The Big Picture

By The Ringer

TV & Film

What's The Big Picture about?

Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins review the movies you need to see. Plus: Top 5s, Movie Drafts, Oscars analysis, and more, featuring a rotating cast of Ringer colleagues like Chris Ryan, Shea Serrano, Van Lathan, and Bill Simmons.

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The Steven Spielberg Rankin...

11.23.2022

‘The Fabelmans,’ Spielberg’s deeply personal new film, opens wide this holiday weekend. To celebrate, Joanna Robinson joins Sean and Amanda to break down the movie and rank all 35 of his films. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Joanna ...

The Big Picture episodes:

11.23.2022 The Steven Spielberg Rankings and ‘The Fabelmans’ ‘The Fabelmans,’ Spielberg’s deeply personal new film, opens wide this holiday weekend. To celebrate, Joanna Robinson joins Sean and Amanda to break down the movie and rank all 35 of his films. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Joanna ...
11.21.2022 How to Direct a Movie, With Sam Esmail ‘Mr. Robot’ creator and filmmaker Sam Esmail returns to the show for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of movies and how he made his forthcoming 2023 film, ‘Leave the World Behind,’ from conception to completion. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and ...
11.18.2022 Mega Mailbag: ‘She Said,’ Best Journalism Movies, and an Oscars Power Ranking ‘She Said,’ a new installment in the long history of journalism films, premieres this weekend. Bryan Curtis, the host of the 'Press Box' podcast, joins Sean and Amanda to dig into the film, break down its Oscar chances, and answer ...
11.15.2022 The 1997 Movie Draft We are drafting again! And Amanda is back! She and Sean are joined by Chris Ryan to pick their faves and foil their pals in a draft of the movies from 1997. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris ...
11.11.2022 ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! The sequel to Ryan Coogler’s box office–dominating, culture-shifting, Oscar-nominated 2018 film is here. Van Lathan joins Sean and Amanda to break it all down. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Van Lathan Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ...
11.08.2022 The 2022 Movie Star Ranking: 35 Under 35, Revisited More than 20 months ago, Sean and Amanda embarked on their first-ever Movie Star Ranking. It's become a yearly tradition, and with the streaming release of two under-35 star-led vehicles, Harry Styles's 'My Policeman' and Jennifer Lawrence's 'Causeway,' we're running ...
11.05.2022 ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ and Top 5 Movie Friendships Chris Ryan joins Sean and Amanda to dive into Martin McDonagh’s new film, ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ a reunion of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell from McDonagh’s 2008 cult classic, ‘In Bruges,’ (1:00) before sharing their top 5 movie friendships ...
11.01.2022 Ten Movies to See Right Now. Plus, James Gray Returns! It’s a tremendously hectic period at the movies right now, with award season picking up pace, the Streaming Wars in high gear, and some major-event movies right around the corner. Sean and Amanda break down 10-plus new releases now streaming ...
10.28.2022 'TÁR' Is the Movie of 2022. Here’s Why. Sean and Amanda dive deep into one of the year’s most exciting and resonant movies, Todd Field’s ‘Tár' (1:00). Then, Field joins Sean to discuss the world of classical music, Cate Blanchett, and how he made the film (1:27:00). Hosts: ...
10.25.2022 ‘Black Adam’: The Worst Movie of the Decade? The hierarchy of power has changed and Sean is depressed about it. Charles Holmes and Rob Mahoney join Sean to talk about ‘Black Adam,’ the no. 1 movie at the box office, the latest installment in the DCEU, and yet ...
10.21.2022 The Julia Roberts Hall of Fame and ‘Ticket to Paradise’ Julia Roberts, the once (and maybe future) queen of the box office returns to movie theaters this weekend with ‘Ticket to Paradise,’ a rom-com reunion of sorts with George Clooney—her first starring role on the big screen in four years. ...
10.18.2022 ‘Halloween Ends’ and the 'Halloween' Movie Rankings ‘Halloween Ends,’ the third and allegedly final installment of David Gordon Green’s legacy sequel 'Halloween' trilogy, debuted this weekend in theaters and streaming on Peacock. Chris Ryan joins Sean to talk about the new film, the year in horror, and ...
10.14.2022 The Horror Movie Draft We are drafting again and since it’s Halloween season, we needed to bring in a big gun. Six-time 'Big Picture' returning champion Alex Ross Perry is live and in studio to parse through the horror canon. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and ...
10.11.2022 The David Lynch Episode This year marks the 30th anniversary of David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,’ and the 25th anniversary of ‘Lost Highway.’ To celebrate, Sean and Adam Nayman are diving deep into the unnerving, beautiful, often terrifying dream logic of ...
10.07.2022 The Most Exciting (and Baffling) Movies of Awards Season, Plus the Genius of ‘Andor' Sean and Amanda get excited for the best movie month of the year, digging into some new October releases, including ‘Amsterdam,’ ‘Triangle of Sadness,’ and ‘Tár,’ as well as the best movies at the New York Film Festival and a ...
10.04.2022 The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ the sequel to the most lucrative movie of all time, is slated for the end of this year. Does anyone care? Sean is joined by Griffin Newman and David Sims, hosts of the ‘Blank Check’ ...
09.30.2022 ‘Bros’ and Our Top Five 21st Century Comedies ‘Bros,’ Billy Eichner’s first leading role in a feature, is in theaters. Sean and Amanda dig into the movie before sharing their five favorite studio comedies of the century (1:00). Then, Sean is joined by Nicholas Stoller, the director of ...
09.28.2022 ‘Blonde’ and the Top 5 Essential Marilyn Monroe Movies ‘Blonde,’ Andrew Dominik’s long-awaited Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Ana de Armas, is now available on Netflix. Sean and Amanda dissect the film’s handful of successes and numerous, puzzling failures, before discussing Monroe’s titanic impact on movie stardom and the various ...
09.23.2022 The ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Fiasco It’s the movie event of the fall, but not in a good way. Sean and Amanda break down all things ‘Don’t Worry Darling,’ Olivia Wilde’s controversy-racked new thriller, and talk about the most scandalous productions in movie history (2:00). Then, ...
09.20.2022 ‘The Woman King’ and 10 Movies to See Now. Plus: The Best and Worst Films at TIFF. After a quiet few weeks, movies are back in theaters in a big way—and none bigger than Gina Prince-Bythewood’s warrior epic ‘The Woman King.’ Sean and Amanda break down the new Viola Davis vehicle and nine more new releases, including ...
09.16.2022 The 1980s Comedy Movie Draft We are drafting again! And we’re widening the scope this time around. Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan pick their faves and foil their pals in a draft of 1980s comedy movies. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan ...
09.13.2022 'Barbarian'!!! The no. 1 movie in America is a depraved, completely unpredictable horror movie: hallelujah! Sean and Amanda are joined by Chris Ryan (2:00) to talk about this wonderful freak show before Sean is joined by writer-director Zach Cregger (53:00). Hosts: ...
09.09.2022 500th Episode Call-In Spectacular! We did it—500 episodes! To celebrate, Sean, Amanda, and Bobby are taking your calls and answering your burning questions about their favorite episodes, movie theater experiences, Big-Pic bits, and the future of the show. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins ...
09.06.2022 10 Way-Too-Early Oscar Predictions and the Best Movies at Telluride The Oscars Show is back! Sean recounts his biggest takeaways from Telluride and what can be gleaned for the upcoming awards season, before Sean and Amanda share their semi-serious predictions for an Oscars show that is six months away. To ...
09.02.2022 The 2005 Upside-Down Movie Draft We are drafting again! And we have a twist: Rather than draft the best movies of 2005, we’re looking at some of the worst and making a case for them. Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan pick their faves and foil ...
08.30.2022 The Sylvester Stallone Hall of Fame With Bill Simmons Sylvester Stallone is back on the big screen in ‘Samaritan,’ an Amazon Prime superhero vehicle with Stallone at the center. To mark the occasion, Sean is joined by Bill Simmons to build out the Sly Hall of Fame. Host: Sean ...
08.26.2022 Our Top 5 Fantasy Favorites: ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘House of the Dragon,’ and ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ George Miller, the beloved filmmaker responsible for the 'Mad Max' films, 'Babe,' 'Happy Feet,' and more, has a new fantasy film called 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' out this weekend. Sean is joined by Joanna Robinson to talk about the ...
08.22.2022 The 20 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2022 It’s been a grim summer movie season, but a promising fall awaits. Amanda and Sean break down the summer doldrums at the box office and then share the 20 fall films of 2022 they’re most excited to see. Hosts: Sean ...
08.12.2022 Top Five “One Crazy Night” Movies and ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ Joanna Robinson joins Sean to dig into A24’s new Gen Z horror-comedy-whodunit ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ (0:00) and to share their five favorite “one crazy night” movies (1:00). Then, Halina Reijn, the Dutch actress and director of ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies,’ talks ...
08.08.2022 ‘Prey’ and the ‘Predator’ Movie Rankings The latest in the ‘Predator’ movie saga, ‘Prey,’ is streaming on Hulu now. Chris Ryan joins Sean to talk about the film and where it sits in the ‘Predator’ canon (1:00). Then, ‘Prey’ director Dan Trachtenberg talks with Sean about ...
08.05.2022 ‘Bullet Train’ and the Top 5 Movies Set on a Train ‘Bullet Train’, a new movie set—you guessed it—on a Bullet Train, hits theaters this weekend. Van Lathan joins Sean to discuss the star-studded Brad Pitt action vehicle, and then they share their top five favorite movies set on the railway ...
08.02.2022 Five New Films to Stream, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ for Best Picture, and a Summer Movie Mailbag Sean shares five new films to stream (1:00) before opening up the mailbag to answer your questions and beat the summer doldrums (22:00). Host: Sean Fennessey Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
07.29.2022 ‘The Gray Man’ and the Top 10 Trash Special Ops Movies The Russo Brothers’ new Netflix action extravaganza got Sean and Chris Ryan thinking about a subgenre they love: trashy spy subcontractor stories. They discuss ‘The Gray Man’ (1:00) and the movies it’s lifting from in depth (33:00). Host: Sean Fennessey ...
07.26.2022 The 1987 Mega-Movie Draft With Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary! We are drafting again and we have some special guests: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, longtime friends, filmmaking collaborators, and the hosts of the Video Archives Podcast join Sean, Amanda, and Chris Ryan to pick their faves and foil their ...
07.22.2022 ‘Nope’ With Jordan Peele! ‘Nope,’ Jordan Peele’s third feature film as writer-director, is in theaters now. Sean and Van Lathan dig into this complex, fascinating extraterrestrial tale (1:00), before Peele himself joins to talk about how and why he made his movie (1:05:00). Host: ...
07.19.2022 John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ at 40, With John Carpenter! This year marks the 40th anniversary of John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror masterpiece, one of the signature cult classics in American cinema. Sean and Chris Ryan break down everything they love about the movie (1:00) before Carpenter joins the show to ...
07.15.2022 The 2022 Movie Auction Returns! It’s time to auction again—after a thrilling Part 1 earlier in the year, Chris rejoins Sean and Amanda to bid on the best of the rest of the movies of 2022. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan ...
07.12.2022 ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and Five Ways to Fix the Marvel Crisis There’s some angst among fans of the biggest franchise story of the 21st century. So Sean is joined by Charles Holmes and Rob Mahoney to discuss 'Thor: Love and Thunder', and the MCU'S recent struggles. They then pitch the Marvel ...
07.08.2022 ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Is Here! Sean is joined by Joanna Robinson to reflect on the passing of the great James Caan, before breaking down Taika Waititi’s latest installment of the Thor story, ‘Love and Thunder' (6:37). Then, Sean is joined by the French filmmaker Claire ...
07.05.2022 The Effing Minions Episode and Top 5 Movies We’ll Show Our Kids After years of threats, Sean and Amanda finally dive deep into the franchise that houses the world’s biggest movie stars: the Minions! They discuss the movies, including the just released ‘The Rise of Gru’ (2:00) and then share five movies ...
07.01.2022 The 10 Best Movies of 2022 … So Far Sean invites an all-star cast of Ringer contributors to share their favorite movies of the year. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Rob Harvilla, Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Rob Mahoney, Adam Nayman, Joanna Robinson, Mallory Rubin, Chris Ryan Producer: ...
06.28.2022 The Ethan Hawke Hall of Fame and ‘The Black Phone’ Chris Ryan joins Sean to discuss the new horror thriller 'The Black Phone,' which stars one of our most beloved actors, Ethan Hawke (1:00). Then, they build out the Hawke Hall of Fame with his 10 essential performances (25:00). Hosts: ...
06.24.2022 ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics Baz Luhrmann’s latest film, a life-spanning biopic of Elvis Presley, is here, and Sean and Amanda are breaking down this exhaustive, expansive new film (1:00). Then, Adam Nayman joins to discuss the prescient comedy ‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’ ...
06.21.2022 ‘Lightyear’ and Five Signs of the Streaming Movie Apocalypse Sean and Amanda break down 'Lightyear,' the one new movie in theaters while a whole bundle of new movies are streaming at home right now, and what that tells us about the state of the movie business. Hosts: Sean Fennessey ...
06.17.2022 ‘Spiderhead’ and the Five Netflix Movies That Matter It’s real and it’s here. Chris Ryan joins Sean to discuss Netflix’s new sci-fi drama ‘Spiderhead.’ Then they discuss Netflix’s challenges as a movie studio in 2022 (1:00). Finally, ‘Spiderhead’ screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick discuss with Sean how ...
06.14.2022 The 2009 Movie Draft We are drafting again! And Amanda is back! She and Sean are joined by Chris Ryan to pick their faves and foil their pals in a draft of the movies from 2009. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris ...
06.10.2022 'Jurassic World: Dominion’ and the Jurassic Movie Rankings There’s a new installment of the ‘Jurassic World’ series. Bryan Curtis joins Sean to break down the conclusion of the Jurassic saga and ranks all six films. Host: Sean Fennessey Guest: Bryan Curtis Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ...
06.08.2022 Top Five Adam Sandler Movies and ‘Hustle’ Sean is joined by Rob Harvilla to discuss Adam Sandler, his new Netflix NBA drama ‘Hustle,’ and share their top Sandler movies of all time. Host: Sean Fennessey Guest: Rob Harvilla Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. ...
06.03.2022 The Most Awesome Movie of 2022, and 10 More to Stream Right Now. Plus, David Cronenberg! It’s a recommendations episode! Sean breaks down 10 intriguing new movies that you can watch right now on a variety of streaming services (1:00). Then, he’s joined by David Cronenberg to discuss the legendary director’s new film, ‘Crimes of the ...
05.31.2022 ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: 100 Things We Loved About It Movies are back, Maverick is back, Tom Cruise is back, and Sean and Amanda are back to dive deep into the movie phenomenon of this young summer: ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn ...

Older episodes

The Big Picture

What's The Big Picture about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Big Picture episodes:

The Steven Spielberg Rankings and ‘The Fabelmans’

How to Direct a Movie, With Sam Esmail

Mega Mailbag: ‘She Said,’ Best Journalism Movies, and an Oscars Power Ranking

The 1997 Movie Draft

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here!

The 2022 Movie Star Ranking: 35 Under 35, Revisited

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ and Top 5 Movie Friendships

Ten Movies to See Right Now. Plus, James Gray Returns!

'TÁR' Is the Movie of 2022. Here’s Why.

‘Black Adam’: The Worst Movie of the Decade?

The Julia Roberts Hall of Fame and ‘Ticket to Paradise’

‘Halloween Ends’ and the 'Halloween' Movie Rankings

The Horror Movie Draft

The David Lynch Episode

The Most Exciting (and Baffling) Movies of Awards Season, Plus the Genius of ‘Andor'

The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims

‘Bros’ and Our Top Five 21st Century Comedies

‘Blonde’ and the Top 5 Essential Marilyn Monroe Movies

The ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Fiasco

‘The Woman King’ and 10 Movies to See Now. Plus: The Best and Worst Films at TIFF.

The 1980s Comedy Movie Draft

'Barbarian'!!!

500th Episode Call-In Spectacular!

10 Way-Too-Early Oscar Predictions and the Best Movies at Telluride

The 2005 Upside-Down Movie Draft

The Sylvester Stallone Hall of Fame With Bill Simmons

Our Top 5 Fantasy Favorites: ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘House of the Dragon,’ and ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’

The 20 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2022

Top Five “One Crazy Night” Movies and ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’

‘Prey’ and the ‘Predator’ Movie Rankings

‘Bullet Train’ and the Top 5 Movies Set on a Train

Five New Films to Stream, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ for Best Picture, and a Summer Movie Mailbag

‘The Gray Man’ and the Top 10 Trash Special Ops Movies

The 1987 Mega-Movie Draft With Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary!

‘Nope’ With Jordan Peele!

John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ at 40, With John Carpenter!

The 2022 Movie Auction Returns!

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and Five Ways to Fix the Marvel Crisis

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Is Here!

The Effing Minions Episode and Top 5 Movies We’ll Show Our Kids

The 10 Best Movies of 2022 … So Far

The Ethan Hawke Hall of Fame and ‘The Black Phone’

‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics

‘Lightyear’ and Five Signs of the Streaming Movie Apocalypse

‘Spiderhead’ and the Five Netflix Movies That Matter

The 2009 Movie Draft

'Jurassic World: Dominion’ and the Jurassic Movie Rankings

Top Five Adam Sandler Movies and ‘Hustle’

The Most Awesome Movie of 2022, and 10 More to Stream Right Now. Plus, David Cronenberg!

‘Top Gun: Maverick’: 100 Things We Loved About It

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