"A good movie is three good scenes and no bad ones” with Billy Mernit  | The Movie Racket

Story analyst Billy Mernit joins Michael Phillips to test one of Hollywood’s most enduring (and slippery) unofficial rules: Howard Hawks’ idea that a good movie is three good scenes and no bad ones. Mernit, an instructor and writer known as the “guru of rom-com,” brings nearly three decades of rea…

Introducing: The Black Guy Who Tips Podcast | Sitting Down! with Pete Dominick (Network Drop)

Rod and Karen are joined by Pete Dominick to discuss Podjam 3, the importance of community, doing warm-up for TV shows, interviewing authors, growing up funny, racial differences in comedy, political comedy, meeting J-L Cauvin, J-L running for office, hyper vigilance, and some white people news. T…

The Odyssey: Nolan Makes the Ancient Epic His Own

Is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey a cinematic gift, or is it a Trojan Horse filled with the director’s narrative obsessions? Maybe both. In their review, Adam and Josh talk about the ways Nolan diverges from Homer’s epic tale, and which of the director’s previous films offer the best insight into …

Home Sweet Homer, Pt. 1 — O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Next Picture Show

Considering The Odyssey is one of the most famous and influential stories of all time, there had been relatively few attempts to directly translate Homer’s epic poem to the big screen until Christopher Nolan came along to do it at a blockbuster scale. It’s been more common for filmmakers, such as J…

The Prestige | Archive

As part of 2020’s Christopher Nolan Oeuvre-view, Adam and Josh revisited The Prestige (2006), which – alongside his current The Odyssey – is among the rare Nolans adapted from existing material. Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus episodes, and more when you ⁠join the Fi…

Budget Multi-Verse: Hulu's Redux Redux | SVU

Matt and Jordan give Hulu’s new multiverse revenge thriller Redux Redux a spin, crediting Kevin and Matthew McManus’s film for its low-budget stylishness and its central performance (by another McManus, sister Michaela). Then some Redux-inspired streaming recommendations, answers to a listener requ…

11 Rules for Box Office Appeal with Amy Nicholson | The Movie Racket

Film critic Amy Nicholson joins host Michael Phillips to test a set of unofficial Hollywood axioms: Preston Sturges’ 11 Rules for Box Office Appeal. Written (or so the story goes) in the early 1940s, the list is equal parts joke and provocation, a series of blunt, sometimes baffling claims about w…

The Sorrow and the Pity: Dismantling the Gaullist Myth | Dissident Cinema

The Dissident Cinema Marathon continues with Marcel Ophuls’s towering 1969 documentary The Sorrow and the Pity, which challenged the so-called “Gaullist myth” that the French people had largely resisted Nazi occupation.

Top 5 Films of 2026 (So Far) | #1073

Adam and Josh take stock of the movie year with their Top 5 Films of 2026 (So Far), making picks that reflect the strength of of the year’s genre offerings, comedies, and intimate dramas. Plus: Massacre Theatre, and Best of ‘26 poll results. This episode is presented by⁠ Regal Unlimited⁠⁠, the all…

Lady Justice, Pt. 2 — Supergirl | The Next Picture Show

A good chunk of Supergirl’s DNA can be traced back to True Grit by way of the comics miniseries the film is adapting, which is why we paired it with Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2010 version of that story. But as our discussion of Craig Gillespie’s new entry in James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe details, S…