Filmspotting

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Film Reviews
Updated weekly

Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies, offering "affable, insightful film analysis since 2005" (NY Times).This show includes AI-generated content.

8 hr ago

Netflix’s Best of the Best is Actually Kind of the Best | SVU

The new Netflix comedy Best of the Best introduced Matt and Jordan to the world of collegiate competitive Bollywood dance, and they left converts: to the dancing, to stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia, and to director Lena Khan’s winning movie (which has a joke-filled script written by comedian Hassan Minhaj and writing partner Prashanth Venkataramanujam). In the Best of the Best-inspired Rec Seg, they recommend an entry-level Bollywood classic and an obscure NYC-set dance movie. Then it’s a pair of single-setting (“bottle”) movies for listener Steven, and Producer Sam hosts a “Let’s Dance!” round of trivia. Intro (00:00:00–00:02:28) Best of the Best (00:02:29–00:20:55) Rec Seg! (00:20:56–00:36:45) Listener Req Seg! “Bottle Movies” (00:36:46–00:52:14) Game: Let’s Dance! (00:52:15–01:08:55) New to Streaming / Credits (01:08:56–01:26:39) Show Notes For what film should Alison Willmore make her triumphant return to SVU? https://poll.fm/17448084 Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠ Pre-Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (Coming October 6th):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠ Feedback: Email us at feedback@filmspottingSVU.com Follow Matt on Blue Sky: @mattsinger.bsky.social Follow Jordan on Blue Sky: @jhoffman.bsky.social Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠ Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 day ago

“A picture that stays with you is made up of a hundred or more hidden things” with Alonso Duralde | The Movie Racket

Film critic and author Alonso Duralde joins Michael Phillips to explore a piece of filmmaking wisdom from Vincente Minnelli: that a picture which stays with an audience is built from “a hundred or more hidden things.”Drawing on films ranging from Meet Me in St. Louis, Some Came Running, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, they consider how production design, performance, music, camera movement, and seemingly minor visual choices accumulate into something lasting. Notes: "I Wake Up Screening: What To Do Once You've Made That Movie" by John Anderson and Laura Kim https://www.amazon.com/dp/0823088987?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback Books by Alonso DuraldeHollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alonso-duralde/hollywood-pride/9780762485895/?lens=running-press I'll Be Home For Christmas https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brandon-gray/ill-be-home-for-christmas-movies/9780762499335/?lens=running-press See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
3 days ago

Featuring: Table Read Podcast | PV & FRANNY - Part 2

PV & FRANNY A girl with a glockenspiel. A boy with a guitar. A high school full of weirdos, mascots who may or may not be unhinged, and a mystery that isn’t what anyone thinks it is. A dead-serious love story… that refuses to behave like one. One flier turns into a band. One band turns into obsession. And before they ever play a real set, everything is already ridiculous. ACT TWO If Act One is about starting a band, Act Two is about what happens when everything immediately gets in the way. Franny does what any rational person would do. He writes a love song. Which would be fine… except for the rule. No romance. Ever. And PV means it. What follows is a series of perfectly logical decisions that somehow make everything worse. A love song that says too much. A date that shouldn’t exist. A plan to fix things that only complicates them further. Because if PV won’t date a bandmate, there’s only one solution: Make the competition part of the band. Which works. Until it doesn’t. As alliances shift, rules get enforced, and Franny finds himself deeper in a situation he cannot control, the band becomes something else entirely. Not just music. Not just friendship. Something closer to a test. Of loyalty. Of identity. Of whether you can separate what you create from how you feel. And in the middle of it all, the stakes quietly expand. A school competition that suddenly matters. A partnership that feels more intense than anything either of them expected. And a realization that success might not look the way they imagined it. Act Two is where the band takes shape, the lines get blurred, and the consequences of those rules start to land. Because sometimes the only thing more complicated than love… …is trying to avoid it. 🎭 CAST NARRATOR – Ty Burrell AJAY – Rahm Braslaw JUDY – Samantha Morelos MARIAN – Eileen Fogarty PV – Kensington Tallman RYUZO – O’Neill Monahan FRANNY – Liam Richardson GROUNDSKEEPER – Fred Armisen DALE – Ruben Ray TAP WATER BOTTLED WATER JINGLE – Chris Mann 🎬 PRODUCTION Written by Tommy Wallach Directed by Mark Knell & Jack Levy Executive Produced by Shaan Sharma, Jack Levy, and Mark Knell Table Read is a Manifest Media production. Find The Show: Table Read Podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
4 days ago

Blue Velvet at 40: Beneath the Surface | #1081

As David Lynch's Blue Velvet turns 40, Adam and Josh revisit the film that shocked audiences and helped define modern American cinema. Is it Lynch's masterpiece? Plus: Massacre Theatre and Josh’s thoughts on Practical Magic 2 and Paul Greengrass's The Uprising. This episode is presented by⁠ Regal Unlimited⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code FILMSPOT26 to take 15% off. (Timecodes will not be precise with ads.) Intro (00:00:00-00:03:09) Pantheon Project: Blue Velvet (00:03:10-01:16:00) Filmspotting Family (01:16:01-01:19:03) Practical Magic 2, The Uprising (01:19:04-01:27:11) Massacre Theatre (01:27:12-1:33:05) Credits / New Releases (1:33:06-1:37:01) Notes: - Feedback: -Email us at feedback@filmspotting.net⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠-⁠Ask Us Anything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we might answer your question in bonus content. Support: -Join the Filmspotting Family for bonus shows, archive access, and more. http://filmspottingfamily.com -Filmspotting Shop for T-shirts and more. ⁠https://www.filmspotting.net/shop⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow: -Watch Filmspotting on YouTube: ⁠https://youtube.com/filmspotting⁠ -Adam/Filmspotting ⁠Letterboxd⁠ |⁠ Instagram⁠ |⁠ Facebook⁠ | ⁠Bluesky⁠ -Josh/LarsenOnFilm ⁠Letterboxd⁠ | ⁠Instagram⁠ |⁠ Facebook⁠ | ⁠Bluesky See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
6 days ago

Top 5 David Lynch Scenes | Archive

Blue Velvet turns 40 this month—Adam and Josh have a Sacred Cow review coming later this week—so we're going back to 2014 for our Top 5 David Lynch Scenes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
6 days ago

Existential Zones, Pt. 2 — It Ends

Alexander Ullom's It Ends is a daring little piece of microbudget drama about four friends at transition points in their lives, who find themselves in a place where life and death no longer hold any meaning. Whether it’s a film about despair, about the afterlife, about the human condition, or all of the above, is up for discussion this week, as well as how It Ends fits into this current moment in independent horror cinema. After that, we bring Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris back in for Connections to discuss these two films’ respective existential journeys, the baggage their characters are bringing with them, and how each movie uses its genre premise to explore a big central metaphor. Then for Your Next Picture Show, we take a quick look at how Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 version of Solaris compares to Tarkovsky’s. Please share your thoughts about Solaris, It Ends, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Padraic McKinley’s The Weight and William Friedkin’s Sorcerer This episode is presented by⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Regal Unlimited⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
15 Sept

We Can’t Look Away From Netflix’s Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly | SVU

For a few days in the summer of 2024, the world’s attention was focused on Dr. Rachel Gunn — and not for anything good. Gunn, aka “Raygun”, was representing Australia at the Paris Olympics in the inaugural breakdancing competition, when her infamous performance became the subject of mockery, outrage, and even conspiracy theories. That’s the subject of the new Netflix documentary Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly. Matt and Jordan have a review, and use the film as an opportunity to recommend a film from the dawn of on-screen breakdancing and a sports doc about a ‘90s-era rivalry. Plus, streaming recommendations for a listener looking for movies with adrenaline-rush-inducing twists. Intro (00:00:00–00:07:20) Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly (00:07:21–00:23:38) Rec Seg! (00:23:39–00:40:27) Listener Req Seg: Movies With Twists (00:40:28–00:52:47) New to Streaming / Credits (00:52:48–01:00:16) Show Notes For what film should Alison Willmore make her triumphant return to SVU? https://poll.fm/17448084 Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠ Pre-Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (Coming October 6th):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠ Feedback: Email us at feedback@filmspottingSVU.com Follow Matt on Blue Sky: @mattsinger.bsky.social Follow Jordan on Blue Sky: @jhoffman.bsky.social Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠ Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠ This episode includes AI-generated content. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
14 Sept

"All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun" with Rachel Walther | The Movie Racket

Film noir expert Rachel Walther joins Michael Phillips to test a quote commonly attributed to Jean-Luc Godard. But whether it belongs to Godard, Howard Hawks, or someone else entirely, it points to a persistent question about what audiences really want from movies. From Gun Crazy and Double Indemnity to Jackie Brown, No Country for Old Men, and the James Bond franchise, they consider the enduring appeal of sex and danger and whether the famous formula still holds up more than a century after it was first proposed. Join the conversation by emailing themovieracket@filmspotting.net. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Adam Kempenaar

Host
Josh Larsen

Host
Rachel Walther

Guest
Steven Hyden

Guest
Elizabeth Cantwell

Guest
Roxana Hadadi

Guest
Michael Phillips

Guest
Robert Daniels

Guest

Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies, offering "affable, insightful film analysis since 2005" (NY Times).This show includes AI-generated content.