Table Read - Featuring: Filmspotting Podcast | Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Everybody to Kenmure Street, The Samurai and The Prisoner

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

After a five-year hiatus, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is back on the big screen with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, this time battling anonymity, a host of nemeses, and some arachnid-related changes. Adam and Josh have a review. Plus thoughts on the new doc Everybody to Kenmure Street and the latest from Pulse and Cloud director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, The Samurai and the Prisoner.     This episode is presented by⁠ Regal Unlimited⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code FILMSPOT26 to take 15% off. Filmspotting Podcast (Timecodes will not be precise with ads.) Intro (00:00:00-00:02:22) Spider-Man: Brand New Day (00:02:23-00:44:22) Filmspotting Family (00:44:23-00:48:35) Everybody to Kenmure Street (00:48:36-01:08:32) The Samurai and the Prisoner (01:08:33-01:12:39) Massacre Theatre (01:12:40-01:20:03) Credits / Releases (01:20:04-01:24:02) Feedback: -Email us at [e-mail]⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠-⁠Ask Us Anything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we might answer your question in bonus content. Support: -Join the Filmspotting Family for bonus episodes and complete archive access. http://filmspottingfamily.com -Filmspotting Shop for T-shirts and more.⁠ ⁠ ⁠https://www.filmspotting.net/shop⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow: -Watch Filmspotting on YouTube: ⁠https://youtube.com/filmspotting⁠ -Adam/Filmspotting: ⁠Letterboxd⁠ |⁠ Instagram⁠ |⁠ Facebook⁠ | ⁠Bluesky⁠ -Josh/LarsenOnFilm: ⁠Letterboxd⁠ | ⁠Instagram⁠ |⁠ Facebook⁠ | ⁠BlueskySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Brand new day have taken over cinemas and Raiders of the Lost podcast has all the coverage you need. including our interview with director Destin Daniel Cretton. What surprised you about Tom Holland? He shows up to every meeting early. He's the first one on set. Aside from learning all of his lines, is also able to memorize everybody's name on set. Download the free IHeart Radio app.

Search Raiders of The Lost Podcast and listen now. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, A.O. rewatch, our brand new podcast, where we revisit. visit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters,

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Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podland. India, AEO rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines.

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Now look, we're going to do this thing. We're going to have a conversation. From Chicago, this is FilmSpotty. I'm Josh Larson. And I'm Adam Kempanar. You don't remember me, but we used to know each other. Something bad was going to happen, and the only way to stop it was to make everyone forget about me.

Because I'm not just Peter Parker. I'm Spider-Man. After a five-year hiatus, Tom Holleyet. Peter Parker is back in Spider-Man Brand New Day. Movie fans missed their spidey, Josh. Apparently, brand-new day had a huge opening weekend at the box office. We've got a review. Plus thoughts on everybody to Kenmere Street and the samurai and the prisoner.

That and more ahead on FilmSpotting. Welcome to Film Spotting. Later in the show, Josh, we'll discuss a new documentary that would fit in nicely with our current dissident cinema marathon. Everybody to Kenmere Street. It's about a collective act of civil disobedience that took place in a Scottish neighborhood back in 2021. Was this a movie that was being talked about at all while you were in Scotland recently? Oh, hugely.

And I intended to go see it, intend to see it in Glasgow where it's set. I think it might have premiered at a festival there. But yeah, the timing didn't work out. Finally did catch it here in Chicago. Okay. We will give that a few minutes. also caught up with the latest from Pulse and Cure director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the 16th century Japan set, the samurai, and the prisoner is the movie. I've seen your star rating, so I know

you're going to recommend it. In fact, I'm going to steal your thunder a little bit here. Your blurb is plays like something Agatha Christie might have written after binge watching a bunch of Akira Kurosawa. I'm in. I mean, sounds great, right? And it works. It works. This is a really good movie. Yeah, I'll get more into that in a bit. Also later in the show, everybody's favorite segment, Massacre Theater. A reminder that film spotting is available as a video podcast. You can watch us talk over at YouTube.com slash film spotting. Up first, Spider-Man, brand new day. Dr. Banner, you found a way to suppress mutating DNA, right? If you seem like this off, run.

So could you get rid of the bad aspects but keep the good? How would you decide? Much parts of nature are good or back. Well, sorry about that. You're not one of my students, are you? From 2002 Spider-Man up to Brand New Day, we've witnessed 10 standalone Spider-Man films and four very different Spider-Men.

Yes, to keep things simple, I'm only going to dip a toe into the multiverse. In the Sam Ramey films, Toby McGuire carried a palpable sadness, was socially awkward, and constantly overwhelmed by responsibility. He was also deeply sincere. Andrew Garfield was more restless, emotional, and tragically romantic.

There were moments watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in preparation for our top five Spider-Man scenes. No, none of those scenes made the cut, in which I was sure Garfield was intentionally channeling James, you're tearing me apart, Dean. Garfield's spidey yearns. He also quips a lot. Who can forget a god name Sparkles? Tom Holland's Peter is the most believable. as a teenager. He's insecure and unsure, but also the most determined to prove himself and optimistic,

at least until this latest MCU installment, which finds him without his girlfriend or best friend, and buckling under the pressure of focusing on being Spider-Man full-time. In the animated films, Miles Morales, voiced by Shamique Moore, isn't wrecked with guilt and grief the way his predecessors are, displaying more of an easygoing warmth and confidence as he seeks to fulfill his potential. Josh, before seeing brand new day, I had never forced myself to consider what exactly I wanted from a Spider-Man movie or a Spider-Man. But my response to the recent entry did prompt an answer. How about you? Last week, debating the current film spotting poll, you said that Spider-Man was the definitive Spider-Man movie, even though into the Spider-Verse might be the better Spider-Man movie.

I don't think you're necessarily upside down out on a ledge with that opinion. So is the earnestness McGuire offers about your ideal web-slinging speed? Or are there DNA strands of all these spitties that would make the perfect Spider-Man? And did Holland, director Destin Daniel Cretton, and Brand New Day, design you something close? There's definitely distinguishing characteristics among all of them as you laid out. And I think that's to their credit in as much as each of these movies work as well. as they do. I'm glad to see you're still recovering from

the shock of how bad amazing Spider-Man 2 is. It's so bad. It's clearly the worst one, right? It's going to follow you for a long, long time. You know, this is a question I sort of asked myself for our top five Spider-Man scenes list is trying to get a handle on the essence of the character and what

I responded to, what I responded to most about it. It was interesting, Adam, since then I listened to movie death match, the film spotting, show pairing Spider-Man 2 against Into the Spider-Verse. And on that episode, Matt Singer spent a lot of time talking about how Peter Parker is so tortured.

He's continually wrestling with his identity and trying to balance the job of being a teenager and the job of being Spider-Man and how it just makes him one of the most, he was talking about how Sam Ramey's, the streak of sadism in Ramey, fit this character, you know, because he's one of the most beleaguered Spider-Man characters. And I thought, huh, that makes a lot of sense, but it's not at all what I really talked about on our list in terms of what I've always responded to, which was we touched on his friendliness and his youth, you know, that this is one of the superheroes who is, for most iterations a teen. And even as a superhero clad in his, costume someone who the neighborhood knows and feels like they have a relationship with.

So I think that's where I lean now. To get us to brand new day, what does that mean for the iterations we've seen in these movies? And I do think McGuire, I appreciate the friendliness, the earnestness that he has there. What I have always liked about Tom Holland, though, is that teen aspect that you just touched on. And it goes beyond Holland as Peter Parker. it's the movies up until now that were very much teen movies, high school movies. We've touched on this many times. A Spider-Man Homecoming was a high school movie first, a Spider-Man movie second. I think that's to its credit.

And we have something different here with Brand New Day that actually tests my personal appeal to the character. Necessarily it has to. This is the fourth Holland movie. He can't be a teenager forever. the actor has grown up, as has the character. And I was relieved to see that this Spider-Man handles that well. Do I miss the teenager?

The high school Peter Parker? I do. But at least the movie embraced and leaned into the reality that this Peter Parker is now in his 20s, facing some of these more angst-ridden questions that Matt Singer talked about and has always liked about the character. unique to be in your 20s, changing relationships, uncertain futures, particularly what this means for his relationship with MJ, Zendaya here. And the two of them get a lot of scenes together working through this. I joked when I wrote about a brand new day that it's the eternal sunshine of the spotless

mind of Spider-Man movies because, right, it begins with their memories erased. Ned's memory, his friend, and MJ, their memories erased of Peter Parker as Spider-Man. And so that gives a lot of emotional room once he reconnects for them to play out these questions of what it's like to be in your 20s, questions of identity, allegiance, independence. And these moments are nicely played by the two actors. So I think it diverts from what I've always liked about Spider-Man, but does it well enough that I appreciated it went that way. Does it mean it's a great Spider-Man movie? Well, we'll get into that and cover some of the other many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, ultimately feel the same, many, many, many, many, ultimately feel the same about what works here.

So I love your flexibility, Josh. Okay. Even though I also do think based on the many, many, many, all the caveats you just provided, I think. I think I like this film more than you did. And I want to mention here that I, even though during our top five, I alluded to a scene and picked a scene that Matt Singer in that movie Death Match had mentioned from Sam Ramey Spider-Man 2. I knew that he talked about that scene, but I actually hadn't heard that episode until we were putting the final production touches on that episode over this. weekend after I had seen Brand New Day. So listening to Matt talk about Spider-Man and Peter Parker and getting into some of the

tortured psyche stuff that you were just referencing was incredibly validating for me in terms of my response to Brand New Day. Going through this whole exercise after seeing the film, putting our top five Spider-Man scenes together, looking at my mostly wanting ratings. for the three previous Holland movies. I don't think I'm with you that it's a plus

that they're high school movies first. Yes, catching up with my lone blind spot watching the amazing Spider-Man too where I was reminded of the overly quippy, as I mentioned, comedic sensibility of Garfield's Spider-Man.

And yes, I look back and found this because I remember getting the emails and they're there from people saying not necessarily all of our listeners, who wrote and loved the movie, but they said, oh, you're wrong,

Adam, that's, that's Spider-Man. That's true Spider-Man. That's who he is in the comic book. They got that right. Okay,

I didn't love it on screen. I can now report, though, after all of this. I know Cretton directed Shang-Chi, too, but it checks out that the guy who made short-term 12,

a pretty heavy movie about counselors at a care unit for at-risk teens would make my favorite Spider-Man movie in this series. Apparently, the more Bergman-esque my Spider-Man movies are, the happier I am. I like my Spider-Man tortured.

That's the caveat for my review, for anybody listening. That's how I like, that's how I must prefer my Peter Parker's. More on the sad bastard side with Ramey's McGuire and with Tom Holland here. And as we said, that that is. we can say, I'm going to trust Matt Singer, having written the book about it, written ab book about Spider-Man, that that is something that is core to Spider-Man. One of the best exchanges in that death match, if you listen to it, where they're talking about Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Verus is when Matt said, I think a reason that he resonates in every form with people is getting back to how frankly miserable he is as a person. part of that is his loneliness. He's a lonely character.

And Matt goes on to say, I'm going to paraphrase that a lot of 13-year-old boys, they read the comic as Matt did. And you connect with this character who is lonely. And the way Matt framed it was, you feel like nobody understands you. You're a weirdo. You're a nerd. You're a dweeb. You're different. this this peter parker hasn't like others hasn't just tried to move on is is trying and failing

to move on from mj trying to move on from other people in his life you know aunt may is is is is is gone here of course too but he's he's pressed the nuclear button to ensure that they they've completely forgotten him that they they don't even know he exists as far the the the eternal struggle for Peter Parker and Spider-Man of work-life balance, there's no work-life balance here. It's all work and it's completely destroying him as he's just focused on saving the world. And I thought, I thought the central metaphor of Peter rather than undergoing puberty, but transforming into adulthood, this new stage of the spider life cycle, I thought it was really effective and inspired.

in a way, tying together his mental and physical struggles directly with his DNA, his spider DNA. Now, there is one major butt here that I have a feeling we're going to get to, which is the water this movie has to carry for the MCU.

But beneath the MCU obligations and superhero spectacle lies something surprisingly heartfelt. The Spider-Man movie about loneliness and the struggle to be an adult. I'm even surprised to say that I not only had a really good time watching brand new day, it got a little dusty in the theater a few times. I've sitting there thinking, what's going on? I'm watching a Spider-Man movie and feeling this way. So, yeah, I'm pro-brand-new day.

I think that's still PTSD from Amazing Spider-Man, too. You were just so relieved that there was a good new Spider-Man movie that you just started crying. It could be, Josh. Totally understand. Yeah. Yeah. So we are looking for, different things. But like I said, that doesn't mean if a movie does the thing I'm not looking for, well, I don't want to recognize that. We've got, it's just like we've got so many brooding tortured superheroes. And, you know, I think to me, Batman has this corner on lockdown. So a little variation on it, a character who offers something completely different.

That's why I'm more drawn to the, the teen, little bit lighthearted, though still have. conflict, Spider-Man. Here, Adam, yes, it is, as you say, the water it has to carry for the MCU, which I've made my deal with the devil from, I don't know, maybe the third entry, that that's part of this. In some ways, I appreciate that. It's very much like the lived experience of reading comic books, where you're always aware of multiple worlds going on around the one storyline you're reading. So I don't hold this against these movies. across the board. It is a matter of proportion for me. Sure. And honestly, it's a matter of if I am locked into the movie doing something on its own terms with its own narrative quite well,

that MCU better get out of the way. Right. Because your movie does not need it. And then it is nothing less than an intrusion. And I feel that's what we get here on multiple levels. We're going have to avoid spoilers. We will avoid spoilers. If we decide we want to talk about it near the end of this, maybe I'll save more. Right now, I will just say that this needs to open up another franchise in the Mega Mall of the MCU and not only do that, but spend probably its last third doing it, I feel pretty egregious. I realize they try to make thematic connections between how that works and Peter's story. I recognize the attempt. I just found it to be incredibly ungainly where all a sudden I didn't feel like I was watching a Spider-Man movie at all for quite a bit of time.

A non-spoiler thing we can discuss because I'd like to hear how this character registered for you. Punisher. The Punisher Punisher, depending on the iteration, here played by John Bernthal, has already been in some MCU, showed up on MCU TV shows. I just, this character I've never really liked. I have seen the 2004 and for Thomas Jane movie, which I'm sorry. I think I did give, I might have given a positive review to in my memory, but the character, I remember it being sadistic and violent. And maybe I've just seen what? Over 20 years more of such characters.

The proliferation and hijacking of the. Punisher character, let's say, by segments in American society in really concerning ways. I do understand having seen that original, you know, film and knowing something about the comic book, I understand there's a distinction between how this character was conceived and depicted and how he's used on, I don't know, you know, the really annoying car that probably just cut you off on the freeway and someone gave you the middle finger and they've got the Punisher decal on the back. I understand there's a distinction there.

Still, I have become less enthralled with this character over the years. And I think the use here is just brutal. All of a sudden, this Spider-Man movie, which is about agility, dexterity, swinging on webs, comes down to machine guns. And I like to think a moment with an errant bullet is meant to be self-critical in a wry way that's trying to comment on gun violence. I don't think it is. But it made me realize what I have long disliked about. the Punisher and I think it's just a really brutal element that drags down this movie quite a bit. What the hell, Frank? You just hit me with a van.

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Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo roer to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is, like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars. the moments to take over your entire timeline.

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Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning,

breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends,

including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia.

Ayo rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I have no feelings about the Punisher in terms of baggage I'm bringing to the film. Okay. Which is a great position to be in. It similarly is how I feel about, honestly, the MCU overall and the characters. I'll get into this in a second. When I talk about how I responded to the water, the movie was careful. for the MCU. I'm only responding to how the Punisher functions within this film. And I would

largely agree with you. I give them credit for providing some balance here. And what I mean is, I know enough about the Punisher to understand that the character, at least this current iteration that Bernthal has given us in the various whatever series he's done. I know. enough to understand that he puts the mature in for mature audiences and that they had to be monitoring the number of swear words they could put in his mouth to still get a PG-13 rating that they got here. So where I give them credit is that they inserted him into this world without feeling like he makes absolutely no sense at all. Like they had to they had to completely sand down his rough edges. You know, I said,

Peter is a is a bit of a sad bastard here, but it's nothing like the pain even here that that Bernthal infuses Punisher with even when you just look at him. So with that said, something is just off when Punisher, when Punisher's one of your key comedic figures in the movie. When Punisher and Peter Part, when Spider-Man's banter, when Spider-Man's banter, when the their their oddball, odd couple relationship is giving you some of the more comedic parts of the movie. And beyond that, I didn't necessarily think that any of the action scenes that they were in together were highlights of the movie. He's just shooting guns. It's the most unimaginative action you can have. So, yeah.

Yeah, I'm with you on that. Now, as far as the other characters, we agree on the MCU part. but we don't necessarily, I don't know if we see eye to eye on a certain element of it. And to go back to what you said, of course, I wouldn't complain about the MCU sprawl unless the MCU sprawl was a distraction from the narrative, especially when the narrative is otherwise for me functioning pretty well. And here again, I'm not invested in the MCU. I'm not anticipating any characters who may or may not appear. I don't know what movies might be coming.

So I'm just watching this narrative unfold and taking what it gives me. And through the first, I don't know what it is, 20 or so minutes of the movie, I'm fully engaged. This is going great. And then Peter says something like, or Spider-Man says something like, I need some information. And I think I know who can help me. And that's not the line, but I wish it was a significantly better line. And the next thing you know, he's a. a bathhouse talking to Florence Pugh's Black Widow.

I don't know if you found this scene offensive. I wouldn't say it was offensive, Josh. But I will, there's a reason why I'm bringing it up. I can't say it serves no purpose for the plot. He finally, I think if I remember it right, as he leaves, he gets a word from her that ends up being important even though he doesn't do anything with it. So how important is it? But this scene ultimately is there to be kind of a comedic,

distraction. Spider-Man has to take his clothes off and getting a bath with his mask on and she has a little quip at the end of it. I didn't find it very amusing. And it really is, I assume, otherwise, to let, let us all, let the MCU make sure that we get Black Widow into this movie because she's going to be important to some other MCU movie down the line. It's set up. And she shows up later in the movie via a laptop. And it's another joke, which again doesn't really land. And the last one that I'll give you is another example,

of course, is Peter going to see. Let me just jump in there with Florida's view. Real quick. You cried. I laughed. I thought it was funny. Him getting in the bath,

wearing his mask still, made me laugh. I like her comment about how it speaks to the Spider-Man character. You know, he deals in, what does you say? small baby potato stuff. Yeah.

And they handle the... I don't mind that line. This is... See, this is a cameo like this from another MCU character. If the material is good and takes up 45 seconds to a minute and a half, I'm okay with. So that didn't bother me. It's longer than that, but I'll give you an example of one that could work. That one doesn't work for me.

One that can work is when Peter goes to see Dr. Professor Bruce Banner. because narratively, the information that he gets from him is hugely important to the story. And I was engaged enough at this point that I thought, now this is nice. This makes sense. This is nice to see Mark Ruffalo in this movie. And of course he would, of course he would seek out Bruce Banner to get this information. Who else would know this?

This isn't shoehorning in anything. That's true. But then what is this setting up? We know what is setting up. A whole lot of chaos and destruction. Some well shot chaos and destruction, but a whole lot of chaos and destruction and probably some other things that are come that are going to come down the road. It could have worked.

It could have function nicely and been the kind of effective cameo that I think it could have been. But that's, but the first example for me of Black Widow is an example of, of a distraction. And then the second one that I'm just describing is then like actually gobbling up narrative by by putting the Hulk in the movie. And we Hulk cinematic technology still has not arrived. I'm sorry. Like when when we get those action scenes, I don't, I don't think they're bad, but they still are not as convincing even of other digital characters and effects we get. There's something particularly difficult, difficult about Hulk as a character.

as a visual character that I keep hoping they'll crack. Someday they probably will. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe this is just too strange of a visual to ever convincingly depict on screen. But we do end up getting a fair amount of Hulk here too. And yeah, I just don't think the visuals are there yet. Okay.

Last little part on the MCU. Okay. The last closing bit, because here again, we see it the same way. I think we just disagree slightly, slightly on how effective it is. And we won't, we won't get into spoilers because apparently this is a very protected thing. But it's not protected or it's very well known that Sadie Sink is in this movie. And there is where all this MCU stuff leaves us is it leaves us with at some point or to some extent a compromised movie that's that's trying to do justice to Peter's arc but also do Marvel business. And even though after this big fight scene happens and there's some resolution, even though it doesn't feel over by any means, you can't help but think, I'm speaking for myself, but I have to imagine a lot of people were feeling similarly.

Wait, if this is where we're going, we still have a lot of story left to get to. And sure enough, where we're getting is a lot. There's a lot to resolve. But also it's very clearly setting up more MCU storylines and more around a very key character. But you spoke to this. You said that I see how it's connecting to Peter and his story. I would say beyond that, Josh, the emotional beats, the actual scenes and the way it connects and the performance that that that, that, that that actress gives and how she interacts with Tom Holland, I think it's very effective.

And I think for all of its sprawl, I think the I think the screenplay is at least quite coherent and it does all connect, even if ultimately it's compromised. Yeah, I think she's quite good. I'm going to be delicate here. I think she's quite good in those scenes you're describing. I think the movie earlier asks her to do something and carry a presence. that she's not quite as equipped to do. And so it's a performance of two sides for me that that gets better or the screenplay gets

better, perhaps is a different way of looking at it. I'll say that about that character. And I just wish maybe the movie hadn't been given over quite so much to that character in certain sentences because, as we both said now, dematically, it does connect. interestingly. So Sadie Sink, yes, from Stranger Things. This movie does give a lot of really good supporting TV actors some some juicy supporting roles here. Tremel Tillman from Severance, Mr. Milchicken Severance. I thought he has some good scenes. It's a thankless part, but he carries like enough of a presence to it that you know what you're getting the whole time. See, that's my problem. I like how he gave it to us. No one's ever fooled. That's the thing. I won't, I won't dance around it. I'm sorry, I will dance around it, but I will simply say that I don't think the movie is trying to fool you at the same time. If everybody sitting in the theater immediately knows what we know about that character, how doesn't Peter Parker slash Spider-Man know?

Sure. It's a hole in the movie for me. And I can't help but think then that it's slightly a weakness in Tillman's performance too. It's also a bit of typecasting because on severance, he's, let's say he's a kindly duplicitous character. So it's kind of being carried in. Now, what's not being carried in anything, I don't think from the bear, which, you know, I finally finished up recently. But Liza Colonsaeus plays Tina in the bear, one of the best characters on that series. And here she's the police commissioner or lead detective and has some nice.

back and forth with Peter and speaks directly to this workaholic element of the film. I like that they include, I think in each of her scenes we see her. She's also with her kids, either eating with them or riding the subway with them, which is just speaking to this dynamic of work life, family work balance that Peter is struggling and that she's kind of demonstrating. So, yeah, it's just interesting that you've got three well-known TV actors popping up here. And the other thing I want to say to this movie is credit. You mentioned Cretton the director, who did do Shang Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, which I really love, happened to think it's one of the best MCU films, probably because it's self-contained, like Spider-Man Homecoming largely was.

Here, the action, you know, I've said what I said about Punisher, Hulk, mileage is going to vary. There is an excellent, and it is also like Shang-chi, largely martial arts-based showdown with the hand, this group of, you know, villains, adversaries for Spider-Man, um, basically ninja types in these red robes and they use swords. And the way that's staged within a,

it's like a cage match because it's in this atrium where the levels have fencing all along them. I thought that was quite thrilling, inventively staged and also makes use of that Spider-Man DNA changing element. Yes. So ties into some of the themes as well. I know people have become, and they are right to feel this way. We read by MCU action.

I think that sequence is one of the standout action films in the series. I was going to say we're completely aligned down to not surprisingly because it's a pretty common word. The use of the word thrilling in our notes. There is a fight sequence and it's that one that's near the end of the film that has to be one of the most thrilling and most memorably shot and edited. in all of the MCU. It's that, it is that good. And if we're talking about performances, I do have other things I want to praise about this movie.

If we're talking about performances, I think this is maybe Holland at his best because he brings, he still does get to bring the elements that we associate with him from the other films, but he does get to stretch out a little bit And he doesn't play what he does well here. The smart choice he makes is that he doesn't play Peter as somebody all of a sudden with an edge.

That's never the sense I got. He really plays him as someone who's just struggling, as someone who seems to really have depression. And I felt that from him. I also think Zendaya, Josh, at some point I'm going to stop beating the dead horse. but here one of the trailers maybe the last trailer before brand new day was dune three of course and there's only one shot of her in the entire trailer and it's it's her making the zendaya face that filmmakers insist on having her make and it couldn't have gotten me less excited to see dune three and and so then we go into brand new day and we watch her opposite holland and she is effortlessly charming

she's funny. She has great chemistry with him. And in a scene where she she gets to do some, I suppose, small level capital A acting and show her darker side, she she absolutely delivers. I'm always amazed that she's really good when she actually actually gets to play people. It's crazy. It's a chance. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're on record from challengers to other stuff. She's, She's one of our best working actresses. But you're right about how some filmmakers choose to use her. I can imagine a game of having seen Dune 3, obviously, but based on the other films, shot from the Odyssey or shot from Dune.

And it's just his face and the costuming, they also put her in, right? It's like, you have to decide which is which. I think it would be harder than you might guess. I think she's great here. She's always given, I mean, that same sort of unpredictability. and spark and attitude, but also, you know, enough vulnerability that she had in something like challengers, she's bringing here appropriately and makes the use of quite a few scenes, you know, a good use of quite a few scenes that she and Holland get together.

Holland, I agree with everything you said about him, and I would add that he's also still funny. And I think that is key. I think, you know, you're right. This is not Spider-Man, you know, goes dark and brooding. It doesn't quite go to that Batman territory. It is distinct in that way. And in addition to the bathhouse scene, I like the recurring bit where, you know,

this is a Peter Parker who's kind of grossed out by spiders. And I think that, you know, the, you and Tom Holland sells those well. And the fact that, you know, this part of the lore being played with here is part of his changes is now the web spinnerets become organic for him rather than mechanical.

And the fact that his reaction is, is to be like utterly grossed out. Like he's suddenly discovered a bizarre growth on his body. I just think it's, you know, he plays that sort of comedy really well and brings that element to the film as well, which I think is a crucial component of this character. I agree.

I agree. He is still, he is still funny and the movie also still takes advantage of the, the element he brings that none of the other ones do, which is his physical agility. There's a lot of physical comedy in this, in this movie without a doubt. So a couple of the things.

During the death match, Matt said something that, one other thing that was so in sync with something I loved in this film. And I wonder if you had a similar reaction. There's a part in that exchange in Death Match where he's talking about the video game, the Spider-Man 2 video game. Now I know nothing about any of the Spider-Man video games. But Matt says something like it was the first time the game was an open world game where you could swing around as much as you want. And you had objectives and places to go, but also part of the fun of the game was you could just swing around Manhattan and it looked as best as they could make it at the time.

And it gave you that feeling of freedom and excitement and fluidity and movement and kinetic energy that the movies have, which you could never get in even the greatest Spider-Man comic by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and John Romita and whoever else. As beautiful as the artwork is, it is inherently a series of static panels. So I think we touch on this a little bit during our top five. What attracted us to Spider-Man in the first place as a superhero. It doesn't surprise me at all to learn that part of the attraction for many to this video game was, yes, it's a game and there are things you got to get to at some point, things to accomplish and achieve.

But you also just get to swing around the city as Spider-Man. Sure. And just have fun. That's what we all want to do. And so here again about Holland, he's always brought this physical dexterity, this balletic ability that neither McGuire nor Garfield had. And you combine that with with some genuine grace that the filmmakers here depict with some of the flying scenes, like when Spider-Man is swinging, swinging, not flying, swinging with

M.J. Think about when he's bringing her back and forth. There is a distinct rhythm to the thwip and the swings where it truly feels like they're sharing a dance together. And he's not only trying to take things slow because he's trying to keep her safe and not scare her maybe, but maybe he's also trying to savor every second of this because he doesn't know how many more chances he's going to get to hold her or even, you know, spend any time with her. I love those moments. Well, they're nicely handled too because their relationship is different. Again, won't spoil it. But the first couple swing, let's say that they do. has a different possibility where the second one, there's a different reality now for the relationship.

And it's speaking to your observation about rhythms, those are paced differently. They are. And they're performed differently. And I think that is a nice little bit of nuance. I absolutely thought of during those sequences, you know, the lowest lane and Superman flight from 78 Superman, right? It's, it's, it works along the same line. which is kind of a nice callbacks. Speaking of callbacks,

did you notice doing our Spider-Man scenes? And you can't say this is a rip-off because these movies have been borrowing from the comics in each other since the beginning. But very early on, they do grab that upside-down shot we both picked from across the Spider-verse.

And they have Holland sitting upside-down. Yep. With the, you know, yeah. And they even riff on the upside-down kiss from 2002 Spider-Man, where she, Zendaya gives him, MJ gives him a half-mask kiss. Pulls up the mask to give him a kiss.

So I think, you know, again, those homages. Let's call them nice homages. Well, I think it's emblematic of something else in the movie's doing well, though, that I give Cretin and his team a lot of credit for is that I was really struck by including the effects, but just the overall visual aesthetic,

aesthetic is that it looks as good as any of the live action films do, if not better. But they also seem to me, Josh, in some instances, subtly to find a way to integrate some of the look and feel of the animated movies in select sequences, to give it a heightened realism in a way that for me never really broke the spell. Like they give it, they incorporated some of that beauty that all of us go crazy for in the animated films in a way the live action movies haven't been able to do. There's that montage early on of him when we're starting to learn what a workaholic he is. And we see him and showdowns with various villains, including the hand.

We get a little teaser of the hand. And yeah, those are very much framed as, you know, slow motion or almost freeze frame moving into slow motion that have an animated aesthetic to them. Yeah. And there are shots that you would expect in a good comic book movie. Like at damage control just before the battle really begins where it's it's in a puddle in the hallway. But you see you see Spider-Man in it as he's arriving shots matter in this movie in a way that I haven't felt as often in in some of the other films. There's an intention behind them.

There's an intention behind moments like at the beginning the the senior describing where he he leaps from that skyscraper the decision. And there are more, there are more instances like this, but putting us inside his mask. Do you remember that where he sees falling? And they put us inside the mask. Yeah. So it's, it's not just sometimes they do that only when it's, it's Iron Man or Spider-Man or something, when he's targeting something. And it's just about showing off the technology. That's not what it's about here.

It's about like, we're hearing his breathing. It's, it's showing him as a person behind the mask. And that seems important to what this movement. movie is ultimately trying to do. Yeah, I wondered if that had been done before, where it is putting us right, again, right next to his eye. It's related to the, his eyes change as the arachnand DNA is changing. So it kind of sets the stage for us to watch his eyes. Yeah. But there's an intimacy there to your point that I don't remember a shot like that in a previous Spider-Man movie. That's why it stood out. Maybe. And also, and related to that, surely other iterations have had live

action iterations have had when in mask, the eyes narrow. I can't imagine this is the first time they've done it. It might be more that they do it more frequently here than they have before. But it did stand out to me and I think, again, speaks to this merging, the idea of merging the man behind the mask and the mask. It's not just a rigid mask. You know, there is a personality. And it's Peter Parker's who is expressively responding. by narrowing his eyes.

And the mask shows us that as well. That's a nice touch. Last point. And this speaks to the benefits of engaging in activities like doing a top five Spider-Man scenes before you see a movie like this where we talked quite a bit about Spider-Man's relationship to the people of New York City. And so then I found it so fascinating when there's a scene as he's. He falls from his apartment and he goes on the sidewalk and a citizen, just someone walking by, it seems, says something to him and then says something a little sinister to him. Not a spoiler. We realize that this is really the villain in this film because the villain's a telepath who can get into people's heads.

And it's just a guy walking, a guy walking by. And there's an extended scene. Whoever that actor is is very good. That's a really good scene, that conversation. And then, then that voice jumps from New Yorker to New Yorker. And there is something so sinister about weaponizing the people of New York, not just using them as pawns in a battle like lots of villains do in these movies, but actually weaponizing the people of New York against Spider-Man. Yeah, especially in the context of a Spider-Man story. Yep.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I really like that. Spider-Man brand new day is currently playing in Wide. release if you see it or if you have seen it and agree or disagree with our takes, we would love to hear your thoughts. You can email us feedback at filmspotting.net. You can also send us a voicemail, send us a clip, send us a video clip. We'll put it on our YouTube. Email that to feedback at filmspotting.net. Adam, we always talk about the great aspects of seeing movies and theaters. You know,

with a crowd, you get, you know, the excitement or the fears for a horror movie, the laughs for a comedy, the big picture, of course, obviously. You know what we also get occasionally for movies is people going to see a movie in costume, on theme. And I think, I think Spider-Man movies would make a top five list of films where you're likely to see people in costume. Obviously, you've got Rocky Horror, right? I think maybe something like the wicked movies people were doing this, definitely for the

second installment. Every time I have gone to a. see a Spider-Man movie. I've seen someone not just in like a t-shirt, but, you know, having some more elaborate elements of the Spider-Man costume from the mask to web slingers of some sort. It's, it's part of the fun of seeing a Spider-Man movie in a theater. Next time you're in a theater to see brand new day. Check for that. Look for that. And you could probably have that experience for free if you're a member of Regal Unlimited. you'd be able to see something like Spider-Man brand new day for free because this is the all you can watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits.

Right now, Regal is offering film spotting listeners endless movies for less. If you sign up for Regal Unlimited and use our code, FilmSpot 26, then you're going to get 15% off. This is the only truly limitless movie subscription pass out there because you can see any standard 2D movie anytime. they don't have blackout dates or restrictions. Also with Regal Unlimited, you're going to save on snacks. Numbers get 10% off all non-alcoholic concessions. So sign up now in the Regal app. Wear that Spider-Man costume if you want.

You can find that link in our description or just use the code FilmSpot 26 to receive your discount. Adam, let's take a minute to thank the film spotting family. These are the folks who pretty much keep us going. let us continue to make these shows. This is membership in the film spotting family. It really is the largest source of support for the show. So we want to thank this week family member Ryan Jacobs in Charlotte, North Carolina, and also family plus member, Zach Rothfeld in New York.

Ryan says that his listenership predates the van in Van Holgren. Now that's how you know you are OG. 20 years ago, I graduated college with the film studies minor and wanted to continue. you to listen to intelligent people talk about the kind of movies I like to watch. I have donated to the show

many times over the years. I'm sorry it took me so long to join the family. We thank you so much. Ryan, Zach is a relative newbie. He says only been listening

since 2017. Random films or filmmakers they love, Josh. Zach is a big fan of Jonathan Demi's Rachel getting married. Good movie. Okay.

Yeah, really good. Ryan is a Jonathan Glazer fan. Favorite books about movies or a movie making Mark Harris and his book Pictures at a Revolution. Ryan, for some reason, didn't submit an entry. I don't know what happened here. He didn't answer this part of the questionnaire. Oh,

thankfully, I have my notes. Oh, okay. So, I think you, Sam left it out of mine. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Do you want to read it? Thank you, Ryan. Since you have it. For reading movies or prayers, a little book I wrote, I really appreciate that. It's always, you know,

it's been a couple years for both of my books, Adam and this and earlier this week for Fear Not. I got a nice note on Facebook. Someone read it over the summer. And yeah, it's always always makes you feel good. And you're like, oh, those things are still out there. And some people are still reading them. So thank you very much.

Ryan, thank you also, Zach, for your support for listening to the show. If you want to follow Zach on Letterboxed, as I just did about an hour ago, you can find them at Frothy Rothie. more about joining the film spotting family is available at film spotting family.com. Here's what you'll get as a member. Early and ad free listening, ad free listening. That means no ads, right, Adam? That is what it means.

Quite literally. Just wanted to make sure you'll also get a weekly newsletter. You'll get access to the complete film spotting archive. We have a family only Discord, a message board where there's lots of great conversation going on and exclusive opportunities. We're currently running the 20s, 30s madness tournament. If you're a film spotting family member, you can be part of that. Right now, we are down to the elite eight. The benefits, they just keep on coming. We haven't even mentioned our monthly bonus shows. July, we did our performances of the year so far list.

This month in August, we are going to have a blind spotting conversation as soon as we can nail down a title that I haven't seen, Sam hasn't seen, and Adam hasn't seen. So we'll be, we'll be getting to that soon. All of this, great value at the regular price for a film spotting family membership, but through August 31st, you can get a membership for 20% off. Just use the code summer. We will link to that in the show notes. Or you can go to FilmSpottingfamily.com and sign up with that code summer for 20% off. Here's another incentive to join the family and be part of that family discord is that you will see, I'm not sure if you're even aware of this, Josh, you will see that somehow

neither the passion of Joan of Arc nor Metropolis made the 20s or 30s madness the lead eight. And you can then go into the discord and make fun of everyone. one who didn't vote for those films. Is this how you've been spending your time? No, no, I need a proxy to do that for me. That would be too mean of one of the hosts to do that. Well, if you wanted to vent in such a way, yes, you could do that by joining the FilmSpotting Family at FilmSpottingFamily.com.

It's not the kind of thing you expect to see when you open your curtains in the morning. I started getting these text messages. On Camille Street, can people get there now? The new documentary, Everybody to Kenmere Street, just left the Jean Siskel Film Center in Chicago. But it's coming to Iowa City's film scene. It's playing in limited release in other theaters around the country. It's directed by Philippe Bustos Sierra. It premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

The movie is about a 2021 collective act of civil disobedience in a diverse neighborhood on the south side of Glasgow. residents in the area attempted to protect their neighbors from being deported. We did both catch up with this one, Josh. You suggested you saw it first and said, hey, this might be worthy of a golden brick nomination. I want you to tell us why, but I also just want to say first that one of the things we learn early on in this film,

that this attempt by the UK home office, effectively ICE, to deport two, seek men upon the occasion the holiday of of Ede at dawn

in the early morning hours is really thwarted by a man who decides who has the brilliant idea that comes to him

to lodge himself under the vehicle and attach himself to one of the axles or something under the vehicle and make it

so that the vehicle simply cannot move. And that's what allows all of these people to assemble. So tell us about this film and your response to it. Yeah, without that act, none of this would have taken place. Yeah, the golden brick question, you know, the director here has been working for a while. So not necessarily an emerging filmmaker, Felipe Bustosierre, I think has one feature documentary he made before this, as well as a number of shorts. to me it was a formal question.

The vision thing we look for in Golden Brick Awards, a unique formal vision, an inspired filmmaking choice. And this is a documentary that has a lot of stuff you would expect. It has a mobile phone footage from the day. It has a wide range of interviews for protesters who were there. But it has this inspired conceit to have actors. play a few of the crucial figures. And we know this because there will all of a sudden be a shot that's clearly not mobile

phone footage. It appears to be sort of within the context of, but it looks a little more staged. And the person will turn to the camera and say, this isn't my face, but these are my words. And I think it's crucial because it means they're working from an interview that has been done. But now it's in a reenactment. And I think this happens three times, mostly with two people. A lot of the time it's done with two people.

And my question to you, Adam, one of these three people is van man, the guy who you said started this by diving under the van and grabbing onto the axle. Did you realize who played Van Man in the moment? Because I did not until I looked at the credits immediately. Really? Really. Oh, no. Maybe it's because Sarah and I. I not too long ago watched the Emma Thompson series on Apple TV.

And so not only she, she and actress I like quite a bit, but she, she's very immediately recognizable to me with that white hair, that short white hair, kind of spiky. Yeah, that's short white spiky hair.

Oh, that's interesting. Like a woman with white hair, interesting choice to play Van Man, but it wasn't until the credits. I was like, oh, of course, Emma Thompson. I'm Van Man.

And this isn't my face, but these are my. words. It's a bold choice. You recognize right away that, okay, they're using, they, they announced it to you, as you said, but you know that it's a, it's a formal technique to say, we're not going to be able to use the actual, for whatever reasons, including potentially legal reasons. We're not going to be able to use the actual, some of the actual people in this scenario. And there's three total. It's an, it's an activist who is played by an actress named Kira Luchese and then there's the nurse who's tending to Van Man played by a very prominent Scottish actress Kate Dickey and then Emma Thompson. I recognize right away from the witch actually. Of course, from the witch and and Game of Thrones, I think potentially too. All sorts of stuff. Yeah. And then Emma Thompson who's Van Man. So I did recognize Kate Dickey and I definitely recognize Emma Thompson. You know that they're employing this technique and you understand why. It is one of those cases where immediately you're you're thrown by it.

if you recognize her. You understand later she's a producer on the film. And I have to think if I'm a documentary filmmaker and I need an actress to portray someone, why wouldn't I use Emma Thompson if I had her at my disposal when she's one of the greatest actresses on the planet. But in the moment, it did throw me. It took me out of it for a second, Josh. I have to admit, I'm still thinking about the effectiveness of having someone,

portray someone recognizable portray that person. At the same time, I think having someone who isn't recognizable portray them, that may have the opposite effect, where you're then very much assuming that there's a certain verisimilitude and that is Van Man. And that may not work either. Can I try to talk you into it? Of course. And I didn't, you know, I haven't really thought about this a little bit more until now. I should have. What does this choice do? I love the inspired nature of it. But the big question is, okay, is it effective? And if so, how? Obviously, I found it effective. So now I got to figure out how. In terms of casting Thompson, what I think it does, and again, in retrospect for me, because I didn't recognize it in the moment, but it is an echo of

the larger idea of continuing concentric circles of care that I think this documentary depicts. It starts with Van Man, and then the next circle are the couple of names. neighbors who are, you can tell they were on their morning commute. They were going to work or I think one of the interviewees has school. They've got backpacks. They've got bikes. They all sit down, put their bikes around the van. That's another circle. Then you have more neighbors come out and form the circle on the sidewalk. Then you have a circle people looking out the windows of their flats on this street, making signs hanging from the windows. And I do think casting Emma Thompson widens that circle because now you say we have one of the most prominent respected um actors UK actors

getting behind this joining the circle by deciding that I'm going to give not only my producer time to this but I'm going to give my acting time and I'm going to give my face time like that's how this causes that's exactly. And so um I think to me maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Um, I think to me, maybe that's sort of a meta or a deeper level why the conceit works in concert with what the movie is trying to do. I think what I appreciated the most is the way this is an immersive documentary, using Glasgow's long history of struggle with a spontaneous act of collective resistance. You get that opening montage. the music is by a Scottish musician named Barry Burns.

The song is called Your Sweet Love. And it's six minutes long. And it is this montage using a lot of historical footage. And other, you know, some of it is more recent camera footage, TV news type, newsreel type footage showing the history of activism and oppression in Glasgow from the time of slave grown tobacco being imported to the response to George. George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. And it, it, it, it immediately grounds us in history. It gives us a sense of the larger these circles, how, how, how wide it is, the larger Glaswegian community.

And it reminds us that this will remain a continuous struggle that, regardless of how much we know about what happened here at Kenmere Street or what we're going to see play out, that the struggle's not over because. Because one battle was won. And later in the movie then, using, incorporating some of this footage, we get a 10-minute sequence that digs in to that history, starting with the origin of the name Kenmere Street. And I really thought, I thought this was such a bold stroke because it's not, it's not like the movie needs it.

You could make the case that the movie could just stay on Kenmere Street and it would be more than sufficient. But I thought this context was not only really interesting. But crucial to understanding the subtext of this particular scene in Pollock Shields, understanding the potential for this to be a real powder keg. And I think what's great about it too, Josh, is that it makes it poignant because one of the neighbors at the end talks about the story of the day like it's a fairy tale, even though it's real, like it's real, like it's. It's a fairy tale. Their kids, they have a painting on the wall and their kids say, tell us the story at bedtime about the day the baddies came. And this is what happened.

And what we learn about going back into the past is that those are stories that still echo today that they still talk about. Those are narratives that the people today who lived through it and even the ones who didn't, they talk to the people from the past. They know all those stories. and they're passed along. And some of those protests ended well, and some of them didn't. And they draw on them for strength and resilience and for knowledge. And I think what's scary for those in power is that a new tale like this gives people hope that it's not a fairy tale, that it really happened and that it's being told. And it casts an alternate vision.

I think is the true power of this documentary is not only looking back on this day, but how this day shows an alternate way forward than the one that way too many governments in the world right now are taking us. I want to come back to that, but to the historical footage point, I think what I did like about it is that we have those two sections. You know, we, because initially that opening one that is very long, the opening montage with all the historical footage, I found a little sprawling and contextless, except for giving me the vague notion of, you know, Glasgow is a city that has a history of, and, you know, and be there and knowing its reputation is this of not putting up with shit, right? And especially authority coming down. And so a lot of the historical footage is documenting that. It's the city's reputation that's all well and good. But I did wonder not only wanting to know a little bit more about all this footage we're seeing, but I did wonder, are we setting ourselves up for a self-congratulatory, you know, we're a city where these things don't happen.

Story, which would have been felt a little more one-sided. But you do get that second historical section that takes us away from the street, as you said, as you said, could potentially disrupt the rhythm because it's very much. a movie about putting us in this, on this street, in this day for these hours. But it's crucial in the context of the opening montage because it shows us the flip side of Glasgow, where there has been a history of exploitation by the residents of the city and the wealth drawn at the expense of people in other regions of the world. So it kind of balanced that out for me. If you see what I'm saying, it was a little more realistic. Like, yes, we have this history of defiance. And this is a city that is perhaps unique in that way, but we're not perfect. And it speaks to your point about,

you know, this is not going to be the final battle. So I basically, I agree that the historical footage is in there and ultimately it's, it's well used. On this idea of another vision and why I did also find this documentary so inspiring is, as you mentioned, this is happening in Aneed, and on this day there was a celebration planned at the local mosque. And so they had all this food there, all these activities. And at one point, one of the people associated with the mosque is being interviewed and describes the decision to just move the festival out onto the street, to be part of the protest, to bring the food.

And the quote, he says, we thought, let's make a wee-ead celebration of this. And just to see this guy who, first of all, does not look like or dress like what we probably think of as someone who lives in Glasgow, right? Just to hear him use the word we is beautiful. And this choice to picture a community that could be very different in many ways, but also ultimately all caring for each other, which again, the concentric circles of care, that's what we're seeing here. And so to bring this festival out onto these streets, combine an Eid celebration with this history of Glasgow protest using a Scottish phrase like we very naturally. It's just this beautiful picture of pluralism.

And the world right now is being directed by fearmongers who, if they were to see something like this, they never will. But an interview like that would absolutely just crumble their brains because they are, not only can they not imagine this, but if they did, it would just just. make them tremble. For what reason? I don't know. I mean, to me, it's beautiful and it shows something hopeful. But what we're seeing in the world is that just thinking about something like that scares people to their very core. And Kenmere Street, this documentary is just casting a possible real world. It has happened in this time that we're living in. This sort of

pluralism can be beautiful and healthy. And I think that's, you know, that's what the the documentary ultimately leaves us with in addition to the record of this day. Along those lines, and I may be ascribing too much meaning to this choice, but that's what we're here for. I thought it was interesting that none of the interviews, and there are a lot of them, way more than you would normally get in a documentary that features talking heads. there are a lot of people, a lot of faces, and there are a lot of people that only appear once for maybe one, one line or a couple lines. And we don't get any of them to my recollection, Josh, ever IDed.

They're in the credits, but there's no on-screen identifier. It doesn't say their name. It doesn't say their occupation. It never says what they do for, you know, what neighborhood they're from or anything, anything like that. Yeah, there's no name. But not always. No, I scanned through the movie.

again. I didn't see a name for people. So, you know, maybe I, maybe I miss something. But there is something that is on point about that for this movie because it's always a bit of a challenge anyway for, from a practical standpoint for documentary filmmakers. Because sometimes they just clutter up the screen aesthetically. Sometimes you, you only have someone on screen for a brief snippet. And there's no time for an ID without it feeling jumpy. And are you going to ID everyone or only some people and when you return to people, how often are you going to re-ID them? Is it every time or only after so much time has passed and you think the viewer's confused? Here it actually felt to me like not only a pragmatic choice due to the sheer number

of people they interview as the roster keeps expanding because this was such a huge gathering, but also as they want to feature this panoply of faces and voices. that are, let's face it, largely anonymous, right? They talk about each other as neighbors. And some are actual neighbors. And some recognize each other. But for the most part, that's not the case at all. They, the way they talk about each other as neighbors has a completely different meaning.

I feel like the anonymity of the characters here, characters in this context, actually makes complete sense for this documentary. There's people there from all different backgrounds, and you're like, actually, there is love here. We put out tables, we thought, let's make a wee-eat celebration out of this. Have tea and biscuits with us. Eating well shouldn't be complicated, but somehow it turns into recipes, prep, clean up, and half your Sunday gone. Factor solves all that. These are fresh, ready-to-eat meals designed by dieticians, delivered to your door and ready in just minutes. No prep, no cleanup, no excuses.

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and free shipping, but only with the code clean at factormeals.ca. Factor, Canada's number one meal delivery service. Get Bell, purefiber internet with craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. What's up fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days.

So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire time. timeline. In the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. Naomi Osaka showing out

she beat. Sabalinka. Shout out to you, Naomi. You get the palm, for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candice, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, The Chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia

from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it.

And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Man, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought he was going to write. I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that.

Listen to Podlandia. Ayo! rewatch on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The neighbor notion is so crucial, and it does come up. I think at one point, one of the people interviewed was asked, you know, why did they respond this way? And they just shrugged and said, these are our neighbors. Like, it was just like, it's a matter of fact.

It's practical. It's obvious. It's a question that doesn't need to be, need to be asked. And even, you know, this was a little aside, we don't get a lot from the men who were detained. And I'm trying to recall exactly when this interview takes place. I don't think we see his face either, but I could be recalling that incorrectly. At any rate, the point is one of the police at the time, he recalls being asked by one of the police, why is the community coming out for you this way?

Yeah. Basically, who are you? Right. And the man's response, I'm nobody. I'm normal. Yeah. Again, like, it's a self-evident truth that this is, what is going on is not how a neighborhood should be, should be operated or or even immigration. Yeah.

Or even immigration policy should be enforced, right? There's just like, it's self-evident to these people that something. is deeply amiss in handling things this way. And yeah, so there's just a couple of, you know, you get in documentaries interviews with people where they, they will say something just everyday folks that hit you with practical wisdom, right? And just hearing them say something that self-evident like that, it's not the words that are maybe the most necessarily eloquent, but they still retain this truthful power to

them. And there's a lot of that in this documentary. Everybody to Kenmere Street is currently playing in limited release. We will add the film to our golden brick page. Also in limited release, The Samurai and the Prisoner. Sounds exciting, Josh, just from the title. It's from director Kyoshi Kurosawa. The director is best known here in the States anyway

for a pair of horror thrillers that came out in the late 90s early 2000s, 1997s Cure, and 2001's Pulse. He got back on our radar a couple of years ago. with Cloud, which showed up on a couple of best of the year. Lists, I believe Allison Wilmore may have had it there on our show. I know our friend over at Letterbox Mitchell Beaupre picked it and sent us a voicemail about it. We have actually discussed, perhaps, doing our blind spotting bonus show for film spotting family members, giving them a choice between some Kiyoshi Kurosawa films because I have

seen none of them. But you have now seen The Samurai and the Prisoner. It is set in 16th century Japan, kind of a hudan it. It does seem based on your description. Tell us why it's good. Yeah, I have no Kyoshi Kurosawa context to bring to this. As you said, to my shame, my first film of his, I only know that, you know, psychological thrillers slash horror is where cure and pulse are placed.

And this is not that. So I gather from the way it's been described, this is a bit of a departure for him. on its own terms, it is intensely compelling as a whodunit. It definitely works that way. The historical setting is just fascinating from the pomp and circumstance given to each of the conversations. And this is mostly a series of conversations, this movie, and the castle exterior and interiors. I think they filmed in temples and castles around Kyoto are part of the movie.

movie's grandeur and appeal. But really, there's also a fascinating central core to this where the lead, the main character, Lord Murashige Araki, played by Masahiro Motoki, has had a crisis of conscience, we learn, where his first instinct is not to kill. It's no longer to kill as a matter of honor, really, as a samurai. And so he's going against the samurai code by imprisoning the man in the title, rather than killing him. And there are a couple of other instances in the film where he chooses a way other than death. And this puts him at odds with tradition. It puts him at odds with the warlord who's, you know, laying siege to his castle.

And it does add this interesting moral dimension to the decisions that Lord Murashige has to make as he's managing this outside threat and then the interior deceit that he encounters when some of these crimes start occurring. So it's a bit of a character study as well. Matoki is incredible. here wouldn't be surprised if he lands on best performances of the year lists at the end of the year. And yeah, and the mystery is compelling too. There are a couple of things speaking of end of the year in this movie that I won't go into

now, including a sequence, because it might end up as a contender for our rap party categories. The movie overall, I think works, even though it might tend to get a little talky here. and there, because as I said, these are a bunch of interrogations, really, to figure out what's going on in the castle. All of a sudden, Kurosawa will come at you with an intensely, inventively staged sequence that kind of snaps you back into attention. So, yeah, this one really delivered, obviously makes me curious and eager to watch more of his titles, even if they might be, you know, of a very different vein. The samurai and the prisoner is out in limited release, including in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center. I can't wait to get a chance to see it and hopefully catch up with more Kurosawa films.

Time now for Massacre Theater. This is where Adam and I perform a scene and you get a chance to win a film spotting prize. Last time we massacred this scene. He flaked all the data. Yes. There's no service. No. I tried to do my duty, Gruber.

But I knew the day that I arrived here, this place had nothing. And I resisted the temptation for years. But I knew that if I just pressed that button, then somebody would come and save me. Hey. Yes. That was Matt Damon and Matthew McConaughey in 2014's Interstellar, written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, directed, of course, by Nolan. That massacre was part of our best of the year so far show. So why that's seen from Interstellar.

Here's Matthew Affleado in Brooklyn, New York. The scene you masquer was from Interstellar. I could tell partly from the breathlessness that Josh sold through acting, although it did sound a little like Gallum, especially with the elongated S at the end of one of the yeses. Have we done that? Have we heard your Ghalem before? A little precious in there. We have to have done Gowling.

You would think. If not, we need to pull that out. The connections included this being a Nolan movie like The Odyssey, also featuring Matt Damon and both as a man so far from home that it seems he will never make it back. Interstellar is also connected to best of the year so far movie Project Hail Mary as a guy who travels through space to save humankind from nature things. All right. You are on it, Matthew.

Here's Scott Lentz from San Luis Obispo, California. For other connections, listener poll winner Project Hail Mary has been getting lots of interstellar comps this year, at least in its visuals. And my personal favorite link, Adam's number one movie of 2025 so far, Nirvana, the band, the show the movie, prominently features a poster for the Dark Night to show that Matt and Jay have traveled back to 2008. Wow, okay. Yeah.

Good catch. Dave Allen and Bonnie Lake Washington says, Hey, guys, I might have only known this was interstellar because I just rewatched it for the recent movie Death Match episode. Good job evoking two out of breath middle age dudes. It was hard. Let me tell you, method acting. I have to say, however, with all the love in my heart, that on the word resisted, Josh's Matt Damon seemed to slip into Curly from the Three Stooges, which is worse, Gallum or Curley?

Maybe I decided to throw a little curly in there. Dave, I'll never tell you. Maxwell Fletcher has another comment for us. He's from New York City. Your portrayals of out of breath, Damon and McConaughey were so ridiculous in the best way. I'll never be able to watch that scene again without chuckling to myself. That's what Massacre Theater is here for. It is just so ruined scenes that it impacts your future viewing of the movie.

I think it was Ron the Tenthier. who wrote in and said that I didn't, though, really throw in any McConaughey accent. I mean, it was hard, but I didn't really give it any of that Texas twang. You could have. You could have really leaned in, and we might have had more entries. Might have had more entries. There wasn't a ton, Josh, but we do have a winner, and you are now going to share that with us. Reach into the film spotting hat.

Our winner is David Colb from Whitesboro, New York. Congratulations, David. at email feedback at philmspotting.net, and we will set you up with your very own film spotting t-shirt, tote bag, or trial membership to the film spotting family. Would the detours so simple? Would the detour so simple? Would the detour so simple?

Would the detour so simple? My dear point, why do you say that? Why do you say twos? Will you say it like I said? We move on now to this week's edition of Massacre Theater, and I am going to be totally honest, Josh, before you suggested we do this scene, I was only vaguely aware this movie existed.

I think I had heard about it at some point, but I have definitely never seen it. And based on the scene we're about to perform, which don't get me wrong, it's going to be fun. Based on the scene, I don't think I'm ever going to watch it. Yeah, I could have told you that.

based on the scene, I'm perplexed that I think I not only saw this and reviewed it, but might have done so positively. I am also perplexed. I'm going to have to check the archives on that one. Here's a clue for folks, because this could be a bit of a challenge, but it's appropriate. Spoiler, we're going to spoil our massacre theater scene that I'm tortured. in this scene by this character. Yes, you are. It makes sense in the context of it's a connection to this show,

let's say, among other connections to this episode. Yes. That exist in this scene. Okay. Any other clues we can give to help people out here? I don't think we need to. I don't think so.

Okay. You are going to start it out. So I, sorry, I have to, I have to get into character here. So, okay, here we go. Get really angry. Mm-hmm. I'm going to give you the action. And action.

What's the torch for? 2,000 degrees, Mick. Enough to turn steel into butter. It won't hurt at first. It's too hot, you see. The flame sears the nerve ending shut, killing them. You'll go into shock and all you'll feel is cold. Isn't science fun, Mickey?

Ah, I don't know shit. You'll smell burning meat and then, then it'll hurt. I swear, I'm telling the truth. And scene. scene. Wow. Very frightening, very intimidating. My question is, how does he know all that? Is he speaking from personal experience? Did he just do science research? Science. He was a science teacher in another life. I think. I don't think that's in that character's lore, but it's possible. Well, you've seen the movie. It's possible. If you know what film, we just massacred. Email the movie's

title, your name and location. He wasn't a cheery teacher. The other teachers didn't like him in the lounge much. email the movie's title, your name and location to feedback at film spotting.net. The deadline is Monday, August 17th. We will select the winner randomly from all the correct entries and announce it in a couple of weeks. But if you've seen this movie and you know the scene, you're not a winner. Sorry. Or maybe you are. Maybe you are. According to me. Okay. That's the show, Josh. Mercifully, that is the show. If you want to connect with us on social media, you can find Adam and Film Spotting at Instagram, Facebook, letterbox, YouTube, and Blue Sky at FilmSpotting.

I'm at those places as Larson on Film. We are independently produced and listeners supported. Please support us by joining the FilmSpotting Family at FilmSpottingFamily.com. You can listen early and ad-free. You'll also get monthly bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, and access to the entire show archive. For show t-shirts and other merch, go tofilmspotting.net slash shop. In limited release this weekend, you can see the movie,

Josh recommended the samurai and the prisoner out wide, Eli Roth's ice cream man, and one night only. Two strangers, Callum Turner, Monica Barbaro. They meet on the one night a year that single people are allowed to have sex. I think that's how it works. Now, wait a minute. Have you, have you like me seen that trailer about 6,000 times? I haven't actually. Okay.

Well, then you're not going to be able to help me because despite all those viewings, I have no idea what the context is here. Is this a social construct? Is this, are we in a dystopia? It doesn't seem dystopian. It seems very like, okay, never mind. Just never forget it. We'll move on.

Super Troopers 3 is out. Josh, we go from 2001 to 2018 to this weekend. You can see the third be a completest, Josh, and see all of the Super Troopers movie. I think I saw the first one. Really? I'm not sure. Okay. Maybe.

Maybe we should do a series. That should be our blind spotting. There you go. Next week in the film spotting feed. We just got an abundance of riches coming to you in the film spotting feed. Sunday, you'll get the final film in our dissident cinema marathon. We're talking about Jafar Panahi's third movie, The Circle, from 2000. Monday, the movie racket is back.

We're coming off a week of movie death match, the first Monday of every month. We're back with Michael in the movie racket. Guess who he's having on? everybody loves Slate's Dana Stevens and they're weighing in on a famous Harry Cone axiom he was the co-founder of Columbia Pictures

and I won't say the quote I don't have it off the top of my head but basically he had a famous physical tell when he knew a movie wasn't working for him Josh so they're going to get into and maybe you can share on a future show next week Josh do you do you have something that

gives you an insight into whether or not a movie is working for you your eye gets twitchy or something. That's what it's about. So like I see. So like an actual bodily response. An actual bodily function that tells you the movie's not working. Oh, I mean, as if I wasn't going to listen to the movie racket already.

That sounds fascinating. It's going to be a good book. Tuesday, Matt Singer and Jordan Hoffman will be back on film spotting SVU talking brand new day and the state of Spider-Man. And Matt Singer, he wrote the book on Spider-Man. So you want to hear from him. Thursday, the next picture show, an inspired pairing. The Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony paired with Pixar's Rattatooey. And then Friday, it is our plan to talk about the new Jane Schoenbrun film,

Teenage, Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. And the new Cold War drama The Brink of War is out as well. Film spotting is produced by Golden Joe DeSoe and Sam Van Hogren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. Special thanks to everyone at WBEZ Chicago. More information is available at WBEZ.org. For film spotting, I'm Josh Larson.

And I'm Adam Kempinar. Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye. Summer blockbusters are back. The Odyssey and Spider-Man. Brand new day have taken over cinemas, and Raiders of the Lost podcast has all the coverage you need,

including our interview with director Destin Daniel Cretton. What surprised you about Tom Holland? He shows up to every meeting early. He's the first one on set. Aside from learning all of his lines, is also able to memorize everybody's name on set. Download the free IHeart Radio app. Search Raiders of The Lost Podcast and listen now.

Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, A.O. rewatch, our brand new podcast, where we review. visit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director

Jonathan Chrysall, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song about it. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia AEO rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist

Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka, showing out. Shoutouts to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashan Rock's

Boxing Journey. She looks good. Her combos are swift. And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements.

We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. The show's famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed and Mary Steenbergen. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the Iheart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.