The Next Reel Film Podcast by Rash Pixel

High-Rise

Season 16, Episode 13

Show notes

Tom Hiddleston moves into a tower block where every floor ranks its tenants. Pete and Andy open the Luxury Is a Trap series with “High-Rise,” British director Ben Wheatley’s take on J.G. Ballard’s novel, with Jeremy Irons as the architect and Luke Evans as a documentary maker. Andy says you must accept pure allegory, since nothing explains why the building works this way. Pete sees middle class fighting middle class.
Pete and Andy get into the British social history behind the book, a producer’s decades-long push to make it, and two pop covers Pete hears as a sonic metaphor. Neither host hides where the film frustrates, and they’re candid about who it will work for. 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!
Want more Wheatley? Listen to “Kill List” and “Free Fire”, or try “Shivers”, the apartment-block story Pete and Andy point to instead.
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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 Dark

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Oct 29, 2026 1 hr 6 min

The Order

Season 16, Episode 12

Show notes

Jude Law hunts Nicholas Hoult’s violent white supremacist group in “The Order,” the true-story crime thriller from Australian director Justin Kurzel. Law plays FBI agent Terry Husk, Hoult plays group leader Bob Mathews, and Tye Sheridan co-stars in this early-1980s Pacific Northwest story, adapted from the nonfiction book “The Silent Brotherhood.” It closes the Radicalized series that began with “American History X” and “Get Out.”Pete and Andy dig into the real split inside the movement between patience and action, and the debate over whether a story with two steadfast leads can keep its momentum. If you want a conversation that pairs great performances with honest doubts about the structure, this is it. 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 Talk Radio, the other Alan Berg-adjacent movie on The Next Reel, and Cinematographer Jayson Crothers on Heat on Movies We Like.📝 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 Dark

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Oct 22, 2026 1 hr 2 min

Get Out

Season 16, Episode 11

Show notes

"Get Out" is the subject this week on The Next Reel, as Jordan Peele's Oscar-winning directorial debut gets a second look in the Radicalized series. Daniel Kaluuya stars as a young Black photographer meeting his white girlfriend's parents for the first time, with Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, and Caleb Landry Jones rounding out the family at the center of a weekend gone wrong.
Pete and Andy dig into how the film's horror doubles as a modern-slavery allegory and how Chris's arc from inaction to action anchors the whole conversation. If you've only seen it once, this makes a strong case for a 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!
The Film Board's original, full-spoiler take on this film, recorded opening weekend back in 2017, is worth a listen next.
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🔒 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 Dark

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Oct 15, 2026 1 hr 4 min

American History X

Season 16, Episode 10

Show notes

"American History X" opens Radicalized, a new series about how people get pulled into extremist movements. Edward Norton stars as a former neo-Nazi skinhead trying to keep his younger brother, played by Edward Furlong, from following the same path, with Beverly D'Angelo and Avery Brooks rounding out the family and mentor figures around them.
Pete and Andy dig into the black-and-white vs. color cinematography and the compressed 24-hour timeline, plus whether redemption is possible for someone who's done this much damage. It's a tough, messy film that still hits hard—a fitting way to kick off a series about how ordinary people end up here. 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!
Next up, The Film Board already tackled Get Out—the next stop in our Radicalized series—so get a head start before we get there.
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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 Dark

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Oct 8, 2026 1 hr 13 min

The Personal History of David Copperfield

Season 16, Episode 9

Show notes

"The Personal History of David Copperfield" reimagines Charles Dickens' classic as a fast-paced, visually inventive romp through Victorian England. Armando Iannucci directs, with Dev Patel as the title character, Tilda Swinton as his formidable aunt Betsey Trotwood, and Hugh Laurie as the gentle, troubled Mr. Dick. It's the third and final film in Pete and Andy's Institutions Eating Themselves series.
Pete and Andy dig into how Iannucci compresses a sprawling, centuries-old novel into two hours without losing its emotional core, and debate whether the film's color-conscious casting changes what the story means. If you love inventive, funny literary adaptations, this is essential listening (and viewing!). 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!
For more on institutions grinding down the people inside them, follow up with Oliver! or Cinema Scope's British New Wave: Kitchen Sink Realism.
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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 Dark

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Oct 1, 2026 1 hr 8 min

The Death of Stalin

Season 16, Episode 8

Show notes

Steve Buscemi stars as Nikita Khrushchev in "The Death of Stalin," Armando Iannucci's dark satire about the scramble for power after the Soviet dictator's sudden death in 1953. Simon Russell Beale plays the ruthless secret police chief Lavrenti Beria, and Jason Isaacs steals scenes as the blustering Field Marshal Zhukov. It's the second film in The Next Reel's Institutions Eating Themselves series.
Pete and Andy dig into the film's choice to let its British and American cast use natural accents instead of Russian ones, and wrestle with how far dark comedy can go against real historical horror. If satire can survive Stalin, this conversation makes the case. 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!
If you want to see where this series started, listen to our episode on "In the Loop," Iannucci's bureaucratic scramble toward war.
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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 Dark

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Sep 24, 2026 59 min

In the Loop

Season 16, Episode 7

Show notes

James Gandolfini plays a U.S. general trying to talk sense into two governments hurtling toward a war nobody actually wants, in Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop." Pete and Andy kick off their Institutions Eating Themselves series—a run built around Iannucci's career—alongside Peter Capaldi's foul-mouthed communications chief and Tom Hollander's hapless government minister.
Pete and Andy dig into how the film's rapid-fire, improvised-feeling dialogue was actually mostly scripted, and debate whether its American characters get satirized as sharply as its British ones. It's a sharp, quotable entry point into Iannucci's larger body of 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!
If you liked the ensemble political chaos here, keep going with our Smoke and Mirrors series—the same satirical muscle, different targets.
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🎧 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 Dark

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Sep 17, 2026 1 hr 3 min

Bulworth

Season 16, Episode 6

Show notes

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.
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🔒 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 Dark

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Sep 10, 2026 1 hr 9 min

Wag the Dog

Season 16, Episode 5

Show notes

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 https://trustory.fm/thenextreel/wag-the-dog/
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 Dark

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Sep 3, 2026 1 hr 4 min

Bob Roberts

Season 16, Episode 4

Show notes

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 complicityhttps://trustory.fm/thenextreel/the-hudsucker-proxy/
The Hudsucker Proxy—more Tim Robbins, in a very different registerhttps://trustory.fm/thenextreel/the-shawshank-redemption/
The Shawshank Redemption—Robbins' most iconic performancehttps://trustory.fm/thenextreel/bull-durham/
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 Dark

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Aug 27, 2026 1 hr 6 min

Sorry to Bother You

Season 16, Episode 3

Show notes

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 https://trustory.fm/thenextreel/sorry-to-bother-you/
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 Dark

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Aug 20, 2026 59 min

Nightcrawler

Season 16, Episode 2

Show notes

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 Dark

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Aug 13, 2026 1 hr 3 min

The Truman Show

Season 16, Episode 1

Show notes

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 Dark

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Aug 6, 2026 1 hr 9 min

Talk to Me

Season 15, Episode 57

Show notes

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!
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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 Dark

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Jul 2, 2026 1 hr 5 min

Gun Crazy

Season 15, Episode 56

Show notes

"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 Dark

Connect With Us:

Jun 25, 2026 1 hr 4 min

Shadow

Season 15, Episode 55

Show notes

Zhang Yimou's 2018 wuxia epic "Shadow" achieves its ink wash painting look in-camera: every set and costume designed in black, white, and grey, every outdoor scene filmed on rainy days to drain remaining color from the environment. At the center is a secret double—a man groomed since childhood to stand in for the ailing commander he resembles, now navigating palace intrigue, poisoned loyalties, and a duel that could take back a city.
Andy Nelson and Pete Wright dig into the film's yin-yang philosophy—how the shadow figure, the feminine fighting technique, and even the warlord's name all map onto the same duality—alongside the spectacular bladed umbrella weapons, the two female characters whose parallel arcs quietly hold the story together, and where "Shadow" lands in Zhang Yimou's career after his Hollywood detour with "The Great Wall." Both hosts have a great time with it.
🔓 The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Become a member.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Find the 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 Dark

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Jun 18, 2026 1 hr 4 min

House of Flying Daggers

Season 15, Episode 54

Show notes

Love cuts through every mission, every loyalty, and every survival plan in House of Flying Daggers. Zhang Yimou's 2004 wuxia, part of The Next Reel's Zhang Yimou series, stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a government officer who goes undercover to infiltrate a rebel group, Zhang Ziyi as Mei, the dancer he falls for, and Andy Lau as the officer who sent him in.
Pete and Andy dig into the tension between what the film promises and what Yimou actually delivers—a love triangle that swallows the political conflict whole. They examine the film's saturated cinematography and standout fight sequences, and take an honest look at how the men pursue Mei. 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 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:
The Zhang Yimou Series on The Next Reel—the full arc of our conversations about Yimou's career
Wuxia Unleashed – Cinema Scope—Leon Hunt and Chris Hamm on the martial arts tradition this film sits inside
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – The Next Reel—part of our Foreign Language Films Nominated for Best Picture series
Full episode resources here.
🔓 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 Dark

Connect With Us:

Jun 11, 2026 59 min

To Live

Season 15, Episode 53

Show notes

Zhang Yimou's "To Live" is the most personal film he ever made—a 1994 historical epic that strips away his signature visual spectacle to follow one Chinese family across four decades of civil war, forced labor campaigns, and cultural upheaval. Ge You plays Xu Fugui, a gambler whose recklessness costs his family everything; Gong Li plays Jiazhen, his wife, whose capacity for endurance and eventual forgiveness gives the film its moral center; and Jiang Wu is Wan Erxi, their son-in-law, who arrives as a stranger and becomes the warmth the story needs. Pete Wright and Andy Nelson track the film's shadow puppets as an emotional through-line, dig into the novel versus film question, and wrestle with why this particular Zhang Yimou—the quietest, most naturalistic one—might be the best one.
The conversation covers Ge You's transformation from comic actor to Cannes standout, why Andy reads Jiazhen rather than Fugui as the film's true change character, the food motif threading through tragedy after tragedy, and why the story of how this film came to be banned is more procedural than political.
Watch our full conversation on YouTube.
Full episode resources—including streaming links, the Yu Hua novel, and the full transcript—are available here.
🔒 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 Dark

Connect With Us:

Jun 4, 2026 58 min

Resurrection

Season 15, Episode 52

Show notes

What does it mean to carry something the world insists on explaining? "Resurrection" is a drama-fantasy from director Daniel Petrie, following Edna Mae McCauley—played by Ellen Burstyn—a woman who survives a car crash and returns with an inexplicable gift for healing others. Sam Shepard plays her mercurial lover Cal, and Richard Farnsworth is the eccentric who runs Last Chance Gas. A one-off entry in our Ellen Burstyn series.
Pete and Andy dig into what makes "Resurrection" so unusual—a film that refuses to assign its central miracle to any doctrine, religious or scientific. The conversation moves from Burstyn's steadfast performance to a complicated father-daughter relationship that cuts deeper than the film's more obvious conflicts. 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 | Trailer
If You Liked This Conversation, Try These from the Next Reel Family:
The Next Reel — Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore—keep going through the Ellen Burstyn series with the film that won her the Oscarhttps://trustory.fm/thenextreel/the-exorcist/
The Next Reel — The Exorcist—start here if you're new to the series; Burstyn at her most extreme is the best catalog entry pointhttps://trustory.fm/thenextreel/requiem-for-a-dream/
The Next Reel — Requiem for a Dream—complete the picture of Burstyn's range with her most harrowing work
Sitting in the Dark — Possessed—if the faith and possession themes here send you somewhere (and if you're a fan of The Exorcist), this is where to go nexthttps://trustory.fm/the-exorcist-minute/
The Exorcist Minute—the deep-dive show for anyone who loves The Exorcist and wants to go further
🔒 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 Dark

Connect With Us:

https://thenextreel.com/audible

May 28, 2026 1 hr 4 min

Alien: Romulus

Season 15, Episode 51

Show notes

Young colonists trapped under corporate contract make a desperate play for freedom—and find they're not alone. "Alien: Romulus," Fede Álvarez's ("Don't Breathe") entry into the Alien franchise, stars Cailee Spaeny as Rain, David Jonsson as Andy her synthetic companion, and Isabela Merced as Kay—a group whose bid to escape a Weyland-Yutani mining world leads them aboard an abandoned space station with a very good reason to be abandoned.
Pete and Andy dig into what Fede Álvarez gets right—especially David Jonsson's performance as Andy, which they rank among the best in franchise history—and where the film falls short: whether a fan service problem is what's keeping a strong film from being a great one. 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:
The Next Reel — Alien: Covenant — the film immediately before this in the series; where the franchise went wrong before Romulus tried to fix it
The Next Reel — Alien — where this conversation begins; the touchstone Álvarez is working toward
The Next Reel — Aliens — the gold standard for an Alien sequel; the other film Álvarez has in mind throughout
The Film Board — Alien: Romulus — a companion conversation on the same film from a different angle
The Next Reel — Alien series — the complete run, all seven films
🔒 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.
https://thenextreel.com/audible
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 Dark

Connect With Us:

May 21, 2026 1 hr 2 min

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