The Next Reel Film Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Personal History of David Copperfield Oct 01, 2026

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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🎧 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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Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
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The Death of Stalin Sep 24, 2026

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.
📝 See Full Show Notes and Resources
🎥 Watch on YouTube
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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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
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In the Loop Sep 17, 2026

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.
📝 See Full Show Notes and Resources
🎥 Watch on YouTube
🔓 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:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

Bulworth Sep 10, 2026

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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🎥 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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

Wag the Dog Sep 03, 2026

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
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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

Bob Roberts Aug 27, 2026

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 complicity
The Hudsucker Proxy—more Tim Robbins, in a very different register
The Shawshank Redemption—Robbins' most iconic performance
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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

Sorry to Bother You Aug 20, 2026

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
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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

Nightcrawler Aug 13, 2026

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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

The Truman Show Aug 06, 2026

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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

Talk to Me Jul 02, 2026

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!
🔓 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.
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

Connect With Us:

Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Discord
Your Hosts: Andy | Pete
Merch Store | Audible

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