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The Film Board

The Film Board

TruStory FM

Tv & Film
Tv & Film

Frequency: 1 episode/29d. Total Eps: 177

Spreaker
Ever leave the theater desperate to talk about that one wild scene, that questionable plot twist, or the inexplicably shirtless cameo? The Film Board is here for you. Each month, host Pete Wright assembles a panel of film obsessives—Tommy Metz III, Steve Sarmento, Justin Jaeger, and an ever-rotating cast of co-conspirators—for a round-table deep dive into the latest movies in theaters. Spoilers? Absolutely. Hot takes? Always. Polite, nuanced disagreement? We aspire. Perfect for film fans who love smart, spirited, and occasionally ridiculous conversations—and aren’t afraid of spoilers.

Subscribe now and join the debate. Part of The Next Reel family of film podcasts. Find more at https://trustory.fm/the-film-board/.
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Score global : 84%

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Mercy: The Algorithm Wants Your Lunch Money

Episode 181

mardi 10 février 2026 • Duration 01:01:52

This month on The Film Board, Pete Wright drags Andy Nelson, Tommy Metz III, and Steve Sarmento into an emergency bonus hearing because Andy texted, essentially, “We can’t skip a month. Also I found a movie.” That movie is Mercy, a slick, noisy, deeply committed screenlife thriller where Chris Pratt wakes up strapped into a futuristic execution-chair-courtroom and has 90 minutes to prove he didn’t kill his wife. The judge is an AI who looks like Rebecca Ferguson. Which is frankly unfair to every other AI.From there, it’s a full-spoilers sprint through a world where justice is software, surveillance is just “normal life,” and every single camera on Earth is apparently pointed at exactly the wrong moment. The panel fights over what Mercy thinks it’s doing (a cautionary tale about AI and institutions) versus what it actually does (a pulpy, coincidence-powered ride that occasionally forgets its own premise and wanders off toward terrorism and explosions).Andy is… not having it. Steve is torn in the way only a lover of scrappy sci-fi concepts can be: “It’s messy, but I’m intrigued.” Tommy—who walked in expecting bargain-bin January nonsense—ends up delighted, especially after an accidental 3D screening turns the whole thing into a theme-park attraction where the chair is the main character. Pete tries to keep the court metaphor alive long enough to pronounce a verdict, but keeps getting distracted by the movie’s most dangerous idea: not the AI, but the assumption that the only way to get “justice” is if the system can see literally everything.Also: yes, we talk about the wind. The screens have wind.Watch & Discover
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Avatar: Fire and Ash • When Spectacle Outpaces Story

Episode 180

mardi 13 janvier 2026 • Duration 58:58

This month on The Film Board, Pete Wright sits down with Tommy Metz III and Steve Sarmento to wrestle with a question that keeps resurfacing throughout Avatar: Fire and Ash: how can a movie built with such extraordinary care feel so strangely forgettable?James Cameron’s return to Pandora is, once again, a monumental technical achievement. The scale is enormous. The craft is meticulous. The effort behind it is undeniable. And yet, as the conversation unfolds, the panel keeps circling the same uneasy feeling—that the film never quite gives its spectacle anything meaningful to serve.The discussion ranges from Cameron’s latest performance-capture and adaptive frame-rate experiments to the franchise’s growing habit of mistaking motion for momentum. There’s real admiration for the artists who built this world, paired with frustration over a story that repeatedly rushes past its most interesting ideas. Themes of environmentalism, colonialism, faith, and family surface again and again, only to be flattened by familiar beats, unresolved questions, and a narrative that seems unwilling to slow down long enough to let any of them land.By the time the conversation reaches ratings, the outcome feels less like judgment and more like inevitability—the natural endpoint of trying, and failing, to locate the film’s emotional center.🎬 Watch & Discover
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The Phoenician Scheme

Season 13 · Episode 13

mardi 10 juin 2025 • Duration 58:03

Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme crash-lands into theaters with a symmetry—and we’re here to unpack the wreckage. Benicio Del Toro plays Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda, a morally exhausted arms dealer who survives a plane crash and decides, rather abruptly, to become a better man. His daughter, a nun (played with unsettling calm by Mia Threapleton), may be his salvation. Or his reckoning. Or both. Along for the ride: Michael Cera as a soft-spoken entomologist, a council of multinational bureaucrats with murderous intent, and Bill Murray as God (in grayscale, naturally).Pete Wright hosts this morally ambiguous briefing with fellow operatives Tommy Metz III and Steve Sarmento, as they parse Anderson’s most spiritually ambitious and physically violent film to date. There are questions—big ones. Is this Cain and Abel by way of a TWA departure lounge? Why does forgiveness feel like a conference call?We dig into the film’s sumptuous craft, its emotional architecture, and the performances that hold it all together with linen thread and murmured apologies. If you’ve ever wanted to see a man seek redemption through dinner parties, aerial espionage, and awkward family reunions, this one’s for you.Film Sundries
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The Predator

Season 7 · Episode 2

mardi 18 septembre 2018 • Duration 58:27

“The data suggests that it tracks its prey, exploits weakness. Seems to enjoy it, like a game.”
The concept from Predator has been through a number of evolutions as a film and a franchise, so in this show we’ll dissect the DNA infusions brought to the bunch with the latest release. Written and Directed by Film Board favorite Shane Black, we’re excited to examine what’s new and different here as well as the appropriate level of homage to the classic-ly clever sci fi action horror hybrid.Listen to this episode and get a crazy roster of thugs: Steve Sarmento, Andy Nelson, Tommy Metz III, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger surround and take down The Predator. Because of the long history of this movie’s lore stretching back to 1987, you may have expectations about what this movie will bring... we’ll spoil all that for you here. Take a leap with us and join the hunt.
Film Sundries
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The Happytime Murders

Season 7 · Episode 1

mardi 28 août 2018 • Duration 47:42

“Looks like someone had a real piñata party.”
What the heck is going on?! The Film Board was ROFL when the trailer for The Happytime Murders was released, so we decided to take a flyer and check to see if Melissa McCarthy and the Henson Gang could keep the raunchy laughs coming. We don’t usually tackle pure comedies at The Film Board so this conversation could be a pivotal point in our movie choices for the future.Join Andy Nelson, Tommy Metz III, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger as we consider the freedom afforded to writers when visiting vice and vulgarity upon fluffy non-living things made to look and act as though they are. We’ll help spoil the movie for you a little more than the trailer did so that we can get deep into its “rotten cotton.” And ultimately, maybe the most important question for approaching this brand of shock comedy is: where exactly can we find the line between too far and not far enough?
Film Sundries
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Season 6 · Episode 12

mardi 26 juin 2018 • Duration 01:01:36

“They’re alive. Just like me.”
Volcanoes, clones, and lizards oh my! Let’s all get Jurassic with it this month as we venture back to join the forsaken children of Isla Nublar for a fifth time. The Film Board is going to erupt a bunch of spoilage on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in this episode, with intermittent narration from Jeff Goldblum. (not IRL, but surely he’ll pop up once or three times... it couldn’t fit into the franchise without it, right?)Last month we talked about the possibility of franchise fatigue with Solo, will it come into play with our thugs’ beloved ancient beasts? This Jurassic installment has some incredible competition at the box office, so join us to find out what we think will survive on silver screen island. Pete Wright, Tommy Metz III, Steve Sarmento, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger talk out their takes here and share insight on their favorites and least favorites in all the dino drama.
Film Sundries
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Solo: A Star Wars Story

Season 6 · Episode 11

mardi 29 mai 2018 • Duration 01:09:48

“I might be the only person who knows what you really are.”
Ready for an Easter Egg hunt? Yes, it’s actually Memorial Day but Solo: A Star Wars Story hit theaters this weekend and it’s spelunking George Lucas’s treasures in the attic so The Film Board will spoil it all for you! This new Star Wars anthology film kicks off the summer season and we’re chiming in to separate the Fan Boys from the Fun Dip.Critics are wary of franchise fatigue, while the devoted are jumping at the chance to dive deeper into some cherished character backstory and motivation. It seems like some of the reasons to make these movies may be to close the loop on a number of canonical questions, but the speculation has already begun regarding potential dramatic connections between this and the primary Skywalker saga. Join us on this episode of The Film Board as we ride the Kessel Run with Pete Wright, Steve Sarmento, Andy Nelson, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger.
Film Sundries
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Beirut

Season 6 · Episode 10

mardi 17 avril 2018 • Duration 01:09:47

“2000 years of revenge, vendetta, murder. Welcome to Beirut.”
Last week the U.S. and its allies once again fired missiles on Syria in a response to recent chemical weapons attacks in the country. On Friday, April 13th, the film Beirut opened in theaters with a story that depicts Lebanon in the 70s and 80s running through some of the darkest times in the region’s history. Yet the world today remains saddled with war and confusion regarding how to achieve peace in the Middle East, so how does this film inform our current status? Does it enrich the conversation with historical drama or does it support an ongoing narrative of futility?The movie is rife with controversy - critics are complaining about its lack of cultural accuracy, its storytelling focusing on a white savior type of story, and its remarkable release date on the anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War. Join our group of The Film Board regulars as we try to get to the heart of the purpose in telling this story, decide where the film is meant to be in today’s entertainment industry landscape and ultimately whether you will like it or not. Tune in to this episode of The Film Board and you’ll hear Pete Wright, Tommy Metz III, Steve Sarmento, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger all talk about what they brought home from Beirut.
Film Sundries
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Ready Player One

Season 6 · Episode 9

mercredi 4 avril 2018 • Duration 01:11:44

"It’s the only place that feels like I mean anything."
Have you heard Steven Spielberg is rumored to be directing another Indiana Jones movie? It’s technically been “announced,” and the amazement that many people feel about that report after the wonder of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seems kinda like the wary optimism that the world brought to this month’s film board subject: Spielberg’s Ready Player One. The book by Ernest Cline was hugely popular but polarizing for some and it was loaded with 1980s nostalgia set a seemingly unfilmable un-license-able virtual world. It’s very possible that Spielberg is one of the few people that could have made this a reality for the big screen.We gathered The Film Board together this month to talk about everyone’s views on Spielberg’s rehashing the of old days and adapting its wealthy pop culture landscape. Steve Sarmento, Andy Nelson, Tommy Metz III, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger talk around the horn here about their childhood hooks, homage vs. innovation, unique artistic choices, and everybody’s favorite: fake things fighting fake things. Love or hate the rerun remake revision of your past, we’ll talk about what works about it for us and what unfortunately bites the dust. Log in to the cultural OASIS with us on this show because when the movie ends, our conversation begins.
Film Sundries
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Black Panther

Season 6 · Episode 8

mardi 20 février 2018 • Duration 01:12:06

"What happens now determines what happens to the rest of the world."
The Marvel Madness continues this month with Black Panther and it brings some spectacular new looks to some tried and true traditions. This movie boasts a whole lot of firsts on the big screen and it’s set to shatter box office records for February. Entertainment Weekly said that this is the “Marvel movie for people who don’t like Marvel movies” and that it “could change Marvel movies forever.” All the front end hype means that it’s an important film to take in and a great one to talk about.On this show, tune in to hear Steve Sarmento, Pete Wright, Tommy Metz III, and Justin 'JJ' Jaeger get deep about what it means to be a cog in the Marvel machine and what happened in this movie to make it stand out from all the others. We’ll make some connections for any confusion regarding its place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and ultimately spoil the heck out of it and where things might go from here. Check out Black Panther in theaters now and then listen to this show because when the movie ends, our conversation begins.
Film Sundries
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