The Film Talk

Boorman and the Devil and the Beautiful Disaster of Exorcist II: The Heretic

Is Exorcist II: The Heretic really one of the worst sequels ever made, or have we been watching it all wrong Dear Listener? Thanks to the documentary Boorman and the De

Digger: A Requiem for the World We Find Ourselves In

Jett and Gareth are overwhelmed by DIGGER, a film they see as exhilarating, horrifying and the most important movie of the moment. How do you make art in a world that t

Should We Stop Anthropomorphizing AI? What 2001, Colossus and The Outer Limits Can Teach Us

Why are we working so hard to make artificial intelligence seem human? In this solo episode, Jett turns to three works of classic, and semi-classic, science fiction: St

Coyote vs. Acme: Absurdity, Empathy, and Why We Keep Going

A cartoon coyote, Albert Camus, Mira Nair, and Albuquerque walk into a podcast. Jett and Gareth dig into the wonderfully humane Coyote vs. Acme: a film about persistence,

Steven Spielberg Ranked: Our Number Ones, and What Greatness Means

Six episodes later, the ranking project finally reaches the summit. Jett and Gareth reveal their respective No. 1 Steven Spielberg films, argue about greatness, wander br

Steven Spielberg Ranked: Late Epiphanies and the Road to No. 1

The Spielberg ranking has now escaped all reasonable containment. As Jett and Gareth approach the top of the filmography, old assumptions collapse, unlikely favorites ris

Blue Heron: Grief, Family, and the Miracle of Being Seen

Sophy Romvari's Blue Heron opens a conversation about memory, damaged families, grief, and the profound human need to be seen accurately. Jett and Gareth also consider wh

The Odyssey: War, Homecoming, and Our Responsibility to Act

THE ODYSSEY: It's important that a film at this scale is speaking to this moment that we're in Dear Listener. In this wide ranging discussion our hosts Higgins and Loe ge

Steven Spielberg Ranked: Sam Neill, Near Misses, and the Top Tier

Jett and Gareth would like to apologize for believing Steven Spielberg's entire theatrical career could be ranked in one episode. Part Four gets them almost, but emphatic

The Mandalorian and Grogu: Does Star Wars Still Have Moral Weight?

What is Star Wars actually for? Jett and Gareth welcome educator and Star Wars expert Dan Zehr to talk The Mandalorian and Grogu, the future of the franchise, and whether

Steven Spielberg Ranked: War Horse, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and the Movies That Divide Us

The great Spielberg ranking rolls onward, pausing for Au Hasard Balthazar, Tom Stoppard's work on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Gareth's entirely defensible—or

Disclosure Day: Spielberg, Wonder, and the Courage to Listen

Take out the earplugs of your mind, Dear Listener. Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day prompts Jett and Gareth to talk about wonder, attention, and what happens when popula

Steven Spielberg Ranked: Raiders, Duel, and the Madness of Ranking Art

Gareth has placed Raiders of the Lost Ark somewhere Jett regards as evidence of a collapsing civilization. Part Two continues the impossible Spielberg ranking, with Duel

Steven Spielberg Ranked: The Absurdity of Applying Metrics to Art

Can art be reduced to a numbered list? Almost certainly not. Jett and Gareth proceed anyway. Part One begins the dangerous work of ranking every theatrically released Ste

Backrooms: AI Anxiety and the Death of the Analog World

Backrooms arrives disguised as analog nostalgia and turns out to be something more unsettling: a film about what it feels like to live amid synthetic images, AI-generated

Natchez: Southern Charm, American Myth, and the Need to See Clearly

Natchez dismantles comforting myths about the American South while asking a larger question: what happens when culture lets us float free of place, history, and consequen

Field of Dreams: Fathers, Sons, Regret, and the Possibility of Repair

Gareth has spent roughly 20 years trying to make Jett watch Field of Dreams. The long national nightmare is over. What follows is a conversation about fathers and sons, b

Project Hail Mary: When Big-Hearted Sci-Fi Leaves Us Cold

What? Two film critics who may not actually recommend PROJECT HAIL MARY? It's true folks, in this massive episode we go in-depth into the pitfalls PROJECT HAIL MARY falls

Oscars 2026: The Movies, the Crafts, and the Stories We Choose

The 98th Academy Awards become an excuse to talk about what awards occasionally get right, what they miss, and the hundreds of people whose work makes movies possible. Je

Song Sung Blue: The Crowd-Pleaser That Missed Its Crowd

Gareth loves Song Sung Blue. Jett attempts to survive the experience physiologically. Together they ask why this warm, unabashed crowd-pleaser failed to find the audience