December 30, 2025 • 12 mins
The Deputy Editor at CBR joins Bo and Beth to discuss the final season of Stanger Things as well as his top movies of 2025 and what he's looking forward to in 2026.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let me take a while. Guest, you're not calling to
wish me a good morning good morning, Well, no, it's
not exactly a good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You have kind of a situation down here at the
squawk the signal.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's it's gone all wonky. From the one oh seven
point nine f M w BET Charlotte's FM News Talk.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
You didn't get the turbo charger.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
No, I'm also giving up pretty hug.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
This is Good Morning Beat with Bo Thompson at Beth troutlet.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Is your receiver in any way connected with a flex capacitor.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
That's all comes down to Tomorrow Night, one o seven
(01:09):
point nine WBT. It is December thirtieth, Bowen Beth. Here
in the Tyboid studio and on the WBT hotline, the
one and only Sean O'Connell from CBR, Deputy Editor talks
to Entertainment, talks movies. We'll look ahead into twenty twenty
six and also talk about his biggest movies of this
(01:31):
past year. But first and foremost Tomorrow night. You know
you can, if you got a ticket in time, you
could be going to see the movie The finale of
Stranger Things in a theater tomorrow night. But I that
was kind of a quick thing, and I think those
got snatched up pretty fast. Good morning to you, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Good morning. I'm surprised at how many people are going
to the theaters to go see it, especially because the
reaction to you know this this final season has been
mixed to naga. But it seems like people do want
to see you know, the resolution on the big screen,
so they can't see IMAX because Jim Cameron won't give
it up. You know, he's still running his blue Pandora people.
(02:11):
But you can go see it on a bigger screen
than you probably have it home.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
So, like you just said that, these reviews for this
final season have been mixed to negative. I am on
the other side of that. I have really enjoyed this
season so far, and they had lost me there for
a little while because I thought the last season was
a stinker, and this they've brought me back into this
world and I've enjoyed it. I can't lie, Beth.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I'm with you one hundred percent. I'm having a good
time with it. I think the episodes are a lot
of fun. I think the character interactions are a blast.
I think the production values look incredible, and I'm dying
to see how it resolves. Like, you know, we watched
the episodes as they happen, and then I watched the
reactions online, and I'm like, I don't know what show
you people are watching, Like this is what this show
has been the whole time. It's entertaining, and I like
(02:59):
the characters and I want to say what happens to them?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, you know, every once in a while, you get
a situation like you have tomorrow night, eight o'clock on Netflix,
and some people will have tickets to see it in theaters.
But you've got what about two hours to wrap up
a show that not only is five seasons long, but
the gaps in between each one of those seasons makes
it seem like it's like twelve seasons. And how can
(03:22):
they possibly how can they possibly make everyone happy and
tie everything up in two hours? Tomorrow night, We're going
to see what they're gonna try, But I don't know
how they do it.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Oh bo, I have to laugh at something you said,
make everyone happy?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Can they make anybody happy?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah? I mean we have to assume that they know
where they were heading, you know, to a certain extent.
I think they've been making up some of the stuff
as they've gone, but they have to have known what
the resolution of all this is going to be. And yeah,
we'll see, we'll see how it goes. But you know
what I don't want, and I'm starting to hear of already,
is like spin off ideas, you know, of some of
(04:03):
the characters, and how do we keep the Stranger Things
world going? Like it's okay for things to end, you know,
it's all right for we didn't have Stranger Things, right, Like,
somebody came up with that as an original idea and
it became its own thing. Like, let's move on to
the next, new, original thing. And I say original. This
is obviously Strange Things is loosely based on nine hundred
other things that we grew up on. But let's come
(04:25):
up with another idea we don't need to follow, you know,
Max after her time in Hawkins or something like that.
So we'll see what the future brings.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Okay. So it's interesting that you say that because you
mentioned Avatar, and we touched on this the last time
you were with us a few weeks ago. But there
are some people that have been going to the Avatar
movie just to see a minute and a half of
an Avengers trailer and then leave. Now, since we last
talked to you, and I saw that you wrote. You
wrote an article about this the other day about how
this rollout for the movie Avengers Doomsday, which is now
(04:56):
a year away, the rollout so far has been a train.
If people don't know, and you haven't been to the theater,
but you've probably read about it somewhere. I believe there
have been four trailers now, one of them which has
Captain America Chris Evans officially confirmed as back in these
Avengers movies. The first one has been released to the
(05:18):
masses and you can see it in digital form in
HD online. But then there are allegedly three more that
were attached to avatar screenings, and those are still out
there like they leak and you can see them and
they're grainy. But the bottom line is is this is
an interesting rollout for a huge franchise that they're obviously
trying to reboot. But as you were saying the other day,
(05:41):
it's not exactly been. This is not the way you
would would have wanted it to go.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I wouldn't think so anyway. So there have been three
One has been about Captain America, which they did put
out in an HD version. The other has been about Thor,
Chris Hemsworth's version of Thor, and now the third one
is the return of the X Men. But the way
that most fans are seeing them are pirated versions, you know,
shot on people's iPhones from the theaters and then post
(06:08):
it online, post it on Reddit or onto x you know,
social media. And they're not making the official versions available
to fans, and they're trying to get you to come
to theaters to support Avatar, but I don't understand why
that would be a marketing strategy. The fourth one, we
don't know what it's about. I've heard that it's about
the Fantastic Four. I've heard that it might be the
(06:29):
first true look at Robert Downey Junior as Doom. And
if I end up seeing that as a pirated cam version,
you know, before I see an official version, I'm going
to chuck that up as a failure because I don't
have the willpower to not look at it. Of course,
I'm going to watch it if it's available someplace, so
make it available and then like put it on YouTube,
(06:50):
you know, put it on Marvel's official site. I did
this this marketing strategy baffles me when a movie like
Supergirl did it you know the right way just two
weeks ago, where they had a teaser and then on
Friday the full trailer was there, and now they moved
on with the marketing. And I think Marvel's trying to
be too cute with this to try to get people
to come to theaters, and it's just opened themselves up
(07:12):
for blatant piracy. So I don't understand it, and it's
kind of frustrating.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Well, speaking of trailers for movies that are to come,
Since we are here at the end of the year,
this is our final show of the year, the last
time we'll talk to you in twenty twenty five. Tell
us what your top films were from.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
This year that I think you're gonna love this. I'm
gonna give you, guys my top three. These are the
three that you can go see. All three of these
they're available on streaming. I wish you could see them
in theaters, but they're on streaming. First one, number three
is The Life of Chuck. Yeah, which, again, as we've
said repeatedly on this show, not enough people even have
you even seen this movie. You all need to go
(07:53):
seek it out. Like, this is a movie that will
just make you feel good. It's just it's so empowering.
It's about just put it on press play. That's all
I have to say. Stars Tom Hidlson. It's amazing. Number
two is Sinners. Sinners is a movie that I think
is contending right now. The Best Picture race for next
(08:15):
year seems to be coming down to one battle after
another with Leonardo DiCaprio and possibly Sinners, and I hope
Sinners ends up prevailing. I would love to see that
movie be the Best Picture winner. Just a tremendous ome
Ryan Coogler, two great performances by Michael B. Jordan. It's
a horror movie, but it's a ton of fun. I
love it. Sinners is really great. My number one movie
of twenty twenty five. The best movie I saw in
(08:36):
twenty twenty five that I could not believe was as
good as it was as a movie called Weapons. It's
available on HBO Max. Stars Josh Brolin. It's a tight
Stephen King esque mystery of a group of kids who
go missing. They run out of their homes into the
woods one night at two seventeen am. Why did they
(08:57):
do it? What's the answer to the mystery, and the
answer to me was so deeply satisfying. And I don't
want to tell anybody else anything. If you haven't seen it,
press play on Weapons. It's amazing. So Life of Chuck, Sinners,
and Weapons are my three best movies from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So wait, Beth, did you see all three of those?
Speaker 4 (09:13):
So I have not seen Sinners yet, but I have
it in my queue because of Steve. Sir Stephen has
said that that's a film I need to see it.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, I'm happy to spoil it for you if you'd like, Beth.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Wait, So, Sean, what you don't know is that the
morning after the first volume, the first drop of Stranger Things,
after Thanksgiving, Beth and I had watched all of it
and we came in that Monday and Steve had not
our producer Steve and Beth basically ruined it in three.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Words because and we had specifically said even off air
before the show started, hey, no spoilers for Stranger Things, right,
no spoilers, no spoilers. And then Beth was like, oh, well,
what about when blah blah blah, and I was like,
are you serious?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Totally ruined, totally ruined up, for him.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Okay, So as we look ahead into twenty twenty six,
Marvel notwithstanding, because obviously we're looking forward to that and
you are. But is there what's the biggest thing on
your horizon that you're excited for or you're anticipating for
the new year?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
The return of three directors? Christopher Nolan, he has The Odyssey,
which is coming in July. Steven Spielberg is returning with
a UFO film called A Disclosure Day. I want to
say it released the trailer recently. It has Emily Blunt
and it looks fantastic.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yeah, the trailer saw sign.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
And David Fincher is coming back with a new movie,
and I'll sit down for anything that Fincher does, obviously.
So those three I'm driven by directors, and those three
have new movies coming in Oh and Denievilo is going
to do Dune Part three in December. So four, I'm
giving you four directors non Marvel, because obviously Doomsday and
Spider Manter are coming in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And am I right that as of now, the Dune
movie's supposed to open the same weekend as Avengers Doomsday
or have they moved that?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
No? No, we're looking at a Barbenheimer situation with we're
gonna be calling it doon'esday. Oh, we're head of the curve.
We're going to double feature Doom Part three and Avengers
Doomsday is gonna be eleven hours in the theater.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yeah, there you go today.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
That's really funny.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Actually, well, look, we appreciate your time as always. If
people want to read more of your work and get
more Sean O'Connell, best places to do that are where well, CBR.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Dot com is the website, and anything comics and superheroes
are related, you'll find my stuff, and of course, bo
it's a good time to plug that. I have three
books that are available in stores, one about Bruce Willis,
one about Spider Man, and one about the Snyder Cut
movement to get Justice League released on behalf of Zack Snyder.
Just look up Sean O'Connell on Amazon and hopefully you
guys will find something entertaining to read.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, well, worth your time, great books, and look, man,
we appreciate your time as always and look forward to
talking to you many times in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You guys are the best. I appreciate it. Thank guys.
Let me take a while. Guest, you're not calling to
wish me a good morning good morning, Well, no, it's
not exactly a good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You have kind of a situation down here at the
squawk the signal.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's it's gone all wonky. From the one oh seven
point nine f M w BET Charlotte's FM News Talk.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
You didn't get the turbo charger.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
No, I'm also giving up pretty hug.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
This is Good Morning Beat with Bo Thompson at Beth troutlet.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Is your receiver in any way connected with a flex capacitor.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
That's all comes down to Tomorrow Night, one o seven
(01:09):
point nine WBT. It is December thirtieth, Bowen Beth. Here
in the Tyboid studio and on the WBT hotline, the
one and only Sean O'Connell from CBR, Deputy Editor talks
to Entertainment, talks movies. We'll look ahead into twenty twenty
six and also talk about his biggest movies of this
(01:31):
past year. But first and foremost Tomorrow night. You know
you can, if you got a ticket in time, you
could be going to see the movie The finale of
Stranger Things in a theater tomorrow night. But I that
was kind of a quick thing, and I think those
got snatched up pretty fast. Good morning to you, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Good morning. I'm surprised at how many people are going
to the theaters to go see it, especially because the
reaction to you know this this final season has been
mixed to naga. But it seems like people do want
to see you know, the resolution on the big screen,
so they can't see IMAX because Jim Cameron won't give
it up. You know, he's still running his blue Pandora people.
(02:11):
But you can go see it on a bigger screen
than you probably have it home.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
So, like you just said that, these reviews for this
final season have been mixed to negative. I am on
the other side of that. I have really enjoyed this
season so far, and they had lost me there for
a little while because I thought the last season was
a stinker, and this they've brought me back into this
world and I've enjoyed it. I can't lie, Beth.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I'm with you one hundred percent. I'm having a good
time with it. I think the episodes are a lot
of fun. I think the character interactions are a blast.
I think the production values look incredible, and I'm dying
to see how it resolves. Like, you know, we watched
the episodes as they happen, and then I watched the
reactions online, and I'm like, I don't know what show
you people are watching, Like this is what this show
has been the whole time. It's entertaining, and I like
(02:59):
the characters and I want to say what happens to them?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, you know, every once in a while, you get
a situation like you have tomorrow night, eight o'clock on Netflix,
and some people will have tickets to see it in theaters.
But you've got what about two hours to wrap up
a show that not only is five seasons long, but
the gaps in between each one of those seasons makes
it seem like it's like twelve seasons. And how can
(03:22):
they possibly how can they possibly make everyone happy and
tie everything up in two hours? Tomorrow night, We're going
to see what they're gonna try, But I don't know
how they do it.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Oh bo, I have to laugh at something you said,
make everyone happy?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Can they make anybody happy?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah? I mean we have to assume that they know
where they were heading, you know, to a certain extent.
I think they've been making up some of the stuff
as they've gone, but they have to have known what
the resolution of all this is going to be. And yeah,
we'll see, we'll see how it goes. But you know
what I don't want, and I'm starting to hear of already,
is like spin off ideas, you know, of some of
(04:03):
the characters, and how do we keep the Stranger Things
world going? Like it's okay for things to end, you know,
it's all right for we didn't have Stranger Things, right, Like,
somebody came up with that as an original idea and
it became its own thing. Like, let's move on to
the next, new, original thing. And I say original. This
is obviously Strange Things is loosely based on nine hundred
other things that we grew up on. But let's come
(04:25):
up with another idea we don't need to follow, you know,
Max after her time in Hawkins or something like that.
So we'll see what the future brings.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Okay. So it's interesting that you say that because you
mentioned Avatar, and we touched on this the last time
you were with us a few weeks ago. But there
are some people that have been going to the Avatar
movie just to see a minute and a half of
an Avengers trailer and then leave. Now, since we last
talked to you, and I saw that you wrote. You
wrote an article about this the other day about how
this rollout for the movie Avengers Doomsday, which is now
(04:56):
a year away, the rollout so far has been a train.
If people don't know, and you haven't been to the theater,
but you've probably read about it somewhere. I believe there
have been four trailers now, one of them which has
Captain America Chris Evans officially confirmed as back in these
Avengers movies. The first one has been released to the
(05:18):
masses and you can see it in digital form in
HD online. But then there are allegedly three more that
were attached to avatar screenings, and those are still out
there like they leak and you can see them and
they're grainy. But the bottom line is is this is
an interesting rollout for a huge franchise that they're obviously
trying to reboot. But as you were saying the other day,
(05:41):
it's not exactly been. This is not the way you
would would have wanted it to go.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I wouldn't think so anyway. So there have been three
One has been about Captain America, which they did put
out in an HD version. The other has been about Thor,
Chris Hemsworth's version of Thor, and now the third one
is the return of the X Men. But the way
that most fans are seeing them are pirated versions, you know,
shot on people's iPhones from the theaters and then post
(06:08):
it online, post it on Reddit or onto x you know,
social media. And they're not making the official versions available
to fans, and they're trying to get you to come
to theaters to support Avatar, but I don't understand why
that would be a marketing strategy. The fourth one, we
don't know what it's about. I've heard that it's about
the Fantastic Four. I've heard that it might be the
(06:29):
first true look at Robert Downey Junior as Doom. And
if I end up seeing that as a pirated cam version,
you know, before I see an official version, I'm going
to chuck that up as a failure because I don't
have the willpower to not look at it. Of course,
I'm going to watch it if it's available someplace, so
make it available and then like put it on YouTube,
(06:50):
you know, put it on Marvel's official site. I did
this this marketing strategy baffles me when a movie like
Supergirl did it you know the right way just two
weeks ago, where they had a teaser and then on
Friday the full trailer was there, and now they moved
on with the marketing. And I think Marvel's trying to
be too cute with this to try to get people
to come to theaters, and it's just opened themselves up
(07:12):
for blatant piracy. So I don't understand it, and it's
kind of frustrating.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Well, speaking of trailers for movies that are to come,
Since we are here at the end of the year,
this is our final show of the year, the last
time we'll talk to you in twenty twenty five. Tell
us what your top films were from.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
This year that I think you're gonna love this. I'm
gonna give you, guys my top three. These are the
three that you can go see. All three of these
they're available on streaming. I wish you could see them
in theaters, but they're on streaming. First one, number three
is The Life of Chuck. Yeah, which, again, as we've
said repeatedly on this show, not enough people even have
you even seen this movie. You all need to go
(07:53):
seek it out. Like, this is a movie that will
just make you feel good. It's just it's so empowering.
It's about just put it on press play. That's all
I have to say. Stars Tom Hidlson. It's amazing. Number
two is Sinners. Sinners is a movie that I think
is contending right now. The Best Picture race for next
(08:15):
year seems to be coming down to one battle after
another with Leonardo DiCaprio and possibly Sinners, and I hope
Sinners ends up prevailing. I would love to see that
movie be the Best Picture winner. Just a tremendous ome
Ryan Coogler, two great performances by Michael B. Jordan. It's
a horror movie, but it's a ton of fun. I
love it. Sinners is really great. My number one movie
of twenty twenty five. The best movie I saw in
(08:36):
twenty twenty five that I could not believe was as
good as it was as a movie called Weapons. It's
available on HBO Max. Stars Josh Brolin. It's a tight
Stephen King esque mystery of a group of kids who
go missing. They run out of their homes into the
woods one night at two seventeen am. Why did they
(08:57):
do it? What's the answer to the mystery, and the
answer to me was so deeply satisfying. And I don't
want to tell anybody else anything. If you haven't seen it,
press play on Weapons. It's amazing. So Life of Chuck, Sinners,
and Weapons are my three best movies from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So wait, Beth, did you see all three of those?
Speaker 4 (09:13):
So I have not seen Sinners yet, but I have
it in my queue because of Steve. Sir Stephen has
said that that's a film I need to see it.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, I'm happy to spoil it for you if you'd like, Beth.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Wait, So, Sean, what you don't know is that the
morning after the first volume, the first drop of Stranger Things,
after Thanksgiving, Beth and I had watched all of it
and we came in that Monday and Steve had not
our producer Steve and Beth basically ruined it in three.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Words because and we had specifically said even off air
before the show started, hey, no spoilers for Stranger Things, right,
no spoilers, no spoilers. And then Beth was like, oh, well,
what about when blah blah blah, and I was like,
are you serious?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Totally ruined, totally ruined up, for him.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Okay, So as we look ahead into twenty twenty six,
Marvel notwithstanding, because obviously we're looking forward to that and
you are. But is there what's the biggest thing on
your horizon that you're excited for or you're anticipating for
the new year?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
The return of three directors? Christopher Nolan, he has The Odyssey,
which is coming in July. Steven Spielberg is returning with
a UFO film called A Disclosure Day. I want to
say it released the trailer recently. It has Emily Blunt
and it looks fantastic.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yeah, the trailer saw sign.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
And David Fincher is coming back with a new movie,
and I'll sit down for anything that Fincher does, obviously.
So those three I'm driven by directors, and those three
have new movies coming in Oh and Denievilo is going
to do Dune Part three in December. So four, I'm
giving you four directors non Marvel, because obviously Doomsday and
Spider Manter are coming in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And am I right that as of now, the Dune
movie's supposed to open the same weekend as Avengers Doomsday
or have they moved that?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
No? No, we're looking at a Barbenheimer situation with we're
gonna be calling it doon'esday. Oh, we're head of the curve.
We're going to double feature Doom Part three and Avengers
Doomsday is gonna be eleven hours in the theater.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yeah, there you go today.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
That's really funny.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Actually, well, look, we appreciate your time as always. If
people want to read more of your work and get
more Sean O'Connell, best places to do that are where well, CBR.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Dot com is the website, and anything comics and superheroes
are related, you'll find my stuff, and of course, bo
it's a good time to plug that. I have three
books that are available in stores, one about Bruce Willis,
one about Spider Man, and one about the Snyder Cut
movement to get Justice League released on behalf of Zack Snyder.
Just look up Sean O'Connell on Amazon and hopefully you
guys will find something entertaining to read.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, well, worth your time, great books, and look, man,
we appreciate your time as always and look forward to
talking to you many times in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You guys are the best. I appreciate it. Thank guys.
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