Did ENCHANTED walk so that BARBIE could fly? Or is Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster, which has us wondering if it might actually change the world, operating on a satiric level the 2007 Disney-princess pastiche could only dream of? Our panel, joined once again by Vulture/New York Magazine critic Jen Chaney, is divided on that point, but in agreement that BARBIE gives us much more to discuss in its nuanced, subversive gender critique. After talking through our responses to the world and worldviews of Barbie, Ken, and most importantly Allan, we bring ENCHANTED back into the discussion to see how it stacks up to its successor in its big musical production numbers, fish-out-of-water comedy, and ability to create an “authentically artificial” world. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ENCHANTED, BARBIE, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Next Pairing: Ira Sachs’ PASSAGES with John Schlesinger’s SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
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#387: Fantasy Women, Pt. 2 — Barbie

Looking at cinema's present via its past. The Next Picture Show is a biweekly roundtable by the former editorial team of The Dissolve examining how classic films inspire and inform modern movies. Episodes take a deep dive into a classic film and its legacy in the first half, then compare and contrast that film with a modern successor in the second. Hosted and produced by Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson and Scott Tobias.

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Film Reviews

Film History

While there are countless movies featuring the work of stunt performers, movies that center the experiences of those performers are much more rare, which is part of what motivated former stunt performer David Leitch to make the new THE FALL GUY. One of the standouts on that short list is Richard Rush’s 1980 genre oddity THE STUNT MAN, which uses the experience of its accidental-stuntie protagonist to blur the lines between post-Vietnam reality and moviemaking fantasy in fascinating, sometimes confounding ways. We talk through our interpretations of what it means and whether it works, and come to the conclusion that even when it doesn’t, Peter O’Toole’s performance as a diabolical director manages to hold it all together. Then in Feedback, our recent CHALLENGERS episode inspires a couple of listeners to share their alternate pairing ideas.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE STUNT MAN, THE FALL GUY,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#425: Playing the Hits, Pt. 1 — The Stunt Man

Justin Kuritzkes, who wrote the screenplay for Luca Guadagnino’s new CHALLENGERS, cites Alfonso Cuarón's coming-of-age classic Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN as a longtime favorite, so it’s unsurprising to see that film’s DNA in this one. CHALLENGERS is far from a remake, though, operating in a very different milieu with very different narrative priorities, both which we discuss along with our generally-positive-to-rapturous reactions to it. Then in Connections we press these two movies’ faces together and make them kiss for our own gratification, and come away from the experience surprised by just how much they share without being much alike at all. And in Your Next Picture Show we consider another, more recent Cuarón film in the context of Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, CHALLENGERS,  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.
Next Pairing: David Leitch’s THE FALL GUY and Richard Rush’s THE STUNT MAN
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#424: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 2 — Challengers

The new CHALLENGERS is a sports drama the same way Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN is a road movie: secondarily, as both films tend to be associated first with their respective sexy love triangles, each with a woman at its center. That shared character dynamic results in a lot of connections between the two films, which we’ll cover in the next episode, but this week we’re focusing on all the other elements that distinguish Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, from the way its narration forces us to consider the bigger picture that’s ignored by our young protagonists, to an ending revelation that recontextualizes (or, for one of our panelists, undermines) everything that comes before. And in Feedback, we take up a spoiler-filled question about the ending and viewer reception of CIVIL WAR.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, CHALLENGERS,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#423: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 1 — Y Tu Mamá También

The strain of cynicism that characterizes so much of Alex Garland’s filmography is at its most pronounced in his latest, CIVIL WAR. But paired with Garland’s 2002 debut as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER, an interesting counterpoint emerges in their shared acknowledgement, even hope, that humanity could perhaps find a path forward through catastrophe. So after spending some time wallowing in the muck of CIVIL WAR’s muddy politics and unsettling violence, we examine that mutual glimmer of hope in Connections, as well as the similar back-and-forth rhythms and character parallels of these two road movies. And in Your Next Picture Show we recommend the sequel that provides a different filmmaker’s answer to that question of where humanity goes next, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 WEEKS LATER.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about 28 DAYS LATER, CIVIL WAR,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Next Pairing: Luca Guadagnino’s CHALLENGERS and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMA TAMBIÉN
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#422: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 2 — Civil War

The new CIVIL WAR is the latest in a line of speculative scenarios that Alex Garland has pondered over the course of his career as a novelist-turned-filmmaker, but its journey through a country transformed by violent catastrophe is most reminiscent of his first project as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s zombie-adjacent horror film 28 DAYS LATER. So before digging into Garland’s vision of an apocalyptic near-future United States, we’re revisiting his vision of the apocalyptic England of 2002 to consider the challenges of carving an ending (happy or otherwise) out of such a grim “what if,” and how our collective understanding of zombies (fast or otherwise) is both reflected in and shaped by 28 DAYS LATER’s infected. And in Feedback, we reckon with another speculative scenario, one in which our recent episode on Radu Jude’s latest was part of a different pairing. 
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about 28 DAYS LATER, CIVIL WAR,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#387: Fantasy Women, Pt. 2 — Barbie

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