Oh Brother

Dan and Mike Smith
  • 4.7 (14)
  • Film Reviews
  • Updated Weekly

Real brothers, Reel Talk: Dan & Mike Smith cover film, TV, & artist interviews 🍿📺🎤My brother Mike and I launched the “Oh Brother” podcast in 2020. The show’s primary objective is to share our enthusiasm for film and cinema in an informative and entertaining way. We also enjoy interviewing artists with diverse backgrounds in film and television who work both in front of and behind the scenes. We invite you to join us each week and follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. We’d love to hear from you, so email us or text us some fan mail to share your feedback on the show!

  1. Aug 26

    Glengarry Glen Ross (1992): Why This Is a Certified Classic

    Message Dan and Mike Glengarry Glen Ross turns 34 this year, and we're finally giving David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play its due on the show. James Foley's 1992 film adaptation brings together an absolutely stacked cast — Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, and Alan Arkin — for the story of four desperate real estate salesmen pitted against each other in a brutal sales contest. We dig into how this film actually came together, including the fascinating parallel between Pacino championing this project the same way Sean Penn championed Foley's At Close Range, and how Pacino personally scouted Kevin Spacey on Broadway for the role of Williamson. We also talk through the casting history of Shelley "The Machine" Levene, a role that nearly went in a very different direction before Jack Lemmon delivered one of the great performances of his career. We get into why the film's most famous scene — the one everyone quotes — wasn't even in Mamet's original play, and why we think the "sales" angle is honestly the least interesting theme once you dig into what this movie is really about. We also trace the play's legacy through its Broadway revivals, from Joe Mantegna's original Tony-winning run as Ricky Roma, through the 2015 revival that brought Pacino back to the stage alongside Bobby Cannavale, all the way to 2025's star-studded cast. Before we get into the film, we open with a story about a very ill-fated car-buying negotiation involving a local salesman, and we close things out with a confession about how we got worked over by a couple of very skilled salesmen on the streets of San Diego during Comic-Con. Fair warning: this one earns its language warning, but we'd argue it's essential viewing regardless. If you take one recommendation from us all year, make it this one. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  2. Aug 20

    “The Last House” Netflix Review — Worst Film of the Year?

    Message Dan and Mike We're reviewing Netflix's The Last House, the sci-fi horror thriller starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura as parents whose family gets mysteriously sealed inside their home with no way out. The premise is strong and the first act hooks us immediately, but a jarring five-year time jump sends the story spiraling into some of the weakest, most unsatisfying territory we've covered on the show. We dig into the film's abandoned plot threads, its unconvincing CGI creatures, the convenient "everyone's an engineer" problem-solving, and why comparisons to A Quiet Place don't do it any favors. We also talk through the film's IMDb Metascore and its rough Rotten Tomatoes numbers, and explain exactly why we can't recommend spending your two hours on this one. From there we pivot to a rundown of what's actually worth streaming right now. On Netflix, we're raving about Beef, WWE: Unreal, Tires, and Everyone Is Doing Great. On Apple TV+, we cover Your Friends and Neighbors, Widow's Bay, and Sugar starring Colin Farrell. We also flag a couple of shows we'd steer you away from. Plus, a fun tangent on A Quiet Place, film noir influences, and more of our usual brotherly banter. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  3. Aug 13

    Spider-Man: Brand New Day — A Darker Tom Holland Sends Us Home Divided

    Message Dan and Mike We finally sit down to unpack Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the fourth installment in Tom Holland's run as Peter Parker and the first Spidey film from director Destin Daniel Cretton. Picking up four years after No Way Home's spell erased Peter from the world's memory, this is a noticeably darker, more isolated take on the character — Aunt May is gone, his friendships with MJ and Ned are gone, and the arachnid side of his DNA is starting to take over. We dig into how that trauma-driven tone works, and where it doesn't. One of us walks away calling this the weakest of the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, and we're honest about why: a story that feels overcrowded with characters, some shaky CGI work on the Scorpion, and a villain problem that never quite resolves who we're actually supposed to be rooting against. We also talk through the returning cast — Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh — plus the newer additions, including Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle, Tramell Tillman's William Mesker, Naomi Watts voicing E.D.I.T.H., and a genuinely strong turn from Sadie Sink as Jean Grey that surprised us both. Along the way we get into the film's stunt work and practical martial arts sequences, the choice to make Peter's webs organic again as a nod to Tobey Maguire's era, and what it means that this film is now closing in on two billion dollars worldwide and threatening box office records held by Avengers: Endgame and Titanic. We also share (in maybe too much detail) the theater experience that colored one of our first viewings, because full transparency matters around here. Whether you loved Brand New Day or walked out with the same reservations we did, we want to hear it. And with Avengers: Doomsday looming and a fifth Spider-Man almost certainly on the way, we start speculating about where this saga goes next. If you're not already following along, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else podcasts live, and subscribing to the YouTube channel helps a lot more than you'd think. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  4. Aug 6

    SDCC 2026 Recap Part 2: Hall H Chaos, Simpsons & Spaceballs

    Message Dan and Mike We're back with part two of our San Diego Comic-Con recap, picking up where we left off on day two and carrying through to our final thoughts on the whole experience. This time we get into the chaos of Hall H, including a wristband standoff that turned into a two-hour, half-mile trek around the building just to get denied entry — twice. We also break down the panels that delivered and the ones that didn't: Lanterns surprised us with how much footage HBO was willing to show, the Spaceballs panel gave us a genuinely fun hour with Josh Gad, Rick Moranis, and Daphne Zuniga, and Collider's Showrunners on Showrunning brought out heavy hitters like Greg Daniels and Damon Lindelof. On the flip side, the Simpsons panel turned out to be one of the biggest letdowns of the weekend, with no voice cast in sight — though the one clip they did show us, imagining a world where Homer and Marge never met, ended up being a genuine highlight. We also talk about a memorable, unplanned panel with Ashley Eckstein, our In-N-Out Burger verdict after years without a real hamburger, and the strange logistics failures that plagued the entire convention, from the trolley system to a parking garage that seemed built for a fraction of the actual crowd. Along the way we cover some of our favorite cosplay of the trip, a touching moment with Sergeant Slaughter in the autograph line, and the small personal wins that made the trip worth it, including meeting Judith O'Dea and catching wind of the Johnny Depp Ebenezer Scrooge reveal that had the internet buzzing all week. We close things out with an honest, no-holds-barred recommendation on whether Comic-Con is actually worth attending, plus a look ahead at the box office moment we're in right now, with the Odyssey and Spider-Man both performing well and Avengers on the horizon. It's a candid, occasionally chaotic wrap-up of a trip that gave us plenty to talk about. Follow us on Instagram, and catch us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you listen. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  5. Jul 29

    San Diego Comic-Con 2026 Recap, Part 1

    Message Dan and Mike We're back from our first San Diego Comic-Con with press credentials, and this episode kicks off a two-part recap of the entire experience. Part one covers our arrival, the scramble to find the convention center on San Diego's trolley system, and the reality check that comes with picking up press badges for the first time. We also take a detour to Seaport Village for tacos and a beer with a view of the harbor, then head north to UC San Diego for a surprise highlight of the trip: Shredding the Multiverse, a concert reimagining television and film scores from shows like Cobra Kai, Spider-Man, and The Penguin with a full orchestra and rock energy. From there we walk through preview night, our first real taste of the exhibit hall, complete with two-hour lines, an ocean of vendors, and a candid discussion about what press credentials do and don't actually get you at a con this size. We get into a few Comic-Con-brain moments (yes, we coin the term), some sibling bickering about San Diego weather, and a genuinely strange arcade cabinet encounter that turns into its own little subplot. The back half of the episode dives into two of our favorite panels from day one. First, a look at the upcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, opening in Los Angeles this September, and why it's a celebration of storytelling and visual art far beyond just Star Wars. Then we sit in on Brad Bird's career retrospective panel, tracing his path from The Iron Giant and The Incredibles to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and his surprising, nearly two-hundred-episode history with The Simpsons. Bird also previews his new animated sci-fi noir series Ray Gun and drops a small but exciting update on the status of Incredibles 3. It's an exhausting, funny, occasionally chaotic first day, and we haven't even gotten to Hall H yet. That's coming in part two, along with days two and three of the convention. Thanks for riding along with us on our first Comic-Con as press, sore feet and all. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  6. Jul 15

    Gena Rowlands & Cassavetes' Opening Night (1977) | Criterion Review

    Message Dan and Mike We're reviewing John Cassavetes' Opening Night (1977), starring Gena Rowlands, as part of our dive into the Criterion box set of five Cassavetes films. This is a filmmaker some call the father of independent cinema, and we get into why he had to finance his own work, act in other people's movies to bankroll his next project, and watch this one bomb so badly on release that the studio pulled it from theaters. We talk through the film's play-within-a-play structure, the way Cassavetes shoots actors slipping in and out of character backstage, and the ambiguity at the center of the story: is the young fan who dies early in the film a real ghost haunting Rowlands' character, or a figment of her imagination as she confronts getting older? We land in different places on that question, and we get into why Cassavetes never spells it out for the audience. We also spend some time on Rowlands herself, tracing one brother's first exposure to her through Gloria back in 1980 without even realizing Cassavetes directed it, and talking about how she and Cassavetes never won a competitive Oscar despite being nominated multiple times between them. Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, and a scene-stealing cameo from Peter Falk all come up, along with a tangent on Cassavetes' work with Kubrick-adjacent actors and comparisons to other directors who financed their own films outside the studio system. Before we get into the review, we also talk about our upcoming trip to San Diego Comic-Con, where we'll have press credentials for the first time. We're already deep into schedule chaos trying to figure out how to cover a five-day, eighty-plus-page event as first-timers, so expect a recap episode when we're back. If you've been meaning to start exploring Cassavetes and don't know where to begin, we make the case for Opening Night as an entry point, and let you know the whole five-film Criterion box set is currently half off. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  7. Jul 8

    Sylvester Stallone's Rocky at 50: The Perfect Underdog Story

    Message Dan and Mike Rocky turns 50 this December, and Sylvester Stallone just turned 80 — so we're marking both with our very first Stallone review. A broke, unknown actor with bit parts in mob films turned down nearly $400,000 from the studio, wrote the script in three days, and sold his own dog to make the one movie he refused to let anyone else star in. We get into the guerrilla filmmaking behind it: a budget under a million dollars, a 28-day shoot, no permits, tarps hauled in to fake the Philadelphia skyline in New York, and a training montage stitched together from footage grabbed wherever they could get it. We talk about the producers mortgaging their homes to finish the film, the choreographers who walked off over how the fights were staged, and Stallone ultimately taking the choreography credit himself. We also cover the film's two Godfather connections through Talia Shire and Joe Spinell, the legacy of Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers, and Burt Young, and how Rocky beat out a stacked 1976 Best Picture field that included Taxi Driver, Network, and All the President's Men. Whether you've seen Rocky fifty times or somehow never seen it, we make the case for why it still holds up as one of the most complete films ever made. Come for the trivia, stay for the argument about whether this is truly a perfect movie. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

  8. Jul 1

    Supergirl (2026) Review — Milly Alcock's DCU Debut Worth Seeing?

    Message Dan and Mike We saw Supergirl opening weekend and couldn't disagree more. Dan's defending it. Mike thinks it's one of the worst films he's seen in years. No fence-sitting — just a real debate about whether Craig Gillespie's DCU origin story actually works. We break down Milly Alcock's performance as Kara Zor-El, the galactic revenge story adapted from Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Jason Momoa's Lobo and what his presence actually adds (or doesn't), villain Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and whether he lands, the late arrival of the suit, the Krypton lore that's already dividing DC fans, and what David Corenswet's Superman cameo contributes. We also get into the box office disappointment, the mixed critical reception, and whether any of that should change how you feel walking into the theater. Did the DCU get its Supergirl right? Let us know where you stand. Support the show Oh Brother Podcast: Support the Show! (Be The First to Listen with Early Access)Listen on all podcast platformsSubscribe on YouTubeFollow us on Instagram

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4.7
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

Real brothers, Reel Talk: Dan & Mike Smith cover film, TV, & artist interviews 🍿📺🎤My brother Mike and I launched the “Oh Brother” podcast in 2020. The show’s primary objective is to share our enthusiasm for film and cinema in an informative and entertaining way. We also enjoy interviewing artists with diverse backgrounds in film and television who work both in front of and behind the scenes. We invite you to join us each week and follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. We’d love to hear from you, so email us or text us some fan mail to share your feedback on the show!

Information

  • Creator
    Dan and Mike Smith
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    277
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Oh Brother
  • Show Website
    Oh Brother