Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, and ‘Star Wars’: Why We’re Excited For the Last Few Films of 2017 (Screen Talk Episode 173)

Every year, we struggle to keep tabs on which movies have yet to screen and how they might shake up the conversations about top 10 lists, awards and the overall quality of cinema over a 12-month period. By summertime, we’ve already got a number of festival favorites and studio highlights to consider, but there’s always a lot more to come from the fall. But even after heavy-hitting festivals like Toronto and Telluride have come and gone, there are usually a few more unknown variables squeezing into the picture before the finish line. This year, that list includes Steven Spielberg’s “The Post,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” and Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” (It remains to be seen whether Ridley Scott’s scrambling to reshoot “All the Money in the World” sans Kevin Spacey will make its December deadline.) With a trio of hotly anticipated fall movies finally on the schedule, how much can we expect them to shake things up?

That’s the focus of this week’s episode of Screen Talk, in which Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson discuss what they’ve heard about these movies and why they’re exciting to check them out. They also touch on the ongoing conversations around whether “Get Out” is a comedy and if “Justice League” could help or hinder the awards campaign for “Wonder Woman.”

Note that this week’s episode was recorded before it was announced that Quentin Tarantino’s next project had landed a home at Sony, so Kohn and Thompson’s discussion about various studios making a play for the movie doesn’t include that update.

Listen to the full episode below.

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