The Next Reel Film Podcast

TruStory FM

4.7 (88)
Film Reviews
Updated Weekly

A show about movies and how they connect. We love movies. We’ve been talking about them, one movie a week, since 2011. It’s a lot of movies, that’s true, but we’re passionate about origins and performance, directors and actors, themes and genres, and so much more. So join the community, and let’s hear about your favorite movies, too. When the movie ends, our conversation begins.

3d ago

The Personal History of David Copperfield

"The Personal History of David Copperfield" reimagines Charles Dickens' classic as a fast-paced, visually inventive romp through Victorian England. Armando Iannucci directs, with Dev Patel as the title character, Tilda Swinton as his formidable aunt Betsey Trotwood, and Hugh Laurie as the gentle, troubled Mr. Dick. It's the third and final film in Pete and Andy's Institutions Eating Themselves series. Pete and Andy dig into how Iannucci compresses a sprawling, centuries-old novel into two hours without losing its emotional core, and debate whether the film's color-conscious casting changes what the story means. If you love inventive, funny literary adaptations, this is essential listening (and viewing!). We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! For more on institutions grinding down the people inside them, follow up with Oliver! or Cinema Scope's British New Wave: Kitchen Sink Realism. 📝 See Full Show Notes and Resources 🎥 Watch on YouTube 🔓 The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Become a member. 🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Sep 24

The Death of Stalin

Steve Buscemi stars as Nikita Khrushchev in "The Death of Stalin," Armando Iannucci's dark satire about the scramble for power after the Soviet dictator's sudden death in 1953. Simon Russell Beale plays the ruthless secret police chief Lavrenti Beria, and Jason Isaacs steals scenes as the blustering Field Marshal Zhukov. It's the second film in The Next Reel's Institutions Eating Themselves series. Pete and Andy dig into the film's choice to let its British and American cast use natural accents instead of Russian ones, and wrestle with how far dark comedy can go against real historical horror. If satire can survive Stalin, this conversation makes the case. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! If you want to see where this series started, listen to our episode on "In the Loop," Iannucci's bureaucratic scramble toward war. 📝 See Full Show Notes and Resources 🎥 Watch on YouTube 🔓 The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Become a member. 🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Sep 17

In the Loop

James Gandolfini plays a U.S. general trying to talk sense into two governments hurtling toward a war nobody actually wants, in Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop." Pete and Andy kick off their Institutions Eating Themselves series—a run built around Iannucci's career—alongside Peter Capaldi's foul-mouthed communications chief and Tom Hollander's hapless government minister. Pete and Andy dig into how the film's rapid-fire, improvised-feeling dialogue was actually mostly scripted, and debate whether its American characters get satirized as sharply as its British ones. It's a sharp, quotable entry point into Iannucci's larger body of work. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! If you liked the ensemble political chaos here, keep going with our Smoke and Mirrors series—the same satirical muscle, different targets. 📝 See Full Show Notes and Resources 🎥 Watch on YouTube 🔓 The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Become a member. 🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Sep 10

Bulworth

A senator hires his own assassin, then can't stop telling the truth—with Halle Berry as his conscience. "Bulworth" closes out our Smoke and Mirrors series, written and directed by Warren Beatty, who also stars as the title character, alongside Don Cheadle as a neighborhood figure pulled into his orbit and Oliver Platt as his increasingly frazzled chief of staff. Pete and Andy dig into how much narrative weight falls on Halle Berry's character, and debate whether the film's white-savior framing undercuts its own satire. They also spend time on Vittorio Storaro's cinematography and just how far Warren Beatty went to make the rap sequences work. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! Keep going with "The Parallax View" for more Beatty against the system, or "Being There" for another look at who gets believed and why. 📝 See Full Show Notes and Resources 🎥 Watch on YouTube 🔒 This episode includes member-only bonus content. The movie ends. The conversation goes further—and there's more of it in the member feed. Become a member. 🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Sep 3

Wag the Dog

What happens when a president's team is willing to fake a war? Pete and Andy tackle "Wag the Dog," Barry Levinson's 1997 political satire, as part of their Smoke & Mirrors series, with Dustin Hoffman as a larger-than-life Hollywood producer, Robert De Niro as the political operative who recruits him, and Anne Heche as the White House aide caught in the middle of it all. Pete and Andy dig into the tangled writing credit behind the film's overlapping dialogue, and debate exactly where its satire starts to lose its footing by the third act. It's a rare chance to watch Hoffman, De Niro, and Heche play off each other at full speed. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! 🎥 Watch Our Full Conversation on YouTube Full Show Notes and Resources 🔒 This episode includes member-only bonus content. The movie ends. The conversation goes further—and there's more of it in the member feed. Become a member. 🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Aug 27

Bob Roberts

A right-wing folk singer runs for Senate, and the cameras can't tell fact from performance. "Bob Roberts" kicks off Smoke and Mirrors, The Next Reel's new series on how politicians manipulate their own image and the media covering them, starring Tim Robbins as the candidate, Giancarlo Esposito as the journalist chasing him, and Alan Rickman as his campaign chairman. Pete and Andy dig into how directly the film borrows its documentary style from a famous Bob Dylan concert film, why a scrappy, British-financed production ended up predicting American politics decades later, and how Alan Rickman helped keep the production funded. It's a sharp, funny, increasingly uncomfortable rewatch. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! 🎥 Watch Our Full Conversation on YouTube 📄 Full Show Notes and Resources Watch the Film: Amazon | Letterboxd | Trailer If You Liked This Conversation, Try These from the Next Reel Family: The Parallax View—the paranoia-thriller playbook this film's conspiracy thread is speaking to Network—the media-satire classic sitting right alongside this film's target on press complicity The Hudsucker Proxy—more Tim Robbins, in a very different register The Shawshank Redemption—Robbins' most iconic performance Bull Durham—the role that made Robbins a star 🔓 The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Become a member. 🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Aug 20

Sorry to Bother You

A telemarketer discovers a voice that gets him everything he wants—and everyone else pays for it. "Sorry to Bother You" closes out The Next Reel's Platformed Lives series, from writer-director Boots Riley. LaKeith Stanfield stars as telemarketer Cassius "Cash" Green, with Tessa Thompson as his girlfriend Detroit and Armie Hammer as the CEO who takes a sudden interest in Cash's rise. Pete and Andy dig into the film's overdubbed "white voice" device and how far the movie's satire stretches before it works against itself, then weigh it against the two entries that came before it in the series, landing on real disagreement about how well it all holds together. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in—The Next Reel on TruStory FM, when the movie ends, our conversation begins! 🎥 Watch Our Full Conversation on YouTube Full show notes and links 🔓 The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Become a member.🎧 Members get this episode early and ad-free in their private feed—plus every show in The Next Reel family. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible
Aug 13

Nightcrawler

Some people fall into the worst version of themselves. Lou Bloom arrives already there. Dan Gilroy's 2014 neo-noir thriller follows a petty thief who discovers freelance crime videography and finds in it the perfect profession—one that rewards exactly the qualities that make him dangerous. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is a career landmark, and the film around it is darkly, uncomfortably funny in ways that sneak up on you. Pete Wright and Andy Nelson dig into what makes Nightcrawler tick as both a media critique and a character study—why the self-help language Lou speaks is terrifying precisely because it works, how Rene Russo's Nina gets pulled into Lou's orbit, and where this sits in the Platformed Lives series alongside The Truman Show. Members get the full post-show conversation and always know what to listen to next. Join the conversation. Full episode resources and transcript. Watch on YouTube. The Next Reel Family of Film Shows: Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us: Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible

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Trailer

Welcome to The Next Reel!

Are you ready for a thrilling cinematic adventure? Welcome to The Next Reel Film Podcast, where movie lovers unite! For over a decade, we've been your trusted guides, diving deep into the captivating world of film. From timeless classics to groundbreaking new releases and hidden gems, we bring you engaging and hilarious conversations that go beyond the average movie review.We explore the fascinating stories behind the scenes, from production challenges to box office triumphs and mind-blowing facts. At The Next Reel, we believe every movie has valuable lessons to offer, whether it's an Oscar winner, a cult classic, or even a film that didn't quite stick the landing. We're here to unpack the craft of filmmaking, the depths of the human experience, and the world we live in, all through the lens of the movies we love.Join us on this cinematic odyssey! With hundreds of episodes in our archive, you'll never run out of captivating conversations to fuel your movie obsession. Subscribe now and get ready to see movies in a whole new light. The Next Reel. When the movie ends, our conversation begins.

4.7

out of 5

88 Ratings

10/10

08/05/2024

Dark Soups

10/10 one of the best podcasts I’ve listened to in a while
Best film podcast

07/27/2021

cdubbub

I had lost interest in films a few years ago, and Pete and Andy single handedly (double handedly?) revived that love. Going through their library of shows, I have watched films I never would have checked out otherwise. Plus there's the added treat to hear their discourse on films I know backward and forward (even if we don't always agree). If you love film, check this one out!
Best Film Podcast

02/16/2021

Jerry5967

I love this program. They talk about movies I’m actually interested in hearing people talk about. So many episodes on my list.
Wasted tome but good review

09/21/2020

Merrimack-Kid

It seems every episode has about 20 minutes of wasted time at the beginning before you get to the actual review. More critical the wasted time is not about the movie. It’s mostly wasted talking about nothing at all. Once you get to the movie it does get better. And the review is worthwhile to hear. So I recommend to all listeners to just skip ahead and not waste your time on their useless conversation.

A show about movies and how they connect. We love movies. We’ve been talking about them, one movie a week, since 2011. It’s a lot of movies, that’s true, but we’re passionate about origins and performance, directors and actors, themes and genres, and so much more. So join the community, and let’s hear about your favorite movies, too. When the movie ends, our conversation begins.