10 Movies We Can’t Wait to See This Fall

21:38Sean Fennessey:Wow, that's great. So these are five movies we just can't wait to see. Yeah. And I tried to think about this for the most part as movies where I feel like I don't really know a lot. And the other thing is that I've seen a couple of really big ticket releases that I'm embargoed from talking about. Right. I know that's obnoxious, but I just can't credibly say I can't wait to see something I've already seen. I was wondering about this because I know you do this and you do a lot of pre-screening. And this is what's called where for, sorry to be annoying and insidery, but for critics, they will show movies that are going to premiere at the festivals before the festivals in case you can't get to the festival or because it can be hectic to see as many movies as you want to see.

22:14Sean Fennessey:There's one other reason, too, which is that they're trying to lock down schedules for talent very early in advance. So if you like a movie and you want to have someone on a show like this, you want to say, like, we definitely want to do this. And so sometimes some studios will show movies to me like that. And I think most of the movies I've seen will be able to talk about literally a week from now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so they won't be discussed today from my perspective. Right. But I mean, I was just thinking about, and you pre-screen mostly to book talent. I understand that. But otherwise I was like, wow, this really seems like a hassle to be pre-screening everything because then you can't talk about it.

22:47And then you're like the asshole who's like, well, I've seen all of these things and I can't.

22:51Sean Fennessey:I try to be honest about that experience because I think it is kind of interesting how it all works. Sure. But it is obnoxious to be like, well, I can't tell you. And I apologize for that. Yeah. Okay, my first movie is Whale Fall, which we walked out of CinemaCon in April seeing a five-minute clip of the film, which is written and directed by Brian Duffield and adapted from a very popular novel by Daniel Krauss about a man played by Austin Abrams who is swallowed by a whale. And they showed us the footage of him being swallowed by the whale. And it was very— He was about to be swallowed by the whale.

23:26On the precipice of whale swallow. They did not spoil any of the exciting questions. I read the logline. Sure.

23:33Sean Fennessey:The logline is, guy gets swallowed by whale. Yeah, but we don't know what happens inside the whale. We have no idea. He doesn't actually make it into the - Maybe that was the last five minutes of the movie. He doesn't make it into the whale's esophagus. He does not. Which apparently has like 36 chambers. So I'm looking forward to see - Much like Wu-Tang and Shaolin.

23:51Sean Fennessey:I am really excited for this. I know plenty of people have watched the trailer since it has been early. the two trailers since they've been released? And we're like, nope, can't do that. That's too upsetting. That's too intense. That's too, I don't know. Are people concerned about being swallowed by whales? Is that a fear that people have? I guess it evokes fear in them. Okay. Have you been scuba diving? Have we talked about this? No. I wouldn't do it. I am not really interested. No, scuba. As you know. As Hank Azaria once said in a long game, scuba? As you know, I love swimming in the ocean, but I want to stay on the surface.

24:23I respect the power of the ocean. We don't know very much about the ocean. I don't have a James Cameron thing where I want to be in a boat driving around. I mean, we all know what happens there.

24:31Sean Fennessey:What about a submersible? Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't want to be in a submersible. Okay. I don't either. That's terrifying. Listen, and there's, I mean, we don't know anything about like all the creatures down there. We don't know how far it goes. Fucking whales. Yeah. Listen, no, but there are things we haven't even discovered. Oh, yeah, you're right. Yeah, wait until your son is like, can we watch a video about jellyfish? Well, I don't have a son. I know, but he's going to come over and be like, hey, Sean, can I teach you about jellyfish? I hope a kid doesn't show up in my door like 30 years later.

25:00Sean Fennessey:Hey, dad, it's me. Jellyfish are upsetting. Very upsetting. What film did we just see? Oh, the Amazon Prime horror film, The Devil's Mouth. Okay. Starring Lana Condor. Okay. And there's just a... Is it a Manowar? No, it's not a Manowar, but it is a school of jellyfish. I don't know how you would describe them that attack Catherine Newton, the actress Catherine Newton. Okay. Very violently when she's swimming in Thailand after jumping off a boat. Anyhow, Whalefall, to me, looks fun. Now, it's interesting that Josh Brolin is apparently playing the same character he played in The Dog Stars in Whalefall.

25:37Sean Fennessey:Sure, yes. He's sort of like hard-bitten, masculine man, survivalist figure. It's unclear maybe he plays Austin Abrams' father. Yeah, because we have to have, right, sure. because there needs to be a trauma and, you know, like something that you're, the reason that you're being eaten by a whale and what you have to learn once you're inside the whale. Yes. Along with how does gravity work inside a whale? We don't know yet. We're going to find out when we see the film. I am very much looking forward to it. It is, it's in a sweet spot. I think it'll be really fun. And we were both very stressed out and also a little bit like, ah, when we saw the trailer.

26:11So, and also, I mean, it's a great bit. I love a bit, you know? It is a good bit. We need some more bits.

26:14Sean Fennessey:The film is called Whale Falls. Sure. Number five for you. Yeah. Going the other direction here. Making Marie Antoinette, which is the making of, it's like it says in the title. Right on the label. It was filmed on the set of Marie Antoinette, my favorite Sofia Coppola movie, which we'll be celebrating its 20th anniversary this fall. There are a lot of events. Most of this film was directed and filmed by Sofia's late mother, Elena Coppola, who also, of course, directed Hearts of Darkness, the making of documentary about Apocalypse Now. That is one of the greats. Sofia Coppola finished the film after her mother's passing.

26:51So, you know, Eleanor Coppola was a great filmmaker and also a great writer and a great chronicler of what it means to make films and also to be a woman in the orbit of making films. So I'm very excited about her perspective on this movie. And I'm here for all Marie Antoinette content.

27:09Sean Fennessey:Do you know, is it entirely like cinema verite, observing the scene? Is there any look back component to it where people are talking about the experience? You don't know. I don't know. Interesting. That doesn't totally seem like Sophia's vibe. Yeah. And you would think it would be more like Hearts of Darkness, right? Where it's sort of like all in the moment. But I would also be curious to hear Schwartzman and Dunst and Copeland and Sophia and all those people talking now too about what the movie means and how it was received and how it's been back in the culture. They announced today that they're also, if you happen to be at Versailles in the next six months, there is like...

27:46Just in case. You're popping on by. If you're nearby. I don't know if you're in Paris. You've been to Versailles? I did. I went on a really bad date to Versailles. Do you know this story? Were you setting me up for this one? No. Okay. Wait, maybe I do, but I've forgotten. Yeah. So when I was like this summer that I was studying in Paris, I don't know. I was single and I ended up going on a date with a German guy to Versailles. And the thing about going on a date to Versailles from Paris is that like you have to take a long train. I mean, it's an hour, but still it's going to a second location with a hippie.

28:15But instead, it's a German man. And then you're stuck at Versailles. German guy. What was that like? He was tall. And so.

28:22Sean Fennessey:Okay. Interesting. But so then you're stuck there and you're like, oh, I don't want to be here on this date anymore with you. But like you're just in a garden in Versailles and you got to get back. And you know the French with their lines. And then you're still like taking the train back. Could you tell immediately from the train ride that it was a bust? Yeah, I think so. But I was also 19. So like, what did I know about anything? How did you meet? At a bar, I think. You met in a bar? Sure, yeah. And he said, let's go to Versailles. Yeah. I mean, listen. What a strange life you've led. That's interesting.

28:51Anyway, but they're doing like an exhibit there about the movie and Petit Trianon, which was the country home that Marie Antoinette built where the last part of the movie. You've seen the film. It was on our 25 for 25 list. Yeah, I didn't know the name of the country home. Okay. I mean, country also just means it's like in a different garden in Versailles. Anyway, there will be a lot. They are making an event of this anniversary, as they should. But so maybe there's a retrospective element to it. But I don't know. We'll see. Is that film playing in Venice? No, which is annoying. It's playing at the New York Film Festival.

29:28Sean Fennessey:Sheesh. Listen, you know, I would love to be there, but I'm a mom, you know? That's it. You're just the mom. I'm a mom. I got to be here for Cy's first week of school. That's right. That's right. I'm just going to be in fucking shambles for that one. He's going to be so loud. I will be able to hear him screaming at me from preschool when I am back home. Okay. Let's go to my next one. Number four is yet another movie that I don't know very much about, which is Elsinore, which I feel fairly confident will be at one of these film festivals that I'll be attending in the near future. it is a new film starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman it is directed by a man named Simon Stone who does not have a ton of film credits is best known I think for his theater and television work he did do a movie in 2021 called The Dig that I saw that it was just fine oh that's the Carey Mulligan Ralph Fiennes archaology yeah you saw that right yeah yeah yeah not bad in my wheelhouse certainly the film is about it feels like in many ways a kind of spiritual follow up to Hamnet because it's about an actor based on a real life actor named Ian Charleston Charleston excuse me who portrayed Hamlet at the National Theater while he was seriously ill from AIDS and Hamlet and all of its heavy meaning colliding with Andrew Scott's seriousness and skill as an actor I think is very interesting this is one of those movies that like I've had a couple people whisper in my ear Andrew Scott be like Andrew Scott nomination incoming Andrew Scott Andrew Scott I mean wonderful who I love who we love who's wonderful who's a great actor who's been in amazing things who is one of the great awards season contenders yes I mean let's just get him on the party circuit well just a just a great hang as a person very stylish but very thoughtful and sweet he was he was on the show a few years ago and for all of us strangers yeah it was wonderful and is amazing in Ripley the Ripley television series so he's just such a terrific actor he was great in Blue Moon last year and so I'm very much looking forward to that one that's probably the most kind of like downbeat reserved film that I have on my list but I wanted to have one because I do think that that is kind of the essence of this season is there you'll find a lot more historical dramas you'll find a lot more sensitive portrayals of struggling artists and that is that's certainly a signature of Telluride that kind of a film is really prized there and so who knows if it'll be there if I had to guess I'd say it will be but we shall see it and that's a focus movie that is coming out later this year well fingers crossed for you thank you and for the mountains okay what's next for you a movie I'm seeing in 36 hours wow I got my ticket Inc the Danny Boyle drama that we've been talking about a lot another biographical drama and maybe not downbeat necessarily but this is about Rupert Murdoch and when Rupert Murdoch bought the Sun newspaper in the UK and kind of his invasion of Fleet Street stars Guy Pearce Jack O 'Connell Claire Foy I'm just jazzed This is a little bit that I love movies about newspapers.

32:33I love movies starring Jack O 'Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy. And I'm excited. This will be the first movie that I see at Venice. It's the opening night of the Venice Film Festival. But listen, the trailer, the poster, that looks like there's some energy to it.

32:48Sean Fennessey:I'm excited. I'm really excited about this, too. I think one of Boyle's great movies is Steve Jobs. And so I'm hopeful that it kind of has that same energy, where he brings that kinetic energy in his filmmaking style to a story that in other hands would be like flat and dull. But like the way that he moves the camera, the way that his films are cut, the way that he uses music in his movies. You know, we've never had, I've never had Danny Boyle on the show. We've praised his work over the years, but he did go into a little bit of a downturn with yesterday. Yeah, I was like, he didn't come for it.

33:18Sean Fennessey:You know, I wasn't going to ask him to come on for a movie that I don't like very much. But I do, I think he's got, an extraordinary career. We could do a whole episode about his amazing run of films. We should. I look forward to that movie too. Hopefully I'll be able to see it soon as well. My next film is an interesting one to me. It's Resident Evil, which of course is a movie I've had circled on the calendar for a year going back to when, right around this time, I guess, I had Zach Krager on the pod to talk about weapons. And he was saying that he was doing this. It was officially happening.

33:49Sean Fennessey:He was adapting the Resident Evil video game, of which there have already been, I think, seven film adaptations, largely with Paul W.S. Anderson and Miliovovich, married couple who made those movies. And then there was a Raccoon City film spinoff like five years ago. You know, they're kind of schlocky, sci-fi action horror movies. Sometimes you say things and I just like nod my head, but like Raccoon City, I mean, what's happening? Raccoon City, here's the whole wiki for it. You know, this is a fictional. I mean, I believe you, but it's like. It's a fictional city in the Midwestern United States that appears in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games.

34:22People think that I complain and bemoan all of the stuff that you say and that I do have to learn. But like, I just let so many things fly right by, you know?

34:31Sean Fennessey:Sure. Well, I mean, there are millions and millions of Resident Evil fans. This one is not that obscure. No, I don't think I just, Raccoon City. Yes, of course. Absolutely. I am jacked for this movie. For obvious reasons, I love Kreger's movies. I love the trailers for the movies. This is the second Austin Abrams film on my list so far. Yeah. It seems like it's relatively modestly scaled, if that makes sense. That it's from the perspective of one character. Feels like it's over one crazy night when the zombie apocalypse is starting. And I'm sure it'll be very violent and gross, as the Resident Evil games are.

35:07Sean Fennessey:But honestly, just to continue to speak from my personal perspective, one of the things I really like about it is I just don't know anything. I haven't seen it. I haven't talked to anybody who's seen it. I don't know when it's screening. I don't know anything about it. It might be one of those movies where it's like, maybe you see it the day before it comes out. And there's something kind of exciting about getting kept away from me. Getting to be a kid again. Yeah. Well, you want what you can't have. I know. Well, that's true. And you can have most things now. But stuff like this. This is such a like box in blockbuster.

35:35Sean Fennessey:I wish my parents would let me rent kind of movie. And I was just talking to somebody this morning about that feeling of like the illicit material that is still mainstream. This is a great version of that. So I'm very much anticipating this movie. And as more time goes by, the more I think that it's going to be a really big hit. I'm not quite sure how big that means, but it feels like anybody who's in this world of horror is like, have you seen it? Have you seen it? What's going on with this? What's going on with this? So I look forward to it. My number three is my version of this for you. Yes, it is.

36:06Which is, you know, the moms can have fun too. Verity. Mm-hmm. The latest Colleen Hoover adaptation, directed by Michael Showalter, our girl Anne Hathaway, my girl Dakota Johnson, our guy Josh Hartnett. Yep. This looks like the highest level trash. And if they can really lean into both the high level and the trash, then I will have a delightful time.

36:33Sean Fennessey:Is this film, does it have a supernatural element or is that a psych out? I don't know. And I don't want to know. I just want to go see the movie. We were given copies of the books at CinemaCon. Yeah. Don't know where my copy is. Well, I don't know either because a very nice listener and friend, maybe. Did you bring it all the way home, though? I think so. Anyway, as we were walking out with the books, a very nice listener and now internet friend was like, you're going to hate this book. Don't read it. So I didn't. So I don't know. I'm just going to watch the movie. Interesting. And did you read any of the other Hoover books before doing pods?

37:06I did. I read snippets of It Ends With Us. to kind of understand what was going on. But what's the Jay Franco, Alison Williams one called, Regretting You?

37:18Sean Fennessey:Yes. Nope, that one was... Dave Franco. What? Dave Franco. Dave Franco. You said James Franco? Yes. Okay. Who's James Franco? I don't know. I was thinking about... James Franco was on my Cannes flight, so I'm just excited about who's going to be on my Venice flight tonight. James Franco was on your Cannes flight? Yeah, he was like out at Cannes, remember? He was trying to come back. He's frontiers. you did see him at premieres because he was just there everywhere glad being like I'm James Franco and I'm back am I back I don't know whether he's back one thing in Verity's favor is it's written by Nick Antoska who is a mostly a TV show runner who created this great show Channel Zero that I really really like he worked on Cape Fear which people did not like I didn't see that show but that's part of why I ask like how real is the supernatural versus the thriller component and is that something that is in Colleen Hoover's bag You know?

38:08Sean Fennessey:Can she do a spooky ghost story in addition to some erotically charged trauma? Dark romance? Yeah. I don't know. We'll find out. Michael Showalter? He makes movies. He's made quite a few. Yeah. He makes a very specific kind of movie now. The adapted from a literary sensation? But often told from the perspective of a woman. Yes. You know? Yeah. Starring. women's pictures is what they called them in the 1950s. Did you see Oh What Fun? I didn't. The Christmas special starring Michelle Pfeiffer, I believe. You saw it? Among others. I did watch most of it. Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer. A lot of wallpaper is my review.

38:50Wallpaper.

38:51Sean Fennessey:Once again, you're really. Beautiful wallpaper. Plumbing the depths with these reviews today. But you know, Eyes of Tammy Faye. Yeah. Spoiler alert was not from the perspective of a woman about a gay couple. and one half of that couple gets very sick based on a true story. The Idea of You, which I actually loved, which I think... You loved? Well, they just let Hathaway cook in that one. Yeah, they did. To me, that movie is the beginning of the run where she's like, it's my time now. I'm 40 and it's my time now. I agree. And I liked it. I loved it. She looked great in everything. And the line where he's like, I've always wanted to go to Glendale.

39:30Funny.

39:30Sean Fennessey:That was funny. You don't like Nicholas Galatine. I don't really think he has it. And I still haven't seen Masters of the Universe. Maybe I'll watch it on a plane because I got some alerts that it's streaming now. Send me a photo of you watching it. Just send me a selfie. I need to know what your face looks like. I thought at CinemaCon when they made him ask everyone to raise their swords up and say the little tagline, what is it? I have the power! Right. And he looked pretty sheepish, but he did it anyway. And I felt for him in that moment. but that was the first time that I had you know I was like oh this is cute he's trying technically it's by the power of Grayskull I have the power which is a little redundant he says power two times in a row so what does Grayskull do so that's Jared Leto in the movie no that's Skeletor okay Grayskull is sort of like the castle and also imbues him with some powers that allows him to transform into He-Man he's Adam okay you know he transforms into He-Man but like he looks just like Adam you know page boy haircut but huge muscles kind of changes his costume.

40:32Sean Fennessey:He's in one of those like, I don't know, whatever. Yeah. Verity. Yeah. We'll see. We're doing a whole episode about Verity. Is that a good idea? Yeah. We're going to have a great time. I think that's going to be a remote episode. So maybe it'll be some unhinged energy. I'll probably be in New York when this happens. Yeah. And that'll be, I will be at home listening to the ice cream to me from preschool. That's exactly right. That's sad. Okay. My number two is a film that has a title. it did not have a title for a very long time and I'll tell you what this is a movie I also don't know very much about it's called The Further Misadventures of Cliff Booth it's coming only to IMAX screens not other movie theaters so I guess it's only like 500 300 I'm not even sure how many IMAX screens there are in America and Netflix is releasing it it's directed by David Fincher the screenplay is by Quentin Tarantino it stars Brad Pitt I learned over the weekend that Peter Weller is in the film because I saw a video on Instagram of him talking about how he appears in the film as Cliff Booth's father.

41:30Sean Fennessey:Okay. Spoiler alert. We saw a one-minute teaser trailer during the Super Bowl. Yes. That teaser trailer was not officially posted online by Netflix. Since then, it's been more or less radio silent. We learned there were some reshoots on the movie that I guess took place over the summer. And that's it. this is one of the least marketed movies starring Brad Pitt based on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that you could ever have. Now, I'm sure there's some purposeful reason for withholding some of this stuff. And it is about to be September, October. Netflix historically doesn't market their movies as aggressively as a Warner Brothers or a Sony would.

42:10Sean Fennessey:But this is a real curiosity thing now where I'm like, what is this movie going to be? I have no idea. The reshoots news broke while I was on vacation. And so we talked a little bit about it. And at first, you know, the obvious, ooh, outlook not good. And then the more we talked about it, well, like many movies have reshoots and it's still on track for the November release. And, you know, we were confused that it's not at any festivals for a while. I did think that it was going to be at Venice because Netflix historically has a big presence at Venice and Inc. is being released by Netflix. It was acquired.

42:50so I don't something it's strange it's not it's unusual basically we don't really know what's going on here and it also doesn't follow the pattern of either a classical prestige release which you would expect from the three names that you just mentioned and based on the pedigree

43:07Sean Fennessey:of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood exactly and it also doesn't follow I guess it's closer to a Netflix release but what Netflix is doing with it is kind of new and not in the Netflix playbook yeah it slid into the spot that Narnia was holding when Narnia got pushed back to February, which is interesting. I'm a little bit perplexed on how to cover the movie because I think it's going to be a hot ticket when it's made available amongst a certain kind of, you know, movie crazy person. And I presume it will do, like, decent business on a very small number of screens. I don't know if Netflix will have to report that business, but I don't know if, like, will enough people be seeing it that we should just be talking spoilers and all about the sequel to one of our favorite movies of the last 10 years.

43:49Sean Fennessey:I mean, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I hold in like the highest esteem. I think that is absolute top tier, Terrence. I know, there was a real argument in 25 for 25 of whether it would be in Glorious Bastards or Once Upon a Time. I love Once Upon a Time. And like a truly magical experience seeing it at the Cinerama Dome on your birthday. And then going to Franken, no, Musso and Franks. I know, honestly, one of my favorite days in living in LA. And then didn't you like leave for Europe that night? I did, yeah. Yeah, that was just a great, great time. You know what? That's a good memory. That's living hobby's life, and I support you.

44:22Thank you.

44:23Sean Fennessey:Thank you for that. No, I'm excited to see it. I am too. It's just interesting. My opinion is that we should just cover it, and people can— Come what may? Well, and then if you're not able to see it in IMAX, then you can come listen to the episode after the fact. I think we're all adults. Will it be a month after its IMAX release that it'll be on the service? I guess they want it to be available for Christmas, I presume. Yeah. Anyhow, it's another kind of unusual outlier scenario in these modern times. And I'm tracking very closely how Netflix releases their films. We have the long window for La Bola Negra.

44:58Sean Fennessey:We have the full release for Narnia, for The Magician's Nephew, which I've read. And I'll be able to bring a really scholarly perspective on the film. We have the full release in February. I think it's smart. I think it's a good time to release it. You think it's a good time to release it? I just, listen, I just, I'm nervous. I know you're nervous. I'm nervous. I'm just like, none of the signs point towards something that I feel. I just mean from a business perspective. Sure. There's going to be a nice little runway there in February for a movie like that. That's completely true. I am just worried about the quality of the film.

45:31Sean Fennessey:Yeah, we shall see. Okay. Okay, number two for you. Primetime. Yeah. Seeing it Saturday night, baby. Yeah, I'm jealous of this one. I'm going to the premiere. I'm so excited. So this is a Lance Oppenheim film about Catch a Predator. And Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen. And it looks weird and upsetting and interesting. And I believe in Robert Pattinson. I will follow him to the ends of the earth. He's already got another meme just off the trailer. I know. It's unbelievable. So very excited about this. I am too. I really hope I'm going to see this soon. But I don't know if I am. Okay. And that's okay.

46:09and I'll make it through. That movie, if you had to guess,

46:15Sean Fennessey:will that be Pattinson's real shot at an Academy Award recognition this year? Not a win per se, but just the nomination. Well, we haven't seen Dune 3 yet, but he is also playing a villain. So you have to assume that the villain in The Odyssey versus the villain in Dune 3 are going to kind of cancel each other out in terms of voting allotment. I still absolutely love the drama but I think that it is going to be forgotten in the awards race both because A24 will have other places to spend its time and money in pushing things and also I guess it was controversial enough or edgelordy enough I should say that it's not going to I think the invite is going to take its place and I also really really like the invite but the invite is another A24 movie that is provocative but it's sex instead of, you know, spoiler alert, school shooting.

47:11Sean Fennessey:I think it's also middle-aged and not 29. Totally. And there's a difference there. Yeah. So I love both movies. I think the drama is wonderful. Probably still one of my favorite movies of the year. But I don't think he'll make it in for that. Okay. So by process of elimination, yes. Primetime. Will be interesting. He really is. He's in Rare Rare right now. where there's this, I think he has both artistic bona fides and a fandom, but he's not bound by his fandom. No. You know, obviously he's still making Batman and that was a very smart move and that's coming next. But I don't know. Taking on these parts, I really respect it.

47:54Sean Fennessey:I think it's great. My number one is Digger. Yeah. I just want to see it. You know, I just, I want to know. What's interesting, I mean, I do want to know, but the question of, do I want to see it is really, really interesting. I was like, I don't, do I want to see it? I mean, I want to, I want to like it. Like, I really want to like it. I do too. I love a strange, lovey-in kind of, you know, satirical, big top movie. I love a big, bold acting performance. I love Tom Cruise as a movie star and as an actor. I agree with all of this, but I mean, this is what's been interesting about this movie from the beginning and from the first poster.

48:33Just like, I want it to be good. I want Tom Cruise to be back. I want interesting, you know, movies. And I just, there's something about it where I'm like, I don't know if I just actually want to sit through it. I do want to sit through it, but that there is something that's warning signally that's putting me off the experience of it, which is prejudging a movie, which I shouldn't do. On the flip side, my expectations are probably lower than they normally would be for Tom Cruise's great return to non-franchise acting. And so in that sense, maybe my mind is just going to be blown.

49:09Sean Fennessey:It's possible. And sometimes that can be very beneficial going into a movie. I think this also, you know, most of the movies on my list are not really festival films. And I think there is something to me actually intriguing about withholding a movie from those spaces and saying like, well, this we think this is more commercial, but it's also from an auteur and it's more high minded. like that blend is kind of my sweet spot in terms of taste I'm not an Inaritu person yeah I was gonna say when it's Paul Thomas Anderson that is very much your spot but when it's Inaritu I don't know and it does feel like it's Warner Brothers again so they had success with that playbook and they've been burned by festivals recently in the past see Joker Folia Deux though you haven't yeah though I haven't so it does feel like they're trying to run the one battle playbook and a little bit which is smart business we'll see how many days before the movie is released do you think we'll see it that's a great question I mean have tickets gone on sale yet have you bought us special tickets yet no I bought us tickets to see

50:20Sean Fennessey:Practical Magic 2 oh fun because I don't know if we're going to be back in time to screen that just a heads up for the team there we may need to record that on a Thursday evening okay but otherwise I land Wednesday night and then I'm gonna be like, sorry, can't do bedtime tonight. Do you land Wednesday night? Yeah. So we might be able to get you out before bedtime. Okay. Zach, I'm too bad. I'm getting divorced, but that's okay. Maybe I'll just do the Practical Magic 2 episode by myself. No, I want to. I've thought more about their CinemaCon presentation than really anything, any live experience that I've had.

50:55Sean Fennessey:Sandy and Nick just being kooky for an hour on stage. Like in power suits. It was only 15 minutes, but it did feel like an hour. And I found it so aspirational. I want what they have. Yeah. In every way. Are you Sandy or Nick? Well, I think I'm Sandy. Don't you? Just because of the hair? Or just because of your essence? Well, and the dry demeanor. You know, I'm not. But we don't really have a Sandy and Nick energy, you know? So. I certainly don't have Nicole Kidman energy. I don't think anyone would claim that I do. I certainly don't have her posture. Do you see the interview that she gave? I think it was to British Vogue where she's like dinner at 1.30.

51:31Then you go out clubbing at 1.00. I wear a wig. I wear glasses. I just need to be around people. It feeds me. I want to go clubbing with Nicole Kidman at 1.00 a.m. I'm available.

51:39Sean Fennessey:I cannot relate to something less than that. I truly don't understand what she's talking about. All right. What's number one for you? Artificial. Luca, I'll never quit you. Even when you malign Top Gun Maverick, which, you know, I saw that. and, you know, smart people can disagree. I've heard two wildly divergent points of view on this movie. Okay. I'm not going to give anything away other than to say one group of people told me that it plays as a laugh-out-loud comedy. Okay. And the other group of people told me it plays as one of the bleakest films they've seen in a long time. Okay. Now, it's possible that both of those things can coexist.

52:16This is also a review of Rachel Cusk's The Life of M.

52:19Sean Fennessey:Are you reading that? I read it. Oh, and that's how you feel? I mean, it could be read either way. Interesting. And in my opinion, neither adds up to a positive experience. So I hope that's not the case for Artificial. What is Artificial about? This is Luca Guadagnino's Simon Rich penned biopic, something we don't know, of Sam Altman and The Rise of AI. So it stars Andrew Garfield. It was supposed to be released by Amazon. It is no longer being released by Amazon for reasons that you can read rumors about on the internet and was reacquired by Neon. I was hoping it was going to be at Venice. I still think that would be cool.

53:02Instead, Luca Guadagnino has like an eight-hour, I'm not exaggerating, Fernando Bertolucci documentary, which I'm not going to be able to see. And I ride for Luca. And, you know, I would prefer to see Artificial to The Social Reckoning at this point.

53:20Sean Fennessey:I thought The Social Reckoning second trailer was a little better. Okay. And it did have me thinking maybe not a car crash. Okay, good. Good. That's positive. That is positive. You're very open-hearted to the world right now. I want to have a great fall. Okay. I want to have a great fall. You're setting your intention? Yes. Yeah. What I don't want is to be like, oh, The Odyssey just like dunked on everything this year. I want to have a spirited season of movie going. Same. I'm ready. I'm ready for some good movies. It did feel like after the Odyssey, we spent a lot of time watching interesting movies and movies that I liked, but movies that were placed after the Odyssey because people knew that they weren't gonna, they didn't deserve a whole episode of the big picture.

54:01How about that?

54:01Sean Fennessey:I don't think that's what I thought about it, for sure. Well. Okay, what about some honorable mentions? Okay, do you in part three? Yeah, I mean, no doubt. I'm excited. Not much to say. Everything I've seen, I've loved. Yeah, the opening that we saw, Dynamite. I'm a fan. Do you want to trade or you want to? Yeah, I'm excited about a couple of fall movies. The debut, which I feel pretty confident is going to be a Telluride just based on all the delineations around it with other fall film festivals. And that's the Jesse Eisenberg. Jesse Eisenberg's new film. It's also a musical that is also about the staging of a musical at a local community theater.

54:39Sean Fennessey:about a woman who is attempting to, I guess, break into the world of musical theater acting at a later stage in her life, played by Julianne Moore, and the cantankerous director of this community theater, played by Paul Giamatti. A lot of my favorites, kind of in a circle, A24 movie. And so I'm pumped about that. I'm also pumped about Misty Green, which is another A24 movie that is Chris Rock's next film as a director. Yeah. Though I don't know if he's in the film, but it's a movie about a struggling actress who like had her moment in the sun and maybe it didn't all totally come together for her.

55:16Sean Fennessey:She's played by Rosalind Elazar who's an actress I'm not super familiar with though has some bigger credits but the supporting cast is great. Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace. Another movie that like I just don't really know anything about other than the trailer. It's playing a tiff not at any of the festivals that we're going to. But I am intrigued. buy that one. What's another one for you? Behemoth! I'm excited. I would be more excited were it playing at Venice. The fact that it's in New York instead and the trailer without dialogue. Just, you know, I'm protecting my heart on that one.

55:55You want to hear

55:55Sean Fennessey:Tony Gilroy's words. I do. That's why we go to the movies. Yeah. Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Will Arnett. Who am I forgetting? I don't know. yeah he plays a a cellist in a I guess with a complicated professional career sure who plays at least we know on film scores and one of the Ava Victor Ava Victor yeah love Ava Victor yeah who plays on film scores and we know that Gilroy yes signed up nine different composers to write music that is then like you know implemented into the story of the movie. Which is very cool. Should be very cool. Yeah. I had Artificial on my list as well. Yeah. We share in the next movie, which is Other Mommy.

56:43Sean Fennessey:That's right. You know, show it to me, I guess. Jessica, this is the jump scare trailer of the year for many people who saw The Odyssey. This ran before The Odyssey for many, many people. I got angry text messages from friends of mine who went to see The Odyssey and then were terrified by this. To which I said, oh, I thought it was funny. Which I think just shows real gross on the part of Amanda Dobbins. I couldn't agree more. Very happy to hear that you're in that state. Jessica Chastain plays a mommy and then there's another mommy that may be some sort of phantasmagorical representation of a demon that takes on the form of a child's mother.

57:23Yeah.

57:24Sean Fennessey:You know, the memes write themselves. Sure. We've all been there, you know? The thumbnail for the other mommy episode should just be you and like a slightly paled version of you. Don't put me in it. Right? Would you say so? That sounds good. Okay. You know what else I'm looking forward to? Tell me. Street Fighter. It was the best of the video game presentations that we saw at CinemaCon. It might be really stupid, but I don't care. This is the one where I'm going to give myself a break. I think also there is something about being what you are and being the best version of what you are. Yes. So if it's a very stupid adaptation of a video game, but like is well done stupid, that's okay.

58:06Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I really had my heart broken by Mortal Kombat 2, which I had been told would be like the realization of what you truly wanted from a Mortal Kombat movie, and it wasn't. And what I want from this movie is just like a series of big fights. Just like recreate the sensation of being in a match while playing the game. Okay. And based on what I saw, also my Noah Centineo stock going way up. Oh, you're holding it still. Well, he's in Union County, the Will Poulter movie. He plays his brother in that movie. He gives a great performance. Very small part, but a great performance. He was in Warfare, really good in Warfare.

58:38Sean Fennessey:And he's playing Ken. Ken? He's playing Ken in this movie, who is one of the key Street Fighter characters. But not crossover from the Barbie universe. Not that Ken. Okay. Though, I would imagine he's inspired by that Ken. Because in the game, he has blonde hair and has kind of, you know, chiseled. And his job is beach. That's kind of his energy. Okay. Honestly. So I'm looking forward to that. That was also my job for the month of August. For a couple weeks. Yeah. You came back. And then Possible Love, which you're about to see as well, I think. I sure am. And you have tickets to that as well.

59:11Sean Fennessey:I do, yeah. Which is Lee Chong Dong's new film, his first movie since Burning, which is like eight years ago now, that Netflix has that is hotly tipped for a very big awards season run. and it seems like it's one of the only non-Can foreign language films, international features that is really running hard in that race. Yeah. Okay. So we'll get into the movies we've already seen and recommend right after this. This episode is presented by State Farm. You know the feeling. Long day, good meal, you finally sit down, and now you're just staring at your screen. Slasher, rom-com, period drama, psychological thriller, but some decisions don't have to be that hard.

59:51Sean Fennessey:State Farm is here to help. Like when you choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Bundling, just another way to save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Hey Chicago, class it up with Crocs. You know back to school is coming in fast. So why wait to find your new Fave footwear? Step into a local croc store and step into your new look. Try it. Style it. Make it yours. Because the right pair doesn't just show up.

1:00:30It shows off. First day fits, handled. Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest croc store today. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace. And there it was. The bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for.

1:01:04Sean Fennessey:From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. We've danced around stuff we haven't seen, but we have seen a lot, you know, and if you haven't listened to our canned coverage, especially like we have some some movies that we can recommend and also some stuff that I've seen that I feel comfortable telling people that they should see and try to put on their radar as well. Why don't you start us off since I started last time? We've talked a bit about Paper Tiger, but we're getting back into Paper Tiger season, which is James Gray's latest movie starring Miles Teller, Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson.

1:01:37And it, I believe, is the opening night of the New York Film Festival. And is a wonderful movie from a filmmaker we like very much, starring one of the generation's great actors in Adam Driver and like the best Miles Teller performance in years. A couple just absolutely electric set pieces. You know, it is it's a very James Gray movie. Yes. And I mean that as a positive. So we both, we were at the premiere. We loved it. Excited for more people to see it.

1:02:13Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I really liked it a lot too. It's interesting. I did this conversation with James for the Little Odessa Criterion Collection disc. And in that conversation, that film and this film and The Yards and We Own the Night all have this very kind of loose formulation of two brothers who kind of find themselves entrenched in a world of crime in some way. and loss of trust and family dynamics and what it means to be in a family and New York in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s and huge, the kind of looming influence of Coppola and Scorsese on these movies and a lot of other filmmakers as well. And what he said, I would encourage people to seek it out, especially at the end of that conversation about his own personal experiences and why he keeps kind of writing through this dynamic.

1:02:59Sean Fennessey:I'd never heard him say before. I've talked to him so many times about this kind of thing and he never really enunciated it in quite that way. And so it actually deepened my appreciation for this movie even more after we saw it. You also went as soon as the lights went, you know, started in Paper Tiger, you turned to me and you were like, this is just, this is my family. This is where we grew up, you know? Yeah, I mean, it was my grandmother's home, you know? Like my family's from Astoria. My dad was a cop. There's a cop, like there's just a lot of like, you know, cross pollinating personal experiences.

1:03:28Sean Fennessey:I wouldn't say that's like the reason that I like it, but I will say that he nailed that stuff, which is not surprising because he's so good at period. That's a great one. Mine is, my first one is The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, which I really, really liked. That is written and directed by Noah Segan, who people will mostly know as an actor. He's in sort of like Rian Johnson's company of actors. He always plays kind of a funny side character in all of Rian's movies, and I know that they're friends. And he directed a couple movies prior to this, but this is totally different than anything else he's done.

1:03:58Sean Fennessey:It's also a New York movie. It's also a movie about the world of crime. John Turturro plays an aging analog pickpocket in a contemporary New York world, trying to continue to survive while caring for a wife who's become ill and is non-responsive and also just trying to kind of make ends meet. and it's a real relic kind of man out of time portrait of a guy who's kind of lost connection to most of the things around him but it's got Steve Buscemi it's got Giancarlo Esposito and it's just kind of like an old dog New York movie really really well told really tight like 85 minutes perfect character study huge platform for Turturro who's another one of those people who people are just like how does this person not have an Oscar you know you love him in everything Sure.

1:04:51He was also very present throughout the Knicks run this year. He certainly was. So it would be quite a capper on the year.

1:04:58Sean Fennessey:I mean, I don't know if there's a better podcast this year than The Old Man and the Three episode with him and Landry Shamit about how they were like lost father and son. That's some of the great content of 2026. But I really, really liked this movie a lot. And I think it's probably about to hit the Fall Festival circuit. It premiered at Sundance. I didn't see it there. It wasn't part of the virtual screening program. But I dug this a lot. And I think people will like it too. with Sony Pictures Classics has it and it'll be in the discussion for the next couple months. Got it. What's next? Björn, the Palm Door winner, which is definitely going to be in the awards season.

1:05:29This star is Sebastian Stan and the reigning Queen of Cannes, Renata Reinsva, and is about a Romanian man married to a Norwegian woman and they move back to Norway for family reasons and then something happens in their family and how their family and their community and the state handle all of these things are investigated and portrayed in sometimes excruciating detail. It's, as you have said over and over again, a political football. People will be arguing about it. People were arguing about it as soon as we walked out of the premiere in Cannes. But I have found myself thinking about it often over and over as you negotiate small things, either with a child or with an administration or, you know, seeing something on the Internet.

1:06:25It is about parenting and family life and the decisions that you make as much as it is about Scandinavia, though it is really about Scandinavia. So I.

1:06:37Sean Fennessey:Sweet spot for you. Yeah. You have your doubts. I liked I thought this was an upsetting and very successful movie. And I'm sure the discourse will become unbearable at some point. But it's going to happen. See it early. And then log off. Yeah. I think that's a good note. Yeah. But I think this will also be an Oscar conversation. I agree. It's interesting. I guess I mean, I guess it's going to be an international film. I wonder if Norway will submit it. because it's not necessarily always the kindest portrayal of Norway. But Christian Manju, you know, long considered a master, had already won the Palm before.

1:07:19Sean Fennessey:But this is certainly more of a mainstream kind of movie. And I think it will be compared to Anatomy of a Fall a lot because it has a legal component and it's also very divisive and very careful about what it reveals about the incidents in the movie that are discussed in the movie. and there are people I really respect who are really sharp movie minds who hate this movie okay I loved it I thought it was probably my favorite movie I can but I do like a movie that kind of makes you itchy rip up your ideas and think about how you feel about the world and what like what systems should be in place and why and I agree with what you said that like being a parent and being somebody who's kind of like in this phase where you're sort of like engaging your family into a new era of responsibility and also who is responsible for your children and how is fascinating to me.

1:08:11So how do you engage with the, with the wider world and how does it engage with you and your family? And suddenly you're responsible for another person who doesn't know any of that.

1:08:20Sean Fennessey:Yeah. And how are you interpreting it? So I, I, I liked the provocation. I liked being poked by this movie, but I know that some people won't. It's a great, it's a, it will be a great discussion topic for us on the show. My number two is the history of concrete, which I also loved, which comes out in a month, which is John Wilson's feature film debut. He had a TV show, How To, with John Wilson for a couple of years on HBO. And this is a movie that is what it says it is. It is literally the history of concrete, the building material, which is some of the oldest stuff in the world. And that sounds boring.

1:08:56Sean Fennessey:And it isn't boring. Because it's John Wilson. Because it's John Wilson. So John Wilson, who sort of narrates his work and has this exploratory, verite, kind of unusually and humorously edited documentary filmmaking style. This movie goes to more emotional places than I ever could have imagined. And like a cohort of creative people in this generation that is like Tim Robinson and Conor O'Malley and Nathan Fielder and maybe the Safdie brothers are in there. And there's like this kind of loose collective of comedy people who are very insightful about the way that the world is really working right under the surface.

1:09:38Sean Fennessey:And this is just really good. Like really entertaining and really good. And John will come on the show later this fall to talk about it. But I just want to get it on people's radar because it's a smaller film that also premiered at Sundance. Okay, what's your number one? Club Kid, which is probably my favorite film that I saw at Cannes. and is slated for a November release by A24. This is written and directed by Jordan Firstman. And it's really a coming-of-age movie about a club kid, an aging club kid who, through a series of unfortunate events, acquires a son or has a son. And then acquires a son, learns that he has a son, and his son comes into his life.

1:10:19It's sort of baby boom, but with a lot of drugs. and no Sam Shepard. Though, the Diego Calva character does borrow a bit of Sam's energy. Yeah, he does. This is a fun, warm, I guess provocative in the sense that there is sex and club culture and drugs references throughout, but really like a pretty traditional and beautiful movie that I was just won over immediately. And I saw it in a later screening at Cannes with a bunch of young French people, as best I could tell. It was kind of like an adjunct screening where I think young people in the area show up and just hope to be able to get in and see a movie.

1:11:09And except for the Balthazar joke, everything landed with them as well, which I think was a good sign for something that is emotional and comedy. and specific in that it is yet another great New York movie, but also hoping to be universal. And it does seem like it worked.

1:11:28Sean Fennessey:Yeah, you know, I hadn't seen Tony when I first saw this, but they're kind of an interesting match. And there's something about using like a frictive outsider's perspective and putting them into what ultimately is a kind of warm 90s style movie. Like it has a little, you know, Club Kid has a little bit of Barry Levinson in it, You know, like a little bit of that like traditional or like Penny Marshall or something, you know, where there's like there's a real sweetness at the core of it, but it's not saccharine. To me, it like is Kramer versus Kramer, but the new version. Yeah. Yeah. It's a little funnier than that movie for sure.

1:12:03But yeah, but I know what you mean.

1:12:06Sean Fennessey:And yeah, it's an interesting one. I hope I hope people go out to see that movie. I do, too. Very sweet. My number one is All of a Sudden, which is Raiska Hamaguchi's new film, which we talked about in our episode as well, which is a three-and-a-half-hour epic about a woman played by Virginie Afira working in an elder care facility, effectively managing an elder care facility. And you might think that that sounds boring, but it is one of the most sophisticated, deep-feeling movies of the year. It's not the most commercial thing in the universe. It's going to be challenging to get people to watch this movie, but I think it really rewards your attention and your care.

1:12:47Sean Fennessey:Tao Hakamoto is also fantastic in this movie. You know, Hamaguchi is kind of obsessed with how people work. Yeah. And this is a movie about how people work and kind of what you need to get your head out of the sand sometimes. And sometimes having your head in the sand can be helpful. And I'm loathe to spoil too much more of it, but this is also coming out on Thanksgiving. You think it will be a big box office hit? yeah and then everyone will buy their own whiteboard and I mean the whiteboard at Thanksgiving dinner we should be playing that lecture for everybody you know I think that the world could be healed by playing the whiteboard lecture before every Thanksgiving dinner in America I'll leave that to you okay I'm gonna go on my own little tour and just re-perform it for people and then you'll perform songs from the debut I think I could hack it in musical theater.

1:13:40Sean Fennessey:I think I have the presence. You have never been in a musical. Never. Show us something now. No. Maybe one day. What would your audition song be? Would it be Sondheim? Would it be... Well, I love that moment in Lady Bird when she sings Everybody Says Don't, which I think is such a... And Harry Guardini, who I think originated that, that's my timbre. That's my tone. Okay. You know? Yeah. That's not Saoirse Ronan's tone. So it's very funny that she sang that song. I don't know what would be on my audition song. I just had a flashback, too. I visited my best friend, Stephanie, over vacation. This was when I tripped.

1:14:20And she was putting one of her children to bed. And I just heard, like, the very clear tones of On My Own from Les Miserables, like, across the room. She comes out and I was like, so I have some questions. And she was like, yes, that's one child's bedtime song. None of the other children want it. But one child really wants, yeah. She really gave it her all.

1:14:39Sean Fennessey:Incredible. You know, I saw some live theater this weekend. Oh, really? Saturday night. Really? Yeah, I went to a small play. It was directed by Eileen and I, our friend Kate, who's a playwright. Oh, wow. That's so cool. Yeah, it was called. Congratulations, Kate. I'm sorry I missed it. Tomorrow game at a theater in North Hollywood. Two amazing performances in the middle of it. It was a great time. I missed the theater. It's the only thing about New York that I'm like, I just wish I had this. Because I would just be there every weekend. It's one of my favorite things to do. L.A., there's plenty of live theater.

1:15:09Sean Fennessey:Not as much. Not often as good. Okay. Let's talk about the September Oscars. This is the thing I made up this weekend. Okay. This is five nominations that you guarantee from films that have already been released. Yeah. And I've also asked you for one wild prediction. Now, this would be harder in 2015 or 2005. But this thing is happening now. Where you get a lot of early movies. And it's not just one. It's like three or four or sometimes even five movies that like might be dominant Oscar movies. So you did fill this out first and you chose five different movies. I did. So I also tried to do that, which and I and I pull it off.

1:15:51I did, but I was I was running and we have some overlap in the movies, but I did find myself sort of running out of guaranteed varietals. Right. Because the Odyssey is guaranteed up and down the board. and there are several movies that are represented multiple times here but I got there I got to five

1:16:09Sean Fennessey:some of these are incredibly obvious some of them are slightly risky but I feel confident about mine I'll start mine is obviously best picture of the Odyssey it will be nominated if you had to say right now is it going to win yeah I think so because we don't know anything right but especially once you think consider preferential balloting I don't know what's going to come and take all of its votes I don't know yeah nothing else is it would have to be something smaller perhaps I mean I did on my travels start meeting you know civilians family members friends were like eh didn't really like it that much sure didn't care about it you know so we'll be in that phase but I think they've cleverly timed it so that'll be September through November and then come December we'll reclaim it you know Emily Wilson's working on a new translation so she's busy did you see this of the Odyssey yes she's redoing her translation She's removing some of this because did you read in the introduction?

1:17:07She she said like a very specific length to the to the poem. And it's some other constraints to replicate like with the original. And so then she did the Iliad without those constraints. And so now she's going to redo the Odyssey without those constraints or because she saw an opportunity and and is seizing it. Listen, they don't pay academics that much.

1:17:31Sean Fennessey:so I'm not going to make a snide comment. I'm not going to say anything. And one of my nominations here is in direct response to Emily Wilson, who I still think is one of the world's great shit posters. Okay. What's your first one? Best Supporting Actor, Edward Norton, The Invite. You think this is going to happen? I do. The Academy loves Edward Norton. Okay? Don't forget that he was lightly implicated in the affair of who was the woman that had the surprise nomination because Gwyneth Paltrow had a party for her. Help me out here. The star of two, Leslie? Yes. Andrea Risborough. Thank you. Yeah.

1:18:07But he was also a part of that. He's connected in the Academy. He's beloved. This is an amazing performance. I think the invite is going to be very present.

1:18:18Sean Fennessey:Fascinating group of people here that are on the long list for this race. I do think you're right. Thank you. There's two really interesting contenders in that category. Go ahead. Coleman, Domingo, and Michael. Ah, okay. We'll come back to that. Yeah. And Jeremy Strong in The Social Reckoning. Yes. There's a couple of obvious ones, right? There's like Giamatti. Everybody loves Giamatti. He's never gotten over the hump. He didn't win for the holdovers. He'll run hard in that race. Sam Rockwell in Wild Horse 9. He's won in this category. He's returning to reunite with the filmmaker for which he won.

1:18:54Sean Fennessey:Yes, he's... I love the dancing. He's very charming. Guy Pearce in Ink. Yeah. Another guy who, you know, has been nominated many times but has not won or has been nominated a couple times. Norton, yeah. I mean, he's due in my opinion. I would say well overdue. A thousand percent. Okay, that's a good one. My number four is easy, straightforward. Spider-Man Brand New Day is getting at least one nomination for Best Visual Effects. Okay. And some of the best stuff in this movie is the swinging through the city. Yeah, he looks great. The way that they did it in this where it's sort of like more of a catch and release strategy instead of like the clean line soaring.

1:19:29Yeah.

1:19:30Sean Fennessey:Love the choice. Thought it looked beautiful. Felt more like how I imagined Spider-Man would move through Manhattan. How much time do you spend imagining? Six to eight hours a week. Would you want to be Spider-Man? Is that of all the superheroes? Is that who you'd pick? Um, yes. Okay. Who do you want to be? Well, I mean, I haven't done that much research. I guess Batman, you know? I thought you were Squirrel Girl. That was something that you assigned to me. Van did. Van did. Van did. Van assigned that to you. Yeah, and he wants to be third chair. I don't know about that. Okay. What's your next pick?

1:20:06Speaking of Emily Wilson, best score, Ludwig Gorenson for The Odyssey. I agree with you. I liked the drums. Could it win? Yeah. That was me drumming. Would that be three or four? so that's Sinners and Oppenheimer and did he win for Black Panther he did sick good for him four who's got four who's got four well how many does John Williams have he has like 18 he has less than that I guess he's gonna maybe he has 18 nominations

1:20:40Sean Fennessey:he has like 50 nominations but how many wins does he have John Williams one two three four he's got four wins Only four? Wait, no, I'm looking at the wrong thing. I was going to say. Am I looking at the wrong thing? No, I'm not. So he has a win for best score for Fiddler on the Roof. Okay. He won for Jaws. Okay. He won for Star Wars. He won for E.T. Perhaps you've heard of them. That's four. He won for Schindler's List. Five. Five. He has five wins. Well. Isn't Ludwig Oranson like 40? Yeah, but this is also, how old was John Williams in 1894, which is the last time he won? Very good question. Because they kind of, they're just like, wow, you're one of the greats and now we don't have to give you any more, which I think is rude.

1:21:21Sean Fennessey:John Williams was 62 in 1994. So Ludwig, you know, he's ahead of the curve here if he wins. Well, he attached himself to Ryan Coogler and Christopher Nolan. That was smart. He didn't attach himself to them. I mean, they collaborated. They worked together. Well, he's very talented. And I think. I like this, you know, that there was. This nomination is for sure happening. I like the challenge of this, which was that you can't use any modern instruments. You can only use instruments that were available in the time of the Bronze Age. That was just the cool prompt that Nolan gave him and just kind of an interesting cinematic idea.

1:21:55Sean Fennessey:And I like that he responded to it. And I enjoyed learning about the various instruments that were played on this score. So that's a cool one. Number three, best cinematography, Greg Fraser for Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary, I'm curious to see how it nets out. It seems like there's a little bit of doubt now, maybe, that we're like, it's been six months since it came out. Is that like Gosling blowback? Because he's just, he's Bam Bam? From me, but in general, I don't think from the Academy. I think it's more like just how big a player is it going to be? Is Gosling really contending for actor?

1:22:27Sean Fennessey:Oh, yeah, I'm not sure about that. Is it definitely like our Lord Miller contending for director? Like three months ago, I think you would have said they were very clearly contending because it's a very conceived movie, you know? like the decision to shoot everything practically the way that they did and it's totally their perspective and sort of point of view as filmmakers like if it really feels like them and so but now that we're getting into the moment where it's like we just listed 20 movies that people got to go see before the fall like will it have the same register I'll do that I do have it in best picture because I think with 10 nominations I think that there will be room for it I don't have Lord and Miller in best director because that's not a numbers you know that doesn't make sense numbers wise but also I director always gets so crowded and the more international the academy becomes the more international directors that are included so I don't I don't know I could probably like six yeah that's I mean you know you're gonna get sound you're gonna get yeah how much how many did cinematography I guess you could get up to 11 how many did Fury Road get score is very good Fury Road I think got like 10 or 11 so it could be one of those yeah I guess what the other thing that I'm thinking about is some of it depends on what shakes out with Dune Part 3 and how many big ticket movies the category can withstand like last year we had Sinners we had F1 that was really it for really big movies like One Battle and Frankenstein are kind of on another tier there Yeah.

1:24:02Sean Fennessey:And so the idea of Project Hail Mary and The Odyssey and Dune Part 3 all getting in is really interesting. I mean, it's very rare for a number of event films to get in all in the same year. So maybe that's where some of the doubt is coming from. But I like that you're putting it out there. So that's one of your predictions. So another prediction for me, best original song, Toy Story 5, Taylor Swift. I knew it. I knew you. I think you should sing this for us now. I don't know the words. I still have never heard it. I'm on the record. I like it. Yeah. it's just an incredible I think this was like one week before she got married at Madison Square Garden that you were like now I'm at on Taylor Swift I didn't say that yeah I said I like that song I'm open to it I enjoyed the song and I love the song software updates and and tablets nope and I didn't say that I need a new tablet you do?

1:24:48Sean Fennessey:I haven't gotten an iPad in like 10 years I should probably get a new one yeah we are the we resurrected like a hand-me-down a tiny one from one of the grandparents that's so old that you can only, you can't use any of the new apps, but you can use Apple TV so that we just have to, we had to buy everything for the plane ride. Anyway. What Apple TV shows is Knox watching right now? Is he watching Cape Fear? Is he caught up? He once opened the Apple TV and I guess like a silo was on it and he was so afraid. Masks are very scary to him. I see. So he saw it and he - He'll want to avoid onslaught. He ran away.

1:25:28from the TV. It was like, who was that person? Good to know. I'm really glad about your late-breaking Swiftiedom.

1:25:38Sean Fennessey:Congratulations. Okay. What's your... Oh, okay. Best Actress, Indian Ever Ready. Obsession. Nice. Yeah. Do you think it's gonna happen? I do. Okay. It's a good story. I don't know other obsessions gonna happen in Best Picture, but everybody likes a breakout star. Everybody likes the woman in a horror movie who goes for it. Everybody, Academy voters, like an ingenue still. And this is a way to give Obsession its due, which you kind of have to. It's the movie story of the year in a lot of ways. You think this will be its only nomination? I don't know about only, but I think that I'm not sure about Best Picture, but I'm pretty sure that, you know, and it's the Amy Madigan in Weapons playbook.

1:26:26so I think it'll happen. I think so too.

1:26:31Sean Fennessey:I'm not totally sure. Well you don't have to have fun. Maybe competing against her will be my last pick which is Olivia Wilde for Best Actress in The Invite which feels maybe not locked in stone but I feel like she's having such a strong year and has more to come with Behemoth and they're going to find a way to honor her and I don't know if she's going to be able to get into director so this would be a way to acknowledge how great she is in that movie. That would be exciting. Yeah. She's good. I really like that movie. I do think it'll be in Best Picture, but. The invite. Yeah. I hope so. That would be cool.

1:26:59Sean Fennessey:Wild prediction time. Yeah. Best actress, Emily Blunt. Disclosure day. I would want for it to happen. Well, you said wild prediction. Also, she is so liked. She's great at campaigning for Oscars. She, and just, and for movies. So I believe she'll get back on the trail. If they nominated her for Oppenheimer, come on. I understand that there was like a big train, but she had nothing to do with that. She's wonderful in this film. Yeah. I feel like the mood is not super strong on Disclosure Day, but I like the prediction. I would agree with that. But again, it's August. We have a lot of time. The Oscars are not until March 10th, 14th.

1:27:40Sean Fennessey:15th. 15th. Great. The Ides of March. What a stupid decision. Whatever. So that's... Is it the 15th? I think it's 15th. It is six months away. More than six months away. March 14th. Sorry. Okay. Well, you know, we go up and down with these things. We get tired of people. We bring people back. Just think about it. My wild prediction is that Michael could get it in the best picture. Yeah. Is this, this is the F1 argument? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is a lot of people have seen this movie. It's made a billion dollars. They love it. Yeah. And we didn't. But it's a huge industry success. Michael Jackson, a more complicated figure than some other music biopics figures that we've seen in recent times.

1:28:29Sean Fennessey:But that particular part of his history is completely elided in the movie. And it is a great spectacle with great music. And Jafar Jackson, people really like his performance. And so I could be wrong. A lot of this is determined by the movies that we're going to see from this episode. But I feel like it could go down. Thoughts? I think it's totally possible. I, you know, I have been listening to a lot of the music of Michael Jackson since I saw this movie. So I guess its purpose was served and will continue to be served. It's not a movie. Yeah. I mean, it was released. Sure. It was released. And it made a large sum of money.

1:29:11Sean Fennessey:I'm interested to see what is increasingly a more, I don't know, progressive academy, but certainly a more diverse academy, more international academy, and one that is willing to honor, you know, a slightly more thoughtful and complex version of world cinema. Right. Does with a movie like this. How does this fit in with the Project Hail Mary and Odyssey and Dune 3? Do you think there's room for four blockbusters? I don't, but who knows? Yeah, I guess that's true. I mean, also, who knows what happens with Dune Part 3? One assumes that we're looking at not the Lord of the Rings narrative, but at least the like, we got to acknowledge this film's greatness.

1:29:54But I don't know.

1:29:55Sean Fennessey:We'll see. Amanda, did you share your number one prediction? Oh, you didn't. No, no, I didn't. Sure. Diane Warren's got another song, everybody. Diane Warren has written the title for By Any Means, the film starring Mark Wahlberg and Yaya Abdul-Mateen II. Mm-hmm. Listen, she's trying. She's going to do her best. She's well-connected in a nonsense category. Could definitely happen. Yeah. Could definitely happen. She released it. She did her single. She's on the campaign once again.

1:30:35Sean Fennessey:Can she win? No. I don't think she's going to win for this one. But I think you said nomination, not win. So I played to the letter of the law. You did it right. That's it. Any other closing thoughts before you get on a plane? I'm excited. Venetia. I look forward to telling you that as well. That pretty much does it. Thanks to our producer, Jack Sanders, for his work on today's episode. Thanks to Lucas Kavanaugh for his production support. Later this week, Chris Ryan and I are discussing Onslaught and building the black and chrome action pack. We'll explain what that means when we get there. You sort of explained it at the end of last week's podcast and I wasn't listening.

1:31:11Okay. Thanks for doing that. But I will listen to this. Have a great trip. Thanks. Bye.