Table Read - Featuring: Filmspotting Podcast | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and The Brink of War

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Jane Schoenbrun’s uncategorizable third feature, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, marks the director as among the most assured and provocative filmmakers of their generation. Adam and Josh agree that it’s the film of the year so far. Plus, other notable third features this decade, listeners pick their favorite Spider-Man movie, and Adam reviews The Brink of War. Find The Show: Filmspotting Podcast 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. (Timecodes will not be precise with ads.) Intro (00:00:00-00:02:38) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (00:02:39-00:45:20) Filmspotting Family (00:45:21-00:51:21) The Brink of War (00:51:22-01:01:11) Polls (01:01:12-01:11:25) Credits / Releases (01:11:26-01:15:26) 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.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Behind every night spent making the kids' lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pastos survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all?

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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.

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Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clemens. 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 Steenberg. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Film spotting is presented by Regal Unlimited, the All You Can Watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. see any standard 2D movie anytime with no blackout dates or restrictions. Sign up now on the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code

FilmSpot 26 to receive 15% off. What kind of a show are you guys putting on here today? You're not interested in art? No. Well, look, we're going to do this thing. We're going to have a conversation. From Chicago, this is Film Spotting. I'm Adam Kempinar.

And I'm Josh Larson. Out here, there are a certain odds. when you just get this feeling. There's some psycho killers and I'll chop you up into a million little bases. Director Jane Schoenbrun may be flying under some people's radars, but they're quickly becoming one of the most exciting filmmakers of their generation. The new Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

is the director's follow-up to 2024's I Saw the TV Glow. We've got a review, plus the new The Brink of War, starring Jeff Daniels. That and more. ahead on film spotting. Welcome to film spotting. Josh, we're talking about Jane Schoenbrun this week. They made, we're all going to the world's fair in 2022.

That was a golden brick nominee for us. Then in 2024, I saw the TV glow. That made your top 10 list. It was a movie I recommended as well. Now they've made teenage, sex, and death at Camp. Miasma. If my math is correct, and I'm not great at math, that means it's their third film.

That's prompted our poll question. That's prompted our pool. Thank you. Your math. The new deeply flawed film spotting poll is asking about other third features that have come out this decade. I think it's a fun one. Yeah, we'll get into those options. I was just looking at the list Sam put together.

I realized, man, we've got some great filmmakers of, and not even up and coming anymore, but a younger generation putting things out and kind of made me excited about where we're at, where cinema is at. So look forward to talking about where we would vote in that poll and giving those options to listeners. I think I know where people are going to vote, but film spotting listeners always surprise us. Also later in the show, I caught up with the new Brink of War starring Jeff Daniels as Ronald Reagan in that Cold War era drama. A reminder of film spotting is now available. as a video podcast, you can watch us over at YouTube.com

slash film spotting. Up now, teenage sex and death at Camp Measma. Hi, I'm Billy Presley. You must be the writer-director. Yeah, hi. You came out of nowhere. I didn't know you were in here. I'm sorry.

I saw you and I wanted to scare you. Not too long into teenage sex and death at Camp Measma, former screen queen Billy Presley, played by Jillian Anderson, patiently listens to a treatise from Chris, a young film director played by Hannah Eindler. Chris talks at length about the real meaning of the original Camp Measma slasher that Billy starred in and how Chris plans to deconstruct that 1983 film with her planned reboot.

Chris explains, quote, My work explores the intersection of queerness and cultural depictions of monstrosities. Billy, matter-of-factly, responds that the first Camp Miasma movie was about little more than, quote, flesh and fluids. What does our pop culture mean to us, Adam? This is a question that appears to mesmerize Jane Schoenbrun, the writer and director of teenage sex and death at Camp Miasma, and with this third feature, now one of the defining voices in American cinema working today, to my mind. In Shone Brun's debut, we're all going to the World's Fair, the teen protagonist gives herself over to an online horror game. Something comparable happens in I Saw the TV Glow, where a pair of unlikely friends bond over a cheapo sci-fi TV series until it swallows them whole.

In teenage sex and death at Camp Measma, Chris, the young director, thinks she has a handle on the handle that the miasma slasher series has on. her. But while staying with a reclusive Billy Presley over a few days on her remote Pacific Northwest estate, Chris begins to realize that her relationship to slasher's cinema and sex is much more complicated than the intellectualization she has confidently offered. Not to sound too much like Chris and make this academic Adam because Camp Miasma is a ton of fun, which I'm sure we'll get into. I do want to start with a larger question about Shone Brun's work thus far. From online horror to sci-fi TV, now to slashers. What do Shone Brun's film suggest about contemporary popular culture and our relationship to it? And how do you see teenage sex and death of Camp

Miasma fitting into that? Oh, man, you are starting off difficult going into professor mode right off the bat. I don't know what it says. You're limited to 500 words. I'm going to tell you that. Great. What does it say? We like to watch. We like to watch ourselves. We like to be naughty, but we can't admit it because flesh and fluids make us uncomfortable.

You could go with our lives are completely mediated through screens. That's fairly pedestrian, but that's there as well. I don't know if any of that's what you had in mind or particularly insightful. But I am fascinated that you posed that question because, while I think it's fertile, my processing of this film in the moment and in the aftermath, I guess I'm going to dodge here a little bit. But truthfully, it has little to do with culture. I think I'm going to get into it deep enough for your liking, Josh, here over the course of this conversation. Okay. So bear with me.

But it does have little to do with culture. Looking back at my notes, that also isn't really how I processed I saw the TV glow either. Whereas the main character's online immersion and the blurring of fantasy and reality and we're all going to the world's fair, that did seem more ripe for extrapolation and interpretation. And maybe part of that was simply that we didn't have any relationship to Shone Brun's work at the time. And now over three films, we feel like we do. but I saw Camp Miasma through a personal lens. And I'll go inside out. I saw it through the lens of Einbender's queer filmmaker Chris

coming to terms with her sexuality. I saw it through the lens of Shone Brun as a trans filmmaker and a trans filmmaker in Hollywood. Sure. And I saw it. I saw it through my lens as an individual viewer. Whatever resonance Chris's journey and potentially Shown Bruns, has for me. I think the depiction of Chris's journey is so specific that it will resonate

with a lot of viewers, whether they're, of course, in Hollywood or filmmakers, or they're queer. It doesn't matter. You don't have to have anything directly in common with her or not. That's how specific this film is. And I do want to say this too. Generally, Metacritic lists this movie, the genres as drama, horror, romance, and thriller. I might take issue with thriller a little bit, but otherwise it's accurate. On IMDB, they have the same four, but they also have first slasher horror. And here and there on the internet, others just refer to this movie as slasher horror or a slasher film. Yeah.

Nobody lists it as a comedy, even though this is, I think, a deeply funny. movie. And it's also, yeah, and it's also the first movie I watched this year that I immediately wanted to sit down and watch again because there's enough mystery in it to reward another viewing. But also, I'm going to agree with you, but also because it's just so damn much fun. Any movie that combines Sunset Boulevard, well, first, Texas. Chainsaw Massacre with Friday the 13th and the Shining and Sunset Boulevard and infuses all of that with a lynchian sensibility has to be and it does all of that. But what's the key is that it does all of that and has shown Brun's distinct point of view. When we talk about, I was thinking, I was thinking about this. This is where all my notes led me and I wonder if you agree. When we talk about, and we do all critics. do this. When we talk about an emerging filmmaker, someone with just a few films under their belt and they're maturing as a filmmaker, or a, you know, if they're a director or a writer

director, aren't we almost invariably talking about that development only in terms of craft, higher production value, even more intentionality in their camera work in editing, maybe being even more innovative, more experimental, better control of tone, drawing out more refined performances. All of that is true for me here, but what makes teenage sex and death so exciting is that Shone Brun's evolution as a filmmaker seems to be unfolding in tandem with a deeper realization of self. That's what I see in the progression from World's Fair to Camp Miasma. And that's what I'll try to unpack a little bit here as we get through the conversation.

But that's my reaction to this film. where are you with this movie? And do you have a grand take in terms of culture with Kamiasma? I think that's fair. I think it's, you know, I think we see that in terms of a sense of self with other filmmakers, but Shondrun's material is so directly tied to their own experience that it's at the forefront. And to its credit, this is the opposite of navel gazing because it is speaking from a person, place in a way that resonates beyond anyone who's coming from a trans experience. Honestly,

we talked about this with I saw the TV glow, which was, you know, a more clear parable allegory, whatever term you want to use, yet the two of us found it deeply moving and affecting. So I think that's true in terms of an emerging filmmaker. This is why it's so exciting is because there is that control of the exploration of personal interests and themes. It's so funny what you say about how to, what genre to place this in. Now I'm in knots because I stupidly, when I designed my website, put a genre tag that I have to give. And it's only bedeviled to me since. And I have no idea what I'm going to do with this one. Maybe I'll just agree with you and go with comedy. I also had a note early on, Adam, that I abandoned while watching this movie. I think it was when

Chris goes to check in at the hotel and we get her conversation with the clerk who mentions how he had a part in an earlier camp miasma movie and it starts to feel a little unnerving. And I thought, and I just wrote down, will this work as a horror movie? I threw out that question 20 minutes later because it no longer mattered to me. It's just, it's writing its own rules. Every 10 minutes, they're different rules. And that's so pertinent and applicable to the film as a whole once you've seen it, isn't it? Absolutely.

So it didn't even matter to me whether it was working as a horror movie after a certain point, even though there's some scary moments. Sure. Yeah. Far more funny moments. I won't belabor the, you know, what does pop culture mean to us point if it's, you know, not quite as interesting to you. I think for me, it does relate, however, to what you're saying about the. being a personal movie. And I think one of the things Shone Brun is working through, who seems to have experienced much of life via pop culture, this may be the only way I would

compare them to Quentin Tarantino because I think they're, their worlds apart in so many crucial ways. But you do get the sense from most of Tarantino's movies that this is someone who's only lived movies, really. I would not say that you get the sense Shone Brun has only lived pop culture, but these three movies do suggest to me that trying to figure out how you are,

who you are, I should say, has been mediated for Shownbrun, as it is for many people through online horror games, through crappy TV series. That's right. Beloved. And now cinema. Here, right.

And now, and specifically slashes, right? And so I would say, what does our pop culture mean to us? For Schoenbrun, the filmmaker, at least, it means everything. It is, it is not how we pass the time. It is not what we do for entertainment. It is not just part of modern life. Pop culture is life. And I think what's interesting,

and has, and I think there's a distinction with Camp Miasma from their previous two films. How do we feel about that? How do we feel about, you know, where does that lead us? As I suggested in my setup, maybe not to the greatest places for the characters in the previous two films. I think we're seeing something different here. There's a little bit of, there's a bit more confidence in having, mediated your existence through pop culture, which for many people may not be a choice.

This may be just how you've grown up. And so what do you do with that reality? What I'll say with this movie is Sean Brun has made of it at this point, mid-August, the best film of 2026. I'm a little bit dismayed to say that I agree with you, even though we haven't had a case where we've had the same number one film since the year you joined the show. And you hadn't even officially joined the show at that point, I think, 2011, when we both put the tree of life there. We'll see if this, we'll see if this holds. But we haven't, wasn't there one other one?

No, there might not have been. We had a number two. We've definitely shared a number two, I think. Yeah, yeah. I'm with you at this point. It's my favorite film of the year. by far and I am going to try to dig into this a little bit further but what you're saying about media and the way shown brun through these films what what they seem to be expressing

how their lives are mediated through this this imagery and through pop culture it's seeing here's here's what I'm I'm taking from it is that it's seeing yourself reflected but the thing is it's not that simple. Self is very complicated. Seeing yourself reflected doesn't mean the type of characteristics that you might immediately think of. It doesn't mean demographic information. It doesn't mean things you would fill out on a form or even necessarily behavioral information. During our I saw the TV glow conversation, I talked about this liminal space that's created when you have a character who is seeing themselves caught in this in between between the person.

they are on this side of the TV and the person they see themselves as they see themselves as on this side of the TV and there's this space in between which you can equate to that that transitioning experience if you want to to read it that way so that's that's the seeing yourself and I think you can you can look at we're all going to the world's fair similarly so self is complicated but it's seeing yourself reflected and it's through these three films seeing that self reflected in different forms of media, but also seeing yourself at different points in your life and at different points in your journey in terms of your identity. So of course you're going to have different experiences with that media.

Regardless of the media and how it's different, you're coming at it very differently because you're a different person at this point. So I've mentioned Lynch. I always mention Lynch when I talk about Shone Brun's work. Shone Brun, I'm pretty sure has been on record saying Lynch was an influence. There's often a dream logic to these movies. And I watch them and feel that as well constructed as they are, the way you put it earlier was great.

I have something similar in my notes. It's like someone's unconscious thoughts. are being created before our eyes. When I was setting up for you, I saw the TV glow, I referenced Kant's notion of free play. This idea that I think applies even more here, Josh. He says, beautiful art, music, and ideas offer a kind of cognitive tease. They dangle the promise of comprehension,

but never provide the full satisfaction of getting it. That's the best description of that, that I've ever come across. And I don't think that there's getting Camp Measma. But I'd argue it's also very straightforward. And Schoenbrun isn't shy

about expressing themes and key ideas directly in the text. I didn't take French in high school, so I didn't immediately understand why the slasher was called, what the slasher was called. It took the scene in the van

from the movie within the movie for me to start to piece together where I thought the movie was going before then Chris verbalizes it later and then I retrofitted I'll give myself a little credit I retrofitted the slasher's name

without knowing the French aphorism because it's such an odd name and frankly it just made sense to me this idea of little death La Petit Moore the little death. This is a movie about a woman coming to terms with her mind and body and sex and how repressed she has been.

So I'll go back to the cultural connection, I suppose, Josh, and give you a little bit more. It is about through this individual lens, it is about how we treat sex and how distancing or how we like to distance ourselves from thinking about. flesh and fluids, how we're not prepared to reveal our true selves to others, especially our desires, especially if our desires are remotely taboo. I think that's what, I think that's what Shone Brun is exploring here. That's how it resonated with me. I'm just thinking about what he's going to feel like.

Losing your virginity? No. Die. Behind every night spent making the kids lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pesto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers?

Get Bell Pure Fiber 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.com.com.com. Bell, Connection is everything. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us or rather you know, 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. Guestrars, 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 he was going to write. I thought you were 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. 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 is 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. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anywhere, too, right? What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured, by some sort of technology. Danny McBride. He loves Mouthins. Oh, that's fantastic.

And you make it on, you make your own. That's great. I call him Taro Reed. It's a good name. They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. Oh, gotcha.

I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski. Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Yeah.

Then Mary Steenbergin. Why are you going to? I'm worried. I'm worried. Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game? I just really, I get it. I'm trying to set you up for success here. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On Solita, we share the messy stories of traveling alone as a woman. Your duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you. Oh, no. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I mean, this is a slasher flick that doubles as sex therapy. That's what's going on here. I don't know if there's a genre category for that, but that's absolutely what's going on. And you're right. It's, you know, Little Death, the killer in this slasher series is an early signal of that.

I don't think Sean Brun is being coy about this at all. We have repeated returns to the central sequence from the very first camp miasma film, which is familiar to anyone who's seen a Friday the 13th movie, which is where the young character played by, by Billy, is having sex. with an older boy and the killer comes into the room. And we see in her eye the reflection of the killer about to strike. And so this is the key to the whole movie, but we see it multiple times. And it's, it's, I would say also pretty clear the first time we see it, even though it's cut before the scene ends. the correlation that Shone Brun is making here between sex and death, right?

I mean, this movie, when we did our preview, I said it was catnip for me because in my horror book, I have a chapter, sex and death. This is a subgenre of horror. And one of the exciting things about Camp Miasma for me is how it's moving that conversation forward from, you know, Friday the 13th, even a much better movie like Halloween, even my beloved nightmare in Elm Street, they deal in this puritanical motion of titillate the audience, but then also punish the characters so the audience can be conscience free, right, at the end. So it's this bizarre messed up.

These are the sort of things that mess people up when they see them too young, which is something Chris actually says in the movie. What is a movie like Friday 13th communicating? Is that sex is exciting and bad, right? and you're going to die for it. That's messed up. And so this is a movie that's moving the conversation forward. I've argued, as we did recently for film spotting family members in a bonus episode that

something like it follows from about 10 years ago, similarly move that conversation forward an interesting way. Here we have it much more personal, though, to go to your point about Shone Brun's filmmaking style. This is processing the sort of whether it's repression, whether it's, personal hangups, whether it's societal pressure, whether it's moralizing that sex is supposed to be a gift and is a really messed up thing for human beings because of our frailties and all sorts of reasons, right? And so this is an entirely specific working through of a hangup

that you might describe as perverse in some ways. How Chris Ging. gets to where she gets to at the end of the film. But that's because it's so personally specific. At the same time, going back to TV glow, it can be opened up to interpretation for everyone's trying to wrap their mind around what sex means for them, which is also an incredible accomplishment for this movie to be able to open itself up that wide as well. So, yeah, I think I was, I was hoping this is where this movie was going to go. and it delivered on that in in so many ways.

I think to get into more specifics would reveal spoilers that we probably don't want to do. So I don't know. Maybe now can we start talking about how fun the movie is? Well, I do want to. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that we need, need to necessarily dig into this part any further. But I suppose I at least want to make my case a little more substantial.

and say that I only have minimal knowledge of Shone Brun's bio, but having now reviewed three films, you pick up on a few things over the years. And when you look at the progression of these three films, Josh, we're all going to the World's Fair. You have a character who is overwhelmed by a feeling of alienation, of confusion, of unease. I believe Shone Brun at that point had not transitioned. With I saw the TV glow, which we mentioned, I said a movie I read is attempting to reckon with having just transitioned or making that decision. Shone Brun had at that point, just, just gone through that.

Here we are now a few years later. for the first time, perhaps you feel like you know exactly who you are. But that doesn't mean you're fully equipped for all the experiences that now you're going to have, or that you're free enough to try things that you haven't tried before, or try things that perhaps you were deeply uncomfortable with previously. And are you willing to go to those scary places? How do you get to that? How do you now progress to that?

So I'm already thinking about what what Shone Brun's fourth film might be like, right? As Shone Brun starts to continue this evolution. And it brings me back to I saw the TV glow in the intertextuality here, the way these movies connect. Because in my notes, I mentioned how the character Owen, this is what I was alluding to earlier, the different self at different points. Owen rewatches the pink opaque on streaming the pilot for the first time in years. And it's different than he remembered. Right. Right.

Because that character is now different. It's not just that five years have gone by. That character has undergone a transformation. And here, in this film, too, remember what Chris says when she rewatches. the Camp Measma film for the first time. She says, I saw it like I had never seen it before. And there may be lots of reasons why she sees it that way. But part of that is I think you can suggest that she maybe hadn't actually watched that first film since she was a little girl.

Those flashback shots that we see of her watching when she's a little kid. Right. And she obviously is a little girl who is not out and she is now out. as a queer woman watching it through completely different, through completely different eyes. So of course, she's seeing it a different way. So I think you can, you can make potentially those parallels to, to Schoenbrun's life as well. That's, that is at least how I'm, how I'm seeing the film. Now we can transition, no pun intended, into whatever fun stuff you'd like to talk about because there is so much here. I mean, you mentioned the horror references.

We've just got a list at least the ones we caught, right? We've already, we've already name-checked Halloween, Friday 13th, Nightmare and Elm Street. I think you mentioned the shining. Yes. Videodrome. A couple of visual videodrome touches. Sure. Texas chainsaw mask are you mentioned.

Evil dead with all the blood spurting. Oh my gosh. Evil dead. Evil dead two. That's part of the comedy, right? It's horror comedy, actually, in a lot of ways. In the, in the actual like kill scenes, Schoenbrun is pushing it towards that direction. the comedy direction.

M. Night Shaman's the visit. And yeah, Sunset Boulevard, sure. Let's call it a horror film. Why not? Here's the point about all those references, though, Adam. None of them are lazy. None of them are intrusive. They're just living in this movie's blood.

It's almost like they have to be there. Not that Shonbrun wanted them there. Or worse, the audience expected them there. They're just embanked. in what this movie is obsessing over and trying to wrap its own mind around. And so while as, you know, a horror fissionado, I love them. I think the reason I don't roll my eyes at any of them is because they're so intricately interwoven into what the movie is trying to do.

And yeah, beyond the references, it's just the moment. I don't even know if I want to talk about. this because it's probably going to be, and it sounds like if you're this high in the movie, too, maybe a joint music moment of the year. Music moment of the year. I don't know how it gets to be. Should we save it? Well, I don't know.

Let's just plant a flag and say counting crows. Counting crows. I mean, look, Shone Brun had me at counting crows once the piano started. I didn't even need to see that it's that it's a one, that it's one take, that everything about that scene, how. how meticulously crafted that sequence is, how glorious that that is. It's not only a music moment of the year,

it's a scene of the year candidate. It is. And it's playing on so many levels, Josh. And maybe you can help me, this gets back to what I was saying about how Camp Miasma is a film that I think is immediately easy to get. And at the same time,

you can watch it 10 times and never fully get it. Because it is a work of sub-competitive. It is a work where you feel like the filmmaker within the film, Chris and the filmmaker, without the film, the filmmaker outside the movie, is willing to put whatever is emanating from their mind, from their subconscious, onto the screen and not overthink that, including some of those references, which they don't have to be. They're not overthought. Maybe later they interrogate it and understand exactly where it came from. But like so many of us who do view the world through cinema, people like me who, when I hear certain words and phrases, as I've said before, I say them in the, in the vernacular or in the exact same, the exact same way, I pronounce it the same way as certain characters.

That makes exact sense to me. But here's a sequence. Tell me if I'm wrong. Here's a sequence that uses a song from 1996. Yeah. Non-diagetically in a movie. It wouldn't have been around. You're right.

In a movie that by my guess would have been made at least 20 years earlier, 15 to 20 years earlier. I tried to find this out. I think it's supposed to be released in 83. Okay. So I have this same thought. It's 13 to 15 years earlier. It's completely anachron. It is clear to us as audience members that it's non-diagetic, meaning Jane Schoenbrun has decided to put, place that song over the soundtrack.

It is not coming from the party that is happening on screen. However, nor could it, nor could it be coming from the original Camp Measma movie. That's what I'm saying. There's no way because it's anachronistic and it could not be happening in that party. However, did you notice what happens at the end? of that party scene, the last shot, I believe, is a shot of a radio. And I'm waiting for it. And sure enough, as soon as the radio tips and hits the floor, the song stops, which is a little tease that perhaps it is diagetic, even though we know it's not and it couldn't be playing because it doesn't

exist yet. So that's those are the types of enigmas that you have, the myriad enigmas you have in this film. And it, it doesn't matter because it's just such a delight. Or it, It might correct, but it also might matter, to your point, on a second viewing. In a way, we have to, like, dig into yet. I don't know if we can tease a show coming up in five months, but our rap party with these categories, seen of the year, music moment of the year. We'll get back into this because I think we have different feelings about counting crows late December, the song. A long December, Josh, how dare you? Put some respect on, put some respect on Adam Duritz's name.

This that speaks to my point. The fact that I get the name wrong. I looked this up and just just to be totally sure I wanted to know this coming in because I had a feeling you were not an appreciator. Jane Schoenbrun's not being ironic. Jane Schoenbrun's a fan, which makes me like Jane Schoenberg as a filmmaker even more. Yeah, we're going to have a good, we're going to have a good conversation about this in January. Anyway, the fun thing I want to highlight beyond that amazing sequence is the opening credits. because incredible to out to lay out over the credits the entire life cycle of a legacy horror property that is camp measma yes with all of the trinkets and the lore and you know miasma 3d we see came out so the mania of the first few years the dregs of those desperate down years when nobody cares about the franchise and then bringing us all the way up to you know chris the main character coming back to try to try to

to revive the franchise, just so brilliantly done in terms of setting the context and a ton of fun. And I have been listening today to OK, and it's new to me, so I hope I'm pronouncing this right, OK, Kaya, who sings a cover of REM's night swimming over this. Yeah. Here's a point I want to raise, which we've not talked about yet. We've touched on it. Yeah. And in the comments you've made, it's sort of, you know, intrinsic to it.

there is such a deep vulnerability being shared in this movie. And the choice of that song, to me, sets the stage for it. This is a song that, you know, had, you know, meant a ton to me over the years. Isn't that fundamentally what that song's about? Being willing to be vulnerable? Absolutely. And so to choose it, but, you know, to choose this, okay, Kaya cover, which is one of those covers that is um completes the song for a song that I revere and would never have thought

I needed another version of um that just adds to it rather than just using the song itself um and to juxtapose it with these fun entertaining elements of camp measma lore i think tells us, like, there's something deeply personal that's going to be shared in this movie while we're going to have a ton of fun. I just, that credit sequence is just out of this world. I was sure this was going to be one of my favorite films of the year at the end of the credit sequence. And then the long December sequence just cemented it for me.

It's kind of like, it's kind of like one of those instances where you're like, oh, man. Just don't screw it up from here. No, you're right. You're right. Because it is, it is just such good storytelling. It is here again, so specific. So clearly made by someone who understands and loves these films and understands what's problematic about these films and understands why they feel the way they do about these movies or is still trying to investigate why they feel the way they do about these movies. And it's done.

rendered in such an artistic way. And to get, I didn't count the minutes, how long that song is, but to get in that three or four minutes span, the entire arc of the Camp Miasma series, to cover three decades at least and have it all make perfect sense is really a feat. Now, I don't know if this would get you into trouble, Josh, but the song I've been listening to nonstop, I already have a long December on shuffle. But the song I've been listening to nonstop is the tune by Andy Schoff, Satan. I've been listening to Satan nonstop.

What a great song. What a great song that is. So I want to give you a few quick hits. Did you notice who the performer is playing the DJ in the scene, the Eva Victor? So great. So this one might be a bit of a stretch. It's either a stretch or it's completely obvious. I don't know.

but little death's mask. I think in that opening credit sequence, the media even refers to him as air vent man. Air vent man, yeah. That's effectively what he is. He's wearing an air vent on his head. So bizarre. And it makes total sense going back to how you were describing the scene that we've seen in all these horror films.

If a woman, it's always a woman, a young woman is having. sex and usually, as is the case here, is disassociating and staring off at the ceiling, they're seeing, they could be seeing an air vent. Right. So this is the sex and death connection here. So the air vent is what little death is wearing. But there are times, there are at least two times in the movie. I also thought Shonbrun was making, and this would make sense, if they were, was making an explicit connection between the way.

the way the air vent looks. I don't know how to describe what makes an air vent look like an air vent, but everyone can picture one as I'm talking about it. And the lenses of a projector. Yes, absolutely.

Right, that same share. You see that a couple times in the film. Like a very old, almost like original photos. Like original cameras. You see that a couple times in the film. I loved that. connection, or at least what I thought was a connection.

Going back to the personal journey and potentially the personal journey of a filmmaker in Hollywood, of a trans filmmaker in Hollywood, whether it's exactly true or not, the touch here, because it just seems so true, it seems like it has to be true, Josh. the touch that and I think I think both we haven't mentioned it but Jilline Anderson and Hannah Iin Binder here are both fantastic I think I'm bender is I don't know if we'll have time in this review we might have to save that to go into how good she is and why yes she as a filmmaker describes I think she's describing to Billy that the reason she understands that the reason she got picked to do this series is just because it's all about IP

and they picked her only because she's queer. And so that basically gives the studio some padding with the media and fans because they're reviving a misogynistic and problematic, transphobic series. But all they care about is the IP. And so if they have a queer filmmaker, they can trot that out there and say, well, they're doing it for us. So they're going to set everything right. See, we know what we're doing and we're being sensitive. to all of that. Right.

But after they do that, after they bring it back, after they revive it, they can do whatever they want with it. And the money, of course, is the objective. You have to imagine that Shone Brun has been approached.

Offered. Has been offered something like that. And so I found that very intriguing. Chris's Zoom meeting with the studio. Is another, is something in this film. And that's a great performance scene for Ryan Bindo, too.

It is. Just like diving right into artistic delusion in her pitch. Did you notice, too, that that air vent imagery is something that pops up in other places like at Billy's house in the background of her wallpaper, all of her paintings. All of her paintings. It's there. The last thing I'll mention, and I'm not going to say it because it's going to be a nominee for me for funniest moment of the year. there is there is a scene where they're watching the original camp miasma and hannah being the ultimate film geek when a shot occurs on screen oh i know where you're going yeah it's funny

says out loud that's good to to billy exactly what kind of shot it was and i was watching it with sophy oh no and i didn't say it out loud which one of you did it Which one of you did it? So Sophie wasn't familiar with that shot. Okay. After she said it and I died laughing because I was thinking it. I paused it. And Sophie said, so what's that?

And I explained it to her. I said, so see how this is occurring there on screen. See, I was imagining the two of you turned to each other and like in a sitcom set it at the same time. No, no. It ended up being a nice teachable, teachable film moment. But, but I'm thinking it. I'm sure lots of film geeks are thinking it and film geeks can be annoying as hell watching movies. And she's annoying as hell watching that movie in that moment.

She just cannot help herself. And even better though, Josh, it's not just that she says it. It's shown Brun capturing Billy's reaction to her saying it. Billy's just like, you know, just this, this face that couldn't be less interested. in her saying that and knew it was coming too at this point. Right. Nice visual callback to that later in the film too. Yeah. Is there anything else at this point? We need to cover with this movie? There's a ton. There's a ton. But it sounds like we're both so enthusiastic that it will be coming up again and again.

I'll just say this about Einbender because I don't want to, you know, entirely leave the performances to the wayside. It is a performance that grows in complication and revelation in a lot of ways. I guess what I would say is I had no idea. And part of this is the script, but it's also in the performance that the character I thought I knew in the first half hour is who I would come to know by the end. And I think I'm bender is, you know, absolutely, you know, do praise for the way she's able to, negotiate that while also while also being quite funny in a lot of scenes as as we've detailed. Yeah, she doesn't. Of course, it's in the writing too, but I'm with you that there isn't ever a sense of resorting to cliche or going to going to caricature of even though I just described a scene

that film geeks do the totality of that performance. She's never relying. Yeah, it's totally in character. And she's never relying on cliche. And it is a it is. It is. Quite a complex performance. Teenage sex and death at Camp Measma currently playing in limited release. Tell me this, Josh. Why would they go? Why would kids go to a camp called Camp Measma? Didn't they look up what miasma means? I looked it up. It's not good. What a great word for just sort of the filmmaking that Shonebrun does, honestly. And yeah, you would not catch me at Camp Measma. No. It's currently playing in limited release. If you see it and agree. Or, honestly. disagree with our thoughts, you can email us feedback at film spotting.net. We may highlight these at the end of the show, Josh, but a few films worth catching on the big screen this weekend. If you have a chance and if you're a regal unlimited member, you just might get to see them for free, including the big release, The End of Oak Street from David Robert Mitchell. We'll talk about

that. Next week on the show seems to be a bit of spectacle to that one that might lend itself to the big screen. But how about wet hot American summer? Sure, we caught that on the theater recently, but being released for its 25th anniversary, I wouldn't mind seeing that again with an audience. And this one may be a bit of a surprising choice, Josh. I shared something about it in the film spotting slack over the weekend. We have pretty much ignored the movie one night only. But it's caused quite a stir. A stir is correct.

It's very divisive. And divisive means maybe we should be talking about it. So I'm going to consider seeing it this weekend. And maybe we should talk about it on a future episode. Again, Regal Unlimited gives me the chance to see one night only for free. Regal Unlimited is the all you could watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. If you sign up using code FilmSpot 26, you get 15% off. It's the only truly limitless movie subscription pass

because you can see any standard 2D movie anytime with no blackout dates or restrictions and you don't just save money on tickets. You also save on snacks. You get 10% off all non-alcoholic concessions. Sign up now in the Regal app or at the link in our description. And don't forget to use the code Film Spot 26 to receive your discount. Let's take a minute to thank the film spotting family, which honestly, all of you listening should join right now because you could do so for 20% off. This month, we're having a 20% off sale on membership through August 31st.

You just have to use the promo code summer, and you will get that deal. And you can join the film spotting family, which means you can be part of the biggest source of support for. for the show. Membership is the single largest source of support that we have. It keeps us doing what we've been doing for over 20 years. And this week, we want to thank a couple of family members. They would be Stephen, oh man, tell me Adam if I'm getting this one right. That's where I was going. All right. Stephen Basaccia in Milford, Connecticut. Thank you, Stephen. And we also want to, we also want to thank Stephen Sands in Coral Springs, Florida. Thank you both. Well, why does Sam pick two guys with the same name?

I mean, messing with us as usual. Listeners can't tell that they spell Stephen differently. That's not on the page in front of them. Stephen B. writes, funnily enough, the first episode I listened to was Adam and Josh diverging on the Joker. I found the discourse around the film fascinating and appreciated the way you both navigated the disagreement with humor and openness to differing perspectives. It's good if we finally figured out how to do that. I live for the year. Did we do that? Okay. I don't know. I think we did. Yeah. I live for the year-end reviews. It's a great way to get exposed to movies that might have flown under the radar under my radar. Same goes for the Golden Brick Award winners and nominees. As an indie filmmaker, I love that you guys take time to highlight smaller films.

Let's hear from Stephen S. Have been listening since the beginning. Adam's love of all that jazz, one of my all-time favorites, kept me coming back at first. But the banter and the deep dives always remind me of my days in the theater department at Point Park University and the Pittsburgh Playhouse discussing film and performance. I enjoy seeing how often I guess what Adams and Josh's top five picks will be and how they compare to my choices. But the one that sticks in my craw is from your top five movie meal. episode 817. How the end grilled cheese sandwich scene between John Favro and Roy Choi in Chef,

in Chef, was not included, is a travesty. Have you seen, I haven't seen Chef. Have you seen Chef? That's the thing. It's tough for that to make our list when neither of us have seen it. I have only caught moments of Chef on HBO here and there. But I've never, I've never been moved to watch the whole film. Can I offer a tip as an apology to Stephen S

since he seems to be a connoisseur of grilled cheese sandwiches, as am I? What's your tip? You do it in the pan, right? Like everybody does. And then when you get the bread, just golden crisp, sometimes depending on how much cheese you put in, cheese isn't all melted through. This is why you need a toaster oven.

Pop that thing in the toaster oven after grilling it for, you know, 30 seconds a minute. it's going to be nice and gooey inside. You still have the crisp on the outside. There you go. Stephen S. Do they do that in Chef? Tell me if they do that in Chef.

Probably not. Julie, a child here. I love it. We'll see what tips we get next week. Movies they credit with becoming cinephiles. Stephen B. Strangely enough, the Stanford Prison Experiment. It just played at the right time when I was in college

and was the right encouragement for me to want to switch my major to film. Stephen S. S. Siskel and Ebert's recommendation of Diva in 1981, the first foreign film I ever saw. made me realize there were more than just genre films to be seen. Well, thank you very much, Stephen B and Stephen S for your support and for listening. If you'd like to follow them both on Letterboxed, you can follow Stephen B at B-I-S-A-C-C.

Stephen S is at Take 1, the number one, Sands. More information about joining the FilmSpotting Family is available at FilmSpottingFamily.com. You get access to our ad-free feed. You can listen to that on Apple or Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You get our weekly newsletter, the family-only discord. You get exclusive opportunities

like being part of our 20s and 30s madness. We're trying to figure out which eight films are going to be in our super madness next year. We do know that at this point, but we don't know which film is going to be crowned champion yet of this tournament. We are down to the final four. The selection committee continues to be very good at seeding because the one, two, three, and five seeds have advanced.

And in all fairness, it was really a toss-up between the four and five seeds, which one should be four. It was stagecoach or city lights. And stagecoach got beat in this tournament. City Lights did advance. So we've got four incredible films. And as Sam pointed out in our newsletter today, Josh, that went to Films Five. family members to silence, two all-time silence from the 20s in Sherlock Jr. and City Lights, Chaplin and Keaton. It makes perfect sense. And then from the 30s. You need to have both of them still at this

point. I mean, come on. And then from the 30s, we've got the Wizard of Oz and M. It's a great final four. Can't wait to see how it turns out. And we also have August blindspotting ahead three films that all three of us, including producer Sam, haven't seen. One from Scorsese, one from Vim Vendors, one from Kiyosha. These are the things you get to decide as part of the film spotting family. You pick the movie, we have to watch and talk about, and that will come to you later this month. Again, the promo code is summer, and you can sign up at philmspottingfamily.com. President Reagan, you got us here, sir.

You got the Russians to the table. Gorbachev came to play. But if we fail here, there will be war. In wide release this weekend, the brink of war. This is set during the 1986 Reckyvic summit between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, Jeff Daniels plays Reagan, and Jared Harris plays Gorbachev. J.K. Simmons and Hope Davis are also in the cast. Now, Adam, we weren't quite teens when this took place, but that phrase Reckyvic Summit sounds vaguely familiar. Certainly, we remember Reagan, obviously, Gorbachev as well. What does the movie have to offer on this 40-year-old event and any sense of why now? Why this story now?

there's definitely a sense of why now. There's a fair amount of timeliness. I don't remember anything about this event as it was happening in the present day back in the mid-80s. We were both fairly young at the time. I do or I did have a fair bit of backstory and knowledge going into this movie, though, because I had watched just like a year ago, a documentary about a documentary just about, this summit and I swear to you I tried to find information about this. I watched it as a screener I think or I thought it was a Sundance movie but I can't find

it. I cannot find the name of this film. I talked about it on the show briefly. I thought it was uneven, but it was fascinating because it got in just to the minutiaa of this film like taking all of the papers, everything that had been transcribed, how this whole thing came together. So I had some of the, the backstory here going into watching this movie. It's an on the nose peon to good old boy diplomacy that's nevertheless enjoyable and worth heeding. That's the timeliness. That's part of the timeliness. At one point,

George Schultz, who's played by J.K. Simmons, he's the Secretary of State to Reagan. Ian Reagan are having a conversation. I think at this point they've just made what they think is really significant progress towards arms reduction. And Reagan quotes something that Margaret Thatcher told him, everything in the world is settled by two lads in a pint. And the movie does want to, I think, put forth this notion, the writer-director Michael Russell Gunn wants us to consider that despite our differences,

and Reagan and Gorbachev, as depicted in the movie, couldn't have more divergent worldviews. The writer-director wants to suggest that everything could be solved or certainly the first domino could fall if we could just engage with a dialogue with each other. Can't we just get in a room with each other and have a beer and have a conversation? And that sentiment isn't lost on me

as evident as it may be and as cynical as I am. There is some other resonance too, Josh. I don't know if you've noticed that all of a sudden the terms communist and socialist are being thrown around again as a threat to the American way. Yeah. A threat to liberty? And I hope actually that everyone who's using those terms and who feels that way, I hope they see this movie. And they might because Republicans worship Reagan. as you know. And I think this movie does too. Because here's the most antiquated thing about it.

One of the, or what feels antiquated, one of the sticking points in the negotiations, and this is true, because I know this from the documentary, is that Reagan kept insisting on bringing up to Gorbachev rushes human rights violations. And his justification, at least here according to this screenplay, and a lot of it was, supposedly based off of George Schultz's actual records was he says to Gorbachev at one point actually two points he says the same thing

we are a nation of immigrants he's emphasizing how America is made up of immigrants and one eighth I think is the number he uses one eighth of our country has ties to Russia so this is this is important

to him that that Russia doesn't treat its people better that doesn't that the people don't enjoy the freedoms that Americans enjoy under under a democracy. I wonder how that that sentiment would would sit with with some viewers watching it today. It's it's effectively a two-hander. It's mostly comprised of conversations between Daniels and and Jared Harris as Gorbachev on on opposite sides of a table in this cramped room in Reykjavik. And of course, they're both very capable actors. Daniels, he doesn't really go for a Reagan impression, I'd say.

He only slips into the Reagan accent or the affect that we all know when he says well, which is the word we all think of when we think of doing a Reagan impression. He'll say well and it sounds just like that impression. Otherwise, he just plays Reagan as someone who's extremely calm. seems like the definition of a leader. He's always on the offensive. He's exceptionally strategically minded. Harris is fundamentally decent,

but has this Russian bluster to him and he gets more emotional. It breaks the monotony with calls, gets us out of that room. When they take breaks with calls to Nancy Reagan, who's played by Hope Davis, she stayed back in Washington and scenes with Reza Gorbachev, who came with Gorbachev, and she's doing some sightseeing.

And that quickly becomes its own battle between the two women, despite the fact that Nancy is, as I said, back at the White House. And it actually does have a clever payoff. The CIA and KGB are down in the basement, and that their little fights, their squabbles are meant to be amusing. They aren't really. The film, as I said, I think it does really worship Reagan. And why I say that is because not only in its portrayal, but there's a point early on where he's talking about why they're even there and what the goal of the conversations are. And he's talking about threats of fascism and communism. And the music starts to start to build behind him, Josh.

And then he's saying he's talking to his small team that's there. And he says, I wrote this down. If we fail, if I fail, I will be just a war monger. That's the absolute opposite of our goal. Now, that sentiment or that idea may be completely accurate. That's not what I'm taking issue with. A lot of the dialogue feels like it was written with the benefit of hindsight. It doesn't, it feels like movie dialogue.

It does not feel like anybody in the room in that room like I would imagine them actually speaking to each other. They're making pronouncements. They're making these these declarations to each other. It tries to humanize Reagan by showing him having these nightmares because he got shot, you know, the attempted assassination by Hinkley, even though that happened five years earlier. Yes, I can understand there may be some trauma still, of course, because of that.

At one point, two, Schultz is with him in his room and Reagan is changing his shirt. And the camera keeps, like it's from Schultz's point of view, focusing on Reagan's stomach. It feels completely random. And Josh, I think the point is that Schultz is noticing his wounds or something. Ah. But it happens so quickly. They're flashes. It's bizarre.

It's bizarre more than anything else. You don't really understand why Schultz is looking at the president's barely. bare body or why we as audience members are are being drawn to look there to look there either. But look, if you like watching intense situations where people are trying to use whatever leverage they have against each other, and I do generally, then this movie will work, especially when the entire fate of the world is at stake. And it does remind us, I suppose, of a time when diplomacy actually seemed possible. and having a leader who could think strategically seemed possible, and having a leader who actually read the binders seemed possible, and someone who acted out of thought of legacy and safety for the American people.

So that's partly why I'm positive enough on the brink of war, which is out now in limited release. I can understand that. Actually, wide release, the brink of war. I think I said limited release. If you do get a chance to see that movie, I would love to hear your thoughts. Behind every night spent making the kids' lunches,

there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pastos survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber 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.za for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. 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 like 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 Chrysler, 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Solita, we share the messy stories of traveling alone as a woman. Your duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you.

Oh, no. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can. say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is, and not the lies you're sold about it.

So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.

The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anywhere, too, right? What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny McBride. He loves Mawba. Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on, you make your own. That's great.

I call him Terro Reed. It's a good name. They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was a. in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski. I don't think she was an American

pie, but I still like that. I haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Then Mary Steenberg. Why are you guys talking to me? I'm worried. Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game? I just really

I get it. I'm trying to set you up for success here. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It was my dream. Sometimes to do what's right, we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. It's time for some poll results.

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to choose one and only one Spider-Man movie. Your options in chronological order were Spider-Man from 2002, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man Homecoming, Spider-Man Indusement, Spider-Man. the Spider-verse, Spider-Man across the Spider-verse, or if you thought we left one of the Spider-Man movies out that you prefer, you could write in Other. Josh, how did it come out? I think Sam did okay here. Other was in last place with 4%. Then came Spider-Man Homecoming, the 2017 film, with 5% of the vote. A jump up to 11% of the vote. That went to Spider-Man from 2002, 15% of the vote went to Spider-Man across the Spider-verse, and then it came down pretty much to these two.

In second place, was Spider-Man into the Spider-verse? 32.60%? How do you say this? 60-60? 32.6? Yeah. 32.6. All right, I don't get into math.

Once the decimals are involved, I'm out. First place went to Spider-Man 2 from 2004. 33.3. Let's call it that percent of the up. When we're getting into decimal points, that's that's an indication, yes, of just how close it was. And validation here, we thought that into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man 2 would compete for the top spot.

That's why we picked them for our movie Death Match episode a couple of Mondays ago. And here they are so close together. And Josh, the thing is, Sam just picks that as he's putting these. pages together for us earlier here the day we're recording. But the poll hadn't closed. So while you were going through the results, I decided to go and see where it stood this minute. If any other votes had come in,

usually, of course, nothing has changed because there's enough distance between the candidates here. I am not kidding you. I just closed it officially. It flip-flopped? It did not flip-flop. but it is now 33.09% to 33.09% we have a tie. Oh, what are we going to do?

I don't know. Has this happened before? They both get to be saved. They both get to be free of the incinerator. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it's perfect. Here's Aaron. Spider-Man 2 is not only the best Spider-Man movie.

It is still the greatest comic book movie ever made. There have been a few that came close to topping it, but none quite bested it. All right. here's Jason. I've played by the rules through every film spotting madness and respect to the rules of the incinerator. My vote is for Spider-Man too, but you will not take into the Spider-verse away from me. A copy will be hidden away where the film spotting enforcers will never find it. Jason, you're lucky. Here's Henry. I would have automatically gone with Spider-Man too, but hearing Josh and Adams' conversation actually swayed me back to the first Spider-Man, a movie I must have seen

a hundred times since I was five years old, so many iconic images and moments without which we never would have gotten any of these other great films. There you go, Henry. Yeah, everyone who voted in that poll and who left a comment. The new deeply flawed film spotting poll is inspired by Jane Schoenbrun and their latest teenage sex and death at Camp Miasma. As we said, it is shown Brun's third feature on a really good run. so far that got us thinking what other third features have we gotten this decade how do they compare to shone bruns and i'm going to say right off the bat that it's it's a really flawed poll because sam just just can't help himself with options with other we have what eight choices here

he never wants to leave people out i get it he's he's such a nice guy so true let's let's get into him josh what are the choices i in sam's defense i think I know there was some last minute conversation about one of these options. I think we kind of needed all the ones he proposed. They're all of a piece. They all feel pretty good. They feel like they came about in roughly the same time, built their careers the same way. And we feel equally, here's what I'd say.

We felt equally excited about their third feature when it was coming out. So, Greta Gerwig's Barbie, previous to that. obviously ladybird and little women. Ari Aster's Bo was afraid, previous to that, Hereditary and Midsomar. Brady Corbett's The Brutelus. This is the one that was added last minute. I don't know. Were we that excited about Brady Corbett's next film?

Maybe some people were, maybe they weren't. Previous to that, you may need to be reminded, the childhood of a leader in Voxlux. Olivia Wilde's the invite. Book smart. Don't worry, darling. I was probably the only one very excited about. her third feature based on the general reception of Don't worry, darling. Chloe Jow's Nomad Land before that, Chloe Jow had made songs my brother taught me and the writer.

Jordan Peel's note, nope, obviously, proceeded that with Get Out and Us and Robert Eggers, the Northman, before that came, The Witch and The Lighthouse. So your choices basically are, Barbie, Bo is Afraid, the Brutalist, the Invite, Nomad Land, Nope, or the North. Indeed. Those are the choices. It is about the third film. It isn't about the promise of the filmmakers. It's not about the filmmakers at all. So are you now awaiting, are you awaiting me to choose, Josh? Out of those films, yeah. Yeah. I have a winner. I do have a winner. I don't yet. So go ahead. You, you share yours first. Well, my favorite, my favorite filmmaker, there, not my choice, obviously, is Greta Gerwig, because Greta Gerwig made my two favorite films that are on the list, and they are Lady Bird and Little Women. But they're not Barbie. So that's not going to be my choice. Brady, I think it's, I think it's Corbe. I'm trying to remember.

I know. I was trying to remember when I said it too. Correct pronunciation. Brady Corby is the one that doesn't feel like he completely belongs because I haven't seen those two previous films. I'm going to be totally honest and admit I haven't even heard of the film, the childhood of a leader. I don't think anyone, or I'm not going to say anyone, that's absurd.

I wasn't anticipating the brutalist. When it came out and it played at the Chicago Film Festival, that was the first time I had heard of it. So I was definitely not anticipating it. However, it is my favorite film on this list. Before Brady Corbe and the Brutalist got added, nope was my choice, but the Brutalist is my favorite film.

And it's not really close. So that's an easy one. That's an easy one for me. Now, if you dipped into other territory, I could consider Todd Field's tar, give me movies about temperamental artists, apparently. And I also do love in the bedroom and little children. But I'm going.

on the list. I'm sticking to the list. I'm going the brutalist. So for me from the list, it comes down to Barbie, the invite or nope. And I feel like nope, I need one more viewing to really get a sense of how it would compete

about those others. And I somewhat feel the same with the invite. I'm riding very high on that right now. Right now. but haven't had a chance to see it again. So I think I'm going to go with the movie I know best. And that is Barbie. Barbie is my vote. A vote for Barbie. A vote for the brutalist.

We would love your vote. We would love to hear an explanation for your vote. We might even feature your comments on an upcoming show. And of course, there are options for other if you'd like to write them in. You could make the case for Todd Fields tar instead. didn't feel to Sam, and I suppose to all three of us, like they quite fit in with the rest of the gang. Charlie Kaufman's, I'm thinking of ending things. Eliza Hittman, never rarely sometimes always.

Cagillionaire, the third film from Miranda July. Are there defenders out there for Alex Garland's men? I don't know. I liked mine on my list. Did you? Yes. We did discuss that film. I didn't remember us having a strong disagreement about it.

I was definitely very mixed on that film. Maybe I didn't review it with you. It's possible. I feel like all of those, they just, they feel of a different group of filmmakers. Like is Todd Fields going to make? Is his next movie 10 years from now? Maybe. I don't know.

Maybe as something coming out this fall. But it just, I feel like the group Sam landed on for the most part are filmmakers who came up around the same time and we're going to be following for a long time as a group. So that feels right to me. 874 was the episode. That was the episode you debuted the Garland Scale. So we did discuss men together. Who could ever forget. Who could forget? You can vote once again and leave a comment at filmspotting.net. The link and the poll are right there on the main page. We will share the results in a couple of weeks. Josh, that is our show. show. If you want to connect with us on social media, you can find Adam and the show on

Instagram, Facebook, letterboxed YouTube, and Blue Sky at FilmSpotting. You'll find me at Larson on film. We are independently produced and listener supported. You can support the show by joining the film spotting family at film spotting family.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. You'll get all of that for 20% off through the month. of August, just use promo code summer. For show t-shirts and other merch, go to filmspotting.net slash shop. How about this, Josh?

In limited release, completely off our radar, I feel like we're saying this more and more. The Rivals of Amzia King, this is director Andrew Patterson, his follow-up to 2020 Golden Brick nominee, The Vast of Night. That's right. Interesting film. And it's got Matthew McConaughey in it. It's got Kurt Russell in it. Yeah, McConaughey is the title character, a beekeeper who reunites with his former foster daughter.

It premiered back at the 2025 South by Southwest. Our friend Mitchell Beaupre says it's a shape-shifting soul-stirring, sonically sumptuous delight. That's a lot of S's. Well done, Mitchell Beaupé. Also out is Wet Hot American Summer played film spotting fest. Now it's being re-released on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. go enjoy that with an audience. In wide release, Nimrod's three friends journey from Kansas City to L.A.

mistakenly believing their band is opening for Green Day on New Year's Eve. That happened to your band, right? Yeah, something just like that. The wrong girls is also about Kristen Stewart and Aaliyah Shokat are stoner, best friends who get caught up in a case of mistaken identity. I think we were all waiting for a stoner comedy from Kristen Stewart. I mean, Alia Shaka, that's a pretty good duo,

actually. This sounds kind of good. The Brink of War is out. And David Robert Mitchell's The End of Oak Street. Big week in the film spotting feed. We will close out on Sunday our dissident cinema marathon

with our awards. On Monday, another episode of the movie racket with Michael Phillips. A lot of talk of adaptations in the news lately, of course, with the odds.

Odyssey. So this show will be all about that. The movie laws of book to film adaptations with David Kajannick, who adapted. He's a screenwriter who adapted three films for Luca Guadino, including Susperia. On Tuesday, film spotting SVU has the latest from Louis Littier, The Last House, and I'm very eager to see this one now, Josh, just based on the cast. Greta Lee, Wagner Mora, not bad, pretty good parents. On Thursday, part two of the next picture shows pairing, which is Pixar's Ratatoui and Anthony Bourdain's Tony. And finally, on Friday, the film spotting mothership. You'll have a review of Tony. I can't see it for another couple of weeks yet, unfortunately, very, very excited to. And you plan to share a few thoughts on Tony because you have already had the pleasure of seeing that. I've seen it. Interesting film.

I'll share more later. Film spotting is produced by Golden Joe Dissau and Sam Van Hoggren without Sam and Golden Joe this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempiner. 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, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit 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. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 is famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 600. 50 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed, and Mary Steenberg. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman.

Your duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you. Oh, no. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.