The Film Talk

Jett Loe and Gareth Higgins
  • 4.9 (24)
  • Film Reviews
  • Updated Biweekly

The 20-year human conversation about movies and what they mean. In 2006 TV director Jett Loe and peace activist Gareth Higgins both walked out of the same, terrible, movie at the Queen's Film Theatre in Belfast, Northern/North of Ireland. They encountered each other in the lobby, started talking, and so began a 20 year, and counting, conversation about movies, how they're made, and more importantly, what they mean. They enjoyed their conversations so much they began recording and distributing them, with the first incarnation of the show debuting that year. It's still going.

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  1. 1d ago

    Should We Stop Anthropomorphizing AI? What 2001, Colossus and The Outer Limits Can Teach Us

    Why are we working so hard to make artificial intelligence seem human? In this solo episode, Jett turns to three works of classic, and semi-classic, science fiction: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Colossus: The Forbin Project, and Harlan Ellison's Demon with a Glass Hand, asking what movies can teach us about our increasingly personal relationship with AI. HAL raises one possibility: What if a machine really does become something like a living being, with emotions and even a fear of death? Colossus offers a darker path, imagining what happens when we surrender authority to a machine and begin treating it less like a tool than an all-knowing god. But The Outer Limits episode Demon with a Glass Hand suggests another way forward. Its computer, manifested as a literal hand of glass, is intelligent, extraordinarily useful, and completely unsentimental. It doesn't flatter. It doesn't pretend to be your friend. It's a tool. Along the way in this episode: AI "personalities," the strange idea of giving software a soul, the pleasure of actually making things, Robert Culp's impeccable wardrobe, Harlan Ellison's legendary temperament, and why Jett has spent the past week wearing a glove and calling ChatGPT "the Glass Hand." Maybe the question isn't whether AI can become more like us. Maybe it's whether we should stop asking it to. The Show on the Web Subscribe on Patreon On Apple On Spotify On Facebook On Youtube Leave a Voicemail

  2. Sep 24 • Subscribers Only

    [Bonus/Archive] The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Part 2 / Neighbors / Locke / Milius

    We continue our time-traveling journey Dear Listeners, remember 2014? Ahh, a more innocent time perhaps, where Spidermen roamed free, neighbors fought with each other, Tom Hardy spend a lot of time alone and John Milius was, well, John Milius.

  3. Sep 18

    Coyote vs. Acme: Absurdity, Empathy, and Why We Keep Going

    A cartoon coyote, Albert Camus, Mira Nair, and Albuquerque walk into a podcast. Jett and Gareth dig into the wonderfully humane Coyote vs. Acme: a film about persistence, absurdity, and the radical possibility of seeing the world through somebody else's eyes—even when that somebody has spent decades being flattened by anvils. The Show on the Web Subscribe on Patreon On Apple On Spotify On Facebook On Youtube

  4. Sep 11

    Steven Spielberg Ranked: Our Number Ones, and What Greatness Means

    Six episodes later, the ranking project finally reaches the summit. Jett and Gareth reveal their respective No. 1 Steven Spielberg films, argue about greatness, wander briefly into Vincente Minnelli's Lust for Life, and confront the terrifying possibility that ranking art may have told us more about themselves than Spielberg. Subscribe on Patreon Apple - The Film Talk Spotify - The Film Talk Facebook.com/TheFilmTalk

  5. Aug 22 • Subscribers Only

    [Bonus / Archive] The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Part 1 / Under the Skin / Her

    Let us reflect on the past and see how it influenced the future Dear Listener. In this Bonus/Archive episode of TFT from all the way back in 2014, Jett and Gareth discuss the perhaps not vitally necessary The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the stunningly unsettling Under the Skin and the jewel-box-like Spike Jones’ picture Her. Note: Our second episode on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, (The Amazing Spider-man 2, Part 2, if you will), will be posted later this month. Enjoy.

  6. Aug 12

    Steven Spielberg Ranked: Late Epiphanies and the Road to No. 1

    The Spielberg ranking has now escaped all reasonable containment. As Jett and Gareth approach the top of the filmography, old assumptions collapse, unlikely favorites rise, and Gymkata, Zodiac, and Quantum of Solace somehow enter a conversation ostensibly about Steven Spielberg. Cinema is a mysterious business. Subscribe on Patreon Apple - The Film Talk Spotify - The Film Talk Facebook.com/TheFilmTalk

  7. Aug 5

    Blue Heron: Grief, Family, and the Miracle of Being Seen

    Sophy Romvari's Blue Heron opens a conversation about memory, damaged families, grief, and the profound human need to be seen accurately. Jett and Gareth also consider why New Yorker critic Richard Brody remains such a vital voice—and why criticism is at its best when it risks having a point of view. Subscribe on Patreon Apple - The Film Talk Spotify - The Film Talk Facebook.com/TheFilmTalk

  8. Aug 2 • Subscribers Only

    [Bonus] Zendaya and The Odyssey

    The Odyssey is an embarrassment of riches, certainly when it comes to performances Dear Listener. Realizing this, Gareth and Jett continued recording after the last episode to muse in a slightly roundabout way for a few minutes about the performance of Zendaya, who Gareth calls “the actor of her generation”.

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4.9
out of 5
24 Ratings

About

The 20-year human conversation about movies and what they mean. In 2006 TV director Jett Loe and peace activist Gareth Higgins both walked out of the same, terrible, movie at the Queen's Film Theatre in Belfast, Northern/North of Ireland. They encountered each other in the lobby, started talking, and so began a 20 year, and counting, conversation about movies, how they're made, and more importantly, what they mean. They enjoyed their conversations so much they began recording and distributing them, with the first incarnation of the show debuting that year. It's still going.

Information

  • Creator
    Jett Loe and Gareth Higgins
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    95
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    The Film Talk
  • Provider
    Jett Loe

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