Podcast
The Next Picture Show
Hosted by Filmspotting · EN
Looking at cinema's present via its past. From the former editorial team of The Dissolve, The Next Picture Show examines how classic films inspire and inform modern movies. Episodes take a deep dive into a classic film and its legacy, then compare and contrast that film with a modern successor. Hosted and produced by Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson, and Scott Tobias.
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Episodes
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Home Sweet Homer, Pt. 2 — The Odyssey
2w ago01:14:05Tap to summarizeChristopher Nolan’s The Odyssey approaches Homer’s epic from a much more literal vantage point than O Brother Where Art Thou, but that doesn’t mean it’s a dutiful, beat-by-beat adaptation. So this week we’re talking through the ways in which Nolan put his personal stamp on one of the most well-known stories in all of literature, from the film’s non-linear structure and preoccupation with time, to the physicality and humanity Nolan brings to this big-screen spectacle about a time of apparent magic. Then in Connections, we look at how these two very different films approach their shared source material, not just in direct character and narrative parallels, but also their interest in the oral tradition and eras coming to an end. Then in Your Next Picture we return to the subject of O Brother ’s music with a recommendation for the 2000 concert film Down From the Mountain. Please share your thoughts about O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Odyssey, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Matt Johnson’s Tony and Brad Bird’s Ratatouille This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Home Sweet Homer, Pt. 1 — O Brother, Where Art Thou?
3w ago01:15:12Tap to summarizeConsidering The Odyssey is one of the most famous and influential stories of all time, there had been relatively few attempts to directly translate Homer’s epic poem to the big screen until Christopher Nolan came along to do it at a blockbuster scale. It’s been more common for filmmakers, such as Joel and Ethan Coen, to use it as the loose framework for a flawed hero’s journey home, such as the one undertaken by Ulysses Everett McGill in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a Depression-era musical comedy that maps on to Homer’s version only in the broadest of strokes. But revisiting O Brother through the lens of its stated source material, as we’re doing this week, is a revealing lesson in the malleability of adaptation, as well as the Coens’ ability to make even one of the most familiar tales in all of storytelling uniquely theirs. Then in Feedback, we finally break our silence on the indie-horror phenomenon that is Obsession. Please share your thoughts about O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Odyssey, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Lady Justice, Pt. 2 — Supergirl
4w ago01:01:03Tap to summarizeA good chunk of Supergirl’s DNA can be traced back to True Grit by way of the comics miniseries the film is adapting, which is why we paired it with Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2010 version of that story. But as our discussion of Craig Gillespie’s new entry in James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe details, Supergirl often feels less indebted to its space-western source material than to several other superhero films that preceded it, including some of Gunn’s. That makes it tough to balance a film we all consider okay-at-best against a stone-cold Coens classic, but we attempt to anyway in Connections as we consider these two films’ shared interest in vengeance, western tropes, and really, really bad guys with murky motivations. Then in Your Next Picture Show, we honorTrue Grit’s star-making performance with a recommendation for another Hailee Steinfeld film that’s a favorite of this podcast, The Edge of Seventeen. Please share your thoughts about True Grit, Supergirl, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and The Coen Brothers’ (yes, again) O Brother, Where Art Thou? This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Lady Justice, Pt. 1 — True Grit (2010)
Jul 701:07:39Tap to summarizeThe new Supergirl isn’t an outright adaptation of the comic-book miniseries Woman of Tomorrow, but it retains enough of its shape that it evokes that comic’s own source of inspiration, True Grit. Either of the two film adaptations of Charles Portis’ 1968 Western novel about a young girl enlisting a reluctant, drunken hero to help her enact revenge would have provided plenty of connections to Supergirl, but we opted for Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2010 version starring Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges. So this week we’re discussing what distinguishes True Grit as both a Coens movie and a Western, the film’s overlapping notions of vengeance and justice, and how it utilizes two frequently abused elements — sincerity and voiceover narration — sparingly and effectively. Then in Feedback, we respond to a listener’s misgivings about accepting Disclosure Day’s premise at a time when conspiracy theories don’t feel as harmless as they once did. Please share your thoughts about True Grit, Supergirl, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Our Aliens, Ourselves Pt. 2 — Disclosure Day
Jun 3000:57:33Tap to summarizeForty-four years after his science-fiction classic about the deep connection between a 10-year-old human boy and an alien visitor stranded on earth, Steven Spielberg is once again considering humanity’s capacity to accept and understand extraterrestrial life with his latest, Disclosure Day. So after sharing our reactions to Disclosure Day, including an ending that’s arguably effective despite — or maybe because of — its corniness, we bring E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial back in for Connections to discuss how these two films literalize the concept of empathy, elevate chase scenes into world-building moments, and center the idea of “home” in very different ways. Then for Your Next Picture Show, we give a taste of what this episode might have been like had we paired Disclosure Day with another, non-Spielbergian, reference point we considered, 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. (#530) Please share your thoughts about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Disclosure Day, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl and Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Our Aliens, Ourselves Pt. 1 — E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Jun 2300:56:06Tap to summarizeDisclosure Day is not Steven Spielberg’s first film about the confirmation of alien life, nor is it the first such Spielberg film we’ve discussed on this podcast — that would be Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which we covered a decade ago. But Spielberg’s latest is specifically concerned with whether humanity possesses the empathy to process such a revelation, a question that led us directly to his 1982 classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, about the empathetic link between a 10-year-old boy and an orphaned alien that crash-lands in the forest outside his suburban home. So this week we’re revisiting E.T. to consider how Spielberg, with a crucial assist from Melissa Mathison’s screenplay, navigates the sentimentality of a story that’s all about feelings. Then in Feedback, our recent episode on Babe: Pig in the City prompted a listener to share their own recommendation for an unusually dark kids’ movie. (#529) Please share your thoughts about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Disclosure Day, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Negative Spaces, Pt. 2 — Backrooms
Jun 1601:11:51Tap to summarizeBackrooms’ journey to the big screen — from anonymous 4chan post to viral creepypasta to mega-popular YouTube series to A24-backed box-office smash — is as unique and unexpected as the film itself. 20-year-old Kane Parsons’ liminal horror hit feels unlike everything else currently happening in the genre, which is partly what inspired us to pair it with the similarly expectation-defying 1979 cult hit Phantasm, but also makes Backrooms fascinating to discuss on its own. Which is what we do, in mostly spoiler-free terms, before shifting over to Connections to look at how Backrooms and Phantasm compare as low-budget horror phenomena that use unsettling repeating spaces, dream logic, and heroes with no sense of self-preservation to maximum effect. And if Backrooms has you craving more video-game-influenced liminal spaces, we’ve got you covered with a Your Next Picture Show recommendation for the recent Japanese horror-mystery Exit 8. Please share your thoughts about Phantasm, Backrooms, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Works Cited: • The 5 essential Backrooms videos to watch on YouTube after the movie, by Tasha Robinson (polygon.com) • Backrooms director Kane Parsons answers three very specific questions about the movie, by Tasha Robinson (polygon.com) • Backrooms’s Ending Cleverly Subverts One of Horror’s Biggest Clichés, by Tasha Robinson (vulture.com) • The Indoor Generation, by Carol Grant • A Feud in Wolf-Kink Erotica Raises a Deep Legal Question, by Alexandra Alter (nytimes.com) Next Pairing: Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and E.T. The Extraterrestrial This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Negative Spaces, Pt. 1 — Phantasm
Jun 900:59:32Tap to summarize20-year-old Kane Parsons is now the youngest director to ever hit No. 1 at the box office thanks to his A24-backed horror film Backrooms, which made back its budget several times over in the first week of release and is already inviting talk of sequels. All of that offscreen context makes it a natural pairing with 1979’s series-spawning cult hit Phantasm, but it has plenty of onscreen connective tissue to Don Coscarelli’s super-indie horror adventure as well. So this week we do our best to make sense of Phantasm, a movie that emerged out of a dream and often feels like it, and discuss some of the memorable moments that smacked us in the face and drilled into our brains like a Sentinel Sphere. Then in Feedback, we answer some criticism of our own criticisms of The Mandalorian and Grogu. Please share your thoughts about Phantasm, Backrooms, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Baby on Board, Pt. 2 — The Mandalorian and Grogu
Jun 201:18:12Tap to summarizeThe Mandalorian and Grogu plays like a few stitched-together episodes of The Mandalorian, which makes it a particularly apt pairing with the 1980 Lone Wolf and Cub assemblage Shogun Assassin — but whether the first new Star Wars feature film since 2019 manages to distinguish itself from its television counterpart is another question. We’re joined again by Filmspotting: SVU co-host Matt Singer to talk through a movie that aims to appeal to both a new generation of Star Wars fans and an older one, and often misses both marks. Then we bring Shogun Assassin back in for Connections, to discuss how The Mandalorian and Grogu honors its forebear in big, structural ways — lethally capable father figures roaming a dangerous landscape alongside the young charges they’re protecting/endangering — and in moments of beat-for-beat homage. And for Your Next Picture Show we offer a preview of what lies ahead for those who decide to continue their cinematic journey down the Lone Wolf and Cub path. Please share your thoughts about Shogun Assassin, The Mandalorian and Grogu, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Kane Parsons’ Backrooms and Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Baby on Board, Pt. 1 — Shogun Assassin (1980)
May 2601:13:06Tap to summarizeThe Mandalorian and Grogu gives the feature-film treatment to a streaming series whose premise — an outcast warrior lives by a code of honor while traveling in the company of an adorable small companion — owes no small debt to the Japanese multimedia franchise Lone Wolf and Cub. But rather than comb through the six installments comprising that film series for a good match, we’re looking at another attempt to translate Lone Wolf and Cub to Western audiences via the 1980 compilation Shogun Assassin. Joined this week by Filmspotting SVU’s Matt Singer, we discuss how Shogun Assassin’s “just the hits” approach to combining the first two films in the series simplifies the plot and amplifies the action, and how this franchise’s comic-book origins come through in the film’s use of heightened violence, dynamic editing, and narration. Then in Feedback we hear from a couple of listeners about one very recent episode, and one very old one. Please share your thoughts about Shogun Assassin, The Mandalorian and Grogu, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. This episode is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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