Amanda is joined by The Ringer’s very own Jomi Adeniran, Jade Whaley, and Jack Sanders to convey the first (and possibly last) Gen Z Movie Focus Group! They discuss how they watched movies growing up versus today, debate what is the most important movie to Gen Z, and assess whether movies are “so back” or “so over.”Host: Amanda Dobbins Guests: Jomi Adeniran, Jade Whaley, and Jack Sanders Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producers: Jack Sanders and Cory McConnell Learn more about your ad choic...
Apr 01, 2025•2 hr 30 min
Amanda is joined by Yasi Salek to create a new mini-genre called "Garbage Women," a list of mediocre to bad streaming movies starring the greatest actresses of our generation. Before officially forming the canon, they cover some recent releases that fit into the genre, ‘Holland’ (2:54) and ‘Kinda Pregnant’ (20:44). Then, they get into the list, working through the official criteria, discussing what they love and hate about these types of movies, and sharing their notes for future Garbage Women f...
Mar 28, 2025•2 hr 36 min
Sean and Amanda return to continue their year-long project of listing the 25 best movies of the 21st century so far with a discussion of Park Chan-wook’s ‘The Handmaiden,’ the 2016 erotic thriller period piece starring Kim Tae-ri and featuring some of the best camera work and production design of the century. They talk about Park Chan-wook’s incredible ability to complicate simple stories with depth of design, how it portrays the complicated power dynamics of sex, and why its layered portrayal o...
Mar 26, 2025•43 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan to react to some trailer and release calendar news about ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Materialists,’ ‘F1,’ ‘Together,’ and ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ (2:41). Then, they discuss Barry Levinson’s new gangster movie ‘The Alto Nights,’ written by Nicholas Pileggi and starring Robert De Niro (18:58). Finally, they sketch out a new mini-genre, “Garbage Scorsese,” a list of films that are deeply indebted to the work of Martin Scorsese but not actually that good (43...
Mar 24, 2025•2 hr 30 min
We’re drafting again! Sean, Amanda, and Chris are joined by the resident physical-media king of 'The Big Picture,' Tracy Letts, to draft movies from 1982 and take stock of the biggest ways the film world has changed in the past 40 years. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Tracy Letts and Chris Ryan Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 21, 2025•2 hr 18 min
Sean and Amanda kick off their year-long project of listing the 25 best movies of the 21st century so far with a discussion of Tony Gilroy’s ‘Michael Clayton,’ the 2007 legal thriller starring George Clooney and featuring one of the best scripts of the century. They talk about how tightly wound the movie is, some sliding doors in its production, and what it means for the list to start with such a beloved movie for both Sean and Amanda. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bo...
Mar 19, 2025•42 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan to discuss the latest Netflix mega-budget action movie, ‘The Electric State,’ one of the worst movies of the decade so far (1:00). They discuss the state of Netflix’s influence on the movie industry and the series of disastrous movies made by the Russo brothers since they left Marvel. Then, they run through a list of other movies they’ve missed on the show, including ‘The Gorge’ (47:00), ‘Last Breath’ (56:00), ‘The Monkey’ (1:00:00), ‘Eephus’ (1:04:00), ‘...
Mar 17, 2025•2 hr 18 min
Sean and Amanda discuss their upcoming trip to Las Vegas for CinemaCon (1:00) before taking stock of Steven Soderbergh’s 36th feature film, ‘Black Bag,’ starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender (8:30). Then, they build a Hall of Fame for Blanchett by selecting the 10 most important performances by the two-time Oscar winner (27:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producers: John Richter and Jon Jones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...
Mar 14, 2025•2 hr 49 min
After a brief discussion of the A24-inflected ‘Thunderbolts*’ trailer that dropped over the weekend (0:45), Sean and Amanda dive into Bong Joon-ho’s eighth feature film, ‘Mickey 17’ (4:15). They discuss its often uneven tone, how the film fits into Bong Joon-ho’s body of work, Robert Pattinson’s incredible performance and lack of movie star persona, and some of their favorite scenes. Then, they rank all eight of Bong Joon-ho’s feature films (49:32). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Produ...
Mar 10, 2025•1 hr 22 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Joanna Robinson to tie up some loose ends from Sunday’s Oscars (1:00) and to answer your mailbag questions about ‘Anora,’ Sean Baker’s huge night, snubs, ratings, the cultural relevance of the ceremony, and anything else you could cook up about the awards (42:00). Then, Sean is joined by returning guest Bong Joon-ho and interpreter Sharon Choi to discuss his new film ‘Mickey 17,’ following up the tremendous success of ‘Parasite,’ his famous storyboarding style, what...
Mar 06, 2025•2 hr 13 min
Sean and Amanda sit down moments after the conclusion of the 2025 Academy Awards to discuss ‘Anora’ and Sean Baker’s historic night. They discuss Baker taking home four Oscars for the same film, the uneven nature of the telecast and speeches, which films petered out before Hollywood’s biggest night, and much more. Plus: the results of Sean and Amanda’s final Oscar predictions as well as their Big Oscar Bet from back in September (0:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: B...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 20 min
Sean and Amanda discuss a bit of news about the 2026 movie slate (1:00), then launch headfirst into their final predictions for the 2025 Oscars’ winners, losers, and everything in between (15:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 27, 2025•2 hr 40 min
Sean and Amanda return for their fifth annual Alternative Oscar awards (a.k.a. the Big Picks), in which they award alternative nominees and winners for the major Oscar categories, as well as some of our own homemade categories. The snubbed, the beloved, and more are all represented here (44:00)! Before handing out the awards, they react to the past week’s big news in the film world, including a fascinating Timothée Chalamet SAG speech, and the news that the Broccoli family has ceded creative con...
Feb 25, 2025•2 hr 50 min
Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan gather to draft films that have been awarded Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This time, they select from six categories: 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, 2010s, and Best Picture Loser. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by ‘Bandsplain’ host Yasi Salek to discuss ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,’ the fourth installment in the franchise (1:00), before breaking down ‘Paddington in Peru,’ the third film in the beloved ‘Paddington’ series (35:00). Then, they sketch out a loose American vision of the British film canon for the 21st century (50:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Yasi Salek Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan to review the utter mess that is ‘Captain America: Brave New World.’ They discuss its various rewrites, the ways the movie shows its seams, why Harrison Ford is even interested in taking roles like this, and what it means for the end of Phase 5 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Sean and Amanda react to the movie trailers that ran during the Super Bowl and give their broader thoughts about cinema’s role in football’s biggest broadcast (1:00). Then, they dig into the PGA and DGA Awards, including what they portend for the front-running films at the Oscars, like ‘Anora,’ ‘The Brutalist,’ and ‘Emilia Pérez’ (11:00). Finally, they open up the mailbag: Listeners sent in over 1,000 questions about watching habits, the state of theater-going, auteur theory, work-life-movie bal...
Feb 10, 2025•2 hr 9 min
Sean and Amanda react to the ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ trailers (1:00) before discussing the slate of movies being released that are tied to Valentine’s Day, including Drew Hancock’s ‘Companion’ (15:15), ‘You’re Cordially Invited’ (29:30), ‘Love Me’, and ‘Heart Eyes’ (40:00). Then, they mint a new bespoke subgenre called “garbage love”—romance movies that use genre as a vehicle to deliver their love stories (55:00). Then, Sean is joined by Hancock to discuss his circuitous jo...
Feb 07, 2025•2 hr 11 min
Sean and Amanda discuss the evolving story of Karla Sofía Gascón’s old tweets (1:00) and what it might portend for the ‘Emilia Pérez’ Oscar hopes. Then, they discuss an underwhelming Sundance 2025 (12:00) before diving deep into one of the best movies of 2024, ‘Nickel Boys’ (44:00), and discussing the excellent Michael Keaton performance at the center of ‘Goodrich’ (1:01:00). Finally, Sean is joined by director Tim Fehlbaum to discuss ‘September 5,’ how he became interested in the story that it ...
Feb 04, 2025•2 hr 45 min
Sean and Amanda dig into ‘The Brutalist’ (with spoilers!)—the text, the reception, the performances, the score, its awards chances, its lasting presence in the American film canon, and everything in between (1:00). Then, they’re joined by Joanna Robinson to weigh in on the Best Picture race and rank all 10 films nominated for the award based on their current chances to win the race (1:31:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Prod...
Jan 31, 2025•2 hr 28 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Yasi Salek to discuss ‘Better Man,’ the bizarro Robbie Williams biopic in which he is rendered as a CGI chimpanzee (1:00) and ‘One of Them Days,’ the Keke Palmer and SZA action comedy produced by Issa Rae and directed by Lawrence Lamont (29:00). Then, Yasi departs and Sean and Amanda explore ‘Back In Action,’ the spy-action-comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx that jumped up to number one on Netflix (53:00). Next, Chris Ryan joins to weigh in on ‘Wolf Man,’ ‘...
Jan 27, 2025•2 hr 16 min
Sean and Amanda give their instant reactions to the Oscar nominations announced this morning, including their takes on what films are running hot and which ones seem to have cooled off over the past few months (1:00). Is ‘Emilia Pérez’ the full-on front-runner? Will recent stories about the use of AI in ‘The Brutalist’ sour its chances in the big categories? Plus: They check in on the state of the Big Oscar Bet from September, when they attempted to predict the nominations and winners in 11 cate...
Jan 23, 2025•2 hr 42 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan to draft, in auction format, some of the movies they’re most excited for this year. They review the results and the rules from last year’s two auctions before launching into this year’s slate, including some mega-blockbusters like ‘Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning,’ ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ and ‘F1,’ as well as some smaller but still exciting indies like ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘The Phoenician Scheme.’ Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: C...
Jan 20, 2025•2 hr 58 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan to reflect on the monumental loss of David Lynch, and try to take measure of the impact his films have made on them personally and the film culture at large (1:00). Then, they run through a number of guild nominations and assess the relative strength of the awards contenders (21:00). Finally, they review ‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’ and discuss its star Gerard Butler’s essential performance at the center and whether the overall movie lives up to the first ...
Jan 17, 2025•2 hr 40 min
Sean and Amanda discuss the latest out of the guild award nominations and what it portends for Oscar chances (1:00). They then look ahead to the rest of 2025 and share their 25 collectively most anticipated movies of the year (31:00), including new films from favorites of the show like Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Bong Joon-Ho, Steven Soderbergh, and Luca Guadagnino, as well as long awaited follow-ups from exciting young directors like Chloe Zhao, Celine Song, Joseph Ko...
Jan 14, 2025•2 hr 50 min
Sean and Amanda discuss the successes, shortcomings, themes, and performances of Halina Reijn’s ‘Babygirl,’ an erotic thriller/black comedy starring Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, and Antonio Banderas (1:00). Then, they build the Kidman Hall of Fame, choosing 10 installations in her film career that best represent her full body of work (41:00). Finally, Sean is joined by Reijn to discuss making the movie, building chemistry between the stars, why she was so interested in exploring the sexual t...
Jan 08, 2025•3 hr 42 min
Sean and Amanda are joined by ‘House of R’ host Joanna Robinson to react to the 2025 Golden Globes, an up-and-down award show highlighted by strong performances from Brady Corbet’s ‘The Brutalist’ and Jacques Audiard’s ‘Emilia Pérez.’ They also discuss the movies they were surprised performed weaker on the evening, like ‘Anora,’ ‘Conclave,’ and ‘Wicked.’ Finally, they evaluate the entertainment of the broadcast and host Nikki Glaser. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Joanna Robinso...
Jan 06, 2025•2 hr 33 min
In her triumphant return, Amanda shares her overarching thoughts on the movies and shows from the past few months that she’s been out on parental leave (1:00). Then, Sean and Amanda predict the winners of each film category for Sunday’s Golden Globes (52:00. Plus: they introduce a new yearlong project for 2025 in which they count down their collective favorite films of the century so far. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Chia Hao Tat Learn mo...
Jan 03, 2025•2 hr 5 min
Sean is joined by Adam Nayman for an extensive examination of the themes, production, and style of Brady Corbet’s ‘The Brutalist,’ one of the most anticipated and audacious movies of the year (1:00). They discuss the idea of a new movie aiming at the canon, Corbet’s filmmaking style and the marketing associated with it, the chapterized structure of the storytelling, the performances both at the center and on the edges of the frame, and more. Sean is then joined by Corbet (1:17:00) to discuss the...
Dec 31, 2024•3 hr 35 min
Sean is joined by Chris Ryan and Rob Mahoney to discuss the new Robert Eggers vampire film, ‘Nosferatu,’ releasing on Christmas and starring Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard, and Nicholas Hoult (1:00). They discuss the original ‘Nosferatu,’ now more than 100 years old, Eggers’s vision of the character and story, and the long history of vampires in cinema, before ultimately each sharing their five favorite vampire movies (43:00). Then, Sean is joined by Eggers to talk about the production of the mo...
Dec 27, 2024•2 hr 51 min
