The Mega-Mailbag Is Here, and the New Best Picture Front-Runner Is …

24:44And then Best Director went to John M. Chu. Sure. This is his second Best Director win of the season? If you don't have anything nice to say, keep it moving. That's what I'm doing. We can keep it moving. That's not at all what I'm doing today, but I, you know. Go birds, I guess. this is not over and done with but pretty close pretty close after a season where I was like keeping my options open I would agree with you but it has been a season of surprises and intrigue and as you said we still have SAG boards and we still have BAPTIS and those represent to like the power of that voting block is decreasing but it is still sizable yes those are And those are two, in the expansion towards international, significant number of BAFTA voters have been added.

25:32And of course, SAG is still the largest body. So could be some movement. If not, like I said, let's just go through very quickly the Best Picture winners of the last 10 years. Because since it mirrors perfectly the beginning of the ringer, when in earnest, I was like, I'm going to cover this stuff. I'm going to spend a lot of time thinking and working on this stuff. How are you feeling about that 10 years in? I've made a huge error. I mean, I feel, I, you know, sincerely feel very lucky to be doing this with you guys. And it's fun. Thank you. Yeah, it's fun. It's really fun. But you're just like, this is how I spend my time.

26:04I ruined my life. And I made my hobby my occupation. And, you know, that's dangerous. That's very dangerous. So going back to 2016, when Moonlight won, I was like, what is going on? There's nothing in the history of the Oscars that tells us this is how things should work. And it happened. The Shape of Water won in 2017. Over Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread. Call Me By Her Name. Call Me By Her Name. Dunkirk. Yeah. I will say Will Be Remembered as a bit of an ignominious win. It did feel, to me, somewhat similar to what an Enora win would feel like, which is that most people in the business have a big admiration for the way that Sean Baker works and how he makes his movies and sticks to his guns.

26:48People feel the same way about Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro loves movies. He's an amazing advocate for movies. He's made some great films. I do not think The Shape of Water is among his best. It felt like this, and also the sort of abiding message of the movie, the sort of like acceptance of people who are less than you and not less than you or different from you, or if they're fish, you know, and accept fish, I guess, was the takeaway there. I did think about Shape of Water when like doing Garbage Love, and I was like, what is this? Yeah, it's a horror romance. It is a horror romance.

27:19I mean, it's a creature from the Black Ogun. from the Black O 'Goon. The Shape of Water, though, is a very unlikely win. And actually, me and you and Chris and Andy did a video after the Oscars that year. Right. And you, pre-picture. At the last minute, you picked Get Out to win over Shape of Water. And then you were like really mad at yourself on camera. That's what I remember. And that was wish casting. And I've tried to stop wish casting in recent years. 2018, you know, we talked about this on the Sam Sanders show this week, which we went on last Friday on KCRW, how there was a kind of a white lash.

27:50I think to a lot of what had happened with Oscars. So white and green books win in 2018, overcoming a number of interesting movies, though. No movies that I think are right. You know, rock dead solid, uh, clear best picture winners. 2019 parasite. Who fucks all that coming? What a year. Uh, that was crazy. That was great. that was the 1917 year where 1917 one of the PGA is and we all walked away and said, well, I guess this is over and done with. And then parasite wanted sag. And everyone was like, Hmm. Yes. What's happening here? And then Bong Joon-ho went along. Now, he did actually theoretically win four Academy Awards that year because he won also for Picture, Director, Writer, and International.

28:30Right. But International doesn't go to the filmmaker. It goes to the country. That category is really messed up. Yeah. So the country can choose to give the filmmaker the award. Bong Joon-ho may have the best international feature in his home. Okay. So they can choose to give like the actual statue. Yes. Or they can just put it in a museum in a government building. But they can't, they get the credit, like in the history book. Correct. Okay. So Bong Joon-ho doesn't claim that one. We gotta work on that. I agree. We have to completely change the category. Maybe something we can do in the off season.

29:022020, Nomadland. Sure. You know, no movie like that ever won before. Right. That was very strange. That was a strange year. It was a very strange year. 2021, Koda. Yeah. First win for a streamer. Mm-hmm. I was on leave. That was also when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. So that was a different kind of year. This is an interesting episode of the show, for sure. Coda, nice movie. I like it. I cried, you know? I just did. I love to be a girl dad. I love to be a girl dad. It's actually the best thing in my life, and this movie is a nice representation of that. You saw that, like, right after Alice was born?

29:34No, I watched it at Sundance. I was like, this is treacle crap. Oh, that's right, because we saw it so much earlier, and then Alice was born, and then you watched it. And then Alice was born, and I was like, this movie is a touching declaration of love. I have a whole and beautiful heart, and I saw it before I was even pregnant. And no one in the world thinks you have a whole and beautiful heart. 2022, everything, everywhere, all at once. Yeah, that happened. That is a science fiction multiversal mom-daughter dramedy. Sure. Which won best picture? What? Right. A lot of speeches from those guys that night.

30:07There were. 2023. They kept going. They talked a lot. I would have picked Tar. Didn't happen. Sure. 2023, Oppenheimer. Yeah. which in some ways reflects the like we gotta recognize Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List thing where it's like this guy's just been making movies we love for 20 years and it's his time and he took on a subject matter that was right for the Academy Awards on the other hand I think Oppenheimer is a very strange movie the way that it's organized the way that it's shot the first 10 minutes are this like montage the final hour is in black and white and is a set 20 you know 20 years in the future for as Oscar winners go it's pretty unusual structurally formally it does have a great man quality of course.

30:46Yeah. And I mean, and I think that that is what, to me, it lines up. I mean, it's innovating on a theme, you know, which is like kind of what you want a traditional best Oscar to do. And like that, that's cool. I liked all of it until the Robert Downey Jr. started yelling, you know? Right. But it, to me, to me, it's not surprising. 2024, if Nora wins. Yeah. This is a Fellini-inspired sex comedy about a stripper and a Russian oligarch. Yeah. And features several sequences in strip clubs. Okay. And the music of Take That. Great. If it wins, that would be weird. I think it's a great movie. I love that movie.

31:29But everyone loves it. I mean, that's the other thing is that I do feel like everyone who sees it is like, hey, great movie. To me, it would be weird in that, like, actually one of the best movies of the year wins Best Picture, which seldom happens according to the list that you just read? Yeah. I mean, sometimes it does, you know, but often it doesn't. You're right. I mean, Oppenheimer and Parasite are really the only two where I'm like... And Moonlight. And Moonlight, yeah. Yeah, I'm like, these are certainly among the best, represent something interesting about the Academy. Moonlight and Parasite, they were surprising in the context of the race and the punditry, but we also just had visible moments of like, wow, the actual best movie won.

32:09Like, we don't know what to do with ourselves. Yes, yes. And in both of those cases in particular, La La Land and 1917 represented our expectations of the old Academy. Yes. And neither of them won. I guess, I don't really know what the old Academy is here this year. Maybe Conclave, parts of the Brutalist, but not really. But not really, yeah. I guess a complete unknown, but actually a music biopic has never won Best Picture. So there's really not a lot here. And I think that that also tells the story, is that this is, in terms of this crop of movies this year, for the variety of reasons that we've talked about.

32:41Strikes, what the movie schedule looked like, who got to make movies in 2023, et cetera, et cetera. This is what we have. Anora can win. What percentage would you put it at that you think it's going to win? I don't know. 51? Oh, so not super confident. No. I mean, I still think like voting is still active. I think precursors in the last five years like have become less and less sure. Because there's so many of them that it gets a little confusing. And I think the voting gets weird. It's a weird year. You know? I'm trying to make peace with that. Okay. Should we go to the mailbag? Absolutely. And no other thoughts?

33:25We got a couple more weeks of Oscar Pundits here. I really am looking forward to redecorating your room. What are you going to do with all the Blu-rays though? That's true. I mean, I was kind of like, because I I know you have kind of like the extra pile, you know, like the library has outgrown the space that I'm working with. Yes. Actually, Chris was over at the house on Friday and he was like, you know what? You are running out of room. Yeah. You're going to need a bigger house. Yeah. So I guess I just will all of the materials be available to me to work with, you know, in terms of what I get to display and how I get to display it.

33:59You're like Laszlo Toffers. Concrete. Concrete is good. I mean, I encourage creativity. if we could model it on the reading room the reading room is like my favorite part of that movie like glorious I felt my body tingling when they opened the shelving unit in that home I know I was ecstatic we could get some light in for you you know a little that could damage the materials inside the home the plastic yeah we don't want any you know color grading shifts you know the sun can burn these out you know this as a book owner you don't want the sun on books sure but that's made of paper and yours is like the plastic that's ruining our earth.

34:37It changes the color, you know. Of what? The plastic case? Of the spines, of the imagery because of the paper. Guys, that's the whole point of the design of the reading room is that it closes so that it just opens up. I understand that, but it won't have light problems. It's nice to have natural light. If you can create some closable, brutalist-inspired shelving units for me, I would welcome that. Okay. I would welcome that. They do kind of detail the measurements, you know? It's like it needs to be like about 12 inches like this. They're measuring. Okay. I'm going to need considerably more than$2 ,000.

35:11Let's get Daniel Eck on the horn. Amanda just putting in an expense request for like$120 ,000 worth of shelving at Sean's house. I spent a tidy sum on the original shelving units, I will say. That was the one present to myself in the last 10 years. Carpentry is expensive. It is very expensive. And especially at the level that I expect. We're going to pay people for their work. You're going to have to sell my treadmill, I think, just to get this expensive. We are getting the treadmill. Do you ever use it? You know, it's so funny because I've been in physical therapy in the last couple months. And I have started using it again, in part because of that.

35:47What do you watch? Do you like watch movies and just walk? It's set up to watch movies. Yeah. I'll run sometimes. Do you do like an incline or is it just? I don't really like that and I never have. Okay. But I'll run. I can, I will sometimes run very fast. Okay. Sean doesn't know about the 12-3-30. He's not on that game. I know. He's not with it. I mean, we'll have a whole conversation about this. I honestly, I think walking on an incline would be better for your body and for your physical therapy. Bobby, you with me? You may be right, but I have an extremely sensitive hip right now. So any like over pressure on it could be a challenge.

36:21Okay, so, but you're running on a treadmill. I haven't really been running of late. Historically, I will run on the treadmill. Yeah. I just, I think like low impact, but you know, some resistance. Okay. Sounds like you should call my PT. Maybe underexplored the potential of getting a camera in there for the YouTube. You know, you walking while talking. Have we underexplored? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we should talk about that. I don't know. Definitely. I'm an ideas guy. I'm the producer of the show, Sean. I definitely will stay on this call for sure when this episode's over to talk to you about it.

36:50I won't step out immediately and go eat a granola bar. I promise. I definitely will stay right here. I'm opening the water bottle. Sorry. Water bottle's open, which means it's mailbag time. Bob, how many emails did we get? There's so many emails. I read about 500 of the emails and I just looked at the inbox. There's like 563 still unread. So, you know, I'm making my way through them. A few of you got some responses from me if I didn't put your... I know. I was thinking that I was going to just log in and just like maybe like do some magic. You should have set up an auto reply that just Rebecca Gobert's.

37:24That would have been amusing. Amanda setting up an auto reply being like, sorry, I'm out of office, but you can email and then your email address, Sean. That'd be great. please don't do that. Okay. As you know, I care about Inbox Zero very deeply. All right. Should we start? How would you describe the emails? Chill vibes? Any crazy shit? Oh my God. Any marriage proposals to Amanda? Yeah. Everybody was so nice. That's how I would describe the emails. Thank you all for taking time. I'm going to log in and read some of them. They came from far and wide. All over this great globe of ours. Australia, Ghana, Scotland, Ireland, Senegal, Italy, France, Canada, Germany, England.

38:06Wow. From everywhere. It was really amazing. Great stuff from everybody. They really showed up, showed out. Really creative questions, too. So let's just get into it. Let's open it up. First question comes from Shauna. What movie duo do you feel best exemplifies your relationship? Hannibal Lecter and Clary Starling. Fight Club. Who's who? I think we all know I'm Tyler Durden. Hey, me. Could be. Could be. Godzilla vs. Kong? We have discussed that in the past. I think the energy that we're going for is in your classic Hollywood rom-com. Like the screwball. Yeah. It Happened One Night, or what's your favorite with Catherine Hepburn and Cary Grant?

38:56Oh, Philadelphia Story? No. Oh. Jesus Christ. Oh, Baby, Baby. yeah bringing out baby yeah or the Preston Sturgis movies yeah you know we need repartee enmity at the foreground intensity humor weirdness fast talking yeah speed is really the thing speed but there is definitely a little bit of like prisoner and captor thing going on here for sure there's maybe a little bit of dual persona yeah crazy And I think we flip roles in terms of who's crazier every week. Bob, do you have anything that you want to add to the mix? I think there's a lot of a few good men energy in this pod, but I'm trying to sort out who would be who I think.

39:41Like maybe Amanda's Bacon and Sean, your TC, or maybe flip those around depending on what the topic of the pod is. And that makes me Lieutenant Weinberger. Okay, great. Yeah, that's pretty good. That makes Jack Joe in the booth. I guess so. I strenuously object. Who's Nicholson in this analogy? Bill. Is that like Bill Nicholson? you want me on that wall that's right um okay what's next um Addy asks I was wondering if you guys had any advice on how to best prioritize and or maximize your time at a festival which festivals do you recommend for a first timer we actually got a ton of questions about film festivals in this mailbag so many people interested in going I mean I really I met I met a lot of people at Sundance who were listeners of the show but and you know maybe that means they want to work in the industry at some point, but like people who are just there to see movies, which was awesome.

40:34I have this experience every year at Telluride now where I meet anywhere from 10 to 50 people who are like, I'm here because I heard you talk about it on the show, which is obviously always so exciting because it means you've got young people getting engaged, not just in like going to AMC film culture, but real movie going culture. It's different for every festival. You know, we've both been to probably like five or six at this point. Right. And they all kind of work a little bit differently. So maybe we can speak more specifically about the ways that certain ones work. I'll say for Sundance, it's a little bit more challenging because you're often in the snow and you've got to bounce from venue to venue.

41:16So the thing that I like to do, which is like see as many movies as possible, is I find to be kind of challenging there because of the transportation is okay, as I recall. but weather conditions and the lines getting in is a little tricky. They changed it transportation wise. So that's trickier. I mean the shuttle's good but yeah it's really you do spend a lot of time in lines. Yes. So I think for Sundance it would probably be just like pick a theater and camp out there. Yes. You know and just like see everything that is at that one theater. Or I guess you could do like the I don't know if you're two movies a day is really doable five you really have to stay in one place yeah I find when I go to Telluride people say I'm trying to do three a day and then it's a little hard because the lines are a little bit intense and then also at a place like Telluride this is true at some festivals you have to buy a pass to go and it's hard to get individual tickets and there is a tiering system to the passes the patron passes I think are five grand.

42:23So you have a lot of, you know, long time patrons who are going and who are getting right to the front of the line and then you've got your kind of common pass which is significantly cheaper but doesn't guarantee entry. So you do spend a lot of time waiting in lines. I think you got to just be prepared to wait for the most part. Be very strategic about your days. Bring a lot of granola bars and snacks. It's hard to stop for meals. Make sure you have a bathroom strategy that is sound. Some theaters have good and helpful bathrooms. Some do not. For me, coffee is critical. I need to have at least two, sometimes three coffees a day when I'm powering through five movies.

42:57So you got to make sure that the venues have coffee. If they don't know your coffee shops in the area. I think it's probably easier on a first time basis to do something like the New York Film Festival, which is over 30 days. And you can say, I'm going to New York for a week and I'm going to catch what I can, you know, and I find tickets are pretty not easy, but easier. Bob, would you agree with that to get your hands on? yeah and um i think it's a pretty like democratic way of acquiring tickets like if you're there and ready to buy something online you know i don't know for certain whether this is the best way to sell anything these days but it at least is a way that you're probably accustomed to with things selling out quickly for the showings that you want online so you can get access to those screenings the press industry screenings is more like you're describing a telluride it's like be ready to wait in line so if you're in press or industry like get there at least an hour early for it or maybe even more.

43:48As we witnessed, we got shut out of the room next door this year, actually. Bob and I both. Yeah, we were in line. Turns out that was my career. But New York also, like the city itself and Lincoln Center, where it's kind of located, has the infrastructure. It's just a great part of town. I mean, it's kind of like the theaters. There is a place to eat and I think you're right. I mean, it's really, are you going to be a five movie a day psycho like Sean? And many other people. And I think that's one way to do it. I find that intense. Or you can be like a two to three a day movie person like me. And that turns out, in addition to be a great way to see movies, it's also a great way to like travel and see a part of the world or be somewhere that you haven't been.

44:34Which is also like a nice way to live life and also like a nice way to like enjoy movies sometimes. So, you know, if five a day seems daunting, but if you've ever wanted to go to, you know, and have the resources to go to Telluride or New Yorker, even some of the, we've never been to like the local film festivals, but there are so many of them. I'm kicking myself because I had a ticket to go see Horizon Part 2 on Friday night. Why didn't you go? And for a variety of reasons, childcare, et cetera, I opted not to go. and then our friend Griffin Newman was there didn't tell me he was going and then he told me the movie rocked and I was like god damn it I'm so mad at myself that I didn't go see so I've never been to Santa Barbara before and I've been to Palm Springs kind of like I've been in Palm Springs when it was happening and seen one movie but I haven't actually spent time at the Palm Springs Film Festival there's like the Mill Valley Mill Valley yes Joanna goes to that often Rob Mahoney went to Mill Valley this year there's a number of locals and then you know there's a contingent there's like South By There are lots of different places.

45:39Yes, people really talk up the Savannah Film Festival now with SCAD. They talk up the Virginia Film Festival is growing in popularity. There's a number of festivals that are getting bigger and bigger around the country. You can really go to any of them and probably get a really cool experience if they're in that kind of top quartile of film festivals. But then also, I have personally never been to Berlin, Cannes, or Venice. And I probably, before I'm out of my 40s, need to knock those off my list. So 2026. I'm like, so I can't even. Steak in the ground. I can't even look at you right now. I'm so angry.

46:122026. We literally, we had you, Bobby, find it like on camera. Last year after Cannes, you were like, you're right. We should like, I'm really kicking myself. We didn't go to Cannes. We should go this year. And then you scheduled some fucking golf trip. Band in Dunes is calling. I've heard from a number of listeners who identified. Dan is listening. Dan who organized this trip and I love Dan. I love you so much and I know that My dear friend Dan. I just we'll have a frank conversation. Dan. 2026. We'll go to Cannes and maybe Berlin too. Fuck it. I would love to go to I would love to go to all of them.

46:51I've always wanted to go to Berlin. I've been to the city of Berlin which is a city I love. I would love to go to Berlin. I think the link later the Ethan Hawke the Lauren's Heart. Blue Moon. Blue Moon. is at Berlin this year. Yes. And I think Nouvelle Vague will be at Cannes. You can really only go to Venice if you have, if like you're being, if you're Italian and or have like a rail, you're a rail pass and or your company is paying for it. Yes. But we got to go. It's so awesome. Venice is tough. Venice is hard for me because I have made an emotional commitment to tell you, right? No, I know.

47:26But I love it. Like your version of like coffee and granola bars and five movies days, It was like me at the Golden Lion Bar having my spritz before going to the premiere of whatever. Just seeing like Jacob Elordi just across the red carpet. It's like right across the street. You may never be able to recreate the quality of lineup that you got for your specific interest. I know. You got a great year. You got Sophia. You got your Bradley Cooper. You got a lot of stuff you liked. You got Fincher. You got some good stuff. Fincher was there. Fincher was awesome walking all the carpets. That was kind of a dream year for that.

47:57You got Ferrari. You got a lot of stuff. It was so good. It was really fun. Um, okay. I mean, look, it's very expensive. Yeah. Treat it like a vacation. If you love movies. But that is the thing. Treat it like a vacation. Like go, I had never been to Venice. Yeah. And, you know, one of those places, otherwise you got to go see at like every church, you know, and every like fresco. And like churches and frescoes are beautiful, but I was just kind of like, wow, look, like I'm in Venice. And then like the day was programmed for me and it was so cool. Like I got to see some movies and then I like got the local vibe.

48:28It is like a great way to travel. and to see it like a part of the world if you like movies. So that's a different strategy. Again, this is all predicated on having access to resources. And we get to do this for work. So we're incredibly lucky. We are very privileged. Okay, Bob, what's next? Abigail wants to know, my friends have never seen any PTA movies. Where do I start? And what order should I show my friends the PTA movies? I would like to hear your thoughts on this. I mean... It's a year for preparing for PTA movies. of course. We probably will build like two weeks of programming around PTA.

49:04We got another question. I'm sorry to jump ahead, Bob, about exploring filmmaker work and doing like most popular or chronological. And I'm just going to lump them together. Should we credit? Who is the person who asked that nice question? Yes, this comes from David. Okay, so David, thank you. Yeah, he asked about picking out a few directors and taking a deeper dive into their filmographies and whether it's best to go in chronological order or go based on like popularity or perception of how good the movie itself is so i think in general for most directors starting with the quote unquote classics or like the widely accepted there's a reason you know this director's name and then going like and once you're kind of versed in the director's work to go back and start doing deep cuts and then you could go chronologically like then you can make it a project but it's like if you start with if you're doing Ridley Scott and you start with The Duelist which is like a good movie but you're gonna be like like what's going on you know I think it depends on the depth of the filmmaker if they have only five movies you could say I'm doing a chronic if you if you want to do Terrence Malick right I would say start at Badlands and just go straight through yeah he's got eight movies, that's the best way to do it.

50:28It'll show a progression in a clear way. It's a good question. Broadly speaking, I mostly agree with you. I have been thinking about this quite a bit because I've been really enjoying You Must Remember this season. And Karina's angle on it this year is the old man is still alive is the theme. So it's a look at the classic filmmakers, not just of Hollywood, but mostly Hollywood focused at the end of their careers, like their last movies. And I was just listening over the weekend to the John Ford episode. And the John Ford episode is super interesting because it's about how some of his last four or five films are kind of like recriminations or reversals of what we thought John Ford movies were about.

51:08You know, Cheyenne Autumn, which is told with like a huge empathy for Native people or Seven Women, which is an entirely female focused movie. He never had really strong female protagonists in his films. So like you could say for John Ford, after you get past the silent stuff, stagecoaches this is a huge breakthrough with John Wayne. You probably could just watch Stagecoach all the way through. It's like 35 movies. But you would watch a progression of theme in a really interesting way. It's just a big project. So you could say, oh, actually, what I really want to do is I want to watch Stagecoach and then I want to watch My Darling Clementine and then They Were Expendable and then The Searchers and then I'll kind of pick and choose from there.

51:45But it's, every filmmaker is different because every filmmaker reveals something different. And PTA, Well, I was going to say, I think PTA is the exception. I think you go Straight through. Yeah, chronological. And it's a little bit because it's, what, 10 or 11 at this point? But it is, sorry, my computer died, so I don't have it in front of me. So everything is off the top of my head. You're doing great. So it's digestible, even if that, like, 10 or 11 is, like, a lot of movies. But it is also, and there is a progression, and it is also just, like, you know, there are no skips. That's right. So that's the other thing.

52:19If you're working with 35 or 40 or 45. You're not going to like stuff. It's going to be boring. It's going to be redundant. Or even if it's not redundant, I think that you do, if you're starting cold with someone, you want to have at least some sort of broader understanding before you start doing the work of like, oh, I see the evolution from this to this, or I see how you got here. You know, like to to be able to appreciate when you're watching the first three movies of like, oh, I see you're going to build towards this or like this is kind of like X, Y, Z. I was having this conversation with someone recently about Paul.

53:01You know, I've interviewed him with Bill a couple times now. I've met him a few times over the years. And the thing that I have noticed more and more, and this was in relationship to a conversation about the Oscar race this year, is that he has completely stopped telling people what his movies are about. He does not talk theme. He does not talk interpretive analysis. He talks about character. He talks about setting. He talks about story. but he doesn't do that thing that many filmmakers when they're younger can't wait to do and he couldn't wait to do when he was younger. He loved over explaining his movies, talking about his influences, what he was pulling from.

53:40And... I mean, it's called being 27, but... 100%. No disrespect. I think more specific... I mean, for him, it was because he was such a young phenom but most filmmakers, it's their early 30s. And they're like, I did it. I'm desperate to be understood. And you could maybe make the case Brady Corbet, he was like 36 or something thing is like let me tell you everything yeah um and and pta definitely did that and then just kind of stopped and so what it means is the first half of the movie the first half of his career you're like i have a pretty good idea of what this is i get what he's going for i get what he's paying homage to what the themes are um what it means to his childhood and then in the second half especially with them with uh the master and then everything from the master on he's like you figure it out.

54:22What is this? You thought this was about Scientology. It's not. Here's why. Sure. I think when you're Paul Thomas Anderson and you've made the films that he's made, like you can do that. I did also get a chance to listen to your Nosferatu episode and listen to your Robert Eggers interview. And it was a little bit of like, yeah, we don't talk theme because there is none. I was so hunted for him. I know. I was doing the work. And And that is like, obviously he has like different intention like with his career and what like. But he might. Filmmaking like means something different to him. And that's cool.

54:58It's funny because in this conversation that I was just referencing, Eggers came up as well. In this conversation about theme. And he has always been very reluctant to talk about those things. It doesn't mean that they're not there. It doesn't mean he's not thinking about them. But he doesn't want to talk about them. Yes. He doesn't want to make that a part of the narrative of the movie. The PTA thing, because there is a progression, you can go back and watch that making of Magnolia documentary that's on all the physical versions that is, I think it's called That Moment that's just so crazy where you can like watch a guy and where he is emotionally in real time while he's orchestrating this big movie.

55:27Magnolia, yeah. Which is also like, yeah. His parents and his dad and Boogie Nights with his mom and all the stuff that is so evidently right on the surface. Anyway, I'm with you. It should be in chronological order for his movies. It's only 10, so you can do it. Great. What's next?

56:10Can I add something really quickly? and you say, now I either want to go backwards or forwards from this point. And that can change how you feel about being introduced to a director. That's what I like to do with a lot of old directors because for me, that means the first experience that I have with the director is the exact experience they wanted out of that movie rather than trying to get into someone's old filmography at home with all these different distractions or on the wrong TV or whatever. That's 27-year-old repertory theater privilege boy logging on. But I love it. I love that for you Bobby I'm representing my people it's a good intention that is harder for most people to reach but if the option is there you should do it you should totally do it you should absolutely if you're able to do it and I think like our friends at Blank Check do directorial themed seasons and so a lot of people will fill gaps that way or watch for the first time that way I think that's a really cool way to experience that show too this is also a time issue not everybody has time to watch every single film directed by Steven Spielberg for example yeah but these people are doing a project they're doing a project It's a good way to do a project.

57:12Shout out to Abigail and David, both of you guys. We love projects. You're doing the work. Thank you. Our next question comes from Alex. Could you identify your favorite movie or couple of movies that are in opposition to your typical taste? Something that someone would be surprised to find out that you like. I had one movie pop into my head on this one. For me or for you? For me. I'm not sure what you would say. Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I was going to say Fast Five. Oh, yeah. But everybody knows that. Well, but, you know. Okay. It's one of my zags, you know. It is one of your zags. Unfortunately, it's a Fast and the Furious movie.

57:45When I was 11, I went to the movie theater with my mom and I saw Untamed Heart. Have you seen Untamed Heart? No. Are you familiar with this movie? No. Okay. It's a simple romantic drama. Okay. It's about a waitress working in a restaurant and a busboy, a very quiet busboy, one night she's leaving work and two men attack her and nearly assault her and she is saved by this very shy retiring busboy. The waitress is played by Marissa Tomei. The busboy is played by Christian Slater. Rosie Perez is Marissa Tomei's best friend. This movie is directed by Tony Bill who was the producer of The Sting. Very, very modest hit at the time.

58:34As you know, romantic drama is probably my kryptonite genre-wise. It's got to be really good for me to love it. I wouldn't say Untamed Heart is really good. But it just dropped into my mind. That's nice. While I was thinking about this question. I had a great experience seeing it with my mom. We had a lot of questions. The reason it's called Untamed Heart is because the Christian Slater character has a defect in his heart. This is sounding familiar. It's just one of those like you saw it on cable kind of movies, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's a very sweet movie. Or at least I thought it was when I saw it 20 years ago.

59:07you haven't revisited no gotta get it on blu-ray you think I was gonna ask is this on 4k untamed heart anybody out there listening just a sweet simple Hollywood movie 1993 yeah I was 10 years old that's beautiful yeah 6 million dollar budget 25 million dollars at the box office wow Christian Slater in the same year as true romance look at that pretty exciting okay what's next next comes from Corey have you ever used any architectural inspiration from films and brought it into your own homes or personal life. Corey is proud Dob Mob, by the way. And I will say, so many people identified themselves as Dob Mob.

59:49Like they went so far out of their ways that that was the first thing they said about themselves. Thank you all very, very much. You're very sweet. Many people saying that they took a break from their hobbies right into the Gmail. That's great. Good. I'm glad. While email, listen, writing direct communication, interpersonal communication is very DobMob. Email is like the best tool that we have. Also, like not answering emails that you don't want is also DobMob. So I just want to give everyone that tip. Manifesto forms here. We're entering new territories in ethical DobMob communication. Okay, so this is from Corey.

1:00:30DobMob. Corey, yes. Corey, you know, thank you for thinking that I have the budget to really, like, follow my heart. We have the power to build anything. So I don't think architecturally, like, you know, I think most people would think that my immediate design inspo would go towards Nancy Meyers. And I, like, do, like, hydrangeas and nice kitchens and kitchen islands. I don't have a kitchen island. I'd love to have one. I'd love to even have two, as she has Instagram. about, you know, one for cooking and one for the stuff that's really next level. But I don't, I don't have room for a single kitchen Island in my home.

1:01:11And I like a bit more color in my aesthetic and in my home life than Nancy seems to, to work with. So I think I would, I was, I would be drawn more to like Sophia or Luca Guadagnino interiors. And once again, And not really able to realize that. So I would say more that it's been like fashion stuff. I recently bought myself a pair of the, I saw they were purple Chuck Taylors, the high rise, which if the real heads will know, there's a shot of them in the I Want Candy montage in Marie Antoinette, you know, and it's like anachronistic and people got mad, but whatever. So they were on sale. And I was like, oh, I'd like to have those.

1:01:58So I will do stuff like that. But in the home, you know, we can only dream and hope and save. That's great. You're just like, I have nothing to say. I'm happy for you. I mean, no, I don't really work this way. Yeah. I am an extremely simple person when it comes to both style and design. I don't define myself by those particular things. Yeah. But I have no problem with anybody that does. And I was wildly, almost neurotically minimalist for a long time. And that's over because I have a child. So I have to just let go of that and all of the deep diseases inside my brain that are pushing me towards clean aesthetics.

1:02:45You do a lot of movie posters. I do, and very few of them are hanging right now. I mean, actually, at this point, I own dozens and dozens of cool ones. But I think I'm kind of waiting for... What I really want to do is have like a house and just turn a bedroom into a real screening room for real. And actually like devote authentic resources to it. And in that room, I will break out some of the very special posters. I have a few nice ones. I have a lot of first run ones. I had a listener from who works at Warner Brothers come to an event that I did and sent me some original first run posters that are amazing.

1:03:20One was a Spanish poster from Deep Red, the Argento movie. And the other was an original first run poster of The Candidate, the Robert Redford movie. One of my favorite movies of all time. You know, they're folded up. So like, I want to get those framed and put those up somewhere because those are two of my favorite movies. But that was an amazing thing. I can be like, I can be bought with old, with vintage movie posters. So it's a good call. You're right. Yeah. Okay. What's next? Austin wants to know, in honor of the brutalist. Can I say one more? Sorry, sorry, sorry. Can I say one more thing?

1:03:48Yeah. Of course. I just want to go back to the Nancy Meyers kitchens for a second. Okay. And I love Nancy and she's an answer to another question that is on this rundown. But the open cabinetry, you know, where you instead of cabinets, like the open shelves where you can see everything on display is very big in her work. And I think that that's ruining society because we can't be organizing all our stuff all the time. Like cabinets that close, speaking to your minimalism. Sort of like everyone cut yourself a break. You know, we can't be merchandising our kitchens all the time. You're saying this is the number one thing ruining society?

1:04:32No, I just like, it is one of many, but I wanted to speak to it. Power rank it. Four? I was like, and then like the dust is everywhere. Like, what are you doing? How are you living? I like, cut yourself some slack, you know? Yeah. We all can't be that organized. Get a cabinet door that closes. Love your passion. Thank you. What's next? It was about questions that are aspirational. You know, like when I watched Perfect Days, I was like, that's hella aspirational, but I'm never going to live in a space that looks like that. Yeah. You too can have an eight track. Think about it. I suppose I could, but then I would have all the cassettes everywhere and they would not be that organized like he is.

1:05:13That is a disciplined man and I am not that way. That's true. Austin asks, in honor of the brutalist and the brutal boys and girls everywhere. My question for you both is, if Amanda was a benefactor and could direct Sean to create something at her discretion, doesn't have to be a building, what would she have Sean create? And conversely, if Sean were the benefactor, what would he have Amanda create? Okay, well, I didn't read that closely, so I didn't get that doesn't have to be a building part of this, but that's fine. You have a building idea. I would like you to re-imagine and resuscitate the Cinerama Dome and its entire environs.

1:05:54I'm well suited to this. So it's going to be like a, but you know, because there's that weird, like almost like shopping center thing. Like that whole block is yours. And so you get not only the movie theater and the Cinerama Dome, which you need to build. And so my requirements are that that does have to be a movie theater. but you can do whatever you want with like you can make whatever movie theory you want and then it's so obvious to me what it should be it should be it should be I'm not even done with the commission okay all right so this is like you know and I'm not asking you to do drawings we're on the hilltop let me keep speaking okay keep going and then I also I'm like Stacy Martin like daddy it's very cold out here it's very cold um and then I need you to work with yeah yeah yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:06:45That first half is awesome. The rest of the retail space, I need you to turn into, like, I mean, I guess it can be retail if we're going to be gauche and speak in real estate terms. I have ideas for it. You know, but it all needs to be to my aesthetic and use standards as well. So that's tricky for you. But I would like a bookstore as part of it. Okay. You know, but it can be like a book and physical media, like a physical media store. How about that? When I moved to Los Angeles, we had it all. We had the Arclight, a pizza joint, and Amoeba within 100 yards, 50 yards. We don't have a bar though, so that's the other thing that we need.

1:07:26The thing I was going to say was what that section, that corridor needs very clearly is a corner pizza joint, a taco spot, a bookstore and physical media store, and that movie theater. We basically had it. And a bar. And a bar, excuse me, yes. Well, maybe a speakeasy in the movie theater, which is something that I think should exist. Yeah, but I do think also that you need a place to go before or after. Bars, though. Can you do at this stage of your life? I've been in bars recently and I'm like, whoa, I'm old. This is loud in here. This is why is everyone yelling at each other? It's really quite as somebody who fucking loved bars for 20 years, who was like, I'll be spending my life in bars.

1:08:03I can't believe how not bar suited I am anymore. Talk to me about the kind of noise that you're having a problem with. Is it like is it like music? Is your old women screaming next to me? I do think that the women need to take the, and the men. I mean, the men are yelling too, but the women are yelling. Yeah. We have sort of like reached a reality TV show like pitch, you know, that I think everyone does need. So I'm with you on that. I was in Sam's place in Highland Park with our friend Nick on a Tuesday night. Which one is? This will be great. Oh, the wine bar. Like the, oh, I'm like, also we serve some crudités or whatever.

1:08:36Yes. No, no, it's not crudités. it's there's one what's it called when you marinate the the fish it starts with a C help me out here I don't have my computer ceviche oh ceviche is there a ceviche I just get steak there's a steak yeah no but there's like one ceviche there are like some olives there's a salad yeah yeah yeah anyway I was at Sam's and everyone was yelling at each other and I was like I know my friends it's Tuesday I think that like I'm 42 volume wise we could be we could all help each other. That's why speakeasies are kind of lame culturally, but they're just not as loud. Sure. So no, it would be like a nice place where you could, I would like to be able to get a drink.

1:09:21I'd like to be able to get a cocktail. Do you like to drink alcohol in the movies? Not really. Because I do find that I like to focus on the movie. Many people say that about you. I do find that I like to focus on the movie. And then I also don't have to pee 45 times. That's a challenge. So one before or a couple after while talking about the movie. And this is the thing really, is that like, I would like to be able, we also got to work on movie times. Okay. So that's another thing that would be a requirement of the movie theater is that either like four or seven. Well, when am I eating? You know?

1:09:59And I'm, cause I'm not eating at the theater respectfully. I long thought 8pm would be a great time to have a movie. Sure. Or 5 p.m. or 5.30 and then I can go to a 7, 7.30, 8 dinner afterwards. I'm okay with both. That's great. Sounds like you're going on a lot of dates. I don't really go on many dates these days. I'm trying. We have my, my in-laws are in town so we're going on several dates this week. How blessed. I feel like you guys are really good with like having like a child care rotation. We go on a lot of 2 p.m. dates. Yeah. Yeah, Zach and I need to do more of that. That's really the only way to survive these days.

1:10:33Sometimes they feature movies. Not always. Yeah. So I would like a place separate from the movie theater that I can go before or after. Bar, bookstore. Yeah. Pizza joint. Yeah. Taco spot. The Cinerama Dome. And a multiplex with six theaters. Okay. This is the way. Great. I would love to do that. For me, you've already answered it. Mm-hmm. I have a kitchen large enough for a kitchen island. We don't have a kitchen island. Oh, so you'd like me to do your kitchen? I'd like you to come in and do our kitchen. I'm like really emotional. That's really, that's lovely. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.

1:11:09Wouldn't that be great? I'd love to do your kitchen. Yeah, that would be amazing. Whether Eileen wants that, you can talk that out with her. I feel like I could work with Eileen. I think Eileen and I could have a constructive process. I'll be in the garage watching movies while you work. That's really nice. I'd love to help you. I think you might have to be like out of the state potentially. Like we might just have to get you. Well, Eileen is such a great cook too. so it would you know we would we have to like functional but also aesthetic yeah and I'm sure she has like very specific things but we need a refresh yeah we need a refresh well the thing is is like you and all people really need two kitchen islands and again I'm speaking from a place of none but this is when Nancy is right she is right I know and I know what you mean but it's like unused dead space well the problem is but that's like also the railway yeah yeah that's the railway that's how you And we have the same issue.

1:12:00My daughter exercises every day. Yes. But like we have the same issue in our living room, you know, where there's just like that space. But it's like that's how people get anywhere. So you can't do anything. So we would probably have to do an extension. But that's okay. Let's just put another screening room in there instead. Okay. That'll be fine. It's fine. We'll make it work. Because once again, we have unlimited resources as provided by Spotify, right? Yeah. I think it's our readers. I think our readers and listeners are going to send in some funds. Right, Bob? or you've set up the GoFundMe.

1:12:31I've been reaping those rewards for years. You guys don't even know about it. Okay, what's next? All right. Our next question comes from Sahil. Which directors in your mind have the most unimpeded vision? As in which directors are the best at getting their idea in their head as close to perfect on screen as possible? So not necessarily the directors that you like the most, but that you think are most faithful to what they imagine. I mean, I think they are the directors that we like the most because I think that's just like the definition of a good director. And the directors that we like the most are the ones who we think are the best.

1:13:07And we also respond to their specific vision, right? Yeah. I mean, I think Fincher is the clearest example of this for me. Yeah. Sophia is the, Coppola is the clearest for me. And they achieve their greatness with different aesthetic intention. But you often get similar results. I think when you see continuity in their work across movies, you get the sense that that is the definition of style. And that when you have a style, then you can manifest a weird idea. And like you pointed out, the purple Chuck Taylors is a perfect example of a weird idea that only she would think of that she could make work in that environment.

1:13:49Or the story from that is actually that her, I think, Roman Coppola, like, put them in or they were just kind of there and then they photographed it. And she's like, oh, I like that. But, like, even, like, a found image that, like, reflects a, like, very specific sensibility. Right. Right. So, yeah, I think those are probably our best examples. I mean, look, it's pretty clear that Christopher Nolan knows how to get what he wants on screen. You know what I mean? there are certain people who they have strong, strong visual aesthetics and the ability to interpret unusual ideas like Memento really early on.

1:14:25You can just be like, he had a, had an idea of something that was odd to look at and technically profound on like a small budget. I'm sure there's a number of examples. I mean, I was thinking about Bong Joon-ho who like another great example, storyboards like literally every single frame. Right. And it's like, he just, he's like, this is where, this is how it will look. I mean, the single most often cited example of this is Spielberg, who understands staging and blocking better than anybody on earth. So he can kind of see a chase scene play out in full in his mind and then can corral the right people to help execute it.

1:15:05So there's like a million examples, but I agree with your point that it's like the people we like the best are the people who we think are doing this the best specifically. yeah yeah yeah what's next the truck going down the hill in licorice pizza there's no way that that's not exactly what that looked like in his mind I'm sure he knew the location he wanted to shoot in so harmonious yeah I mean it's sort of cheating but Miyazaki like that's exactly what it looks like and budget be damned production demands be damned we need five people drawing this to try to see who can do it the best be damned I finally watched the documentary about him Miyazaki and the Heron that Charles recommended and poof talk about like someone who is there for their specific vision and none of the other shit matters at all.

1:15:46That's incredible stuff. So that would be my sort of cheating. Porco Rosso, big hit in the home. I mean, I - I told you. I do want to let you guys know that like my son is three and it opens with like a bunch of pirates kidnapping, very funny, independent little girls. And then there are like lots of like guns everywhere. And I was like, oh, this is an interesting recommendation from both of you. Your son watches Top Gun. Yeah, well, it doesn't have guns. It is like weirdly... I mean, I understand that the whole thing is like around a box. I know, but you don't see any of it. Do you know what I mean?

1:16:22Men die. Well, not in the hour that we watch. So there's that. Anyway, those little girls are very feisty. I like them. Borgo Rosso is good. This is just the very beginning of a beautiful story of Miyazaki films. He just asked me to fast forward to any time there's a plane flying. Yeah, I mean, that pig smokes cigarettes. Yeah, and he drinks wine, which is great. That's a great lesson. Bit of a lush, that pig. What's next, Bobby? The next question we got, we've been asked this question so many times over the years, so I wanted to throw this one in to maybe get an update from you all about your input on this one.

1:16:59Thea wants to know, what is our fandom's name? Like, for people who listen to the big picture, Who Weekly has the hooligans and Las Colturistas as the readers. The psychos. Yeah, big pick Psycho. The Psychos. I agree. I love the Psychos. Because so many people listen to the podcast. To be clear, it's Psychos, but not Sickos, right? It's Psychos. We have Sickos, but they are the Psychos. Yeah. The Psychos are the people who listen to every episode and watch four movies a year. Those are like the real Psychos. I heard from many of them. We have a lot of them. I hear from a lot of those people. And that's nice.

1:17:30And people are like, why do you talk about your kids? Why do you talk about your kitchens? I'm like, trust me. People are here for all of it. You may not like it, but they're here for all of it. I promise. the psychos are also the people who are like I heard Sean say I should watch every John Ford movie and so now I will watch every John Ford movie and those people are also psychos and should be saluted and there's a vast you know there's an in between you can be both you can be the person who only sees Smile 2 right or you can be the person who sees every horror film ever made right you're both great we appreciate you both Drew wants to know if 2024 was the year of no partial credit according to Amanda what will be the focus of 2025 from a critical viewpoint I don't know whether that was all critics or just me and I would argue that I think it was just you yeah not all critics really lived up to partial credit I don't agree with your partial credit theory at all no I know but I mean because partial credit is also the it's the brutalist thing at some point you You celebrate the act and I celebrate the result.

1:18:37Yes. Well, I mean, we both do both, but yes. I mean, yeah, but I think like if we, the ideological divide. Yes, exactly. Which is, you know, why it's so great to be in my life at all times. Again, many people are saying this. I've been hearing this nonstop. All of the people who know you are constantly contacting me. Why isn't it great to be in Amanda's life? Doesn't it feel so true and deep? So I'm just, I'm sticking with publicizing no partial credit, you know? You're holding the line. Which is just an extension of like, we have standards, you know? Did you meet the standards? It's a yes or no.

1:19:16And the standards are personal and my standards can be different than yours. But, you know, no partial credit. I won't dispute it. The focus of a critical viewpoint in 2025, I don't know if there is a theme that has emerged yet. I do think that there's going to continue to be a really wide divide between movies that Hollywood makes for money and then all other movies. And I don't know. IP filmmaking dominating at the box office last year and probably dominating at the box office this year. It's going to break at some point, you know? Like, I think people are getting really burnt out. I sure am.

1:20:04I mean, you heard me talking about Thunderbolts. Yeah. But you're not burnt out. Well, I'm trying. Your heart's open. In part for the purposes of this show, but also because I was once 11. My heart's open to Mission Impossible. You know, there's other IP that Megan 3.0. Well, Meg Thregan. I was thinking about this recently, like Universal Slate this year is mostly big movies. It's Jurassic Park 7. It's Wicked 2. It's Megan 2. It's there's a couple of other really big ones. And then Universal Slate in 2026 is original Steven Spielberg UFO movie. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. new Jordan Peele movie new Daniels movie I know you're not a big fan of the Daniels but regardless like it's the complete opposite where it's like all the big bets this year are on big noisy tent poles and all the big bets next year are on original stories from great filmmakers so do you think that's just like luck and circumstance?

1:21:08I mean is that just sort of like production and various things because I mean the credit to the studio is that they are investing in working with filmmakers like that right? Yeah totally so that's fucking awesome This year, though, I think is because not as much stuff was in motion. Plus, this group of people, like Jordan Peele's movie, I think was supposed to be out this year. And then they pushed it the next year. Nolan is on a basically every three-year cycle. So his third year is coming up. Plus he has to go make The Odyssey. So, who is, is it Tom Holland or is it Matt Damon? It has not been communicated to us.

1:21:41I have heard Tom Holland is Odysseus. That's what I assumed as well. Yeah. Okay. Which I'm not sure who Damon plays there. The old guy? Laertes? I'm not up to date on my Odyssey. I got to probably revisit. Okay. I mean, I do too. We originally thought that he was going to be Telemachus Holland. Yeah. But it sounds like that's not the case. Okay. But that cast is insane. It looks like the presenting team of the Academy Awards. Yeah. It's wild how many people are in that movie. I'm very excited about that movie. I hope it's good. Okay. What's next? we now just got two straight mentions of Megan 2.0 Mithrigan it's been called many things but Mariana wants to know I need to know what Amanda thinks of the feminominon Megan 2.0 the Bitches Back trailer they're very good at my thing with the Chapel Rhone song yeah excuse me excuse me I'm just making sure that Sean knows what we're talking about oh oh oh that was directed at Sean oh okay yes did you ever listen to that album it's good yeah it's budget Kate Bush but I know I understand why people like it.

1:22:46Listen, you know, we have to meet the children where they are sometimes. Okay? Relative to other pop phenomenons right now, it's awesome. Okay, great. They woke up. That's what you asked. They woke up. She's up. She's awake. She's definitely up. No denying. She is drinking all the coffee. I think it's great. I think that Megan 3, 2.0, whatever, is universal, right? It is. They're very good at marketing their films. They are. They were very good at marketing the last one. I still think that Amy Donald should have been allowed to perform and that Megan should have been at the Oscars. But maybe this year.

1:23:23I have heard it is the T2 of female robot movies. So I'm very excited about it. Who have you heard that from? T2? I'm very connected, as you know. People on the streets walking up to you saying sir, sir. Like pre-party, you know, they're doing some of the early work here before Vegas. I'm plugged in I really wish I got a text message that was like just heard Megan 2.0 is going to be the T2 of female robot stories does this track for you guys I don't know this is 20 years of journalism showing right now building sources okay making relationships I believe it's going to be good the first one was good watching T2 a lot okay first one's good first one's fun first one is like more an incredible act of marketing the movie is fun it's fine it's like It's gateway horror sci-fi.

1:24:15You don't need to be snotty. You don't need to be snotty. If it's going to live up to its T2 bill, you need to be better. Here's another critical viewpoint that I'm projecting into 2025. Let fun things be fun. It's okay just to enjoy something sometimes. Okay. So you just dropped a let people enjoy things while also shitting on Thunderbolts. Well, I thought Thunderbolts looked bad. That's not letting people enjoy things. Well, no, no, no, no, no. What are you talking about? I didn't enjoy it. Your own very specific standards. That isn't what you believe. I think it's a nice thing to say on a podcast, but it is not what you believe.

1:24:51In fact, you like to historically yuck people's yums. You like to be like, the thing you like sucks. That's true. But I think what I'm saying is I don't enjoy it. You don't enjoy Thunderbirds. And I actually, I do often, instead of saying the thing that you like sucks, I mean, sometimes I know I say that, but I do try to be like, this was not for me. I do not like this. This is not an abandoned movie. Which I think is typically the right way to approach these things so that people are not like, I'd like to stab the person on the other end of my AirPods. But sometimes that happens too. I've been on the receiving end of those too.

1:25:23I did not enjoy the Thunderbolts trailer on the TV or on my phone. Definitely. You want to break it down again? What were the things you didn't like about it? And also, if it really is called Dead Avengers or whatever, they should just call it that. It was Dark Avengers, but all right. Well, you know what? Maybe if their marketing were on point, first of all, maybe if they'd used Phenomenon, I would have liked it more. They've gotten plenty of airtime here today, so maybe they're doing something right. Okay. What's next, Bobby? I agreed with Amanda. That trailer stunk. Next question comes from Alyssa.

1:25:57Where do you want to see Tom Cruise go next in the post-Mission Impossible era of his career? Who would you like him to work with? Should there be a Top Gun 3? I mean, there is going to be a Top Gun 3, right? Or there were rumors of it, but it's not been announced but it's not been announced right safe to say it will happen at some point with Teller and Glenn Powell how's Miles Teller doing today I hope he's great go birds I'm sure he's very happy a series of highs and lows for him sure yeah you know right now we've got a Super Bowl victory he's one of the biggest well known Eagles fans in America his new film The Gorge arrives on Apple TV Plus on Friday okay so it's not a good situation is how I would describe that movie I can't say I would recommend the film so it was the best of times it was the worst of times for Miles don't think Miles Teller where they're like remember when Bradley Cooper was campaigning for Maestro I guess and they were like do you want an Oscar Howard Stern asked him this Super Bowl win and he was like I want a Super Bowl which I did not believe but that's like the only answer you can give in that situation I've got great news for him no Oscar But I do, I honestly do wonder if Miles Teller were given the choice between Super Bowl win and the Gorge being like a$300 million like blocks off his sensation.

1:27:21He like might still pick Super Bowl. I think so too. Yeah. And honestly, respect. Bully for him. Yeah, I agree. That's dope. I would, I would literally kill, I would kill, I would probably kill a man for a Super Bowl. I'm not kidding. Like I really, I can't even imagine what it would be like to win the Super Bowl. Aaron Rodgers no longer a Jet we're about to restart on yet another Jets rebuild this is like the 18th Jets rebuild of my lifetime yeah Aaron Rodgers is no more good fuck him see you later that whole thing was an absolute nightmare it was really bad Super Bowl or World Series World Series is my number one choice I think so too it's just so much harder to guarantee you know the problem with World Series is we've gotten close a few times and so it feels touchable.

1:28:07Super Bowl, the Jets have not been to the Super Bowl since 1969. Okay. They haven't had a winning season in 10 years. Is that the longest drought in professional football? No, because there's a couple teams that haven't won any Super Bowls. Like the Chargers, I don't think have ever won a Super Bowl. There's a couple teams that have never won. but they're expansion franchises though. Have the Lions? So a lot of them haven't been around that long. The Lions haven't won a Super Bowl. Maybe they won a title in the 60s. I'm not as strong on football history, but that's the other thing with football too.

1:28:34It's like in the last 25 years, like eight teams have won a Super Bowl, maybe 12 teams. Like not a lot. It's like, it's pretty, we got two Eagles. We got three Chiefs. You know, we got six, was it six for the Patriots? Two for the Bucs? Yeah, six because then he won one with. In Tampa Bay. Right. And it said seven, seven times Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady, which was, is the only positive thing that can be said about that broadcasting experience. He's, you've heard it everywhere except on the big picture. He's so bad. It's unbelievable. It's painful to listen to. The most obvious, inauthentic, and dull commentary I've ever heard.

1:29:13Now, obviously, I despise him as a Jets fan, and I hope he falls down a well, but I can't believe I have to listen to him for the next five years on broadcast. He's not even selling the garbage, fake stuff. He's so stilted. Anyway. It's bad. Okay. A lot of Super Bowl takes today. Let's do like five more? Sure. Yeah. five of the 120 questions that we have here in this mailbag circle back do you think it would be good to do these live on YouTube I do do you think people would want that because then people could get really mad at you in the comments in real time as opposed to just you know stabbing you on the street that's always gonna happen no I think it would be a lot of fun also people could ask follow up questions or break news to you in real time just think of the moment we wouldn't be able to prepare in the same way I wouldn't say I'd put a ton of preparation I did like I did a little bit you read the questions yeah yeah we wouldn't have that But it's better, I think, actually.

1:30:03But you can't just have the thing that you always hate, which I don't like, too. Which is just like, recast this movie for me with actors from 1952. That's one thing. I love everyone. And I love movie stars. But the casting questions and the recasting questions, we've used all our ideas. Everybody loves fantasy sports. At this point, I would like to see money in exchange for having the movie made, if I'm going to keep doing it. Oh, interesting. You want producer credit. Yeah. Okay. Good to know. What's next, Bobby? We got a question from Jules. And we honestly got a ton of questions about at-home viewing setups, whether they've changed.

1:30:42We've answered questions like this in the past, but it's obviously been a couple of years. So here's Jules' question. My question is about the method of watching movies. There's always been a debate about theater versus home viewing, especially recently with the rise of streaming and better home setups. Where do you personally prefer to watch at home on a screener, streamer, or in theater? And what's your at-home viewing setup like nowadays? I mean theater 1000 % much prefer to watch a movie in a theater I just had this experience with virtual Sundance where there were at least a few films I would have liked to have been in a theater for there are a lot of times when I'll read reviews of films yes the logging one which is called Train Dreams a beautiful film that Amanda has chosen to mock on this podcast

1:31:30I I sometimes read criticism of a movie that I watched at home. And I'm like, maybe I missed something. Because I didn't see it in the way it was meant to be seen, as Bobby was saying, with the rep screenings. Because it is harder. And not because I'm distracted even necessarily at home. It's just different. It's just less immersive. So I would rather not watch a screener. But in our line of work, time is a serious consideration. And so I have to watch some things on screeners. I have to experience movies that way. because I just can't see everything while also navigating my life. So for my house, I have an 85-inch 4K Samsung television.

1:32:06I have an Arc Ultra Sonos. I was just imagining me trying to guess what type of TV and like pretend. Keep going. Everybody always asks me what Blu-ray player should I get. This is the number one question I get from people. Well, I think that's awesome. You do Blu-ray players and I'll do Kitchen Islands. Okay. I mean, that is us to a T. It's Sony. This is my only rec on this. Sony UBPX700 4K Ultra Blu-ray region-free player. You can play any disc from around the world on this player. It's very easy to toggle between regions. I have four of these in my house. Four? Yeah. Okay, bedroom, living room, garage.

1:32:52Bedroom, living room, garage. No, three. You're right. Okay. I used to have one in the spare bedroom. Oh, okay. It's not plugged in because I don't have a table there anymore. But I do own four. Okay. Oh, so can I have one? You can borrow one. Okay. It's retailing for$200 right now. That is pretty cheap. I would also say it's probably not a bad idea to have a few of these because who the fuck knows when they're going to discontinue making these things. Because this is not. I mean, but this is where, like, you have me until you get to, like, your prepper mode of it. You know? Where you're like, I have to own, I have to create, like, my own library of Alexandria.

1:33:33And I have to have, like, 45 DVD players in my closet for when they break. Bill Simmons is completely 4K-pilled. He's been acquiring 4Ks. And we talk about it every week. Right. Chris Ryan has discovered Radiance Films and is getting excited about buying Blu-rays. So you're going to be left behind. So here's the thing is that you've just described two men who I love with all my heart. Two great men. Two of the greatest to do it. I love them both dearly. I like them both a lot more than you. But, like, you know, Bill is transferring a collectible habit from sports stuff to something. He has a collector's mind.

1:34:19He does. To go with his stat mind and his baseball card mind, for lack of a better word. His extremely powerful brain. Very, very powerful. That has created extraordinary success. But in many ways, he has been thinking this way for a long time. and he's just, he's finding a new venue for it. And then, you know, Chris can do whatever he wants. Chris is my guy for life. I don't care. Okay. So, that's how he wants to spend his money. I can train dreams. I'm, you'd be stuck in that logging valley all by yourself forever. Okay. Reading books. I mean, you know, books are also hanging on. Okay. Okay.

1:34:58Just like in the history of, of time and art. More and more people are reading and seeing that every day. Uh, so that's my setup at home. Okay, cool. It's perfectly fine. I tell you what is not good is my couch. It's not that comfortable. Oh, I like your couch. Well, it's like, it seats a lot of people. Oh, in the living room. The living room couch is good. In the garage, it's not good. Oh, okay. I haven't. I just got to get movie theater seats in there. That's what I got to do. Okay. Well. That's what I'm going to do. Not if John Baker wins Best Director. Oh, boy. I think you should just get like a, like a poker table folding chair and you should just strap yourself into it.

1:35:35You know, Clockwork Orange style. Yeah. And just get the... Yeah, get the Gatorade right here in the helmet. Right? Get the Red Vines over here, like in Wayne's World. I had Red Vines yesterday at the movie theater. I saw Follow That Bird after your son's birthday party at Vidiot's. It was fucking sick. Oh, that's nice. You guys went straight from the party to the... I just went solo to Follow That Bird. Did you? I'm just kidding. I took Alice. Yeah, we just went straight from the party. His recap of the party... My son had a birthday party yesterday because it was his literal birthday. And his three-year-old recap involved walking around with Sean and Alice and juice boxes.

1:36:12So those were the things that stuck with him. Yes. I think I supplied him with two juice boxes. Here's the thing. Every single adult at the party supplied Knox with juice boxes. So my guy had like 45 juice boxes. Speaking of train dreams, we were playing on a train, me and Alice and Knox, and he was fired up. He was the most enthusiastic man that's ever been on a train. It was like, it was Richard Gere and I'm not there. And then it was Knox. It was really something. He was super happy. We had a lot of fun. It was a great party. Okay. Now what's next? All right. This is a funny one. I don't know how we could ever even guess this, but it's funny anyway.

1:36:49Skylar asks, on just a quick estimate, how many times do you think you've visited the movie theater in your lifetime? I wanted to keep track of this on a yearly basis. like now. All right. Like how many times am I in the theater per that question about at-home screenings. In my lifetime, a thousand? You think that's all? Well, let's just do the math. So once a week, probably. And for the, and I think you can probably average it out for you anyway because the - It's probably twice a week for me at this point. Yeah, but there were some years where you weren't going every week. So you want to average it to once a week.

1:37:29Yeah, so 52 times 42. Let's do 50 times 40 because I can do math without my... So that's 2 ,000 times. Okay, 2 ,000 times. I've been to the movie theater 2 ,000 times. Okay. That sounds right. I think I've probably been closer 1 ,000 to 1 ,500. Right? Yeah, probably. Yeah. I mean, in the last seven years... A lot. We go to the movies a lot. Yeah. I would say it's probably ultimately more than both of our estimates because like I don't know I also go to film festivals that's five a day right so it's way up there honestly I still love it I was in the movie theater on Saturday and Sunday over the weekend saw Paddington in Peru the eye pick which was great saw Follow That Bird yeah which was great these are two movies that were made for like eight year olds and I was having the time of my life just loved going to the movies it's the best I agree I'm excited okay what's next how about you Bob how many times have you been to the movie theater I would say I'm probably closer to like your first guess a thousand I do log how many times I go to the theater now because I tag it on letterbox when I see it in a theater versus when I watch it at home and my goal last year was to go more than a hundred times and I hit that goal one one ten hundred times ten times the theater last year so I don't think I've been at that pace my whole life though so no yeah there was a couple years there were so yeah yeah yeah so probably more like a thousand.

1:38:56We got a lot of questions about the theater-going experience and how it's changed in the course of doing the show. Obviously, this has been a constant conversation of the show and something we get asked about a lot. But Matt wrote in to say, I'm curious in hearing a conversation around the future of the theater-going experience. I go see movies on the big screen as much as I can and find myself thinking about what the experience will be like in five years. We both have discussed this off and on throughout the years, but it's been a while since you reflected on that. I think one of the interesting Outcomes of some of the brutalist conversation Is a follow-up on the Oppenheimer conversation Which is a follow-up on the Avatar conversation Which is that large format unique experiences Is where a lot of both the business and the fandom is going And so in five years I think you won't necessarily see less movies Because there are a lot of people trying to make movies to catch people's attention right now but you'll see more eventizing around movies and I think the studios are kind of getting hip to the kind of film bro-y thing that has happened and not just bro-y obviously a lot of women as well but this is the cinephilia amongst young people and trying to lean into it that we're seeing a lot of re-releases recently and people showing out like the interstellar success is yeah really notable and there were a couple versions of that last year as well and so So I think kind of just turning it, like I've said in the past, like a little bit more like record store day, you know, and the vinyl craze where you're like, this is more rare.

1:40:26And this is like a cool thing that is more expensive, but worth it for the experience. And you're doing something with people. You know, it's not quite going to Disneyland, but like the popcorn buckets and everything is about, you know, how it feels to be in the movie theater. I think we've, you know, we have compared it to amusement parks often. And we've also used the, like, the concert comp. But I do kind of think that that is the model for, and really just kind of how you consume music and how you make money off of music, which is, as we know, in the touring, the event aspect of it. Right.

1:41:07And like, you know, you have the Aeros tour and now everyone's going to try to do their giant like event IMAX version of that. But then there are, you know, smaller acts who you go see like, you know, at different places. And you don't go as frequently as you used to, I think, to, you know, concerts. You don't go every single week, probably, which is I mean, unless you're 27 and that's awesome for you, Bobby. Once again, congratulations on, you know, living your life. so it's rarer but there's a range of experiences a range of price points you spend time with the art or the art around the art in one way or another before you go like you have to have some sort of relationship to get you to the venue and then yeah like the merch and all of the the extracurricular stuff is also part of the financial equation.

1:42:02Yeah it's weird movie culture is both cheap and expensive. Like tickets are, they're getting more expensive by the year, but they're still cheap relative to a live concert. But then a lot of times, if you don't like a movie, you don't really know what you're sitting yourself down for. Part of the purpose of this show is to help you figure out what you should and shouldn't see based on what you like. And so it's still a risk. And so what you might find is what's been happening culturally across the world, which is people kind of only leaning into the things that they know they're going to like.

1:42:33Yeah. And The Brutalist and Oppenheimer is kind of like the MCU in that way. It's kind of like those streaming romance movies that we were talking about last week on the episode where you're like, I like this kind of thing and that's it. So a real challenge for movies is how do you get people interested in something that they don't know anything about that they might not like? That's really hard. We have way too many, not just options, but way too much personal freedom in terms of entertainment right now. So I don't know. When you hear people doom and gloom about is partially because of those things where I could literally just sit at home with a Criterion channel until I die if I so chose.

1:43:09I don't, but you could and still have a great movie watching life. So it's tricky. I'm not totally sure what's going to happen to the multiplex stuff. It kind of seems like a lot of that stuff is evened out. It doesn't seem like AMC and Regal and all those companies are in the same financial straits, although there's talk of you potentially joining me at CinemaCon. And if you do join me, you're going to hear a lot about this. You're going to hear a lot of exaggerated enthusiasm, I would say, for the future of theatrical. Sure. Yeah. As you know, I love to hear from movie theater owners. But I've never been to Vegas, so it would be a funny...

1:43:51Got to put a GoPro in your head for the whole trip. I know. Well, when do I just get to... The GoPro would be best like me following you around playing poker at like 4 a.m. It would be so boring. Do you think you could ever recover from that? It's just me listening to Illmatic quietly with my head down. I know. And not making eye contact with anyone. It's like I've actually never seen it. I've heard tell so many times. But I think I would be. Sean Fentasy is Michael Fassbender, is the killer in The Killer. Really alarmed. Yeah. It's good though. But it's again. Anything to pull$400 off the table.

1:44:26Sure, yeah. It is my hobby. We'll put it towards the kitchen island. You think I should flip and make that hobby my occupation and then turn movies back to my hobby? I don't know. Would that be more financially advantageous? Probably not. Not at this point. Especially considering how weak my poker game has been the last five years. I think it would be good for the pod, though. If you took like a two-year Michael Jordan-style hiatus and went to play minor league baseball, but it was really just you grinding at the poker table rounder style. Yeah. You think everyone would keep listening if I was talking about all my hands?

1:44:52the only thing more boring than people talking about their fantasy team is people recounting hands that they had and they played in poker and God bless my wife I haven't listened to that a lot I think in this version you go away for two years and someone takes over the feed with Amanda like Chris or something and then you come back storming through with your lived experience no I would need like the live because we have to chronicle the disintegration of Sean's like mental and emotional I live at the win yeah I move into the win full time we could get him on the phone WFAN caller style yeah exactly while he's live betting at the table I think we could do that that reminds me of and then he puts all the winnings towards the DVD collection instead of you know his like life responsibilities yeah and so then it's both like you know it is like the unboxing videos but also is like a Sundance drama about a dad just like you know today we're unboxing my draining of my 401k

1:45:58we're unboxing me realizing i'm acting like oscar isaac in the card counter yeah okay let's do two more all right we got a question here from david but also for many many many people about this exact thing because i think there's a lot of new parents judging off the people who wrote into the show. God bless all of you. How exactly do you balance the podcasting, preparing for the podcasting, watching all the movies, going to the screenings, doing the interviews and everything else we don't know about while also having families, children, partners, and giving everything equal time and attention?

1:46:30Are your days just scheduled to the minute or what? I need answers. Yeah. I mean, the big top answer is that we have a ton of help. And like, I mean, like that's my answer. We have an incredible nanny. I have a partner who shares things like truly 50-50. Our kids go to a great school, you know, like Bobby and Jack. Like we just we have like a lot of help, both in child care and professional stuff, which is, I think, the only way that anyone gets anything done. And I really feel for all the parents in the world who don't have this kind of help. And it is, you know, it should not be a privilege.

1:47:11It should be a right to everyone. So that that is that's where I am. Nitty gritty. There were several months where I didn't get to watch that many movies because I was totally sleep deprived. I mean, like, I don't know what else to you know, and you have a superhuman ability to not sleep. So now I put the kids to bed and I try to do one movie a night. That's like kind of my goal. And if you can hit it right where dinner is cooked and like Knox agrees to go to sleep instead of needing like three water refills. And like I, you know, and I showered already, you know, because like I have to time my showering because I have to like look decent on YouTube because I once again, I'm 40 on YouTube.

1:47:58So if I hit that right, I can watch a movie and then still be in bed at a decent hour. so that's one a day and then I have the privilege of being able to like schedule in either a screening or okay I'm gonna disappear and watch this movie from this time to this time while other people are taking care of my children but like that is everything that it takes so you know all working parents have some version of this that mine is to get to watch movies is awesome. But I feel you guys. You're doing great. All of you are doing great. It's really hard being a new parent and you're doing great. I don't really know how I do it at this point.

1:48:42You do like 45 things at once. Can I ask you something actually? Sure. Because this is, so not this past Saturday, but this Saturday, like a week ago, you were not on a plane but you were just like a plane sean level like mode of like communication and productivity in a nice way it's always nice to hear from you sean but from like three to six on saturday you were just like you were in the matrix and i had the thought to myself of like where are eileen and alice like what's what is going on and how were you able to achieve that It was virtual Sundance. And so I had negotiated and done a lot of childcare in the previous days to allow for as much Sundance consumption as possible.

1:49:31So I was very much locked in on work. And also virtual Sundance gave me a chance to be like thinking about work in the way that I used to when I didn't have a kid and I worked every weekend and had millions of ideas and was super engaged in everything in a way that's just not possible when you have a family. I mean look last Thursday I'll just read you my schedule we had a conversation with our I guess our chairman Daniel Eck from 7am to 8am I drove my daughter to school from 8 to 9 then I had a call at 9 to 930 then I had a call at 930 to 10 then I had a meeting at 10 then I had a meeting at 1030 we recorded Garbage Love at 1115 I had a call at 1 I had a call at 115 15.

1:50:17I had a site strategy meeting at two. I had to check in with Juliet at two 30. I had a doctor's women at three, drove home at four. I had to watch Alice cause I only went out from five to seven 30 and then she went to bed and I watched two movies. That's what I do. Yeah. That's what I do most days. Um, yeah, I will have a mental breakdown. Like I will legitimately be institutionalized. because to go from 7 to 10 every day is hard. But it's more or less what I do. And that's on a day where I only watch two movies. No, I was going to say. It's easier on non-record days. Totally. But invariably on a non-record day I have more ringer work to do.

1:51:03And that's a day where I didn't have to travel. I just had a local doctor's appointment. Right, right, right. But when we have screening days it's not just driving to the screening it's one hour in the car one hour back yeah and the reality is like that is where I've chosen to like I just can't go to screenings so if anyone who schedules screenings in Los Angeles is listening like since we're making this personal like you guys gotta do east side like I we just please I'm begging you it would help us so much I can't drive to Beverly Hills because it is an hour to like an hour and a half to two hours it's annoying on the flip side you foregrounded the conversation properly I'll end it properly I have the coolest job in the universe.

1:51:42Yeah, I mean, it's like. And I'm very fortunate to have found my career in this position. And so I'm not complaining when I say I'm going to have a mental breakdown. I've put myself in this position. No one's forcing me to do any of this stuff. I also have a ton of help. And I think I heard Chris Berman on the press box say that only 15 % of people in America get to work in the field that they want to and be happy, let alone do the thing that they want to. I get to hang out with you all the time and talk about my favorite thing. And we get to make a show that people listen to, which is amazing to me.

1:52:18And I also get to work at The Ringer, which is something that I couldn't have even imagined when I was 20 or 30. So very, very lucky. But self-care is not one of my skills. No. So I was going to say, can we, because it's new parents that were asking this, Bobby? many many people wrote in saying they had kids under three years old right and how do you get mirroring their life experiences through what you guys talk about totally and so what i would say to the parents with with love and respect and and deep gratitude for you is don't put the pressure on yourself that sean puts on himself to watch you know watch if you can get one in every once in a while.

1:52:59One a day is great. One a day is very healthy. One a day or one every, like every few days. I, I think that I watched several movies like over the course of a couple nights, especially when Cy was like figuring his sleep out, you know? Um, Zach and I haven't had like a date night in a long time, but we have managed to independently, like to the movies, I mean, but we have managed to independently see a few movies and then talk about them afterwards, which, you know, that's one thing that you can do. Be kind to yourself. And also, if movies, if it's not your line of work, if movies can be just like a nice thing that you do for yourself.

1:53:42It's a great hobby. Yeah, let it be that hobby. It's a great passion. It's a great personal thing. It's a great entire career if you have restraint. And if you don't, it's not. You will be a brutal boy like me. Uh, let's do one more. All right. We got one final question here from Harry. Sean and Amanda always impressed me with how quickly they can articulate what they think the intent of a filmmaker is. I want to ask how you guys watch movies. Are you constantly thinking about the intent and where did you learn the skills to decipher these ideas? How do you train the eye or ear to pull out the idea that the artist is smuggling in?

1:54:21Well, I think that's giving us a lot of credit personally, but thank you. That's very nice. I think it's one part practice one part either you see it or you don't see it I mean I very vividly remember being in English class and reading novels and participating because I love to hear the sound of my own voice obviously and thinking I understood what a story meant or where a writer was going or something I was always interested in theme and subtext and so it's natural when you get really invested in movies and you start thinking about things on these continuums of experience that the way that everything's all connected to each other and why are they connected to each other and what movies has one filmmaker seen?

1:55:03And, you know, it's not a game so much, but it kind of, it just deepens your experience of watching the movies. But, you know, you're a classics major and you read all the time. I feel like they're connected. Sure. I guess some of it is not even the work of criticism, but just... when you are, how you consume art and do you enjoy consuming art and what do you look for and respond to in it? And why are you like watching or reading or looking at what you're looking at? And so I guess that is sort of at some point what we respond to. And when we're talking about it, when we're talking about the themes of the movie, it's because that is like is what we took away from it.

1:55:49The same way that if you like look at a painting and you like really like the color of blue that they figured out and that speaks to you in some way. in terms of intent I mean you know sometimes I think that who knows if we're right you know because we are not in a filmmaker's brain it's almost never confirmed yeah it's never confirmed I'm sure we're wrong 80 % of the time right and also like maybe we rely too much on it because I think we're interested in filmmakers as well we think that they are cool people and so and to make a film is to us like an incredible artistic achievement and, you know, also a feat of organizing and diplomacy and like and financial manipulation and many other things.

1:56:39So I don't know if we're always right. And I don't know if we're always if that's how they want the movie, even if like their intent is their intent, you know, or the intent for the film. But I guess I think it's just how we respond to it. And we respond to it by the way that we've learned that is just by watching a lot of movies. And I guess like we had some formal journalism training as well. Yeah. I mean. That it does affect how we think about it. Like we were magazine babies. The last magazine babies. And so we definitely bring that. But yeah. Yeah. I mean, I edited lots and lots of criticism over the years.

1:57:21So that's part of it. I think the other thing too is that for me at this stage of my life, intent engenders sympathy or empathy. And maybe that's not the right thing if you are a hardline, ink-stained wretch film critic. But I'm interested in what artists are thinking and what they want to achieve. It's just something I've always been interested in. I'm increasingly interested in it as I get older. I'm way less worried about like, here's why this sucks. It's just not, it's actually not, I don't find it to be a very rewarding use of my time and where I want my head to be when I'm spending all this time on movies.

1:57:57So it's a very personal thing, but when you start thinking about what someone was trying to accomplish, it gives you a sense of if they did err, why or how they erred more clearly to me. It's part of the reason why I like doing the filmmaker interviews is because sometimes they'll just say, this is what I wanted this to be. or I wanted to do something formally this way. I wanted to use this tool or I wanted to work with this actor. And then you better understand what they were going for and then you can better understand the movie. So it's basically understanding because I obviously have said many times like understand myself through understanding the movies and most artists are putting so much of themselves.

1:58:34Most directors are putting huge parts of their lives into these movies. There's that hilarious James Lipton quote where he talks about his parents and like how they are representative as characters in his movies. And Steven Spielberg is like sitting there dumbfounded by the insight that James Lipton has discovered into his life based on this one question on Inside the Actor's Studio. And it's like, these people are doing it consciously. They're doing it subconsciously. So I think actually to kind of seek and search for those things has real value in movie enjoyment. So whether we're good at it or not.

1:59:10Yeah, I don't really know. I'm sure movie to movie who the fuck knows right we're doing our best yeah we're doing our best we did our best today Bob you did your best you found a lot of questions I want to thank you for that Bobby are you in fact still 27 Bob's 28 I'm 28 have been almost 29 yeah coming up really coming up in a month and a half you're 27 forever in my heart you know that's great I'd love to stay 27 forever in your heart and in real life yeah I would take your 27 year old physique Maybe not that mind, though. There's so much to learn. Did we get any questions about protein, flexibility?

1:59:50No one's coming to us for that kind of insight yet? There's a very real possibility that we got about 400 of them in the next 600 emails that I haven't had the time to read yet. So I'm going to go through them. I'm going to sort through. You and I are really exploring new frontiers. And you've been very supportive in all of my journey. And I want to thank you for that as well, as well as for being 28 and working hard. Yes, it makes me happy to see people committing, doubling down on protein flexibility and extending our musculoskeletal forms, corporeal forms. That's what drives me here at The Big Picture Incorporated.

2:00:27I just remembered that if I won the big bet that maybe I was going to have you do a podcast with the weights. and I should really explore that, you know, because it's on the table now. But what's going to happen? I'll do it for 30 seconds and then it will be over and I'll have to put them down. Yeah, but that's, I mean, that's a good Instagram clip. That's like sometimes all you need in life, you know, is like one good reel. It's true. Sometimes all you need in life is one good reel. That's what many filmmakers have been saying for 120 years in this country. Thanks to Jack Sanders. Thanks to our producer, Bobby Wagner, for his work on this episode.

2:01:03what are we doing later this week? What do we have? What are we doing later this week? We're recording a lot of things. We are. Oh, next. Oh, Paddington in Peru. I'm taking Knox. Paddington in Peru. Yeah. And also Bridget Jones, Mad About the Boy. Yeah. But isn't that Monday's episode? That's next week. Yeah, that's next week. We have a conversation about Captain America. Oh, God. I totally forgot that I have to go see that tomorrow night. Red Hulk. Red Hulk. Like, I'm seeing Mickey 17 today. you know sometimes it's just like you could hit forward on the email it's for editorial purposes so oh okay alright very excited that's great Captain America Brave New World my heart is open I'd like to enjoy it I guess sure my heart's open too okay Red Hulk and that reminds me that I gotta see what's the one that's like the you know the conversation or whatever just like oh 70s amazing I believe they used that to sell Captain America The Winter Soldier.

2:02:04Yeah, I got to see that one. Which is a perfectly fine film, but does not resemble Three Days of the Condor in any way. Okay. Nor does it resemble All the President's Men or Clute or any of the other movies that were cited as inspirations for it. Okay. But it's fun. I watched it and I thought it was a dead ringer for Parallax View, though. Yeah, it's not quite in that zone. Those guys should not talk about, they should not compare their work to Antonioni or any of the other cinema masters. They should say, we've made a cool Marvel movie. I hope you like it. Okay. I would be good with that, personally.

2:02:36Okay, so Captain America. Brave New World. Okay. Which is, of course, this is an adaptation of the Algeist Huxley novel, which I'm really excited about. One of my favorite works of mid-century sci-fi. Goo, right? They turn into goo? Don't they turn the humans into goo that... What am I thinking of? I think you're thinking of the substance. No, no, no, no. What's happening here? We were so close to being wrapped. Sean did the outro already. then he asked me what's next that's true there's not like isn't there some sort of substance in Brave New World or am I thinking of a different book that they made you read in elementary school oh isn't Brave New World Soma yeah Soma is the you know the narcotizing there we go well it's not a goo I think it's more of a pill right well penis producing drug yes okay yeah it's kind of precursor to antidepressants I think is the intention there so it's sort of like okay Okay.

2:03:32Defuses the impulses that would make you want to be free. Okay. Again, you know, English student in ninth grade, you can imagine me reading Brave New World having consumed lots of science fiction and being like, sir, sir, I have some thoughts on Huxley's thoughts. We'll have some more thoughts on Brave New World later this week. See you then.

2:04:02Thank you.