The Top 10 Fantasy Films, The Toy Movie Hall of Fame, and ‘Masters of the Universe,’ with Griffin Newman!

Key takeaways

• The Obsession phenomenon is genuinely unprecedented. Making $5M on a Wednesday in its third week has almost no modern comps — the closest analogues are Get Out, The Sixth Sense, and Paranormal Activity, but none match the sustained, growing numbers. Griffin and Sean attribute it to pure word-of-mouth on an independently-made, no-star horror film that can't be spoiled.

• The Masters of the Universe movie is flawed but not dismissible. It's too long (2h20m), the comedy hits at maybe a 33% rate, and it has two first acts. But the metatextual framing — Adam as a fan of his own mythology, Barbie-in-reverse — is genuinely clever, and Nicholas Galatine's transformation into He-Man landed emotionally. Jared Leto as Skeletor is, infuriatingly, the best performance in the film.

• He-Man is fundamentally 1980s Reagan-era deregulation made flesh. The toy line was a "garbage plate" — a panicked Mattel response to missing out on Star Wars licensing — and the cartoon only existed because Reagan-era FCC deregulation allowed 22-minute toy commercials. The IP's incoherence (three simultaneous mythologies with no coordination) is what has made it unadaptable for 25 years.

• The best high fantasy films are mostly the obvious ones. Sean's list: The NeverEnding Story, The Green Knight, Princess Mononoke, Willow, and Fellowship of the Ring. The genre's depth is thin — the canon really is just the five movies everyone already knows, plus Dark Crystal and Excalibur.

• The Toy Movie Hall of Fame peaks at Barbie and The Lego Movie. Both engage honestly with what adapting a piece of plastic means. Toy Story is the canonical masterwork but uses original characters. Most of the rest (Trolls, Ugly Dolls, Max Steel) is tax-shelter trash. Hidden recommendation: Richard Williams' The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy for technically astonishing animation.

• For Carolina Caroline, Samara Weaving and director Adam Raymeier changed the ending mid-shoot. Shooting in chronological order and discovering real chemistry between Weaving and co-star Kyle, they rewrote the finale at a restaurant the weekend before filming it. Raymeier's films are deliberately earnest — a quality he says just comes out of him naturally.

People, organizations, products, and links mentioned

• Griffin Newman — actor (Blank Check podcast, voiced Orko on Kevin Smith's He-Man animated series)
• Sean Fennessey — host, The Big Picture
• Samara Weaving — star of Carolina Caroline; known for Ready or Not, My Beloved Babylon
• Adam Raymeier — director of Carolina Caroline; previously directed Snack Shack (2024) and Dinner in America
• Travis Knight — director of Masters of the Universe; son of Nike founder Phil Knight; runs Laika Studios
• Nicholas Galatine — stars as Adam/He-Man; also known from Red, White, and Royal Blue
• Jared Leto — plays Skeletor (CGI/voice)
• Camilla Mendes — plays Teela
• Idris Elba — plays Man-at-Arms
• Alison Brie, James Purefoy — supporting cast
• Curry Barker — director of Obsession; signed on to direct new Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Greta Gerwig — Barbie director; discussed as a key creative comp
• Kevin Smith — showrunner of He-Man animated series that Newman voiced Orko on
• Eric Carrasco — TV writer who recruited Newman for the He-Man show
• Paul Dini, J. Michael Straczynski — worked on early He-Man animated series
• Richard Williams — animator (Who Framed Roger Rabbit); directed Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy
• Films discussed: Obsession, The Backrooms, Masters of the Universe, Barbie, The Lego Movie, Thor: Ragnarok, The Princess Bride, The NeverEnding Story, Princess Mononoke, Willow, Fellowship of the Ring, The Green Knight, Paranormal Activity, The Sixth Sense, Blair Witch Project, Big, Toy Story, Conan the Barbarian, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Excalibur, Krull, Dragonslayer, Beasts of No Nation, Ouija: Origin of Evil, D&D: Honor Among Thieves, Carolina Caroline, Snack Shack
• Power of Grayskull — documentary about the He-Man toy line's creation (recommended)
• Upcoming: Toy Story 5, Mandalorian and Grogu, Scary Movie 6, New Star Wars film, Matchbox movie (Apple), Hot Wheels (in development), Daniel Kaluuya Barney movie

Notable moments

• Griffin reveals he got the role of Orko after a cold call from writer Eric Carrasco in summer 2019: "It was as much a dream job as anything I've ever gotten to do and is the hardest I've ever worked to get a job that paid scale."
• On the Barbie comparison: "Barbie is a movie about escaping the fantasy world to become real on Earth. Adam is the flip side — I need to go back to this special place where I come from. What an amazing insight into the way that men think."
• Griffin on Jared Leto: "It's the one time I have watched Jared Leto in the last 15 years and not thought about Jared Leto."
• Sean on withholding Orko to an end-credits tease: "I'm not going to give you credit for showing him for three seconds in the end credits."
• On He-Man's surprising progressive subtext: "It is just about reckoning with straight white male privilege. He-Man is to the manner born... what defines He-Man is that he tries to share it and divide it responsibly."
• Battle Cat's origin: Mattel couldn't afford a vehicle, so they took a jaguar from the discontinued "Big Jim" line, noted it was too big for the 5-inch He-Man figure, and someone said, "Just paint it green or some shit."

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