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

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
Aug 6

The Truman Show

One man's entire life has been broadcast to the world without his consent. "The Truman Show" opens a new Next Reel series called Platformed Lives, directed by Peter Weir and starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, with Ed Harris as the show's creator and Laura Linney as his on-screen wife. Small cracks start showing in the world around him, and he can't look away. Pete and Andy dig into how the film anticipates reality TV and social media surveillance decades early, and trace the wild path the screenplay took before Weir signed on to direct. It's a perfect launch for a series built around the idea of consent. 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
Jul 2

Talk to Me

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 directly into its themes of grief and inaction. It's a sharp, unsettling watch, and one that returns to their Horror Debuts series for a strong one-off. 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! 🔓 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. Watch on YouTube here. Find full episode resources and transcript here. 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
Jun 25

Gun Crazy

"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 they were always heading toward. Pete and Andy dig into what makes this Couples on the Run entry so distinctly noir—the fatalism, the femme fatale who craves the act of crime itself rather than the money, and the filmmaking Lewis pulls off on a shoestring budget. The bank robbery oner alone is worth the conversation. 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 🎬 Watch & Discover Watch the Film: Apple TV | Amazon | Letterboxd Original Theatrical Trailer If You Liked This Conversation, Try These from The Next Reel Family: Couples on the Run — the full series Film Noir — The Next Reel — more from Andy and Pete in the genre Film Noir: Crime and the Ordinary Man — Cinema Scope — a companion conversation on the genre 🔓 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

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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.
Fun and enlightening

05/10/2020

HHHH2023

This is my favorite podcast which brings a whole new depth and perspective to the art of movie making, with a wonderful sense of humor throughout. It is so good that I bought the T-shirt.

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.