‘Wicked: For Good’ Is No Good. But ‘Train Dreams’ Is.

The Big Picture

The Ringer

Tv & Film

4.3 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2025

⏱️ 129 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean and Amanda are joined by Juliet Litman and return to the (not so) wonderful world of Oz to cover John M. Chu’s ‘Wicked: For Good,’ starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Before diving in, they react to new movie trailers for Charli XCX’s ‘The Moment’ (1:02) and ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ (10:54). Then, they discuss ‘Wicked: For Good,’ which they found deeply frustrating due to its bizarre story choices and one-dimensional characters (18:22). They hypothesize its potential box office, compare this year’s press tour to last year’s, and weigh its Academy Award chances (1:07:44). Next, Sean and Amanda briefly examine Clint Bentley’s ‘Train Dreams,’ starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones, a deeply earnest and sincere portrayal of grief with some beautiful digital photography and an amazing collection of character actors (1:22:55). Finally, Bentley joins the show to discuss his new film and explains why he initially thought the original material was unadaptable, how he put a lot of intent behind capturing the logging scenes in the movie, and shares his feelings on the current state of independent film (1:34:28). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Clint Bentley and Juliet Litman Producer: Jack Sanders Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan®. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there®. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Sean Fennacy.
0:10.8	And this is the big picture, a conversation show about, because I knew you.
0:16.5	On today's episode, we're discussing two new releases, Wicked for Good, the epic conclusion of the musical adaptation, directed by John M. Chu. It's here. It's one of the biggest movies of the year. Juliet Littman is here to discuss it with us, break it all down. We'll share our deepest to darkest feelings about the Wicked franchise. Then Amanda and I will discuss train dreams, which is a Sundance sensation that is now out on Netflix
0:38.9	an adaptation of a Dennis Johnson novella. Later in this episode, I'll have the director of Train Dreams,
0:43.8	Clint Bentley to join me. Arguably the nicest person in the history of guests on this show.
0:49.3	Wonderful conversation with him. I hope people stick around for that and that conversation
0:52.6	about that movie. But before we get into Wicked for Good, a couple of trailers, couple of jam session coded trailers, I would say.
0:59.8	Here we are. Certainly the first one. The first one is the moment, which is the forthcoming feature acting debut of Charlie XX.
1:09.1	It's a kind of mockumentary about her and her most recent
1:13.0	tour and Brat Summer and everything that's transpired with her over the last couple of years.
1:17.4	It's directed by Aidan Zameree. We saw the trailer this morning. Amanda, Juliet, you guys
1:23.9	talked about Charlie X-X agnauseum the last 18 months. What did you think of this?
1:28.1	Guess first, Juliet.
1:29.9	I thought it seemed pretty charming.
1:31.3	I'm looking forward to it.
1:32.8	I also thought it seemed confusing and too close to life for a mockumentary.
1:38.3	But that's great.
1:40.0	Maybe she's going to reinvent the form.
1:41.7	Yeah, maybe that's where the art comes from.
1:43.5	I'm obviously deeply, deeply, deeply on board for this.
1:48.1	As a huge Charlie X, CX fan and a person who likes somewhat meta,
1:54.4	but are they joking type experiences?
	...

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