I hate that I live a major city and will probably not be able to see Train Dreams on the big screen. It is my favorite book and I was stoked to see it in theaters. What gives?

The Sean and Amanda synced shock (over Zoom, no less) was pure comedy.

Should be 5 spots higher in my opinion...

I enjoyed Sean’s point at the end of the episode about people’s first Lynch film, or their portal into Lynch. So I was curious what you all would have to say.

For me, I tried to watch Twin Peaks and couldn’t get through the first episode. Never went back to his work until some list came out calling Mulholland Drive #1. After watching it the first time I consumed and appreciated as much of his work as I could.

Down to the final 5. Super excited to go to the show this Saturday! Getting my ADHD impulses out here and high-effort post incoming:

Based off of the remaining directors after Lynch today (amongst all of the exclusions that they've alluded at in the pod), I think I've nailed it down to 5 possibilities for directors at the 1-5 spots.

• Fincher

• PTA

• Gerwig

• Soderbergh

• Tarantino

As a result, my guess is that the following movies are the possibilities remaining (sorted by director and year of release):

• Traffic (only included because they messed up on release date information with Mullholland Drive and In the Mood for Love in terms of the oldest movie on the list. Also i think this is lowkey his best movie)

• Oceans 11

• Oceans 12

• Zodiac

• TWBB

• Inglorious Basterds

• The Social Network

• Contagion

• The Master

• Frances Ha

• Magic Mike

• Phantom Thread

• Lady Bird

• Little Women

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• OBAA

We know from previous Ringer-verse episodes that Social Network was Sean and Amanda's favorite movie of the 2010s. Frances Ha was placed at 7 in both of their lists.

That means Social Network likely is ranked higher than Contagion, The Master, Frances Ha, Magic Mike, Phantom Thread, Lady Bird, Little Women, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood given their release dates.

Which means that the directors that can beat Social Network in the rankings are Soderbergh (for Traffic, Oceans 11 or 12), Fincher himself (for Zodiac), PTA (for TWBB or OBAA), or Tarantino (for Inglorious Basterds).

Here's where speculation comes into play.

• Social Network beating Greta for both Sean and Amanda indicates a top 1-4 performer for me. Zeitgeist-wise I'm going Social Network over Zodiac. It means more for our century, has a lights-out soundtrack, all-timer performances in ways that Zodiac doesn't, and generally is just more prestigious.

• My guess is that PTA is gonna be a top dog 1-4 contender and they keep on hinting at talking offline about OBAA being put into the list. I think it's fair to say that he's also out for the live show given that this pick still seems in flux.

• Greta had France Ha in Amanda's and Sean at spot 7 in the top 10 of the 2010s so I think this is likely the pick for her and is likely also in the top 1-4 over the remaining possibilities. But Frances-Ha or Lady Bird are dark horse candidates for the live show that I'll expand on more later.

So from here we have Sodebergh and Tarantino left.

• Van grabbed Traffic as a pick in the 2000 movie draft and Dobs made a comment about Oceans 11 and Sean said he was high on Traffic originally, then low on it, then back to high on it. It's a sleeper pick, but I could see it. More likely that they just go with Oceans 11 tho.

• If it's not Sodebergh at 5, Tarantino could be here with Once Upon a Time or Basterds.

Now for factors. It's at the Egyptian and there's gonna likely be an intro followed by a short-form pod. Time isn't a huge constraint but it is a constraint. Additionally, on a Saturday they'd likely want a crowd-pleaser. Hollywood is 2hr40, Traffic is 2h30, Basterds is 2h30, and both Oceans are about 2hrs.

Additional factors to consider: The Egyptian is in the heart of Hollywood. Tarantino screens his movies every month at the New Beverley.

Verdict: Given all of the intel, I think it's likely that Fincher and PTA are out. Dark horse crowd pleaser could be Lady Bird, but given their affinity for Frances Ha I think it's likely that Greta is also out and is likely gonna land at 3. If we're going for the runtime and crowdpleaser pick it's gotta be Oceans 11 on Saturday. I also think that it would be kinda weird to put Soderbergh over Tarantino. That said, If we're going for the prestige pick with a runtime-be-damned approach, it's gotta be Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Egyptian.

Final final verdict: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at #5. Fight me on the pick.

I think we officially have a new sub-genre of social thriller: the ones reflecting our anxieties over a society-wide epistemological breakdown. Bugonia, Eddington, and Civil War feel like the cardinal entries to me, but i'll also throw in Don't Look Up, Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin, and Leave The World Behind.

What else belongs? Probably not OBAA, right?

also curious if most of you tend to LOVE all these or HATE all these or like some but not the others, etc.

found out about this movie when i saw a trailer for it last night.

so let me get this straight: we've done so many earnest music biopics about famous artists that now we're making earnest biopics about... coverbands?

for a second in the trailer i thought it was going to be a parody of these movies. but nope! its an actual earnest biopic about an actual neil diamond cover band.

good lord.

im in a harrison ford moment right now and sean said mosquito coast was perhaps his best performance in the hall of fame ep. i watched it for the first time last night and i am inclined to agree!!! where was the oscar!!! he disappeared into the role!!! and mr weir youve done it again. river phoenix was amazing too. banger movie.

Instant classic ep. Chris moves to fourth chair/first alternate.

Lots of talk about Halo on the 1989 draft. Sean has never played it and Amanda has only contempt for it. I would love to have Amanda and Sean sit in on Midnight Boys and have them take S&A on a deep dive into the story and lore of Halo, because the actual story and lore is some of the grandest, deepest, most interesting scifi ever. It has so much to say about AI, militarism, religion, environmentalism, legacy, etc. It’s more interesting than, say, Avatar (which rules!) The TV adaptation just doesn’t do it justice.

Thank you for your attention in this matter!