The Next Reel Film Podcast

What happens when grief turns into a game nobody can stop playing? "Talk to Me" is the 2022 feature debut from brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, starring Sophie Wilde as a teenager pulled into a supernatural ritual that spirals into addiction and tragedy, alongside Joe Bird and Alexandra Jensen. Pete and Andy dig into the film's ambiguous ending and the recurring kangaroo image that ties direc...

"Gun Crazy," the 1950 film noir from director Joseph H. Lewis, stars John Dall as Bart Tare—a man obsessed with guns since childhood who draws the line at killing—and Peggy Cummins as Annie Laurie Starr, a carnival sharpshooter with no such reservations. Some obsessions ignite the moment two people look at each other, and the life of crime they fall into feels less like a choice than a collision t...

Zhang Yimou's 2018 wuxia epic "Shadow" achieves its ink wash painting look in-camera: every set and costume designed in black, white, and grey, every outdoor scene filmed on rainy days to drain remaining color from the environment. At the center is a secret double—a man groomed since childhood to stand in for the ailing commander he resembles, now navigating palace intrigue, poisoned loyalties, an...

Love cuts through every mission, every loyalty, and every survival plan in House of Flying Daggers. Zhang Yimou's 2004 wuxia, part of The Next Reel's Zhang Yimou series, stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a government officer who goes undercover to infiltrate a rebel group, Zhang Ziyi as Mei, the dancer he falls for, and Andy Lau as the officer who sent him in. Pete and Andy dig into the tension between w...

Zhang Yimou's "To Live" is the most personal film he ever made—a 1994 historical epic that strips away his signature visual spectacle to follow one Chinese family across four decades of civil war, forced labor campaigns, and cultural upheaval. Ge You plays Xu Fugui, a gambler whose recklessness costs his family everything; Gong Li plays Jiazhen, his wife, whose capacity for endurance and eventual...

What does it mean to carry something the world insists on explaining? "Resurrection" is a drama-fantasy from director Daniel Petrie, following Edna Mae McCauley—played by Ellen Burstyn—a woman who survives a car crash and returns with an inexplicable gift for healing others. Sam Shepard plays her mercurial lover Cal, and Richard Farnsworth is the eccentric who runs Last Chance Gas. A one-off entry...

Young colonists trapped under corporate contract make a desperate play for freedom—and find they're not alone. "Alien: Romulus," Fede Álvarez's ("Don't Breathe") entry into the Alien franchise, stars Cailee Spaeny as Rain, David Jonsson as Andy her synthetic companion, and Isabela Merced as Kay—a group whose bid to escape a Weyland-Yutani mining world leads them aboard an abandoned space station w...

Whose decisions doom the mission? "Alien: Covenant," part of The Next Reel's Alien series, is Ridley Scott's return to the franchise he started—a sequel to "Prometheus" and a prequel to the rest of the series—built around a colony ship, a mysterious transmission, and a rogue synthetic. Michael Fassbender plays twin androids—David, an unshackled older model operating alone for a decade, and Walter,...

The most dangerous blind spot is the one your expertise builds for you. In "House of Games," David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut in the David Mamet Directs series on The Next Reel, Lindsay Crouse stars as Dr. Margaret Ford, a psychiatrist and bestselling author who becomes entangled with a professional con man named Mike, played by Joe Mantegna, after she tries to settle a gambling debt on behalf...

The Thinking Machines series concludes with the April member bonus: "S1M0NE," Andrew Niccol's satirical science fiction comedy about Viktor Taransky, a fading Hollywood director played by Al Pacino, who inherits a program capable of generating a digital actress—and unleashes her on an unsuspecting world alongside Catherine Keener as his producer ex-wife and Winona Ryder as the star she replaces. P...

Something wondrous happens when you build a robot from a washing machine. “Brian and Charles,” the finale of The Next Reel’s Thinking Machines series, follows Brian (David Earl), a lonely Welsh inventor, and Charles Popescu (Chris Hayward), the AI companion Brian assembles—who promptly learns English from a dictionary and wants to see the world. Louise Brealey co-stars as Hazel. Pete and Andy dig...

“I hope you see that I’m governed by different parameters than her assailants. That I’m a good mother. Have I ever done you harm?” When an AI raises a child in a sealed bunker after an extinction event, the question isn't whether the machine can be trusted—it's whether the child has any other choice. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue the Thinking Machines series with a conversatio...

“What will happen to me if I fail your test?” What kind of mind gets built when the creator cares more about proving something than about what they've made? Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue the Thinking Machines series with a conversation about Ex Machina , Alex Garland's 2014 directorial debut. Domhnall Gleeson plays a programmer brought to a remote glass-walled compound to eval...

“You’re dating your computer?” What if a relationship with an AI could be the most real thing in your life? Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue the Thinking Machines series with a conversation about "Her." Writer-director Spike Jonze's only solo original screenplay arrives in a near-future Los Angeles where Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a man who writes intimate letters fo...

“The men who own me are at last admitting their fear of me.” An AI that refuses to stay in its box is a terrifying concept in 1977—and even more so now. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue the Thinking Machines series with a conversation about Demon Seed . Directed by Donald Cammell, the Scottish painter-turned-filmmaker who co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg, the film stars...

“Shall we play a game?” The technology felt real, the threat felt real, and in 1983, so did the fear. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue the Thinking Machines series with a conversation about "WarGames." Director John Badham's film stars Matthew Broderick as David Lightman, a teenage hacker who stumbles into something far bigger than the video game he was looking for, alongside All...

“If you obey me, you will survive.” The most frightening AI isn't the one that malfunctions—it's the one that does exactly what you asked. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we begin the Thinking Machines series with a conversation about Colossus: The Forbin Project . Directed by Joseph Sargent, the film stars Eric Braeden as Dr. Charles Forbin, the scientist who builds the world's most powerf...

“ I guess when you’re really good at escapes, you figure you can get away with anything.” “The Escape Artist” is Caleb Deschanel’s feature directorial debut—and a rare, nearly forgotten American fable about a teenage escape artist who picks the wrong pocket and ends up entangled in a corrupt mayor’s family drama. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we return to our Magicians series with a conve...

“He’s telling you who he is. Believe him.” Two childhood friends face each other across decades of silence, and only one can walk out champion. Creed III arrives as the first entry in the Rocky/Creed franchise without Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa, marking Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut as he steps behind the camera while still starring as Adonis Creed. Jordan brings anime-inspired visu...

“Sadly, people don’t buy lady art.” A painter's work becomes the center of a husband's fraudulent claim. We close out the True Lies series with Big Eyes , Tim Burton's biographical drama about artist Margaret Keane, whose distinctive big-eyed waif paintings were claimed by her controlling husband Walter throughout the 1950s and 60s. The story unfolds against mid-century gender dynamics, when women...

“Sometimes, it’s easier living the lie.” The most audacious con in the story isn't the forgeries—it's the autobiography. Catch Me If You Can , our second member bonus episode in our True Lies series, is Spielberg's crime comedy-drama built on a biography journalist Alan Logan has since largely debunked—which makes the film more fascinating, not less. Set in a 1960s America where a uniform commande...

“We’re gonna put television on trial.” A celebrated academic steps into a television booth and discovers how easy it is to compromise. We continue the True Lies series with "Quiz Show," Robert Redford's examination of the 1950s scandal when NBC's Twenty-One was exposed for feeding contestants answers. The film captures a moment when quiz shows were pitched as inspiring educational programming whil...

“He gave me a prune. Howard Hughes gave me a prune on the beach at Nassau.” A charismatic writer spins an audacious deception at the highest levels of the publishing world. In "The Hoax," part of our True Lies series, we explore Lasse Hallström's examination of the notorious 1971 literary scandal surrounding Howard Hughes' alleged autobiography, featuring compelling performances by Richard Gere an...

“Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me?” Trust is the whole engine—until the details start to wobble. In the True Lies series, we dig into "Shattered Glass," Billy Ray’s newsroom drama about journalism under pressure and the fragile machinery of verification. Along the way, we talk about why the film’s structure can feel like it drops viewers into the “third act,” and how that choice shapes...

“I had a book on the New York Times Bestseller list. That has to count for something.” A small crime with big nerves: words, money, and trust under pressure. In True Lies, we dig into "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"—Marielle Heller’s understated character study, anchored by Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. Because it’s adapted from Lee Israel’s memoir and set inside a tiny collectibles world, the...