Podcasts · TV & Film

Filmspotting

Filmspotting

223 episodes

Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies, offering "affable, insightful film analysis since 2005" (NY Times).

Episodes page 1 of 5

  1. Campy and Creeping Dread Horror, plus The Movies That (De)Formed Us | SVU

    · 1 h 33 min

    For the final episode in Spook-tober, Jordan and Matt share the defining scares of their childhoods and respond to listener requests for campy and creeping dread horror movies. And then — the horror! — Jordan takes a…

  2. "There is a distinct difference between suspense and surprise" with Bilge Ebiri | The Movie Racket

    · 54 min

    Film critic Bilge Ebiri (Vulture, New York Magazine) joins Michael Phillips to test one of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous assertions: "There is a distinct difference between suspense and surprise." Drawing on…

  3. Sense & Sensibility (2026), plus Fatherland and Whalefall | #1086

    · 1 h 33 min

    How do you reimagine a beloved novel like Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility without losing what people love — and expect — from an Austen adaptation? Whatever it is, director Georgia Oakley appears to have figured it…

  4. Zuck Dynasty, Pt. 1 — The Social Network

    · 1 h 06 min

    Aaron Sorkin has said his new The Social Reckoning is not a sequel so much as a companion piece to David Fincher’s The Social Network, which Sorkin also scripted. Whatever you call it, though, these two films are…

  5. Top 5 Sofia Coppola Scenes | Archive

    · 28 min

    Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is back in theaters this week for its 20th anniversary. In 2017, along with a review of Coppola's The Beguiled, Josh and guest host Angelica Jade Bastien shared their Top 5 Sofia…

  6. Apple TV’s Matchbox The Movie Is a Movie For No One, plus Slow-Burn Horror Movies | SVU

    · 1 h 34 min

    From none of the people who brought you Barbie comes a new film inspired by (or mandated by?) the Mattel corporation. It’s Matchbox: The Movie! And it stinks. But in what ways exactly does it stink? The answers may…

  7. "I wonder what percent of people ever actually encounter a work of art that changes them" with Manohla Dargis | The Movie Racket

    · 58 min

    Can a movie change your life? In a 1960s interview, Stanley Kubrick posed a deceptively simple provocation: "I wonder what percent of people ever actually encounter a work of art that changes them." This week, New York…

  8. Fall Movie Preview and The Social Reckoning | #1085

    · 1 h 46 min

    With the fall film festival season (mostly) in the rearview and release dates set through the end of the year, Adam and Josh hold a Fall Movie Preview Draft that sees them largely ignoring obvious picks like Avengers:…

  9. Trial By Media, Pt. 2 — Primetime | Next Picture Show

    · 1 h 01 min

    Primetime is a far-from-straightforward take on a true story, using the mid-aughts TV phenomenon To Catch a Predator and especially its host, Chris Hansen, for a darkly comic exploration of the morally murky place…

  10. Top 5 of 1991 | Archive

    · 28 min

    The 1991 movie year turns 35 this year. T2, Barton Fink, Boys in the Hood. In 2014, Adam and Josh looked back a mere 23 years for their Top 5 of '91. Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus…

  11. Is Prime’s Carrie Remake Too Much of a Good Thing? | SVU

    · 1 h 39 min

    Stephen King’s Carrie has been adapted for film twice, has endured a sequel and even a Broadway musical, and now Mike Flanagan has brought the writer’s debut novel to the small screen in a limited series for Prime…

  12. "Hollywood's like Egypt, full of crumbled pyramids" with Laura Friedman & Ron Falzone | The Movie Racket

    · 47 min

    Hollywood has been dying for more than a century. At least, that's what people keep saying. This week, Michael Phillips explores one of the industry's favorite prophecies of doom: producer David O. Selznick's famous…

  13. Digger and Primetime, plus Chicago International Film Fest Preview | #1084

    · 1 h 48 min

    Not everyone hates Digger. The big swing from star Tom Cruise and director Alejandro González Iñárritu was met with chilly box office and hostility from critics, but Adam and Josh (yes, even Iñárritu skeptic Adam!)…

  14. Trial By Media, Pt. 1 — Sweet Smell of Success | Next Picture Show

    · 1 h 03 min

    Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime paints problematic TV phenomenon To Catch a Predator — and especially its host, Chris Hansen — as an enterprise fueled by ambition, amorality, and a tenuous grasp of journalistic ethics.…

  15. Top 5 Tom Cruise Performances | Archive

    · 54 min

    With Cruise back in ac-tor mode in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Digger, we're sharing our 2017 consideration of the long and storied career of "the last movie star." Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord,…

  16. The Low-Budget Gumption of Shudder’s Goody Goody | SVU

    · 1 h 25 min

    For the first show of Scare-tober, Jordan and Matt take a look at the Shudder Original Goody Goody, a low-budget home-birth horror tale from first-time feature director Raymond Creamer. For a seasonally appropriate…

  17. Halloween ('78) vs. A Nightmare on Elm Street | Movie Death Match

    · 1 h 45 min

    Chris Klimek convenes a showdown between arguably the two most influential slasher films ever made: John Carpenter's "Halloween" and Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street." One helped define the modern slasher,…

  18. The Freshman (1925) with Sean Crosson | Field of Scenes

    · 1 h 06 min

    For the debut episode of their new sport and film podcast, Adam Kempenaar and University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communication colleague Travis Vogan, PhD, are joined by scholar Seán Crosson, PhD, to discuss Harold…

  19. Mulholland Drive at 25, plus If I Go Will They Miss Me and You Had to Be There | #1083

    · 1 h 37 min

    Two weeks after their Pantheon Project review of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Adam and Josh take on the director’s 2001 mind-bender, Mulholland Drive, to celebrate its 25th anniversary. For a film with a reputation for…

  20. Hazard Pay, Pt. 2 — The Weight

    · 1 h 17 min

    There’s a lot to enjoy about The Weight: the tactile 1930s Oregon setting, strong performances from Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, a premise that allows for multiple suspense sequences. But Padraic McKinley’s…

  21. Avengers: Endgame | Archive

    · 47 min

    Ahead of December's Doomsday, Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters. Here's Adam and Josh with their original 2019 review—including spoilers. Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus episodes,…

  22. Netflix’s Unabomber Is the Worst Law & Order Episode Ever Made | SVU

    · 1 h 39 min

    Starring Russell Crowe and an all-grown-up Jacob Tremblay (“Room” “”Wonder”), Netflix’s Unabomber was a promising title on the fall streaming slate. Unfortunately, director Janus Metz’s exploitative biopic about the…

  23. "Be Natural" with Marya E. Gates | The Movie Racket

    · 50 min

    Film critic and author Marya E. Gates joins Michael to explore perhaps the simplest, most influential direction ever given to an actor: "Be natural." The phrase is associated with pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché,…

  24. Resident Evil and Top 5 Comedy Boom Movies, plus The Incomer | #1082

    · 2 h 35 min

    Adam and Josh welcome Filmspotting SVU co-host Matt Singer for the Top 5 Comedy Boom Movies. Singer’s new book, “Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever”…

  25. Ethan Hawke | Archive

    · 26 min

    With Ethan Hawke back in theaters in the period adventure The Weight, we're sharing Adam's 2018 interview with the always thoughtful and insightful actor. Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus…

  26. Netflix’s Best of the Best is Actually Kind of the Best | SVU

    · 1 h 27 min

    The new Netflix comedy Best of the Best introduced Matt and Jordan to the world of collegiate competitive Bollywood dance, and they left converts: to the dancing, to stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia, and…

  27. Hazard Pay, Pt. 1 — Sorcerer

    · 1 h 04 min

    Padraic McKinley’s The Weight isn’t a remake ofThe Wages of Fear, though it feels deeply indebted to the H.G. Clouzot classic in its thrilling depiction of a group of outlaws on a near-impossible mission across deadly…

  28. “A picture that stays with you is made up of a hundred or more hidden things” with Alonso Duralde | The Movie Racket

    · 56 min

    Film critic and author Alonso Duralde joins Michael Phillips to explore a piece of filmmaking wisdom from Vincente Minnelli: that a picture which stays with an audience is built from “a hundred or more hidden things.”…

  29. Blue Velvet at 40: Beneath the Surface | #1081

    · 1 h 39 min

    As David Lynch's Blue Velvet turns 40, Adam and Josh revisit the film that shocked audiences and helped define modern American cinema. Is it Lynch's masterpiece? Plus: Massacre Theatre and Josh’s thoughts on Practical…

  30. Top 5 David Lynch Scenes | Archive

    · 41 min

    Blue Velvet turns 40 this month—Adam and Josh have a Sacred Cow review coming later this week—so we're going back to 2014 for our Top 5 David Lynch Scenes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  31. Existential Zones, Pt. 2 — It Ends

    · 1 h 03 min

    Alexander Ullom's It Ends is a daring little piece of microbudget drama about four friends at transition points in their lives, who find themselves in a place where life and death no longer hold any meaning. Whether…

  32. We Can’t Look Away From Netflix’s Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly | SVU

    · 1 h 00 min

    For a few days in the summer of 2024, the world’s attention was focused on Dr. Rachel Gunn — and not for anything good. Gunn, aka “Raygun”, was representing Australia at the Paris Olympics in the inaugural breakdancing…

  33. "All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun" with Rachel Walther | The Movie Racket

    · 59 min

    Film noir expert Rachel Walther joins Michael Phillips to test a quote commonly attributed to Jean-Luc Godard. But whether it belongs to Godard, Howard Hawks, or someone else entirely, it points to a persistent…

  34. Coyote vs. Acme and The Rocky Horror Picture Show | #1080

    · 1 h 37 min

    When Coyote vs. Acme was shelved in 2023 for a corporate tax write-off, the response from film fans was as swift as a roadrunner and as explosive as a pile of TNT. When it was picked up by another distributor (Ketchup…

  35. Top 5 Music Docs | Archive

    · 46 min

    With the new Oasis doc Don't Look Back in Anger coming soon to theaters—and inspiring this month's Movie Death Match (The Last Waltz vs. Stop Making Sense)—we're sharing Adam and Josh's Top 5 Music Docs from 2023. See…

  36. Kenneth Branagh Can’t Rescue Apple TV’s Mayday | SVU

    · 1 h 12 min

    From the writer/directors of Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Apple TV’s Cold War comedy Mayday was a promising title on the 2026 streaming movie calendar. Unfortunately, Matt and Jordan agree…

  37. Existential Zones, Pt. 1 — Solaris (1972)

    · 1 h 08 min

    Alexander Ullom’s feature debut, It Ends, has been billed as a horror movie, but it’s more of an existential exercise wrapped inside a genre premise. That same description could be applied to Solaris, though Andrei…

  38. Stop Making Sense vs. The Last Waltz | Movie Death Match

    · 1 h 36 min

    Chris Klimek convenes a battle of the bands between two of the most acclaimed concert films ever made: Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense and Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. One is a lean, propulsive document of…

  39. Ridley Scott Draft with Roxana Hadadi and Filipiñana | #1079

    · 2 h 07 min

    With The Dog Stars in theaters, Adam and Josh invited Vulture’s Roxana Hadadi to the show for a Ridley Scott Draft. Picks one and two are easy: Alien or Blade Runner. But what about the third pick? And will divisive…

  40. Blade Runner with Michael Phillips | Archive

    · 35 min

    With Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars in theaters and our own Ridley Scott Draft (with Vulture's Roxana Hadadi) coming Friday, we're sharing this 2017 Sacred Cow review of Scott's sci-fi classic. Michael Phillips joined…

  41. What Is Hulu’s Desert Warrior and Who Is It For? | SVU

    · 1 h 42 min

    When the story of a movie’s financing and troubled post-production are more compelling than the movie itself, you’ve got problems. And in this case, you’ve got Desert Warrior, a 7th-century, Saudi Arabia-set — and…

  42. The Family That’s Prey Together, Pt. 2 — The End of Oak Street

    · 1 h 02 min

    The Platt family is barely surviving, and that’s before their neighborhood is inexplicably dropped millions of years into the past and overrun by hungry dinosaurs. The End of Oak Street isn’t nearly as concerned with…

  43. "Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union" with Robert Daniels | The Movie Racket

    · 55 min

    Film critic Robert Daniels (RogerEbert.com, The New York Times) joins Michael Phillips to test one of Hollywood's most enduring bits of studio wisdom, attributed to producer Samuel Goldwyn: "Pictures are for…

  44. Top 5 Needle Drops (Pt. 2)

    · 1 h 02 min

    Adam and Josh return with guest Rico Gagliano (MUBI Podcast) for Part 2 of their Top 5 Needle Drops. This episode brought to you by Anderson, Linklater, Fincher, and Scorsese. Notes: -The Sigur Rós song “Starálfur”…

  45. Top 5 Needle Drops (Pt. 1) and It Ends | #1078

    · 1 h 40 min

    Rico Gagliano (MUBI Podcast) joins Adam and Josh for the Top 5 Needle Drops, a conversation so robust we split it in half. Plus, the new It Ends earns a Golden Brick nomination, and listeners tell us the best third…

  46. The Family That's Prey Together, Pt. 1 — War of the Worlds (2005)

    · 1 h 05 min

    David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street drops an ordinary family into extraordinary circumstances, forcing them to focus all their energy on surviving— and maybe, just maybe, learning to understand each other…

  47. Midnight Run | Archive

    · 47 min

    In 2023, Adam and Josh took another look at 1988's Midnight Run for its 35th anniversary. The Robert De Niro/Charles Grodin action comedy was an early and somewhat controversial inductee in the Filmspotting Pantheon, a…

  48. Don’t Say Good Luck and the Evolution of Happy Madison Productions | SVU

    · 1 h 12 min

    Happy Madison Productions is now cranking out movies starring two generations of Sandlers: paterfamilias Adam and daughters Sadie and Sunny. Earlier this year, Sadie starred in Netflix’s college-set Roommates, and now…

  49. "The hardest thing in film scoring is to know when to start and when to stop" with author Tim Greiving | The Movie Racket

    · 45 min

    Film music historian and journalist Tim Greiving, author of John Williams: A Composer's Life, joins Michael Phillips to explore one of the foundational dilemmas of movie music, courtesy of legendary composer Max…

  50. The End of Oak Street, plus Tony and Late Fame | #1077

    · 2 h 14 min

    Is The End of Oak Street the best Spielberg movie of 2026? Or is one of your hosts committing movie heresy? Adam and Josh review David Robert Mitchell's dinosaur-filled family adventure and consider whether there's…

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