Filmspotting

As co-director of You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder is unusually present in front of the camera, arguably overshadowing the film’s ostensible subject, disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. That’s just the start of the film’s unconventionalities, which we’ll get into more next week, but first we’re revisiting a 1979 comedy that predicts Fielder’s turn as the stealth protagonist of his own documentary. As a prototype of the mockumentary form, as well as a satire of the then-nascent genre of reality television, Albert Brooks’ deeply meta debut feature Real Life encourages the audience to recognize an essential fact about documentary filmmaking, which is that cameras inevitably affect the behavior of those in front of it. And this week in Feedback, we correct an oversight in our recent discussion of The Social Network, and touch on some of the other titles we considered for this pairing.
Please share your thoughts about Real Life, You Can See Everything, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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 NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.
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What better way to kick off Noir-vember than with a Sacred Cow review of arguably the greatest noir ever made, Billy Wilder's 1944 classic Double Indemnity. Originally reviewed in 2022 as part of the Barbara Stanwyck Marathon.
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With Godzilla Minus Zero coming to theaters this weekend, Matt and Jordan took it upon themselves to brush up on the “King of the Monsters.” Helping them out is guest Aaron Neuwirth, co-host of the 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla podcast. Between them, they recommend five Godzilla titles that are available to stream. Plus, a listener request for whimsical - but still informative! - documentaries. And Matt hosts this week’s game: Letterboxd-ing — Roland With the Punches Edition.
Intro (00:00:00–00:03:07)
Streaming Godzilla movies w/Aaron Neuwirth (00:03:08–01:00:34)
Listener Request Seg: Whimsical Docs (01:00:35–01:23:33)
Game: Letterboxd-ing — “Roland With the Punches Edition” (01:23:34–01:40:25)
New to Streaming / Credits (01:40:26–01:51:08)
Show Notes
2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla
https://2blackguystalkgodzilla.substack.com/
“Stomping Through “Godzilla” History: Where to Begin & What To Watch | Aaron Neuwirth
https://www.firstshowing.net/2019/stomping-through-godzilla-history-where-to-begin-what-to-watch/
Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠
Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (available now!):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠
Matt’s book tour!
matt-singer.net
Bazooga jingle by Dave Van Hallgren
Feedback: Email us at feedback@filmspottingSVU.com
Follow Matt on Blue Sky: @mattsinger.bsky.social
Follow Jordan on Blue Sky: @jhoffman.bsky.social
Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠
Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠
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For our Noirvember edition, Chris Klimek convenes a showdown between two noir classics featuring unforgettable Orson Welles villains: Carol Reed's The Third Man and Welles's own Touch of Evil.
One is a postwar mystery set amid the shattered streets and shadows of occupied Vienna, featuring Welles as the charmingly monstrous Harry Lime. The other is a feverish border-town nightmare with the filmmaker buried beneath prosthetics as corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan.
Arguing for The Third Man is Matt Gourley (Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, With Gourley and Rust, James Bonding), who contends that Reed's masterpiece transcends noir, combining unforgettable atmosphere, moral ambiguity, and one of cinema's greatest endings. Representing Touch of Evil is Anne Thompson (IndieWire, Screen Talk), who makes the case that Welles's final Hollywood film is a singular feat of visual storytelling and one of the boldest achievements ever produced within the studio system.
Which Welles villain casts the longer shadow, and which film deserves to survive? Choose your winner at moviedeathmatch.com.
(Times will not be precise with ads.)
Intro / Meet the Advocates (00:00:00-00:12:01)
Rd. 1 – The Movies in Their Time (00:12:02-00:24:14)
Rd. 2 – The Movies in Our Time (00:24:15-00:46:49)
Rd. 3 – The Movies for All Time (00:46:50-01:05:33)
The Verdict / Credits (01:05:34-01:13:04)
More From Anne:
-IndieWire
https://www.indiewire.com/author/anne-thompson/
-Sight & Sound: Who voted for Touch of Evil?
https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/829f71c1-8c9d-5294-b77d-93de81913c9d/touch-of-evil
-The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars…
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062218018
More From Matt:
-“Normal Like Me”
https://deathbed.ghost.io/normal-like-me/
-Superego
https://www.gosuperego.com/
Follow Chris:
-Instagram | Bluesky | X
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Adam and Travis welcome Samantha N. Sheppard, PhD, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies at Cornell University, to discuss Steve James's landmark 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams.
Drawing on research from her new book, The Basketball Film: A Cultural and Transmedia History, Sheppard explains why Hoop Dreams stands as the defining work of the basketball film genre. The conversation explores the film's complicated relationship to competition, bell hooks' famous critique, and why the stories of Arthur Agee and William Gates continue to resonate more than three decades later.
Along the way, Sheppard reflects on her own path to becoming one of the leading scholars of sports cinema and shares some personal favorites from the basketball movie canon.
Next Episode:
–The Hurricane with Grant Wiedenfeld, Ph.D., MFA (University of Toronto)
Links:
–Email the show at fos@filmspotting.net.
-Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen
Theme Music:
–King of the Corpse Flowers by Oxykitten | Spotify
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