The Next Picture Show Podcast

Hello! We're the Next Picture Show podcast. We discuss pairings between a new movie and classic that inspired it, has talent in common, or covers a similar subject. Co-hosted by four team members from The A.V. Club and The Dissolve: Tasha Robinson, Scott Tobias, Genevieve Koski, and Keith Phipps.

New ep! 2010's THE SOCIAL NETWORK and Aaron Sorkin's 2026 "companion piece" THE SOCIAL RECKONING offer different takes on Mark Zuckerberg, during different stages of Facebook. This week, we go into SOCIAL NETWORK's storytelling, impact, and relationship with the truth. omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

This week: Lance Oppenheim's Chris Hansen portrait PRIMETIME has us looking back at a classic movie covering similar ground around ethics in infotainment and creating "truth" by editing reality. Tony Curtis plays sharply against type in 1957's terrific SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS: omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

Last week: @roxana-hadadi.bsky.social joins us to analyze Padraic McKinley's period quest movie THE WEIGHT, and how it weighs up to an obvious companion piece, William Friedkin's 1977 trauma classic SORCERER. Both feature desperate men on dangerous missions: omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

New ep! Part 1 of our pairing with THE WEIGHT examines another story of desperate men transporting lethal cargo. William Friedkin's SORCERER follows four criminals in South America moving unstable dynamite under terrifying conditions — which Friedkin shot in terrifying ways. omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

New ep! Last week, we discussed Andrei Tarkovsky's SOLARIS and the philosophy of being trapped in an eternal, unchanging world. This week, we look at a tighter, more horror-inflected version of the same idea in Alexander Ullom's taut, smart, surprising new movie IT ENDS. omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

New ep: The existential, eternal dread of IT ENDS reminded us of similar beats in Andrei Tarkovsky's SOLARIS. So we looked back at that movie's complicated, opaque symbolism, its misguided rep as "the anti-2001," and whether it really is "Tarkovsky's most accessible movie." omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

In part 2 of our double feature of END OF OAK STREET and Steven Spielberg's 2005 WAR OF THE WORLDS, we discuss how similar the central families are, right down to their sibling relationships and marital feuds. We also get into their remarkably similar finale copouts. omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

Over on the Patreon, we've got an exclusive episode for supporters, where we talk through Dolly Parton's biggest theatrical movies. Film was never her focus, but when she appeared in films, they were usually focused on her persona above anything else. www.patreon.com/NextPictureS...

New ep! THE END OF OAK STREET has us looking back at Steven Spielberg's 2005 take on WAR OF THE WORLDS, a similar story about a collapsing suburban family suddenly united when an outside threat wants to eat them. Featuring Tom Cruise as the Top Gun of New Jersey stevedores! omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

New ep: @mattsinger.bsky.social joins us for the second half of our MANDALORIAN AND GROGU / SHOGUN ASSASSIN pairing, as we look into why the latest Star Wars movie left us unsatisfied, and how many story moments this movie took directly from Kazuo Koike's Lone Wolf and Cub. omny.fm/shows/filmsp...

New ep! THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is a perfect excuse to look back on the story it's reimagining: the LONE WOLF AND CUB manga and movies. This week we consider the strange history and cultural impact of SHOGUN ASSASSIN, with @mattsinger.bsky.social playing sidekick. open.spotify.com/episode/1CaF...

This week, PROJECT HAIL MARY took us back to a 1972 science fiction movie about a lone astronaut navigating ecological collapse, and finding his most human connection in non-human companions: SILENT RUNNING, starring Bruce Dern as an unlovable, unloved would-be hero. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

DEAD MAN'S WIRE takes some clear scene-for-scene inspiration from Sidney Lumet's DOG DAY AFTERNOON — but then, they're both based-on-a-true-crime thrillers about ordinary people taking hostages and winning unlikely fandoms. We compare and contrast this week: cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

New ep! Gus Van Sant's DEAD MAN'S WIRE has us looking back to a previous true-story crime drama about a hostage crisis set off by ordinary people. Sidney Lumet's tremendous DOG DAY AFTERNOON has a thousand moving parts, and we unpack them layer by layer. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Timothée Chalamet in MARTY SUPREME: Lovable rascal? Irredeemable asshole? Just a twerp? We had different takes on the character, the film, and the UNCUT GEMS BUT WITH PING-PONG experience. Plus, we compare it to Robert Rossen's 1961 sports-brat movie THE HUSTLER. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, we look at the underrated (and maybe too weird for the mainstream?) 2025 fantasy-comedy ETERNITY, and consider how its oppressive afterlife bureau, hard postmortem choices, and big emotions compare to the ones in Hirozaku Kore-eda's lyrical AFTER LIFE. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, the new rom-com ETERNITY inspired a look back at a different film about an afterlife bureaucracy forcing people to make sense of their lives via difficult, personal choices after death: Hirozaku Kore-eda's dreamy, earnest 1998 movie AFTER LIFE. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

In our latest ep, Netflix's TRAIN DREAMS reminded us of Terrence Malick's 1978 movie DAYS OF HEAVEN, featuring a young Richard Gere as a man more in touch with the natural world than his own emotions. Let's discuss Linda Manz's voiceover and what it really means! cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

It's our 10th anniversary and 500th episode, so we celebrated by breaking format: This week, we discuss the movie we're named for, Peter Bogdanovich's forlorn, star-packed 1971 drama THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, then revive the ol' Barnyard Buzzers for an NPS trivia game. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

New ep! Radu Jude's latest wild provocation, DRACULA, inspired a look back at a previous surreal story about a filmmaker fumbling for ideas: Federico Fellini's startlingly meta 1963 movie 8 1/2, with a thinly veiled Fellini trying to define the movie as you watch it. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

The second episode of our FAIL-SAFE/A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE pairing, with special guest @jasondashbailey.com, is posted. Come celebrate 60 years of plausible, sleep-robbing nuclear scenarios with us! megaphone.link/FILM2925391917

This week we're comparing Akira Kurosawa's HIGH AND LOW with Spike Lee's reimagining HIGHEST 2 LOWEST. The new film tells the same story, plus a lot of modern wrinkles and familiar Lee touches, and a battle-rap the original is notably missing. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

New ep! Spike Lee's HIGHEST 2 LOWEST, now on Apple TV Plus, prompted us to look back at the original adaptation of Ed McBain's KING'S RANSOM: Akira Kurosawa's stunning morality play, police procedural, and class drama HIGH AND LOW, still an absolute stunner. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: In honor of the 2025 NAKED GUN, we look back at the 1988 OG movie, talking about what distinguishes ZAZ comedies from Mel Brooks or more modern SCARY MOVIE-type send-ups, and breaking down what makes some gags timeless, while others age like dead fish. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

New ep! Chris Klimek (ctklimek.bsky.social) joins us to talk Superman, this week starting with our favorite on-screen Supersmen, then taking a deep dive into Richard Donner's 1978 movie, with its classic choices and its extreme ones. Can you read our miiinds? cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

New ep! Inspired by PAVEMENTS, we're talking about movies that prioritize conveying a musician's essence over covering biographical fact. @noelmu.bsky.social joins us this week as we start with Todd Haynes' freewheelin’ approach to Bob Dylan in I'M NOT THERE. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, we consider the terrifying worlds Tim Robinson characters create just by existing. And we consider how the writhing discomfort comedy of FRIENDSHIP works as a double feature with PT Anderson's THE MASTER, also about a squirmy mentorship/friendship. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, inspired by the thorny tragicomic Tim Robinson/Paul Rudd mentorship in FRIENDSHIP, we worked on unpacking the fraught, complicated, endlessly mysterious Joaquin Phoenix/Philip Seymour Hoffman mentorship in Paul Thomas Anderson's THE MASTER: cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Last week, we revisited 1999's MYSTERY MEN, about a group of inept amateur superheroes operating in the shadow of a more popular, powerful hero. This week, we turn to Marvel's THUNDERBOLTS*. These films have a lot more specific, surprising parallels than we expected. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Let's get furious! This week, inspired by THUNDERBOLTS*, we look back at MYSTERY MEN, another third-string-superheros movie about an awkward group of street-level types with self-esteem issues and family problems, living in the shadow of a much shinier hero. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, David Cronenberg's THE SHROUDS inspired a look back at his most mainstream movie (and, as we discuss, his last horror film?), 1986's THE FLY. These movies have so many parallels, from terrible possessive exes to obsessions with decay — and "the flesh." cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, Steven Soderbergh's BLACK BAG prompted a look back at another couple solving a mystery via fancy dinner party, in 1934's THE THIN MAN. This franchise-launcher is notable for many things, but especially Nick & Nora's casual, breezy loyalty and chemistry. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Last week: Paul Verhoeven's STARSHIP TROOPERS mocks fascism. This week: Bong Joon-ho's MICKEY 17 mocks capitalism. Both do it via doofuses at war with space bugs, and via exaggerated, over-the-top satirical rancor. We dig into how they line up and how they diverge. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

We're back! This week, Bong Joon-ho's MICKEY 17 has us looking back at Paul Verhoeven's STARSHIP TROOPERS, another book adaptation where "idiots needlessly go to war with space bugs." We argue about his intended satire of fascism, and whether it lands as intended: cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: Inspired by EEPHUS's feature-length subversion of “the big game,” we're joined by pinch-hitter @timgrierson.bsky.social to look back at 1988’s BULL DURHAM and see how what's often cited as one of the best baseball movies ever lives up to that reputation: cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, we're breaking from the usual pairing format to discuss our top 10 movies of 2024. Some of these picks won't be a surprise if you've followed along with the show. Others… well, we all ended this recording with some new catch-ups added to our watch lists. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: We explore NICKEL BOYS, RaMell Ross’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel, and compare it with THE DEFIANT ONES (which Ross draws footage from) in terms of themes, perspective, and how to unpack those two pregnant, haunting endings. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: NICKEL BOYS' use of footage from Stanley Kramer's 1958 race-relations thriller THE DEFIANT ONES made us curious, so we checked it out to see how the two connect. Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis are tremendous in this message movie about convicts on the run: cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, we talk WICKED: PART I: the material added to the stage show, the odd treatment of the songs, the audacious approach, the believability of the Elphaba/Glinda friendship. Then we compare it with WIZARD OF OZ's heroic journey, resolutions, and more. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, WICKED takes us back to the original WIZARD OF OZ, for a clear-eyed adult look at this classic's strengths, flaws, and oddities — particularly its troubled history, how it got its Kansas framing device, and how it all plays for a deeply familiar audience. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: Sean Baker's Palme d'Or winner ANORA has drawn widespread fascination and acclaim with its portrait of a Manhattan sex worker whose quickie romance with a rich Russian kid complicates both their lives. It pairs perfectly with PRETTY WOMAN on many levels: cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: Edward Berger's let's-elect-a-pope thriller CONCLAVE feels like a sleek, religious-themed rendition of 1964's THE BEST MAN. We put the two together to see what they each say about politics and purity, conscience and idealism, secrets and mud-slinging. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: Jason Reitman's divisive Robert Altman scene portrait SATURDAY NIGHT, which mythologizes the chaos behind the scenes at SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's premiere. We saw similarities with D.A. Pennebaker's once-lost doc ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY. Let's discuss. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week: DreamWorks' THE WILD ROBOT adapts a kids' book but also takes major inspiration from Brad Bird's THE IRON GIANT (also based on a book), so we compared the two, digging into how they address surrogate parenthood, machine personhood, and self-sacrAIfice. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, inspired by THE WILD ROBOT, we're looking back at THE IRON GIANT: a box-office flop abandoned by its studio and rescued via word of mouth and home-video viewings, a Pete Townshend musical project radically reimagined by a Simpsons producer, and a lot more. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

This week, we compare Azazel Jacobs‘ HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, a Netflix movie none of us fully loved, with Tamara Jenkins' THE SAVAGES, which we all loved. It's two movies about adult siblings navigating a problematic parent's decline, with strong performances in both. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Lots to discuss this week as we begin pairing REBEL RIDGE with its most obvious inspiration, the franchise kickoff FIRST BLOOD: We dig into the older film's mysteries, narrative approach, and place in movie history, plus what made Sylvester Stallone the perfect star. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Like James Cameron in 1986, Fede Álvarez set out to sequelize Ridley Scott's ALIEN. Cameron switched genres for ALIENS; Álvarez reverted to basics with the homage montage ALIEN: ROMULUS. We disagree on their value as a double feature — especially about the CG acid. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...

Game not over, man! We're just getting started. Fede Álvarez's direct ALIEN sequel ALIEN: ROMULUS inspired us to look back at James Cameron's ALIENS, to see how a budding action director handled his own direct ALIEN sequel in 1986. This movie mostly holds up… mostly. cms.megaphone.fm/channel/FLM2...