The Next Picture Show

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Tex-Mess, Pt. 2 — X (2022) Apr 05, 2022

Show notes

Ti West’s new X is very much inspired by Tobe Hooper’s 1974 shocker THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (and to an extent, Hooper’s lesser-known EATEN ALIVE), following another bunch of ill-fated van passengers, this one a group filming a low-budget porno, who wind up on the wrong side of the owners of a remote Texas farmhouse. The film’s late-’70s setting invites all sorts of analysis and interpretation about sex, death, and their intersection with cultural and religious conservatism at the dawn of the 1980s, which we dig into, once again with the help of film writer and horror aficionado Katie Rife, before turning our focus to some of the specific echoes between X and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, X, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Outro music: Blue Oyster Cult, “Don’t Fear the Reaper”

Next pairing: The Daniels’ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s BLIND CHANCE

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Tex-Mess, Pt. 1 — The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

Ti West’s new horror film X is very openly inspired by THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, carrying through the spirit of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 shocker more capably than most of the subsequent films in what would become a nine-film franchise (in particular this year’s dreadful remake). Before getting into how it does that next week, this week we’re revisiting Hooper’s film with the help of film critic and series expert Katie Rife, to consider what made this film hit the way it did at the time, why it so often gets lumped in with the slasher genre it preceded, and whether it's a film that gets more brutal — or, perhaps, more comforting — with time.

Works Cited

• “For nearly 50 years, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies have made a meal out of raw panic,” by Katie Rife (avclub.com)

• “Every Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie psychoanalyzes the original,” by Daniel Dockery (polygon.com)

Outro music: Kesha, “Cannibal”

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Bye, Robot Pt. 2 — After Yang Mar 22, 2022

Show notes

Kogonada’s new AFTER YANG plays in many ways like a mirror to Steven Spielberg’s misunderstood android epic A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE as it explores ideas about human nature through the experiences of an artificial being. It’s also an unusually warm, thematically rich science-fiction film that opens up countless avenues of discussion, a few of which we travel down before bringing AFTER YANG into conversation with Spielberg’s earlier model to consider these stories’ shared features: a disrupted family unit, a journey of discovery, adoption ethics, and rumination on what it means to be human.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AFTER YANG, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Works Cited:

• ”What the Year’s Best Sci-Fi Movie Has to Say About Asian Identity and Adoption” by Sam Adams (slate.com)

• “After Yang intentionally subverts sci-fi’s fetishistic ‘hollow Asian’ trope” by Leo Kim (polygon.com)

• “After Yang Is a Gorgeous Movie About the Life and Death of a Robot” by Alison Willmore (vulture.com)

Outro music: Mitski, “Glide”

Next pairing: Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and Ti West’s X

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Bye, Robot Pt. 1 — A.I. Artificial Intelligence Mar 15, 2022

Show notes

Kogonada’s new science-fiction film AFTER YANG wrestles with the humanity of artificial beings, and their relationship to humanity, in a way that feels distinctly reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s 2001 feature A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Both films are highly sympathetic toward the android companions on which they center, but Spielberg’s film, which began life as a Stanley Kubrick endeavor, has a more sour view of humanity… or does it? That’s one of the main questions up for discussion this week as we delve into the complexities and contradictions of A.I., a film with no shortage of discussion points, many of which coalesce around the film’s still-divisive ending.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about A.I., AFTER YANG, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Outro music: Cliff Edwards and Dickie Jones, “Give a Little Whistle”

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No Time to Dye, Pt. 2 — Kimi Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

Steven Soderbergh’s new thriller KIMI is as brisk, stylish, and sure-footed in its approach as Tom Tykwer’s 1998 arthouse hit RUN LOLA RUN, but with a much different set of cinematic goals and references in play. Does KIMI’s spare, simple, stylish approach alchemize into what one of our panelists calls “pure entertainment” that’s “easy as breathing,” or does it leave too many unfilled spaces and narrative holes to trip over? We hash it out before bringing LOLA in to compare the two films’ commitment to brevity and adrenalized filmmaking, how that commitment plays out via their respective soundtracks, and the ways in which each tackles conflict and codependency in relationships.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about KIMI, RUN LOLA RUN, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Outro music: Elastica, “Connection”

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No Time to Dye, Pt. 1 — Run Lola Run Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

Steven Soderbergh’s new straight-to-streaming movie KIMI wears its many influences on its sleeve, but we saw our inspiration for this week’s pairing in its protagonist’s colorful dyed hair, reminiscent of one of the many eye-popping elements of Tom Tykwer’s 1998 international breakout RUN LOLA RUN. But what really links the two films is the breakneck pace they share as they chase after women trying to achieve an urgent goal on a short deadline. This week we home in on RUN LOLA RUN to parse its interplay of style and substance, and debate how and to what extent this fleet film stumbles over its weighty themes of time, choice, and fate.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about RUN LOLA RUN, KIMI, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Outro music: Franka Potente, “Believe” (Run Lola Run)

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Star Crossed Pt. 2 — Marry Me Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

Kat Coiro’s new MARRY ME is a rarity in 2022: a major-studio romcom released to theaters (okay, and Peacock), that features recognizable stars and tries to honor the genre without apologies or winky self-awareness. It’s a modern yet old-fashioned romcom that relies on audiences’ affection for its genre, and in particular its incandescent star, Jennifer Lopez, to smooth over its rough patches, which we poke at — affectionately — in the second half of our star-crossed romcom pairing. We’re joined once again by special guest Scott Meslow, author of the new book FROM HOLLYWOOD WITH LOVE, to discuss how MARRY ME works through the romcom formula, and where it stumbles, before bringing Roger Michell's NOTTING HILL back in to consider how both films fit their respective ideas about celebrity, infidelity, and humility into the genre’s well-established storytelling structure.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about NOTTING HILL, MARRY ME, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Next pairing: RUN LOLA RUN and KIMI

Outro Music: “On My Way (Marry Me)” by Jennifer Lopez

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Star Crossed, Pt. 1 — Notting Hill Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

Despite a very 2022 premise, the new MARRY ME acts in many ways like a romantic comedy from the genre’s late-20th-century heyday, from its star-driven nature to its central fantasy of a romance between a world-famous celebrity and an everyday schlub. That particular combination pointed us in the direction of one of the era’s romcom highlights, 1999’s NOTTING HILL, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant as characters with deep ties to their actors’ respective personas. This week we look back at the film that cemented Richard Curtis as a romcom auteur, with an assist from someone who literally wrote the book on the genre — Scott Meslow, author of the new “From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy” — to consider how NOTTING HILL figures into the careers of both its screenwriter and its stars, what director Roger Michell brings to the equation, and the film’s mixed-blessing view of stardom.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about NOTTING HILL, MARRY ME, or anything else in the world of film, romcom or otherwise, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

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Toil and Trouble Pt. 2 — The Tragedy of Macbeth (2022) Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

Is Joel Coen’s new THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH the most by-the-letter, scrupulous adaptation of Shakespeare’s play ever put to screen, or a series of subtle but surprising decisions applied to an extremely familiar text? We’re a little divided on that question this week, as we’re joined once again by David Chen, host of the Culturally Relevant podcast (among many other projects), to parse what distinguishes this approach to The Scottish Play, how it plays within the Coen filmography, and whether every other Coen film is also, in fact, Macbeth. Then we bring Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD back into the conversation to compare the two films’ chicken-or-the-egg prophecies, their minimalist/maximalist styles, and the shared motivation to adapt this story in the first place.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THRONE OF BLOOD, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. We may respond to it on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, recommendations, and more.

Works Cited:

• “In the Coen brothers’ punishing world, morals are everything,” by Tasha Robinson (thedissolve.com)

• “The Tragedy of Macbeth Is Pretty Much Just One Phenomenal Denzel Washington Performance,” by Alison Willmore (vulture.com)

• “Dialogue: Macbeth and the Movies,” by Scott Tobias and Keith Phipps (thereveal.substack.com)

Next pairing: NOTTING HILL and MARRY ME

Outro Music: “Fair Is Foul & Foul Is Fair” by Babes In Toyland

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Toil and Trouble Pt. 1 — Throne of Blood Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

There are no shortage of adaptations we could pair with Joel Coen’s new THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, but for our purposes the choice was always clear: Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 classic THRONE OF BLOOD is an ideal Next Picture Show companion piece for the way in which it takes what it needs from the original Shakespeare while changing the language, setting, and performance style, and cherry-picking elements of the plot. We’re joined this week by super-podcaster and super-fan David Chen to talk through some of those elements, including a Lady Macbeth who is both more and less passive than her play counterpart, as well as the film’s unexpected jolts of humor, and a deliberate sense of pacing that toes the line between building tension and repetition.

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