Sean Fennessy and Amanda Dobbins discuss their favorite movies of 2025 so far and catch up on numerous releases they missed during awards season. The episode features extensive coverage of Colleen Hoover adaptations, including Reminders of Him, continuing their ongoing analysis of the literary adaptation phenomenon that began with It Ends With Us.

Later, Sean interviews writer-director Ben David Grabinski about his action comedy Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice, exploring his journey from failed screenwriter pitches to finally getting a studio movie made. The conversation covers everything from McTiernan-inspired filmmaking techniques to the challenges of shooting double Vince Vaughn sequences.

The hosts also review Paul McCartney's documentary Man on the Run, several horror films including Ready or Not 2 and They Will Kill You, plus international releases like the German thriller Afire Number Three and French mystery A Private Life starring Jodie Foster.

Box Office Strategy Wars: Doomsday vs Dune Part 3

Jumanji 3 moved from December 11th to Christmas 2026, potentially allowing Avengers Doomsday to claim the earlier date and secure crucial IMAX screens away from Dune Part 3

Project Hail Mary's success demonstrates the importance of weekend selection, with 54% of its box office coming from large format screens and strong second weekend tracking

The battle reflects how limited IMAX resources force studios to lock up screens years in advance, making release dates consequential to a film's financial success

Colleen Hoover Adaptation Fatigue Sets In

Reminders of Him starring Micah Monroe represents the third major Hoover adaptation following the $300 million success of It Ends With Us

The film lacks the problematic salaciousness of previous adaptations like Regretting You, making it 'the least offensive and also the most boring' of the series

Verity starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson is being positioned as 'the bigger and better Colleen Hoover movie' for future release

Character names reach new extremes with protagonists called Kenna, Ledger, and DM, with Ledger jumping from 975th to 502nd most popular baby name

Paul McCartney Gets the Soft Treatment

Morgan Neville's documentary Man on the Run benefits from McCartney's executive producer involvement but manages every criticism with pro-Paul responses

The film addresses McCartney's infamous 'it's a drag' interview after John Lennon's murder, with Sean Lennon providing sympathetic context for Paul's apparent coldness

The documentary focuses on McCartney's post-Beatles period including the formation of Wings, though Sean wished for tighter focus on just one or two years

Horror Movies Become Indistinguishable

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come and They Will Kill You are 'fascinatingly, almost exactly the same movie' about women hunted by Satanists

Both films represent 'wink horror' with actionable titles taken from internet comments, part of a trend including Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die

They Will Kill You features Zazzie Beats as 'surprisingly excellent action heroine' in a Kill Bill meets Looney Tunes execution style

AI Documentary Reveals Dangerous Concentration of Power

How I Became an Apocalyptimist reveals that essentially five people control AGI development: Sam Altman at OpenAI, plus leaders at Google DeepMind, Meta, Anthropic, and XAI

The film highlights that 'there are more rules and regulations around selling a sandwich than there are around building AI technology'

Sam Altman's revelation that he's also having his first child creates personal stakes parallel to director Daniel Rohr's journey through the documentary

Ben David Grabinski Finally Gets His Action Movie Made

After nine years trying to make an action movie with a 20-page car chase, Grabinski wrote Mike and Nick specifically to be made 'for nothing or close to nothing'

20th Century Studios supported the film's idiosyncrasies, including a five-minute Gilmore Girls discussion that other financiers wanted removed

The film uses McTiernan's actual lenses from Panavision and step-printing techniques from Warriors of Virtue to create its distinctive action sequences

Shooting two Vince Vaughns required 'six hours shooting one side of the scene with him, and then he has to come back and act against himself'

International Cinema Delivers Quiet Thrills

Midwinter Break adaptation starring Leslie Manville explores Irish Catholic guilt through an older couple's Amsterdam vacation revelations

Afire Number Three represents Christian Petzold's 'smallest, most stripped-down movie' with pure Hitchcockian suspense in 87 minutes

A Private Life features Jodie Foster acting mostly in French as a psychiatrist investigating a patient's suspicious death in a 'shaggy French movie'