Best Filmspotting Network Podcasts (2024)

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#432: Pixar's Girl Story, Pt. 2 — Inside Out 2 1:18:56

3d ago1:18:56

1:18:56

When thinking of a film to pair with INSIDE OUT 2, we purposefully avoided the new Pixar sequel’s 2015 original because the two are so of a piece, delving into the contrasts between them seemed too much like nitpicking. Still, we attempt to make fruitful discussion out of those nitpicks in this week’s conversation about the new film, and perhaps ev…

1
#431: Pixar's Girl Story, Pt. 1 — Brave 1:12:34

10d ago1:12:34

1:12:34

INSIDE OUT 2 is quite literally built around the emotional experience of being a young girl, but it wasn’t too long ago that this was uncharted territory for Pixar. That’s why rather than comparing the animation studio’s latest sequel to the original, we’re reaching a little further back in the filmography to revisit its first attempt to tell a sto…

1
#430: Road Warriors, Pt. 2: Furiosa 1:04:11

17d ago1:04:11

1:04:11

The new FURIOSA functions as both a prequel and a sequel within the larger mythology of the MAD MAX franchise, and we’re looking at it from both of those angles this week. First, we talk over why George Miller’s latest might have flopped at the box office (prequel fatigue) and why it feels poised to overcome that reputation in due time (it is the r…

1
#429: Road Warriors, Pt. 1: Mad Max (1979) 1:02:39

24d ago1:02:39

1:02:39

There’s a lot of narrative road between 1979’s MAD MAX and the new FURIOSA, but in pursuing George Miller’s decades-spanning franchise back to its starting line, we uncover a lot about what fuels this saga beyond the big, loud cars. For example, there are also big, loud motorcycles. But more importantly, there’s a healthy skepticism toward revenge …

1
#428: Teenage Dreams, Pt. 2 — I Saw the TV Glow 1:11:22

1M ago1:11:22

1:11:22

Jane Schoenburn’s I SAW THE TV GLOW is a film whose cultural reference points tend to take the form of vibes more than direct nods. But the writer-director's stated inspiration point in DONNIE DARKO can be seen on both the surface — the recent-past suburban setting, the teenage outcasts struggling to relate to the world around them — and on a deepe…

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#427: Teenage Dreams, Pt. 1 — Donnie Darko 1:19:16

1M ago1:19:16

1:19:16

The horror-inflected suburban setting of the new I SAW THE TV GLOW — not to mention writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s own comments on their inspiration — put us in mind of Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult classic DONNIE DARKO, which also follows a teen protagonist struggling to maintain their grip on reality. We’re joined once again by writer, critic, and…

1
#426: Playing the Hits, Pt. 2 — The Fall Guy 1:14:27

1M ago1:14:27

1:14:27

Like the first film in this pairing, Richard Rush’s 1980 oddity THE STUNT MAN, David Leitch’s new THE FALL GUY utilizes the chaos of a film set as the cover for a crime, not to mention the inspiration for both romance and comedy. THE FALL GUY is a bit more straightforward in its crowd-pleasing intentions, though, to both its benefit and detriment, …

1
#425: Playing the Hits, Pt. 1 — The Stunt Man 1:09:50

2M ago1:09:50

1:09:50

While there are countless movies featuring the work of stunt performers, movies that center the experiences of those performers are much more rare, which is part of what motivated former stunt performer David Leitch to make the new THE FALL GUY. One of the standouts on that short list is Richard Rush’s 1980 genre oddity THE STUNT MAN, which uses th…

1
#424: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 2 — Challengers 1:02:17

2M ago1:02:17

1:02:17

Justin Kuritzkes, who wrote the screenplay for Luca Guadagnino’s new CHALLENGERS, cites Alfonso Cuarón's coming-of-age classic Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN as a longtime favorite, so it’s unsurprising to see that film’s DNA in this one. CHALLENGERS is far from a remake, though, operating in a very different milieu with very different narrative priorities, bot…

1
#423: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 1 — Y Tu Mamá También 1:03:07

2M ago1:03:07

1:03:07

The new CHALLENGERS is a sports drama the same way Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN is a road movie: secondarily, as both films tend to be associated first with their respective sexy love triangles, each with a woman at its center. That shared character dynamic results in a lot of connections between the two films, which we’ll cover in the next e…

1
#422: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 2 — Civil War 1:04:07

3M ago1:04:07

1:04:07

The strain of cynicism that characterizes so much of Alex Garland’s filmography is at its most pronounced in his latest, CIVIL WAR. But paired with Garland’s 2002 debut as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER, an interesting counterpoint emerges in their shared acknowledgement, even hope, that humanity could perhaps find a path forward throu…

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#421: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 1 — 28 Days Later 54:34

3M ago54:34

54:34

The new CIVIL WAR is the latest in a line of speculative scenarios that Alex Garland has pondered over the course of his career as a novelist-turned-filmmaker, but its journey through a country transformed by violent catastrophe is most reminiscent of his first project as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s zombie-adjacent horror film 28 DAYS LATER. So b…

1
#420: Final Cuts, Pt. 2 — Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World 1:17:14

3M ago1:17:14

1:17:14

What does a powerless gofer in 2020s Romania have in common with a powerful studio executive in 1990s Hollywood? Radu Jude’s new DO NOT EXPECT TO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD may concern a very different type of moviemaking than that in Robert Altman’s satire THE PLAYER, but it takes a similarly cynical — and humorous — stance on the compromises …

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1
#432: Pixar's Girl Story, Pt. 2 — Inside Out 2 1:18:56

1
#431: Pixar's Girl Story, Pt. 1 — Brave 1:12:34

1
#430: Road Warriors, Pt. 2: Furiosa 1:04:11

1
#429: Road Warriors, Pt. 1: Mad Max (1979) 1:02:39

1
#428: Teenage Dreams, Pt. 2 — I Saw the TV Glow 1:11:22

1
#427: Teenage Dreams, Pt. 1 — Donnie Darko 1:19:16

1
#426: Playing the Hits, Pt. 2 — The Fall Guy 1:14:27

1
#425: Playing the Hits, Pt. 1 — The Stunt Man 1:09:50

1
#424: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 2 — Challengers 1:02:17

1
#423: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 1 — Y Tu Mamá También 1:03:07

1
#422: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 2 — Civil War 1:04:07

1
#421: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 1 — 28 Days Later 54:34

1
#420: Final Cuts, Pt. 2 — Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World 1:17:14

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