Filmspotting

Film music historian and journalist ⁠Tim Greiving⁠, author of John Williams: A Composer's Life, joins Michael Phillips to explore one of the foundational dilemmas of movie music, courtesy of legendary composer Max Steiner: "The hardest thing in scoring is to know when to start and when to stop." From King Kong and The Adventures of Robin Hood to Jaws and Star Wars, Michael and Tim trace the...

Is The End of Oak Street the best Spielberg movie of 2026? Or is one of your hosts committing movie heresy? Adam and Josh review David Robert Mitchell's dinosaur-filled family adventure and consider whether there's more on its mind than blockbuster thrills. Plus: thoughts on the Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony, Willem Dafoe in Late Fame, and Adam's conversation with the creators of the Table Read...

Kristen Stewart is back in theaters with The Wrong Girls, which is an excuse to share our Top 5 KStew Scenes from 2017. Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus episodes, and more when you ⁠join the Filmspotting Family⁠. Promo code: summer for 20% off through Aug. 31. "Personal Shopper and the Movies That Haunt Us" Scott, Morris - Great Performances of 2016 Stewart: Hiding...

It’s all fine and good to be sealed up in a house with Wagner Moura and Greta Lee, but the longer Netflix’s new The Last House keeps us there, the more time Matt and Jordan have for questions about the why and the how and… is that broccoli you’re growing in the floorboards, Greta? Matt and Jordan also discuss Netflix’s curious fascination with apocalyptic tales. Then, some Last House-inspired...

Matt Johnson’s new biopic Tony sidesteps the infamous Walk Hard trap by narrowing its scope to a single summer that would end up shaping the rest of Anthony Bourdain’s life, but not necessarily defining it. Whether that approach is ultimately satisfying to fans of the late celebrity chef and author is up for debate this week, as we’re once again joined by Vulture critic Roxana Hadadi to discuss...

Screenwriter and producer David Kajganich (Suspiria, Bones and All) joins Michael Phillips to test a provocative rule of adaptation from filmmaker Whit Stillman: "You owe everything to the movie and nothing to the original [source]."But what about the opposite approach? As the Coen brothers once joked about adapting Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men: "One of us types into the computer...

Adam and Josh share their favorite discoveries, performances, and scenes from the recently completed Dissident Cinema Marathon, which included Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, Kurosawa's No Regrets for Our Youth, and Rossellini’s Rome, Open City. Links:-The Circle Ending Revealed | BFI⁠old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/1960⁠ -Filmspotting Marathonshttps://www.filmspotting.net/marathonsSee...

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. This episode is presented by⁠...

Anthony Bourdain, whose early experience working in a restaurant kitchen is chronicled in the new biopic Tony, once singled out Ratatouille as Hollywood’s best depiction of working in a restaurant kitchen, which is all the invitation we need to revisit Brad Bird’s 2007 Pixar classic. So this week, with the help of Vulture critic Roxana Hadadi, we consider how Ratatouille trusts its viewers to...

In 2015, Adam and Josh welcomed poster designer Sam's Myth on the show to talk shop and share their Top 5 Movie Posters. Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus episodes, and more when you ⁠join the Filmspotting Family⁠. Promo code: summer for 20% off through Aug. 31. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.