HeyJaredThe Next Reel Film Podcast
A show about movies and how they connect.We love movies. We’ve been talking about them, one movie a week, since 2011. It’s a lot of movies, that’s true, but we’re passionate about origins and performance, directors and actors, themes and genres, and so much more.
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- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 3, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Aug 6, 2026
Latest episodes
Wag the Dog (opens the original)
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What happens when a president's team is willing to fake a war? Pete and Andy tackle "Wag the Dog," Barry Levinson's 1997 political satire, as part of their Smoke & Mirrors series, with Dustin Hoffman as a larger-than-life Hollywood producer, Robert De Niro as the political operative who recruits him, and Anne Heche as the White House aide caught in the middle of it all. Pete and Andy dig into the tangled writing credit behind the film's overlapping dialogue, and debate exactly where its satire s
Bob Roberts (opens the original)
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A right-wing folk singer runs for Senate, and the cameras can't tell fact from performance. "Bob Roberts" kicks off Smoke and Mirrors, The Next Reel's new series on how politicians manipulate their own image and the media covering them, starring Tim Robbins as the candidate, Giancarlo Esposito as the journalist chasing him, and Alan Rickman as his campaign chairman. Pete and Andy dig into how directly the film borrows its documentary style from a famous Bob Dylan concert film, why a scrappy, Bri
Sorry to Bother You (opens the original)
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A telemarketer discovers a voice that gets him everything he wants—and everyone else pays for it. "Sorry to Bother You" closes out The Next Reel's Platformed Lives series, from writer-director Boots Riley. LaKeith Stanfield stars as telemarketer Cassius "Cash" Green, with Tessa Thompson as his girlfriend Detroit and Armie Hammer as the CEO who takes a sudden interest in Cash's rise. Pete and Andy dig into the film's overdubbed "white voice" device and how far the movie's satire stretches before
Nightcrawler (opens the original)
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Some people fall into the worst version of themselves. Lou Bloom arrives already there. Dan Gilroy's 2014 neo-noir thriller follows a petty thief who discovers freelance crime videography and finds in it the perfect profession—one that rewards exactly the qualities that make him dangerous. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is a career landmark, and the film around it is darkly, uncomfortably funny in ways that sneak up on you. Pete Wright and Andy Nelson dig into what makes Nightcrawler tick as both
The Truman Show (opens the original)
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One man's entire life has been broadcast to the world without his consent. "The Truman Show" opens a new Next Reel series called Platformed Lives, directed by Peter Weir and starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, with Ed Harris as the show's creator and Laura Linney as his on-screen wife. Small cracks start showing in the world around him, and he can't look away. Pete and Andy dig into how the film anticipates reality TV and social media surveillance decades early, and trace the wild path the sc
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