Filmspotting

Matt and Jordan give Hulu’s new multiverse revenge thriller Redux Redux a spin, crediting Kevin and Matthew McManus’s film for its low-budget stylishness and its central performance (by another McManus, sister Michaela). Then some Redux-inspired streaming recommendations, answers to a listener request for off-the-grid heist movies, and a game (“Multi-Box Letter-Verse”) hosted by Producer Sam.
Intro / The Odyssey (00:00:00–00:11:36)
Redux Redux (0:11:37–00:28:27)
Rec Seg (00:28:28–00:45:35)
Listener Request Recs: Off-the-Grid Heist Movies (00:45:36–01:02:42)
Game: Multi-box Letter-verse (01:02:43–01:29:32)
New to Streaming / Credits (01:29:33–01:38:12)
Show Notes
Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠
Pre-Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (Coming October 6th):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠
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Considering 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.
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Film critic Amy Nicholson joins host Michael Phillips to test a set of unofficial Hollywood axioms: Preston Sturges’ 11 Rules for Box Office Appeal.

Written (or so the story goes) in the early 1940s, the list is equal parts joke and provocation, a series of blunt, sometimes baffling claims about what makes movies work. But taken together, the rules point toward something more coherent: a theory of cinema built on movement, rhythm, and the constant opening of possibilities.

Amy and Michael dig into what still holds up and what these rules reveal about the way comedy — and movies — create momentum. Is Sturges simply being playful? Or is there real wisdom hiding inside the punchlines?
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The Dissident Cinema Marathon continues with Marcel Ophuls’s towering 1969 documentary The Sorrow and the Pity, which challenged the so-called “Gaullist myth” that the French people had largely resisted Nazi occupation.
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Adam and Josh take stock of the movie year with their Top 5 Films of 2026 (So Far), making picks that reflect the strength of of the year’s genre offerings, comedies, and intimate dramas. Plus: Massacre Theatre, and Best of ‘26 poll results.
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 FILMSPOT26 to take 15% off.
(Timecodes/chapters may not be precise with ads.)
Intro (00:00:00-00:03:03)
Top 5 of 2026 (00:03:04-00:32:36)
Filmspotting Family: ‘20s/’30s Madness (00:32:37-00:40:52)
Poll: Best of ‘26 (So Far) (00:40:53-00:49:36)
Top 5 of 2026, cont. (00:49:37-01:17:26)
RIP Sam Neill / Massacre Theatre (01:17:27-01:26:54)
Credits / Releases (01:26:55-01:28:56)
Links:
Alison Willmore on Blue Heron | Vulture
https://www.vulture.com/article/review-the-masterful-blue-heron-uses-cinema-as-a-sance.html
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