Explore every episode of the podcast Mise en Screen
Dive into the complete episode list for Mise en Screen. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
Episode 18: Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
13 Nov 2025
01:52:27
Frankenstein is the 992nd adaptation featuring the monster from Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. It is probably the 6th that hews closer to the source novel than the 1931 Universal film adaptation. This 2025 adaptation is directed, produced, and based on a screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, best known for The Shape of Water, Pan's Labyrinth, and Pinocchio (no not the soulless one released the same year from Zemeckis and Disney). In this film we follow Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein who creates life in the form of The Creature, played by Jacob Elordi. Felix Kammerer is William Frankenstein, Victor's younger brother, and Ti West muse Mia Goth plays Lady Elizabeth Harlander, William's fiance. Christoph Waltz supports as Henrich Harlander, Elizabeth's uncle. We also have Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson, David Bradley as the blind man, Charles Dance as Victor's father, Ralph Ineson as Professor Krempe, and Burn Gorman as the executioner.
Time Stamps:
(01:11) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1973)
(17:19) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994)
(32:27) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025)
(1:15:59) Spoilers
(1:49:55) Next Time: Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay, 2025)
Works Cited:
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware, 2015)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992)
Bugonia is a 2025 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This is an English remake of a 2003 South Korean film called Save the Green Planet! which was directed by Jang Joon-hwan. In Bugonia Jesse Plemons stars as Teddy Gatz, who together with his cousin Don, played by Aidan Delbis, kidnap and imprison CEO Michelle Fuller, played by Emma Stone, whom Teddy believes to be an alien.
Time Stamps:
(04:41) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
(18:26) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)
(28:54) Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025)
(57:13) Spoilers
(1:18:34) Next Time: Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025)
Private eye Honey O'Donahue (Margaret Qualley) begins investigating the suspicious death of one of her clients, who turns up dead in a car accident before they can even meet. Her sleuthing, with the help of MG (Aubrey Plaza), a police officer she hooked up with, points to the Four Ways church of Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans), a sleazy preacher who brings new meaning to the term 'Come to Jesus,' all while she is trying to help her sister keep her niece Corrine (Talia Ryder) out of trouble.
Timestamps
(01:35) The Ladykillers
(18:44) Jennifer's Body
(32:09) The Hudsucker Proxy
(48:40) Honey, Don't!
(1:30:27) Next week will be The Long Walk
Works Cited:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2018) The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1997)
I Love You, Phillip Morris (John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, 2009)
Jennifer's Body (Karyn Kusama, 2009)
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind (Ethan Coen, 2024)
The Ladykillers (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2004)
The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955)
No Country For Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell, 2020)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, 2021)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Michael Bay, 2009)
Raising Arizona (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1987)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
Episode 07b: Ne Zha 2 Full Spoiler
05 Sep 2025
01:29:43
We get into the nitty gritty details of the back half of Ne Zha 2 as well as dive into the cultural war between the US and China and specifically China's rapid gains in dominating the worldwide box office seemingly all on its own.
Timestamps
(00:00) Na Zha 2 spoilers (37:20) China, America, the global box office, and international influence (1:15:05) American culture, past and future
Works Cited
Avengers: Endgame (Russo Brothers, 2019)
The Battle at Lake Changjin (Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Dante Lam, 2021)
Ne Zha 2 is the fifth highest grossing film of all time worldwide, so why hasn't anyone in the US really seen or heard about it? We talk about the awful, no good animated film Foodfight! (2012) first, followed by our guessing game for related screenings, then get into Investiture of the Gods, Ne Zha 1 from 2019 and Ne Zha 2 released earlier this year in China and subbed in the US and most recently dubbed in English for another release that has landed with a thud stateside. Our follow up episode tomorrow will get into both spoilers for Ne Zha 2 and a discussion on why it has not found success in the United States and the cultural war between these two regions.
Works Cited
Avengers: Endgame (Russo Brothers, 2019)
The Battle at Lake Changjin (Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Dante Lam, 2021)
This is our spoiler filled section for not only Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest but also the original Akira Kurosawa film High and Low. We talk about pretty much everything that happens in the second half of both films, what we liked and did not like about how each film handles the same overarching scenario and how they differ in execution.
Next week we will be discussing Ne Zha 2 the Chinese animated fantasy adventure comedy film written and directed by Jiaozi, as well as the original Ne Zha.
In this non-spoiler episode we discuss both Spike Lee's latest joint Highest 2 Lowest which sees the famed director reteaming with Denzel Washington in a reinterpretation of the classic Akira Kurosawa film from 1963: High and Low. We discuss the first half of both films, their differences and similarities in focus and execution of the same premise (taken from the novel King's Ransom: An 87th Precinct Mystery is a novel by Evan Hunter).
Tomorrow (Friday, August 29) we will premiere the spoiler section of our show and announce the next film we will be watching.
In present-day Japan, a series of destructive offshore phenomena leads to the appearance of a unidentified giant lizard-like creature. The mysterious nature of the beast and the destruction it leaves in its wake causes political confusion and paralysis within the Japanese government. A task force is created to research the creature and solve the puzzle of an enigmatic chart left behind by Goro Maki, a disgraced, anti-nuclear zoology professor, that might hold the key to stopping the creature. This week we discuss Shin Godzilla from 2016 as it is being re-released in theaters due to a 4K remaster.
Next week we will be discussing Highest 2 Lowest the latest Spike Lee joint starring Denzel Washington and screenplay by Alan Fox.
In this episode we both watched awful, terrible, no-good films as punishment for losing the guessing game last episode. We then get back to regular scheduling with guessing and talking about two related films to our main feature: The Naked Gun, directed by Akiva Schaffer as well as written by Schaffer, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and starring Liam Neeson as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. who is pulled off a bank robbery case due to his excessive force and reassigned to a traffic suicide whose victim's sister, Pamela Anderson, insists was actually a murder. Danny Huston plays a tech billionaire who plans to use a plot device for an evil plan. Hijinks ensue.
Next week we will be discussing Shin Godzilla written and directed by Hideaki Anno and co-directed by Shinji Higuchi.
Works Cited:
American Criminal (Dylan Bank, 2019)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011)
A Karate Christmas Miracle (Julie Kimmel, 2019)
Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers (Akiva Schaffer, 2022)
The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016)
Hard Boiled (John Woo, 1992)
Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Holmes & Watson (Etan Coen, 2018)
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, 2022)
The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 2014)
In this episode we discuss Together, written and directed by Michael Shanks and starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple in a relationship currently going through troubled times that is only exacerbated by a supernatural effect that begins to forcibly push the two together with horrific outcomes. Spoilers begin at 1:03:00 and end at 1:22:38
Next week we will be discussing The Naked Gun starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson.
In this episode we discuss Mark Anthony Green's musical thriller Opus (2025)! Starring Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Amber Midthunder, and some other people. First we guess at each others repertory film and discuss followed by our general thoughts on Opus with a spoiler section afterwards.
Next week we will be discussing Togther starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie.
In this episode we discuss Ari Aster's perplexing Covid provocation Eddington (2025)! First we guess at each others repertory film and discuss followed by our general thoughts/non spoilers conversation on Eddington before diving deep into the film.
Red Rooms, a 2023 psychological horror film written and directed by Pascal Plante. It follows Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a fashion model who takes an interest in the murder trial of Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos). She becomes acquainted with another observer, Clementine (Laurie Babin), who will tell anyone who will listen that Chevalier is innocent. As time goes on they learn more about the case, and each other, and the things they may or may not have in common.
This is our very first episode in which we introduce the concept and origin of the podcast, pull up each other's Letterboxd to do a Q&A session, and answer film, theater, and other related rapid fire questions we came up with beforehand.
Our first real episode will be on Eddington (2025) directed, written, and produced by Ari Aster.
Ben was able to attend the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville, VA and saw 12 feature films and one short film collection. He recorded some onsite reactions and introductions to each film and we intercut those with our post-festival conversational Q&A. Red Rooms discussion will follow tomorrow and our regular programming will resume next Thursday with Bugonia!
After The Hunt is a 2025 film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Nora Garrett. It stars Julia Roberts as Alma Imhoff, a philosophy professor at Yale on the verge of tenure. Ayo Edebiri plays Maggie, a star student of Alma's and Andrew Garfield as Hank, a fellow professor also on the verge of tenure. Alma is caught between the two when Maggie confides in Alma that Hank sexually assaulted her after a party one night. Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny star in supporting roles as Alma's husband Frederik and a school doctor/therapist respectively.
Timestamps
(01:36) Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
(17:43) The Devils
(31:55) The Piano Teacher
(45:57) After the Hunt discussion
(1:32:49) After the Hunt Spoilers
(1:55:21) Next Time!
Works Cited
After the Hunt (2025, Luca Guadagnino)
"All These Things That I've Done" (The Killers, 2004)
Call Me by Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)
The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)
Elle (2016, Paul Verhoeven)
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008, Nathan Frankowski)
Anemone is a 2025 film directed by Ronan Day-Lewis, written by Ronan with his father Daniel Day-Lewis, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Ray Stoker, and Sean Bean as Jem Stoker, with supporting performances from Samantha Morton as Nessa Stoker, Samuel Bottomley as Brian Stoker, and Safia Oakley-Green as Hattie. In this film Jem seeks out his brother Ray, who has lived in isolation for an extended period of time, in order to bring him back to help aid the young Brian through a tumultous and consequential crossroads of his life.
Timestamps
(01:14) Artemis Fowl
(19:30) Field of Dreams
(39:43) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
(51:17) Anemone introduction, skip to next stamp to avoid synopsis spoilers
The Smashing Machine is a 2025 film directed, written, produced, and edited by Benny Safdie and starring Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr, Emily Blunt as Dawn Staples, Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman, and Bas Rutten as himself. We follow Mark Kerr from 1997-2000 as he wins his first title in a Brazilian tournament before skipping forward to focus on a fight in Tokyo, Kerr's tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend Dawn, his addiction to painkillers, and his participation in the Pride Grand Prix 2000 again in Tokyo where his former coach Mark Coleman might end up being his final opponent if he can win each round.
Leftist guerillas Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and her lover "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) leading their revolutionary group the French 75 in storming and liberating a migrant holding facility operated by race pervert Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn). But after a bank robbery turns deadly the group is shattered and scattered, with Perfidia vanishing and Pat going into hiding with their infant daughter Charlene. Sixteen years later Pat is living in a Colorado sanctuary city in a haze of drugs, under the assumed name of Bob Ferguson. His paranoia makes him an overbearing parent to his daughter, raised as Willa and now played by Chase Infiniti. When Colonel Lockjaw learns of their hiding place and leads a series of migrant roundup raids on the city, the remainders of the French 75 spirit Willa away to a safe house. Meanwhile Bob is forced to rely on the support of kung fu sensei and immigration activist Sergio St Carlos (Benicio Del Toro), as well as the protocol and praxis he forgot years before in order to escape capture and reunite with his daughter.
HIM follows Cameron "Cam" Cade (Tyriq Withers) an up and coming college quarterback star who suffers a serious head injury before the draft combine. Unable to participate, Cam finds himself singled out and selected by his idol, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) who invites Cam to his isolated compound to train for a week as a test to see if he is capable of succeeding White as the San Antonio Saviors next quarterback. The training quickly descends into ritualistic violence as Cam discovers a deep secret behind White's superstar career.
Timestamps
(00:00) The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All
(24:06) Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
(46:35) Foxcatcher
(1:02:25) HIM
(1:41:33) Next week's pick: One Battle After Another
The Long Walk is the latest film adaptation of a Stephen King novel and takes place in an alternate 1970s United States in which a past war has ruined the country economically. The totalitarian regime that now runs the country has devised a new annual event to encourage larger GDP growth: a marathon walk in which one kid from each state is chosen via voluntary raffle. Each individual must walk at least 3mph, should they fail to do so after three warnings they are killed and the walk lasts until only one remains. The film's focus is mainly on Raymond Garraty as #47 (Cooper Hoffman) and Peter McVries as #23 (David Jonsson) who strike up a friendship despite the competition and its lethal end for all but one competitor.
Timestamps
(00:00) The Cell
(22:06) Misery
(41:01) Children of Men
(53:10) The Long Walk
(1:34:32) Next week's episode: Him
Works Cited
11.22.63 (Bridget Carpenter, 2016 miniseries; Stephen King, 2011 novel)
Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976 film; Stephen King, 1974 novel)
Cell (Tod Williams, 2016 film; Stephen King, 2006 novel)
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006 film; P.D. James, 1992 novel)
Dreamcatcher (Lawrence Kasdan, 2003 film; Stephen King, 2001 novel)
Ghostbusters (Paul Feig, 2016)
The Green Mile (Frank Darabont, 1999 film; Stephen King, 1996 novel)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Part 1, Mockingjay - Part 2, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Francis Lawrence, 2013-2015, 2023 films; Susanne Collins, 2009-2010, 2020 novels)
It (Any Muschietti, 2017/2019 films; Stephen King, 1986 novel)
Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair is a re-release of Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2 as one four hour thirty-five minute film with one 15 minute intermission. In this film we follow The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, who is pregnant and rehearsing for her wedding when her ex-lover Bill (David Carridine) arrives with the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah) and kill her. She inexplicably lives through this, wakes up four years later, and begins taking her revenge on each member.
Time Stamps:
(00:56) A Karate Christmas Miracle
(26:41) Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
(45:15) Kiss Daddy Goodnight
(57:11) Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
(1:40:18) Is Quentin Tarantino washed?
(1:52:46) The Lost Chapter: Yuki's Revenge
(2:19:56) Next Time: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Rental Family is the latest feature film by Hikari, cowritten by herself and Stephen Blahut, starring Brendan Fraser as a struggling American actor living in Japan who stumbles into a job working for a rental family agency who hire out actors to play unconventional roles for clients such as hosting a funeral for a still living individual, staging a wedding, playing a father for a mother-daughter who are trying to get into an elite school, cheerleading for an older live performer, interviewing an aging and forgotten actor, and even just to play Dreamcast games split screen with a hikikomori shut in. Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, and Akira Emoto star in supporting roles.
Time Stamps:
(03:49) 37 Seconds
(20:57) Tokyo Pop
(33:33) Rental Family
(1:13:11) Spoilers
(1:37:49) Next Time: Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair
Angel's Egg is a 1985 Japanese animated OVA film written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, best known for his work directing the animated film Ghost in the Shell in 1995. This film follows two nameless characters, a young girl who carries an egg with her and a young man with a cross-shaped sword who joins her as they travel through a ruined empty city. Because of the abstract nature of the movie's setting and plot and its short runtime, we're going to not bother with a spoiler alert for this episode. We can't really talk about this film without going into detail about what happens in it. So if you want to see it completely fresh you may want to come back to this after you've seen it, either by hunting it down on the internet or getting the eventual Blu Ray or streaming release. But this movie really isn't something that can be spoiled, so for those who don't mind hearing the details, carry on.
Die My Love is the fifth feature film directed by Lynne Ramsay, who, alongside Enda Walsh and Alice Birch, wrote the screenplay which is adapted from the 2012 Argentinian novel written by Ariana Harwicz. Cinematography is by Seamus McGarvey. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as Grace, a woman transplanted with her lover Jackson, played by Robert Pattinson, from New York to Montana after the death of Jackson's uncle and they inherit his house. Grace soon gets pregnant and gives birth to a son and begins to spiral into a deep depression. The cast also includes Sissy Spacek as Jackson's mother Pam, LaKeith Stanfield as a mysterious stranger, and Nick Nolte as Jackson's father.
Wake Up Dead Man is the latest Knives Out mystery film from writer-director Rian Johnson. In this film we find Father Jud Duplenticy (Joh O'Connor) under suspicion of the murder of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Joshj Brolin), stabbed in the back in a storage closet during his Good Friday service. The ensemble this time is played by Glenn Close as Martha, a lifelong servant of the church, Jeremy Renner as local physician Dr. Nat, Kerry Washington as attorney Vera, Andrew Scott as author-in-exile Lee, Cailee Spaeny as Simone, a disabled woman and the church's biggest donor, Daryl McCormack as a failed politician heel, Thomas Haden Church as Samson the groundskeeper and Martha's lover, and Mila Kunis as the local police chief. Daniel Craig stars once again as Benoit Blanc, a private detective who takes the case to prove Jud's innocence.
Time Stamps:
(01:12) Exposed
(24:32) The Third Man
(40:25) The Gospel According to Saint Matthew
(51:57) Wake Up Dead Man
(1:25:27) Spoilers
(2:04:21) Next Time: Marty Supreme & 2025 catch up