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The Big Picture

The Physical Media High Council Reconvenes!

07 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

6.41 - 39.584 Sean Fennessey

It is I, Sean Fennessey, Grand Maester of the Physical Media High Council, and this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about that physical media. I am honored to be joined by... The three lords, the three leaders, the three guiding lights of this endeavor. Of course, Igor, Chris Ryan, here to help us with his chemistry.

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39.605 - 41.247 Unknown

Just let out of my room in the basement.

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41.268 - 64.959 Sean Fennessey

That's right. The first knight, Timothy Hitmaker Simons. Sire. And the king of physical media, Tracy Letts. Please, please. Gents, thanks for reconvening today. This is a semi-annual tradition. Yeah. This is the second time this quartet has come together for this endeavor. As you can see, we're taking it very seriously. Chris, how are you feeling about how you look right now?

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65.259 - 80.001 Unknown

I'm worried that I either look like a chronic masturbator, public masturbator, or... Some kind of guy who got the wrong Big Lebowski robe on eBay, but is still going with it. What do you think?

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80.882 - 88.289 Tracy Letts

Masturbator, I think is the answer. I hope that when you take the robe off, you still don't also look like a public masturbator. Like, oh shit, it wasn't the robe.

88.429 - 93.034 Sean Fennessey

Do you have clothes on under the robe? I do, yeah. Okay, good, good. Tim, how are you feeling?

93.754 - 118.37 Tracy Letts

I'm feeling great. As I texted many times, I'm like, really, I've really been looking forward to this. Yeah. Off mic just a moment ago, I was saying, and Tracy, I don't know if this happens to you. I feel like we've both done public work that people have seen. But I feel like I get recognized so much just for this episode. People coming up to me asking me, what are your grails?

118.39 - 122.074 Tracy Letts

In public, I have been asked that question. Has that been happening to you?

122.054 - 147.538 Chris Ryan

uh it does happen to me i don't go out in public much but you know carrie was just doing my play bug on broadway and she would go out and sign programs after the show and she said every night there was one person there was like one guy one yeah i love it wasn't always a guy oh no how exciting love the physical media podcast love the you know love listening the big pic blah blah oh that's great

Chapter 2: How do guests feel about their appearances?

209.607 - 212.012 Sean Fennessey

Because that's actually under consideration for third chair.

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212.553 - 227.104 Unknown

No, I mean, obviously, like, yeah, I'm folliculary challenged when it comes to that. No, I have like, actually, it's just very faint. But I was I was growing a little bit of of I've been in watching Takashi Miike movies for three days stubble. But I guess it didn't really translate.

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227.287 - 231.654 Sean Fennessey

We're going to get you a beard cam so we can get a close-up on all that transparent hair on your face.

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231.755 - 234.259 Tracy Letts

Like that Eagle's Nest live cam?

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234.479 - 240.83 Unknown

Yeah. Watch this bear hunt for salmon. He grows a beard.

240.85 - 249.906 Tracy Letts

He sure does. Yeah, I can grow a beard. I'm avoiding it because I've got these gray streaks in it. You know, like right here, I got these sort of wolverine gray streaks.

249.926 - 252.45 Unknown

Oh, yeah, I let it go, man. You look like a 1970s pitcher.

252.616 - 262.052 Tracy Letts

Yeah. Or like Ted Nugent. No, the gray strip. Believe me. Trust me. That's the thing. I almost want it to be all gray. Right. Or it's just these weird patches. I don't know.

262.066 - 267.232 Sean Fennessey

I'm having a bit of a crisis where the beard is effectively white and the hair on the top of my head is not yet white.

Chapter 3: What are the challenges of collecting physical media today?

1488.847 - 1489.468 Sean Fennessey

Aren't I three?

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1489.488 - 1517.537 Unknown

There you go. This is from Radiance. It's a trio. I suppose loose trilogy. I wouldn't necessarily say you need to understand one to get the other, but they're all... Takashi Miike movies, Yakuza movies, Japanese crime films from his V-Cinema era. And a lot of people. So there's three films. There's Fudo, The New Generation. There's Agitator, which is his 200-minute epic.

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1517.557 - 1530.773 Unknown

And then there's one I want to talk about, which is Deadly Outlaw Rekka. Deadly Outlaw Rekka is an insane film. And it features the greatest opening five minutes to a movie I've ever seen, which I will describe starting now, if that's okay.

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1530.973 - 1531.474 Sean Fennessey

Please do.

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1532.332 - 1558.052 Unknown

It starts with an old Yakuza chieftain talking about wolves. And then it cuts to the Incredible Flower Band, which is an early psych rock band from Japan going... And then a dude running down a street at full speed while an old man crosscut is walking up some steps. And it turns out that this dude running full speed down the street is...

1558.032 - 1582.386 Unknown

is going to jump over a wall with two guns in his hand while this psych rock is playing and gun down the old man, thus setting off a Yakuza war. But it is the most electrifying, adrenalized, opening five minutes of a movie ever. I cannot recommend this more highly. It is a fucking weird, crazy movie that is, you know, cascades of blood and intense violence.

1582.366 - 1603.065 Unknown

And then interspersed with like Jim Jarmusch scenes of guys just eating rice and talking. It is a bit confusing in terms of telepathic connections to other Yakuza leaders and like you can feel the pain of other people. There's some strange stuff going on in here, but I highly recommend it. And I highly recommend this box. I am not a McKay completist.

1603.565 - 1612.373 Unknown

It's a new, it's kind of like, obviously you've seen the big ones like Audition and Ichi, but like this is a whole new world and I'm excited to be there.

1612.353 - 1615.199 Sean Fennessey

It's a big filmography, right? Huge.

Chapter 4: How do personal connections influence film choices?

1737.158 - 1759.557 Tracy Letts

The programmer. Well, no, I have to put Hitmaker on for that one. When we're talking to our wives, they'll be like, hey, what do you guys have coming up this Tuesday? What are you doing? Because there are nights where I'm like, Annie, you actually shouldn't even walk through the living room on this one. You're going to want no part of this one. I'm curious what that would be.

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1759.537 - 1767.588 Tracy Letts

Solo was one where I was like, you just don't want any part of it. That's why it's just for the guys. Yeah. Just for the boys. Solo's for the dudes.

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1767.949 - 1770.893 Chris Ryan

I don't... I respectfully disagree.

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1771.093 - 1789.463 Tracy Letts

Annie's... No, I think it's less it's for the boys and more I know what would upset my wife in movies. And there are things that she can engage with and things that she is just like, I don't like... I don't like seeing that. Like whatever experience that is, I don't like that experience.

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1789.483 - 1793.192 Sean Fennessey

And it does seem like the Tuesday nights you're in pursuit of extremity sometimes.

1793.533 - 1820.979 Tracy Letts

We are very much in pursuit of extremity. And so I kind of chose things based on like... from this lens of I'm happy that this exists in like an elevated form because this feels like the kind of thing that could just go away, that a streaming service is like, we are not going to host that on our platform. So those are the choices that I made. And I'll start with.

1822.962 - 1828.609 Chris Ryan

Pull it out. I'm weirdly excited.

1831.002 - 1851.01 Tracy Letts

The suspense is... With a thriller, a cruel picture. Oh, yeah. Christina Lindbergh. We definitely go with themes sometimes. This feels bootleggy. It does, but it's not. Who makes that disc? Who made this one?

1851.05 - 1856.217 Chris Ryan

Vinegar. Vinegar Syndrome. In fact, there's a nice slipcover box in the...

Chapter 5: What shocking scene is described in the film 'Suicide Club'?

5133.579 - 5151.01 Chris Ryan

There's a busy train station in Tokyo, and you just see people milling around, almost documentary-style, busy train station there, all different types. And these schoolgirls arrive at the train station to take the train, and they're sort of sailor suits, 54 schoolgirls,

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5150.99 - 5161.628 Chris Ryan

step forward in the train, and as the train is approaching, they hold hands and jump onto the train tracks and are immediately massacred. Suicide Club.

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5163.31 - 5165.875 Unknown

What's wrong with us, man?

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5165.895 - 5171.611 Chris Ryan

As long as we're... Irving out. I think I should mention, uh, Russ Meyer.

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Chapter 6: What are the highlights of Russ Meyer's work available on 4K?

5171.992 - 5195.424 Chris Ryan

Uh, some of his work has become available on 4k. Yeah. Uh, thanks to the good people at Severin. And I really like Russ Meyer and, uh, Carrie likes Russ Meyer. I've shown her a couple of these movies now, and she's really enjoyed them. They're very funny, and we really enjoy the film. The presentation of these movies is absolutely gorgeous on 4K. You never thought you would get it.

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5196.185 - 5210.621 Chris Ryan

I've even got both Carrie and the nanny Russ Meyer Boozomania t-shirts that Severin... And they wear them, and they're great conversation pieces. I'll bet. They love wearing their Russ Meyer shirts. Nothing like school pickup wearing.

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5210.641 - 5235.914 Sean Fennessey

Russ Meyer is like a perfect... saint for this conversation because as a filmmaker, one of the most impressive and accomplished independent directors in American history and also a guy who just loves a big rack. Like, all of these movies are just like, these gals are stacked. And I am into it and I'm not afraid to talk about it and show it to you explicitly.

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Chapter 7: What unique unboxing experience is shared?

5235.934 - 5245.711 Sean Fennessey

Also, watch me move the camera and cut like Steven Spielberg. It is an amazing... weird collision of like, I'll say heterosexual impulse.

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5246.295 - 5260.8 Chris Ryan

And, uh, There's been an argument ever since these movies first came out about the feminist impulse. And Carrie and the nanny can speak on that because they're not simply – it's not a simple matter.

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5261.921 - 5269.273 Sean Fennessey

It's complex. Something else going on there. I didn't know that this was going to happen, but I'm not mad that it happened.

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5269.293 - 5274.501 Unknown

We seem to be going through something collectively. Hold on. I got one more. Oh, you got one more. Go ahead.

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5274.7 - 5275.681 Sean Fennessey

Oh, yeah.

Chapter 8: What recommendations are made for starting a physical media collection?

5275.701 - 5303.914 Chris Ryan

So this is the good fellow who bought Hammer Films. He bought it a couple of years ago. And they've started releasing these Hammer Films. I mean, you've got dictionaries at home that are not as big as this edition of The Curse of Frankenstein. Now, you'll notice that this isn't open. Because I thought we'd have a little unboxing boy scene. I'm titillating. I'm Jebediah unboxing.

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5305.126 - 5307.37 Chris Ryan

You've just set off the smoke alarm.

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5307.391 - 5310.356 Unknown

I think the Department of Homeland Security found us.

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5310.376 - 5314.565 Tracy Letts

Bill Simmons fucking heard part of this recording and pulled.

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5315.487 - 5318.713 Sean Fennessey

I think the FBI is coming through the doors for Tim.

5320.567 - 5335.791 Tracy Letts

the building please evacuate the building by the nearest exit jack how does this keep happening there has been an unboxing boy a nerd emergency in the building simon's tried to revive gerard

5337.897 - 5346.089 Chris Ryan

All right. So my name is Jebediah Unboxing, and I am the Unboxing Boy's older brother.

5346.109 - 5354.802 Sean Fennessey

I don't think I've given the Unboxing Boy a first name. If you're Jebediah, maybe I'm Rutherford?

5354.822 - 5394.169 Chris Ryan

Look at this. Wow. Oh, that is nice. Gorgeous. Vintage poster. Yes. What do we have inside here? We just bought... I can't believe you did this for us and not your son. The Books of Frankenstein, Volume 1, a very replete booklet. Here's The Curse of Frankenstein, the horror classic as a graphic novel. That's cool. Postcards. Postcards. Maybe I'll send some of these to my friends. Sweet poster.

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