in its time, but I don't feel like it has as strong a reputation as it did. All Do Anything was famously like kind of a flame out where it started out as a musical and then it tested so poorly that they took all the songs out of it. And then Spanglish is a movie, as I mentioned, on the Sandler Pot that I really don't like. And how do you know is considered kind of a catastrophe. And so this guy who has given the world Mary Tyler Moore and The Simpsons and the Tracy Olman show and Taxi and these great movies, he has a reputation.

earned of greatness. But there's no denying that, like, there is just a total lack of clarity of what this movie is even supposed to be. Like, you can, you point out the performances. I think you're right on. There's a sequence in the movie that I found utterly confounding

between Spike Fern and Iowa Debris. Spike Fern plays the, like, emotionally stunted younger brother of Ella McKay. And he is... Agoraphobic until proven otherwise. Yes. And he has to work up the temerity to go.

visit his ex-girlfriend, whom he broke up with under confused circumstances, and then recompel her to get back together. The scene, I felt like I was on mushrooms. I was like, what is one, Spike Fern's performance style? Like, he made a choice, right? It's like that is a character choice that he made to talk that way, to communicate that way. I didn't like it.

I didn't think it worked. Your mileage may vary on that. It's very specific. I had more problems with Ella McKay's exposit. dialogue in the scene at which I texted you during the film, you're still using your math

to advise people on sports betting? Great job, everyone. Yeah, that's real like... I was the only person in the theater, by the way, so I was allowed to text. That... There are a lot of lines of dialogue of expositional

information delivery that are not good throughout the movie. But, you know, Vulture described this film as gas leak cinema, and I think that's very accurate because there are times where you're in a scene in the movie and you're like, what's wrong here?

Like, is everyone okay? Why is this, like this, Woody Harrelson giving a very strange performance as a desperate dad who cheated on his wife, played by Rebecca Hall earlier in Ella's life, and then Rebecca Hall's character passes away and he becomes this kind of itiner figure.

That death is very weird. I don't... But then comes back into her life later on just as she's being named governor because he needs to recognize, reconcile with her and he needs forgiveness from her so that he can maintain a relationship with a woman who is really into healing.

But that storyline like never resolves itself and he's just like a gnat in her ear throughout the movie. And you don't know if you're supposed to think Woody Harrelson's funny or tragic. I found all that incredibly confusing. Camille Nanjani like wasted in a weird part as a state trooper who is who like bodyguard.

wants to preserve the budget of the state and thus doesn't want overtime? I was shocked by that. Who would care? Who would care about overtime budgets? We need to protect the sanctity of the overtime budget. He knows because he spent time with her and that's something she would care about. Like, I got it? I got the point they were making.

Sure. But again, it's like the details just are not aligned in any way with reality and or what they're trying to communicate in the movie. It feels very, to use your phrase from earlier, small stakes, low stakes. And the other thing is that, as you pointed out to me when you were watching the movie, the movie just literalizes the trauma thing in such a dumb way. So it does two things, which is, and this is not Julie Kavanaugh's fault, but so Julie Kavanaugh starts the film as the narrator. She introduces herself as the narrator, and you hear her before you see her.

So you're like, oh, okay, Marge Simpson. is narrating this movie, and then her opening narration uses the word trauma at least three and maybe four times, quite literally. Ella looks up trauma in the dictionary. I forgot about that when explaining to her little bar. I was like, is this a satire? It was unbelievable. Dude, that's, I mean.

It was so, so, so bad. And there was like, and that's part of like the half me two plot. Like, this is a movie that is true. trying, you know, it read a 2011, or I guess, 2018 New York Times op-ed page, headlines only, and then was like, let's write something, quote, unquote, to the moment. Tough, tough stuff. Can I tell you what movie this reminded me of? Tell me.

I mean, this was my particular spiral. So the movie concludes, spoiler alert for Ella McKay. Jack Loudon, an actor I love, is her dumb American husband. He's been done no favors in this film. It's really, really upsetting. Also a very bad performance. Yeah, well, sure. Again, there are just some people who shouldn't be American.

You know, we all know what the accent is. And I think that we just have to be honest about the capabilities of accent coaches in this day and age. Anyway, she, Jack Loudon, I don't, I honestly don't really understand. understand why he's mad at her, and so he bribes. He accepts a bribe from a reporter. He's going to be the first husband of this state, and he's a person who has supported his wife through all of her ambition, and she has gotten to the mountaintop, and she neglects to thank him in her inauguration speech, and he feels cast aside.

He wants to be a special important guy and not just the inheritor of a pizza parlor company. Right, but he's also very stupid. So he accepts a bribe from a local reporter who's found out that a married couple had sex on... He provides a bribe. Oh, he provides a bribe. He writes a check to a reporter. Oh, okay. That's right.

Okay. Which, of course, the reporter would never cash because the reporter is trying to ensnare him in a scandal. But, like, that's the dumbest plot point I've ever heard. Yeah. What politician's husband is writing a personal check to a reporter? It's just dumb writing. It's really bad writing. So.

Jim Brooks is a fucking legend. I'm an idiot podcaster. I don't. I don't understand it either. It's very upsetting. And so that puts Ella's career as the governor in doubt. And so she negotiates with the state legislature who are portrayed as the most powerful people on God's earth. to just also like a belief in local government

that I have long since abandoned in this film. So she negotiates in her aunt's bar that she will resign and not run again for office if they put the child health bill through and they include the tooth tutors. So in the end, the resolution of this is that Ella McKay gets to be governor for three days

and her work is done but she gets no credit for it and she doesn't have any of her family left, except for maybe her brother, because he's agreed to leave the house. This reminded me deeply of the intern. Another late career movie made by a true hero of mine that is just about how a millennial woman

must be personally and professionally humiliated in order to, I don't know what? what am I supposed to take from this? It's just like you can only have it all if you don't have anything and you have yourself. Great. Thanks so much, everyone. These are challenging lessons from some of our finest filmmakers. Yeah.

You can only be a good divorced father if you do stand-up comedies. And you can only be a capable governor of a small state in New England if you are publicly embarrassed. Right. And don't have a job anymore. Well, that's not true. then she starts legal aid. But then, oh my God, that was, I forgot how this that's.

Okay, so really admirable. She starts, like, a nonprofit to support housing and to prevent evictions. And so they're, like, they're, like, in the call center. Kumail Nanjani's character is now working for the call center instead of the state. And they're, like, manning the phones and, like, a really important call comes through. And they're like, oh, my God, I knew it. I knew that we did it. like hand her the piece of paper and you expect like Ella's going to be governor again or

something. And she's like, everyone, I'd like to announce, I just got the news. We have saved 8,342 people from, you know, houselessness this year. And I was like, that's awesome. That is more than I have done. And it's a real problem here in Los Angeles and like elsewhere in the world. But also, it's such a specific number. It's like in this, it's like when they're waiting to hit a million users in the social network. It's like, like, you know, we've had like the, you know, fundraising tally on the thing and we hit like 8,492. What are you talking about? I think, I think this, there's real sincerity in this point of view, which is very valid that the change is not going to come on a macro level.

it's going to come on a micro level. And I believe in that. Yeah. And I think James Brooks's heart is in the right place. I think the idea that, like, it's actually people who have to fix the world and they have to work really hard and they have to be comfortable being hated and being annoying is very real. And in 2027, we're going to start to feel that because the only people that are going to be able to rise up in terms of what's happening in this country right now are people who are willing to be really annoying about it. I think it's, again, an interesting idea. Yeah.

Like, I'm on board with where he's going. But to your point about the specificity of that number and just the general oddity of tone, I think a lot about the ending of broadcast news, which is like such an elegant emotional quagmire that that character is placed in. Even they're saved by, like, the impulses of Jim Brooks, like, saved by what happened on set because they filmed a different ending. Yes. And so, an alternate ending that they were trying, famously was ruined by a cameraman. And so they, you know, they were like forced into this ending,

which, you know, is maybe telling in its own way of like sometimes there are impulses that. Yeah, the door is swinging, right? And it can go the other way sometimes. And I, this one is just, it's just all wrong. And I think it'd be funny to try to reclaim it. And I know a lot of critics and podcasters are doing that. And, you know, the LMAK meme with the, you know, fixing the heel is a thing. And people are having a lot of fun with this movie.

But to me, it's a much more sad story about the complete kind of desecration of these kinds of movies for moviegoers. The fact that the only way to make a movie like the successful now is to pretend like it's actually not as bad as it actually is and lift it up with memes. When, like, what we do need to me, ultimately, is, um, What Jim Brooks has otherwise been doing is he's been a producer for other filmmakers and he has supported other filmmakers in the last 30 years. You know, he produced Jerry McGuire.

He produced Big for Penny Marshall. He produced Kelly Freeman Craig's movies. You know, most recently, Are You There, God, it's me, Margaret. That's a great act. We need more Kelly Freeman Craigs making movies like this. Like, that's actually the thing that's going to get these movies going

and that requires studio executives not being fucking cowards. This is, you know, No, one rumor, one theory is that this movie exists so that Fox, Disney could get another Simpsons movie. That James L. Brooks said, I'll give you another Simpsons movie, which is happening, I guess, in 2027, if you let me make my movie Ella McKay. That's sad. I mean, maybe you'll like the Simpsons movie, so that'll be nice. I think the first Simpsons movie is really funny.

Okay. And The Simpsons completely changed by life and my point of view on comedy and writing and satire and the American family. So I thank James L. Brooks for all of his works. El M. McKay is a no-go. Underseen and overlooked. You were not able to participate in this last year. You were on leave. That's right.

We talk about a lot of movies on the show over the course of the year. Stuff slips through the cracks. It does. It doesn't get attention. It's a brief mention after a festival maybe and we don't circle back to it. So we've put five together. How was this exercise for you? I found my groove.

For a second, I was like, we've been talking. about a lot of films. And we see films at volume, but I'm not quite at the volume that you do. So I think most of my picks have come up in passing. There's also a genre element to most of them that, you know, I decided to run towards my interests, not that, you know, cinema often does, but in this case... I haven't looked at your list. Yeah, in this case, I collected a few.

So in the end, it was rewarding. Okay. There are still some 20-25 movies that are just now coming out that we're not going to get a chance to talk about at least until we come back in January. Right, so I kept those off the board. Yeah, I wanted to cite the plague before we talk, which opens on Christmas, which is a film that played at Cannes earlier this year.

It's written and directed by Charlie Pollinger. It's about a bunch of boys at a water polo camp. and is a very upsetting body horror movie. This would be a tough one for you to watch as the mother of two young boys and being a little worried about where their lives are going and whether they'll be the bully or the bullieer.

Yeah. The bullied or the bully? I mean, neither's a good option. It's a fascinating movie. Everett Blunk gives an incredible performance as this kid Ben in the movie. Joel Edgerson's in the movie as the coach at the camp.

And the sound design and the score of this movie is remarkable. I just wanted to put it out there for people. It's coming out on Christmas. Okay. Check it out.

It's the sort of thing that would be on this list if it had like an August release date but it's coming out later this year. Okay. So let's start. Do you want to go first?

Sure. My number five is a film that we briefly discussed. Yeah. And that is currently still in theaters though if they're smart they will get it out on some sort of VOD

platform soon because I do think at home for people interested in a romantic comedy that eternity would pass the small test. Now, you had some unkind things to say. Here's what I will say about eternity. It is, I guess it's a high concept romantic comedy if you haven't seen defending your life. And if you have seen defending your life, it is just a sort of remake of defending your life it stars as well as a matter of life and death right it's like a matter of life and death and defending your life smashed together in one movie and it stars elizabeth olson um as a woman who old woman who dies and finds herself in the afterlife and the way the afterlife works is that you have to pick one eternity like one really awesome place where you're spending the rest of your

life and her two husbands are both waiting there uh to spend the rest of the rest of your life and her two husbands are both waiting there to spend the rest of her eternity with her. And so she has to pick which husband she wants to spend eternity with. And her two husbands are played by Miles Teller, who plays the person she spent most of her life with, her second husband, who she spent 35 years worth, and then Callum Turner, who was her husband who died in the war. And then it specified the Korean War, and there are a bunch of jokes about that, which I thought were pretty funny. Why are there no movies about the Korean War? Yeah. Um, this, I, you know, I think this movie works better in the setup than in the final hour, as, as most high concept things do. I think this film

has a profound understanding of Callum Turner's appeal. Um, I'm going to say, it's not hard to know why you enjoyed the film. But I was like, wow, they really get it. And I think that there are a lot of people who really get it. And it's funny. supporting performances by Dave and Joe Randolph and John Early, my favorite. And, you know, like, I have thought about different moments, and not just all

of the Callum Turner being hot moments, though it's like really, really funny how this is just a movie about how Callum Turner's hot. Like, we're all really happy for Duolipa. But, you know, whether it is like the Life Museum that she goes through, which, you know, has been recreated movies over time, but it's another reference point. Or a Dean Martin holiday song came on the other day, and I laughed at the Dean Martin.

Miles Teller is funny. Yeah, Miles Teller is really good in this as the other guy. He is. It's a very weird part for him to have taken on. He is definitely taking on the other guy part. He's the Albert Brooks to William Hurt in broadcast news. And, you know, Miles Teller is six feet tall, very handsome in the star of Top Gun Maverick. So for him to be playing, like, the schlobier guy is kind of cool.

that he made that choice. I think he's the best part of the movie. Elizabeth Olson's trying. I don't really think that character is very well written. No. I get what you like that. I get what you like. I'm not going to piss in your cereal.

When she's was saved by Joy Randolph, like in the afterlife convention, drinking a lot of wine. There are funny moments. It's like well observed. I do think that the understanding of the Callum Turner of it all. And everyone else is like making jokes about it.

Yeah. It's like, and if you want to spend time with Miles Teller being charming also in a grumpy way. I'd like it. I think it's a good at home experience. It's kind of like...

It doesn't land the plane. It doesn't land the plane. That's fine. But it is kind of like if in defending your life, Albert Brooks in purgatory needed to choose between Meryl Streep and Heather Locklear.

You know, it's like... Yes, but like that's fine. Let's have more movies like that. That's what I'm saying. I would like to honor the setup. Yeah. Because that's powerful. I get you.

I didn't love it. But I do think that similarly, we do need these films. And you're right that you're definitely right that at home, this would do very well at Christmas. You know, you could see people cozying up around the fire watching this movie. Okay, that's a good pick. I like it. Your picks are very pop in a good way that will make for a good discussion. I'm not sure if my picks are going to make for a very good discussion.

But I do want to put them on people's radars. And I try to pick a mix of stuff that was both available to stream and on VOD. Is it not on VOD yet or it is? No, it's still in theaters. It's still in theaters. It's still in theaters. It's at the Regal Paseo. You want to go after this?

already seen it at the Regal Paseo, so I'm good. My number five is Unbecoming a guinea fowl, which is a Rangano Inioni's second feature film, which came out via 824 earlier this year, but a very limited release. It was a 2024 festival film. She's a Zambian filmmaker. It's a very unusual movie about a woman who comes across the dead body of her uncle in the street at the very beginning of the movie and sets off this kind of like perplexing series of

familial interactions and cultural curiosities around her journey stars actress Susan Chartie who's amazing in this movie there's like a very specific overt reference to

Missy Elliott in the Super Dupa Fly video at the very beginning of the film that kind of like grounds you in the oddity of the movie. Beautiful cinematography and colors and music in this movie and

is this kind of transfixing? I haven't really talked about very much African cinema here. It's a very rare African film to get distribution in the United States from a major studio. It's a real portal into this world, but also not alienating. It's very funny and very unusual and very disorienting at times. It's on HBO Max right now if people want to check it out. And I hope that Inioni gets to make more movies because she has some real flair. Okay, number four.

Just veering way in the office. opposite directions. This is Oh, hi. Yeah. Which I believe you saw with your sister Grace when she was in town. Yes. Um, so this was a Sundance film, uh, directed by Sophie Brooks and co-written by Brooks and Molly Gordon, who stars in it, along with, uh, Logan Lerman. And it's about a young couple who go on their first weekend away together and then, uh, learn some things about themselves and their relationship to each other and then try to rectify that. I'm, Molly Gordon and...

I think she's wonderful. She's wonderful and really funny and there's a scene in this film when she's asked to tell the Logan Lerman

character about her childhood and is just running around like talking and it's very funny and very fun did you relate to this

character? Yeah, of course. You did. I think this movie's very bad. However, I do think I do think I love Molly Gordon

I love watching Molly Gordon I think she's also And then her friend is Geraldine Vespani and who's also amazing So when they're on it's great I mean I don't If you're watching it as a movie About a relationship

Is it self-recrimination the movie Is it Molly Gordon being like sorry I'm such a pain in the ass Is it like Are we meant to be empathetic towards her Is it? Yeah We are okay

I think so. I think that she doesn't... She does a very violent and uncomfortable things to the Logan Lurman character in the film. Yeah, well, sometimes you deserve that, you know, if you're dating around. Listen, they've been dating for four months and they've had a conversation about not using protection. What have you done to my friend, Zach? It's totally respectful. But it's just like every once in a while, you got to, like, call people and get them in line.

In line, especially where sexual health is involved. Yeah, for sure. No, I thought this was funny. I mean, it's like, again, like all things, like the setup and the first 30 minutes are very funny and then, you know, things kind of peter out. But I was rooting for her and, you know. You got this, mama. Don't. Molly Gordon Edition.

Like, don't go on a weekend vacation with someone if you're not clear on the parameters of your relationship. Is this something that a fuck boy will do? Will he be like, let's go on a weekend vacation? And be romantic together? So it's, you know, a crucial plot point in Bridget Jones Diary, of course. But I do think at this age and at this budget level, it's uncommon. It is particularly delusional. Okay.

Normally they wouldn't commit to 48 hours or, you know. That's sort of what I'm saying. Yeah, sure. That's a strained credulity. Right. But so I think the response then also perhaps strains credulity or is a proportionate response to the act involved. Fair point.

You know? Fair point. Maybe it does, yeah. It undergirds the premise. Yeah. Number four, speaking of your boyfriends. Yeah. Is Urchin.

Urchin is available to rent on VOD right now. It is the directorial debut of Harris Dickinson, who is a very accomplished, tall, handsome actor who who clearly wants to be Mike Lee. This new movie is about a guy named Mike who is sleeping on the streets of London and who's trying to get his life together, trying to get his substance abuse under control, trying to escape the very gnarly fate of his life. The movie is somewhat conventional in the way that it explores those aspects of his story. You see him kind of receding back into bad habits and getting a job and losing a job and getting into a job. and, you know, getting into a relationship and then messing up that relationship.

And some of that stuff feels very familiar. Some of it does feel like Mike Lee's naked, the David Thuleau's movie. The movie takes a really interesting kind of cosmic turn near the end that is really exciting. And I think augers well for where Harris Dickinson is going as a director. Like, I thought, halfway through the movie,

I was like, this is a little bit more straightforward than I wanted to be, despite the fact that Frank Delane, who plays the Mike character, is phenomenal in this movie. He definitely could have been on our performances list. It really super committed. I really, really liked his work in the movie.

But the final 10 minutes or so, when we start to feel him kind of like exiting the normal plane of existence, is hopefully a sign of things to come for Harris Dickinson. So people should check this out. It's a cool movie, imperfect, but very interesting. How do you feel about Harris making this leap? Will he take himself off screen to make these films? No, he's going to be in four Beatles films, so it's going to be okay.

Who is he playing again? He's John Lennon. Is that good casting? We talked about, and I believe Paul Meskell is Paul. Paul McCartney, yeah. Yeah. I can see it. Is John Lennon attractive? Well, I think that the glasses and the hair can kind of, you can bring Harris to where Lennon was.

I see. And there was a magnetism to him, you know? Yeah. So you can't deny that. Who played Lennon? Okay. All right. Okay. Number three for you.

The Wedding Banquet. I haven't seen this. Well, it's streaming on Paramount Plus, I believe. Let's make sure that that's the right one. Wedding Banquet, Paramount Plus. Yes, it is. So, this is a remake of the Angley movie at The Wedding Bank. And it's directed by Andrew Ahn, who did Fire Island.

And it's co-written with On and James Seamus who wrote The Wedding Bank. That's right. original. And so it follows, it's a similar setup, but it's in by the U.S. now. And so it's a gay couple and a lesbian couple who are, you know, the gay couple wants to get married, but one of the men is concerned he will be accepted, accepted by his family, and then also will be cut off. And then the women couple are trying to, the woman. and a couple are trying to have a baby and they're doing IVF, but they're running out of money because it's quite expensive and it's not going well.

So they, two of the, one of the men and one of the women decide to do like a, and there's also some immigration status involved. So they decide to do like a fake marriage in order to get the money, pay for the IVF, and get lock citizenship down. And then obviously like the plan gets like pretty messy. This is, and that makes it sound like a lot more farcical than it is. What I liked about this movie was that it was pretty emotional, like, you know, it plays everything softly and it has a great cast. It's Bowen-Yang, but Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran.

And Juni Juno, who you remember from Minari. That's right. And so it's an outrageous plot, but everyone is soft peddling it. Um, actors I like a lot. I thought this was like a pretty good soft touch portrayal of IVF, which, you know, can be, it's like not a, it's not about it. It's just like a thing that happens and it's hard for the people, which I appreciate, you know. It's just like maybe a good lesson in general. We don't need to make things like about stuff.

It can just, yeah, it can, you can portray a thing and how it affects people and that communicates it. I don't know if you notice that while we're recording it was announced that Bowen Yang is leaving Saturday night. Actually, yeah, it was, I, strange. In the middle of the season, after eight seasons. Yeah, I don't know. Well, being definitely one of the most notable cast members. It's kind of odd. Yeah.

I mean, he's, hasn't he sat out some performances or some hosts as well? I think it's been a, it's true. It's been a fluctuating relationship as, as I understand it. Anyway, I'm a fan of him. He's pretty good, and that's I would say, like, the women are the performances to remember, but I liked it. Okay. Great call. Yeah.

Number three for me, just came. I should have interviewed the filmmaker. This movie is written, directed, produced, and edited by this person, Curtis David Harder. It's called Influencers. It's a sequel. There was a movie in 2023 called Influencer, who's a thriller on Shudder about a young influencer, a woman who is stalked and eventually meets a grisly end at the hands of a dangerous woman, played by the actress Cassandra. Nod, who is incredible in the original influencer. Influencers continues the story.

Another character from the film is trying to find the Cassandra Nod character, C.W. And bring her to justice. The movie is kind of globetrotting at this point. This one takes place in southern France. These are really stylish, really slick, smart movies about the internet and how the internet works. There's like an AI component to this one that is, I think, pretty clever. And these movies are made... This movie's been made pretty cheaply and really sharply.

And it's like... It is... It does eventually become a violent thriller. But for them... There has, like, a little bit of, like, John LaCarray, like, spycraft going on in it. Okay. That is pretty nifty. And at this scale, for, like, effectively a straight-to-shutter movie,

I thought it was really impressive, and I think Harder is a really good filmmaker. So I want to give it a little shout, because I feel like it's maybe not getting enough attention. This movie is pro-AI? Yeah. No. Like you? No. But it is a, it has a, it's a really funny movie about like right wing influencers versus

left wing influencers, lifestyle influencers versus people who are just trying to have fun but capturing their lives on social media. That's me. It's pretty. I'm just having fun. Many people are saying you're just having fun, not trying to get free yogurt. You would never do that. It's so good.

You would never attempt to acquire yogurt on a podcast. I'm really grateful. I'm still eating that yogurt. Thank you, Pamela, Lance. sisters. Jack, is this okay? Of course. It's all great.

Jack got some yogurt. That's great. Congrats on your yogurt, Jack. Happy for you, bro. Thank you. What's number two for you? Megadoc. Which we've talked a little bit about,

but I thought on this episode, especially after the James L. Brooks. Streaming now on the Criterion channel. There you go. So this is Mike Figgis' portrait of the making of Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis. which I saw at the Venice Film Festival and has amazing access

and the further we get down the road of Francis Ford Coppola but also of these beloved filmmakers hanging on chasing their dreams to the very, very end, past 80. It's very specific to Coppola in a lot of ways and what animates him and what makes him one of the great American filmmakers and also what explains all of the completely inexplicable

things that have happened in the back half of his career. Again, like incredible access. I'll just still think about the request from Natalie Emmanuel's agent that she not be filmed eating. Just really, really special stuff. But it is also a movie about someone who has been dreaming of something his whole life and specifically about making a movie and waiting for the technology to catch up to this vision in your head and can it and can the vision in your head be realized and how that actually happened or didn't happen in Coppola's case and in the case of Megalopolis is I think fascinating again really helped me understand megalopoulos but if you are listening to this podcast and you're interested in how

films are made. It's just, it's really good. Totally agree. I like this movie a lot. It's a great shout. The next film I'm going to recommend is another movie that I, that we talked about on the show. I saw it out of Sundance. It's called The Things You Kill. It's now available to be rented on VOD. I thought there was a chance we would be talking about it a little bit more and maybe you would have to see it because it was Canada submission for international feature at the Academy Awards. It was not selected. Okay.

It's a film about a Turkish university professor teaching in the United States and his mother dies and she dies under suspicious circumstances and it drives him kind of crazy and as he's grieving, he hires this gardener to enact revenge on the people who he feels may or may not be responsible for his mother's death. This is like a very chaotic, violent, scary, disorienting thriller. I think I probably used somewhat regrettably the word lynchian to describe it back in January when I saw it at Sundance. But it does have those elements of what is really happening. What is the dream state? What is the mania of a person in the face of crisis? Really, really strong filmmaking from Ali Rezikatami, the writer and director. Ekin Cox's performance as the star as Ali is really, really good.

And this is like a bit of a – it's just a – it's a gem. It's a really, really good small independent feature that had a, you know, had a festival premiere and seemed like maybe it was destined for bigger things. And then these movies just kind of come and go sometimes. So the things you kill is my number two. Okay, number one. Joanna briefly mentioned this on our performances of the year. But it's Jane Austen wrecked my life, which is now streaming on Netflix. Have you seen this yet?

I have not seen it yet. Well, I just absolutely loved this and not just because Jane Austen is the title. It is a romantic comedy, I guess an intellectual romantic comedy, but it's a pretty classic love triangle. There's a French woman who is stylish enough that I, you know, was being like, I guess I need to get bangs now or a sweater. So you need that element. She's a writer. And then she goes to the Jane Austen writer's residency. And she meets someone there and then someone else from her life comes back.

and then she's also So she's trying to decide between them But she also has writer's block And as much of it is about Her trying to be an artist A writer as it is about Which of these knuckleheads is going to figure it out I thought it was very funny

And it like Small is unfair But like self-contained In a great way And very charming So if you're looking for something to stream There you go Do you think Eileen would like it?

I don't know Where is Eileen on Jane Austen? Doesn't seem to care that much. Well, then. But I wouldn't say dislikes. You know, then maybe she wouldn't like it. But I do think that they're, in the way that Jane Austen is like the bones of so many of our romantic comedies, you know, she, I think she appreciates many of the hallmarks. She does.

There is like, they recreate like a period style ball at some point, but not in the sense and sensibility. We've done a week's worth of night shoots to make this real. It's like the people of the residency are doing it for shits and giggles. Okay. So there's some knowingness to it. Okay. It's convenient that it's streaming on Netflix. Yeah.

My number one is available to rent right now for 99 cents on Amazon Prime. Okay. Wow. It's called Volcanzaadora, which means tire repair shop. Okay. I think in Spanish. I don't, don't, don't fact check me on that one. Okay.

This is a very strange movie. It is the latest movie. movie from a guy named Joel Patricus, who is a vigorously independent filmmaker who makes unusual, intimate indie movies shot on film. It's about two guys who go into the forest to follow through on a very fucked up pact that they make with each other. One of the guys is set for a potential prison sentence. The other guy is a state of crisis in his life. but the movie is just like kind of a hang just these two dumb guys talking at each other

for the first hour before the events of the movie get a little bit more complicated interesting movie about male friendship we've had several of those this year yeah it gets very gnarly near the end there's some intense stuff that happens in the back half it's also very funny

and there's nobody making movies quite like Joel Petrichus And your mileage will definitely vary on whether or not you enjoy the movie. But if you can get your head around what it is, he's trying to accomplish. I think it's very singular, very beautiful. You know, guys. You're going through it. Men are going through it in 2025.

You know, dads, this is a dad movie as well. Dads are going through it. Dads are having a hard time because they want to be good fathers. Right. They want to be successful men. Right. They want to not go to prison. Right.

They are trying to figure out how to be. to have it all. Yes. It's hard. So whether you're in Volcanus. And James Zulmerk says you cannot. Yes. You'll be Woody Harrelson and you will not be forgiven by your daughter. That is where we land. So that's it. That's our list. How are you feeling? Two more episodes to go this year. Two more episodes to record. How many episodes left for people to listen to? 16 more. So this will be the first 30 episode month. No, I'm kind of, okay. So this, okay, so one, two, three, four. Four more episodes.

in this calendar year. Yeah. And then another one. So five before we come back from the break. That's right. Mm-hmm. You think that's the perfect amount? I mean, I hope people listen.

We're working pretty hard. We are working very hard. So thanks to Jack Sanders, our producer for his work on this episode. The next episode is about Marty Supreme, which is a really, really good movie. It's really, really good. Please go see it.

Yes. We'll be talking about it in depth, and we'll see you then.