From Robin Hood to Pixar: a movie-news-heavy episode with a big ‘Toy Story 5’ debate
This preview is based only on the published show notes. Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins move from industry headlines to ‘The Death of Robin Hood,’ then into a split reaction on ‘Toy Story 5’ before ranking the full ‘Toy Story’ franchise.
This episode looks like a strong pick for listeners who want both movie-industry chatter and opinionated franchise discussion. Based on the show notes, Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins start with a substantial run of headlines, including Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman film *Artificial* being dropped by Amazon after its OpenAI partnership, plus news of Curry Barker’s major deal with Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster. From there, the conversation shifts to Michael Sarnoski’s *The Death of Robin Hood*, starring Hugh Jackman. The notes suggest a mixed but engaged response: the hosts praise the film’s “impressively gnarly” filmmaking while also arguing that its biggest weakness is baked into the concept itself. They then widen the lens to the larger history of Robin Hood movies and what tends to make that character work on screen. The back half seems especially appealing if you like spirited disagreements about major studio animation. The hosts reportedly had “vastly different reactions” to *Toy Story 5*, so expect a real debate rather than a consensus review. That leads into a broader question—“What is Pixar now?”—before the episode closes with a ranking of every *Toy Story* movie. If your ideal movie podcast mixes news, criticism, franchise history, and rankings, this one appears to offer all four. If you’re mainly interested in one segment, the show notes also make it easy to jump straight to Robin Hood, Pixar, or the final rankings.
About this episode
Sean and Amanda open today’s show with a long list of movie news headlines, including Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman movie ‘Artificial’ being dropped by Amazon following their OpenAI partnership, and Curry Barker inking a 10-figure deal with Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster for his next original project. Then, they cover a new release with Michael Sarnoski’s ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ starring Hugh Jackman. They highlight its impressively gnarly filmmaking, explain why its big flaw is in the concept of the film itself, and take a look at the history of ‘Robin Hood’ movies and discuss what makes them successful. Next, they discuss ‘Toy Story 5’, a film which Sean and Amanda had vastly different reactions to. After debating what did and didn’t work for them, they rank every film from the ‘Toy Story’ franchise. (0:00) Intro (0:36) Movie news (19:03) ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ (27:04) What makes a good ‘Robin Hood’ movie? (42:18) ‘Toy Story 5’ (1:15:19) What is Pixar now? (1:21:07) The ‘Toy Story’ movie rankings Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jack Sanders Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices