Explore every episode of the podcast Mise en Screen
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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
Scary Movie is a horror spoof directed by Michael Tiddes and written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez. As a parody of legacy sequels and the Scream series in particular, it follows Sara Campbell (Olivia Rose Keegan), daughter of the original movie's Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), who returns to her hometown with her conspicuously suspicious boyfriend Jack (Cameron Scott Roberts) after her legally distinctive younger sister Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif) is stabbed by the also legally distinctive Ghostface killer. The ensuing murders reunite Cindy with her high school friends Shorty (Marlon Wayans), Brenda (Regina Hall), Ray (Shawn Wayans), along with problematically special officer Doofy Gilmore (Dave Sheridan). The film also features Sydney Park, Gregg Wayans, and Cheri Oteri.
Timestamps:
(0:03:13) Epic Movie
(0:28:30) Disaster Movie
(0:53:47) Scary Movie
(1:33:41) Spoilers
(1:46:07) Two Week Break and then: Disclosure Day and The Furious
Works Cited:
10,000 BC (Roland Emmerich, 2008)
Airplane (Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker, 1980)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach, 1997)
Beowulf (Robert Zemeckis, 2007)
Best Night Ever (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, 2013)
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005)
Date Movie (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, 2006)
Disaster Movie (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, 2008)
Backrooms is a horror film directed by Kane Parsons and written by Will Soodik. It is based on the web series created by Parsons in which individuals accidentally find themselves within the liminal backrooms, an infinite maze of familiar spaces laid out in increasingly illogical ways. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, a divorced furniture store owner who becomes trapped in the backrooms connected to his store's basement floor with his employee Kat, played by Lukita Maxwell, and her boyfriend Bobby, played by Finn Bennett. The film also stars Renate Reinsve as Dr.Mary Kline, Mark Duplass as Phil, and Robert Bobroczki as [spoiler].
Forbidden Fruits tells the story of Pumpkin, Lola Tung, who ingratiates herself into becoming an employee at Free Eden, a mall clothing store for women and currently staffed by Lili Reinhardt as Apple, Victoria Pedretti as Cherry, and Alexandra Shipp as Fig. She is inducted into Paradise, a witch femme cult led by Apple. Over the course of the various fashion seasons, Pumpkin learns more about Apple, about a former employee Pickle, played by Emma Chamberlain, and discovers Apple's talk about being all about women supporting women may be one big lie.
Project Hail Mary is the latest film adaptation of a novel by Andy Weir, coming eleven years after The Martian in 2015. Project Hail Mary sees Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awaken from a medically induced coma far from Earth on a course for the star Tau Ceti. As he slowly regains his memory we learn of his recruitment by Eva Stratt (Sand Hueller) of the titular project to study a microorganism known as the Astrophage whose reproduction on the surface of the sun is causing a dimming effect and subsequently will lead to global cooling on Earth and eventually extinction. Grace quickly comes into contact with another alien ship whose lone survivor he names Rocky is also seeking answers to the same problem, and the two learn how to communicate and collaborate on saving both of their planets.
This week is our 98th Academy Awards Special Episode! We both recorded our commentary while watching the show and cut it down to just the best or most pertinent bits and we have also inserted clips from our post-Oscars conversation a couple of days afterwards. Next week we will return to our regularly scheduled programming with an episode on Project Hail Mary.
Works Cited:
Post by @nymag.com — Bluesky "Misty Copeland comes out of retirement to put Timothée Chalamet in his place during a live 'Sinners' performance at the #Oscars."
Post by @mattdpearce.com — Bluesky "The discourse around OBAA has been funny to me because I went and read "Vineland," which is much more centrally about the Perfidia character's tormented romantic relationship with the fascist, TV turning revolutionaries into passive zomboids, and it all ends with Reagan defunding the feds."
Post by @capybaroness.bsky.social "OBAA isn't about leftist revolution much like Boogie Nights isn't about porn and The Master isn't about scientology and There Will Be Blood isn't about oil. these are milieus in which to tell a story about human beings."
Post by @willowcatelyn.bsky.social "Sinners & OBAA will probably be threaded around one another for decades to come--not because of the Oscars--but because they were two movies from 2025 that had something worth interrogating & people from new generations are going to continue to watch those movies & talk about them in that way."
Post by @zeets.bsky.social "I don't know if we need to discredit One Battle After Another. Even if some of the story is cringe, film is still a visual medium and it's incredible there. Not saying that Sinners isn't but either winning would have been fine. There were some shots in OBAA that made me giddy."
Post by @alyankovic.bsky.social "Happy #Oscars Day! Why wait? Congratulations to Michael B. Jordan, Jessie Buckley, Sean Penn and Amy Madigan."
Post by @phillewis.bsky.social "Viewers noticed Ryan Coogler appears to have a guitar and treble clef braided in his hair at the #Oscars"
The Bride! is a 2026 gothic romance film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal adapting the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein directed by James Whale and written by William Hurlbut. The Bride! stars Jessie Buckley as the titular bride: the reanimated corpse of Ida, a woman in 1936 Chicago who was killed after becoming possessed by the author Mary Shelley, who desires to share the second half of the story that began with Frankenstein and that she wasn't able to finish due to brain cancer killing her. Christian Bale stars as Frankenstein's monster, who shows up to Chicago to plead with Dr. Cornelia Euphronius (Annette Bening) to save him from a life of loneliness by reanimating a woman's corpse. Frank and the revived but amnesiatic Ida travel across the Northeastern United States on the run from not only Detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his secretary Myrna Malloy (Penelope Cruz) but also mob boss Lupino (Zlatko Buric) and his underling Clyde (John Magaro).
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a 2026 concert film from director Baz Luhrmann that is sourced from previous Elvis film That's the Way It Is and Elvis on Tour, as well as film reels discovered during Luhrmann's production of 2022's Elvis with new footage of Elvis' residency in Vegas and rare interview audio of Elvis reflecting on his career.
"Wuthering Heights" is a 2026 period romance written and directed by Emerald Fennell, adapted from the 1847 novel by Emily Bronte. Stars Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw, who develops a tempestuous relationship with her foundling childhood friend and adopted brother Heathcliff, played by Jacob Elordi. When she marries into the higher society family of Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), Heathcliff leaves and returns years later to marry Edgar's ward Isabella (Alison Oliver) to torment Catherine, while both of them are manipulated by Catherine's paid companion Nelly, played by Hong Chau.
Time Stamps:
(01:52) Freddy Got Fingered
(32:37) Pink Flamingos
(57:57) When Harry Met Sally...
(1:12:27) Wuthering Heights
(1:57:47) Spoilers/Book Differences
(2:08:03) Next Time: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
The Secret Agent is a 2025 thriller written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, with Cinematography by Evgenia Alexandrova and music by Tomaz Alves Souza and Mateus Alves. Stars Wagner Moura as Marcelo, who arrives at and hides out in the coastal city of Recife to see his young son Fernando (Enzo Nunes), who is in the care of his maternal grandparents, with grandfather Sr. Alexandre played by Carlos Francisco. While laying low he tries to avoid raising the suspicion of local police chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes), while unbeknownst to him he is pursued by two hitmen, played by Rodney Villela and Gabriel Leone.
Time Stamps:
(01:27) 2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus
(26:10) The Fifth Estate
(46:08) Three Days of the Condor
(58:37) Pictures of Ghosts
(1:09:13) The Secret Agent
(2:43:43) Spoilers
(2:58:24) Next Time: Wuthering Heights
Works Cited:
2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus (Josh Weseley, 2021)
Send Help is the latest film directed by Sam Raimi. It's from a script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, and stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, and her new boss Bradley Preston, played by Dylan O'Brien. Linda, a faithful and diligent financial strategist, is also a Survivor enthusiast. When she and Bradley find themselves the only survivors of a plane crash on a Pacific island, the two forge a new life and new power dynamics while awaiting rescue.
Iron Lung is a 2026 horror film directed, written, starring, edited, and produced by Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier and is an adaptation of the videogame Iron Lung developed by David Szymanski. Mark plays Simon, a convict in a future in which an event known as the Quiet Rapture has caused all stars and planets to vanish. Simon is placed inside an "iron lung," a rudimentary submarine vessel, and dumped into an ocean of blood on a moon to conduct research that may help the struggling remnants of humanity and earn him his freedom.
Time Stamps:
(01:33) Send Help
(29:26) Spoilers
(47:33) Iron Lung
(1:15:52) Spoilers
(1:36:28) Next Time: The Secret Agent on February 19
Works Cited:
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (James Rolfe, 2014)
This week we have a special episode for you. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the nominees for the upcoming 98th Academy Awards, and we have some opinions on them. We then wrap up 2025 with both Ben and Steven listing out their top 5 films of 2025 with special (and not so special) Miseys awarded intermittently. They also go over the best and worst punishment films that were doled out and the bottom five films of 2025.
Time Stamps:
(01:15) The 98th Academy Award nominations
(35:29) Top 5 of 2025 & 1st Annual Miseys
(1:49:00) Best & Worst Punishments
(1:54:27) Bottom 5 of 2025
(2:02:39) Next time: Double Feature: Send Help & Iron Lung
Hamnet - a 2025 biographical drama directed by Chloe Zhao, written by Zhao with Maggie O'Farrell, based as stated on the 2020 novel of the same title by Farrell. It stars Jessie Buckley as Agnes Hathaway and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare, who after a courtship and shotgun wedding give birth to and raise a daughter Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and twins Judith and Hamnet (Olivia Lynes and Jacobi Jupe). The death of one of their children sends them both into a spiral of grief, which may only be arrested by William's work on the Globe Theater in London.
Time Stamps:
(01:49) Hamnet
(57:50) Spoilers
(1:35:57) Next Time: Our 2025 Wrap Up and The 1st Annual Miseys
Works Cited:
All is True (Kenneth Branagh, 2018)
Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare (Isaac Asimov, 1970)
I Love Boosters is a crime-comedy written, directed, and produced by Boots Riley and starring Keke Palmer as Corvette, leader of the Velvet Gang, which includes Naomi Ackie as Sade and Taylour Paige as Mariah, who boost from fashion stores throughout the Bay Area to resell themselves to low-income community members. Demi Moore plays Christie Smith, owner of the fashion stores being boosted from who is both the idol and villain of Corvette's life. Also starring is Poppy Liu as Jianhu, Eiza Gonzalez as Violeta, LaKeith Standfield as Pinky Ring Guy, Will Poulter as Grayson, Don Cheadle as Dr. Jack, and Kara Young as Crying Black Mother.
No Other Choice is a 2025 dark comedy directed by Park Chan-wook, written by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Lee Ja-hye. It is adapted from 1997 novel The Axe by Donald Westlake. It stars Lee Byung-hun plays Yoo Man-su, who has lost his longstanding position at a paper mill and must search for work in a shrinking job market. To reduce the competition he enacts a plan to kill the better qualified individuals for a job opening he will create through more murder so that he may once again provide for his family. This family includes his wife Lee Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), son Si-one (Woo Seung Kim), daughter Ri-one (So Yul Choi), and dogs Si-two and Ri-two.
Time Stamps:
(01:00) Atlas Shrugged Part I & II
(37:34) Full Time
(47:48) Z
(1:02:30) No Other Choice
(1:47:58) Spoilers
(2:20:40) Next Time: 2025 wrap up and Hamnet
Works Cited:
Atlas Shrugged: Part I (Paul Johannson, 2011)
Atlas Shrugged: Part II (John Putch, 2012)
Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? (J. James Manera, 2014)
Is This Thing On? is a 2025 comedy-drama directed by Bradley Cooper, written by Cooper, Will Arnett, and Mark Chappell, starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern as Alex and Tess Novak, a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, leading Alex to discover stand-up as a way of processing it. They are joined by Bradley Cooper himself as Alex's best friend Balls, Andra Day as Balls' wife Christine, Christine Ebersole and Ciaran Hinds as Alex's parents, Jordan Jensen as Jill, one of the comics Alex befriends; and Blake Kane and Calvin Knegton as Alex and Tess's twin sons Felix and Jude.
Song Sung Blue is a biographical film about the married musical artist duo Lightning and Thunder, Mike and Claire Sardina, a Neil Diamond tribute act, though they refer to it as "interpretation," while navigating the ups and downs of their regular lives. It is based on a 2008 documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs. Also starring Michael Imperioli as Mark Shurilla, a Buddy Holly impersonator; Ella Anderson as Rachel Cartwright, Claire's daughter; King Princess as Angelina Sardina, Mike's daughter; Fisher Stevens as Dave Watson, Mike's dentist and manager; Jim Belushi as Tom D'Amato, another manager with connections to the local casinos and night life spots; and Mustafa Shakir as Sex Machine, a James Brown impersonator.
Marty Supreme is a 2025 sports comedy-drama film directed, written, produced, and edited by Josh Safdie, with Ronald Bronstein co-writer, co-producer- and co-editor. In this film we follow Marty Mauser, an aspiring table tennis player who seeks to become the world champion of the sport while simultaneously outrunning the consequences of his various scams, affairs, prideful boasts, and collectors. Co-starring Odessa A'zion as Rachel Mizler, his paramour, Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone, a formerly famous actress who Marty pursues, Kevin O'Leary as Milton Rockwell, a wealthy businessman and Kay's husband, Tyler Okonma (Tyler the Creator) as Marty's friend Wally who also plays table tennis, Abel Ferrara as a shady character with a dog named Moses, Fran Drescher as Marty's mother Rebecca, and Geza Rohrig as Bela Kletzki and Koto Kawaguchi as Koto Endo, two other table tennis champions.
Is God Is, is a thriller written, directed, and produced by Aleshea Harris based on her play of the same name. It stars Kara Young and Mallori Johnson as twins Racine and Anaia who are summoned by their long lost mother Ruby, Vivica A. Fox, to be sent on a quest to kill their father, Sterling K Brown, who set the fire that immolated the family, and left each with extensive burn scars.
Timestamps:
(0:01:33) Cool Cat Saves the Kids: The Director's Cut
Mortal Kombat II is the sequel to 2021's Mortal Kombat and directed by Simon McQuoid and written by Jeremy Slater, a reboot of a film series based on the long running fighting videogame series of the same name. New heroes introduced in this film are Kitana, played by Adeline Rudolph, adopted daughter of Shao Khan, played by Martyn Ford, ruler of Outworld, and Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban, a washed up Hollywood actor unwillingly drafted into the eponymous Mortal Kombat tournament that will decide the fate of Earthrealm. Also appearing are newcomers Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Damon Herriman as Quan Chi, CJ Bloomfield as Baraka, and returning characters Sonya Blade, Jessica McNamee, Jax Briggs, Mehcad Brooks, Liu Kang, Ludi Lin, Kano, Josh Lawson, Lord Raiden, Tadanobu Asano, Shang Tsung, Chin Han, Bi-Han, Joe Taslim, Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kung Lao, Max Huang, Cole Young, Lewis Tan, and finally, a cameo by Ed Boon as a bartender.
Timestamps:
(0:01:19) Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
(0:29:12) The Last Hurrah for Chivalry
(0:43:18) The Hidden Fortress
(0:58:11) Mortal Kombat (2021)
(1:14:08) Mortal Kombat II
(1:41:48) Next week: Is God Is
Works Cited:
A Better Tomorrow (John Woo, 1986)
Aquaman (James Wan, 2018)
Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen (Brian Raftery, 2019)
Deep Water is the latest film from director Renny Harlin and the work of somewhere between four and six credited writers, including Pete Bridges, Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause, and Damien Power, for a film about the survivors of a plane crash in the south pacific having to further contend with sharks that want to eat anyone and everyone who puts their leg, arm, or head over and in the open water. Aaron Eckhart is first officer Ben, not to be confused with Ben Kingsley who is the pilot Rich. The supporting cast includes Li Wenhan and Zhao Simei as Sam and Lilly, two esports stars, Kate Fitzpatrick as grandmother Becky, Richard Croughley as gamer Matt, Molly Belle Wright as Cora and Elijah Tamati as Finn, young new stepsiblings separate from their parents, Ryan Bown as Declan and Kelly Gale as Jaya, Lakota Johnson as volatile sportsman Hutch, and Angus Sampson as colossal asshole Dan.
Timestamps:
(0:05:19) Mindhunters (and some The Bricklayer)
(0:23:58) Deep Blue Sea
(0:40:11) Deep Water
(1:41:50) Next week: Mortal Kombat II
Works Cited:
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (Renny Harlin, 1988)
Mother Mary is a 2026 psychological drama from writer-director David Lowery. Anne Hathaway plays Mother Mary, a pop music star who suffered a recent accident and seeks out Sam Anselm, played by Michaela Coel, her former designer and friend (friend), in order to tailor an appropriate new dress. Sam utilizes the opportunity to settle the bad blood that exists between them as a result of their breakup, though they soon learn that they are bound by a mysterious, supernatural threat.
The Christophers is an art world comedy from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon. In it Michaela Coel plays Lori Butler, an art restorer who makes her money running a food truck in London. She is called with a job by Sallie and Barnaby Sklar (Jessica Gunning and James Corden), the children of famous artist-turned-talent show judge Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) who has not painted in decades, and whose home contains a series of unfinished portraits they hope to sell for millions after Lori "completes" them.
Faces of Death is a horror film in which our killer Arthur, played by Dacre Montgomery, has begun reenacting the killings portrayed in the 1978 shockumentary Faces of Death but for real, and uploading them onto a tiktok knockoff named Kino. Our heroine is Margot, played by Barbie Ferreira, a moderator for Kino determining which flagged content gets removed or remains on the platform. When she begins seeing Arthur's uploads she suspects them to be real and has to fight against a company that cares only about giving the audience what they want, her own tragic viral fame, and the attention-seeking killer himself.