WE BOUGHT A MIC

To celebrate the release of 'Disclosure Day,' we are looking back on two Steven Spielberg alien movie classics with guest Adam Sirdoreus. Stick around for part 2 in which we feature Adam's updated full Spielberg ranking.

In 1977, Steven Spielberg followed up the smash success of JAWS with 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' starring Richard Dreyfus as a man experiencing a sort of psychotic episode brought on by an encounter with an alien spacecraft. The film is a seminal work for Spielberg, boasting his signature wonder layered in paranoia and mystery. It is regarded as one of the best works of all time in the science fiction genre, showcasing some truly awe-inspiring special effects.

In 1982, Spielberg somehow improved on his achievement with 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,' starring Henry Thomas as a boy who becomes friends with friendly alien creature. It is without a doubt one of the most emotionally impactful and important films of all time, and perhaps Spielberg's best work.

"Backrooms" and "Obsession" are the two surprise horror hits on their way to becoming two of the biggest movies of the summer and the year. What makes them so appealing to mass audiences? Will we look back on this as an inflection point in the interests of the modern movie-goer? Listen to this spoiler-filled deep dive to find out. Backrooms is written by Kane Parsons (20 years old) and written by Will Soodik, based on the YouTube web series by Parsons. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Duplass.Obsession is written and directed by Curry Barker and stars Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, and Cooper Tomlinson.0:00 - Intro6:07 - Backrooms54:07 - Obsession

We are back with a deep dive review of Steven Spielberg's "Disclosure Day," an original conspiracy thriller that explores the idea of extraterrestrials and evidence of their existence.

Emily Blunt stars in what may be her best performance. Josh O'Connor plays the whistleblower ready to unleash the trove of data. Collin Firth is our baddie, and Coleman Domingo is the man with the plan.

Consensus on the film feels split. How does it live up to the notion of revealing a certain truth about our universe? What's going on with its themes of empathy, compassion, and faith? Is it effective? Is it Spielberg's return to the throne of sci-fi alien blockbusters? Listen to find out.

We continue our series on the films of Denzel Washington with the 1991 romance 'Mississippi Masala' - directed by Mira Nair and starring Washington and Sarita Choudhury in her first role. The film tells the story of Mina and her family, ousted immigrants from Uganda due to their Indian heritage. Now living in Mississippi and running a small motel business, Mina meets and falls in love with Demetrius (Washington), a charming young carpet cleaner.

We welcome first-time special guest Jess Halee to discuss how the film manages to balance all its different plotlines: racial tension, historical context, and the central romance. Plus, the background of Nair's career leading up to the film and how its production led to meeting and marrying the man who would become the father of Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York City.

We also give you a quick ketchup corner, including discussion of The Pitt Season 2 and The Sheep Detectives.

Check out Jess on IG @mofo4eva and their work on the upcoming PBS documentary series 'CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA'

Ernest, Hunter, Drew, and special guest Marcel discuss all the movies they saw and award their favorites of the 2026 Florida Film Festival.

Marcel’s Movies: @MarcelsMoviesAndMore on Instagram/TikTok

Timecodes:

• ​0:00 Cold Open
• ​1:27 Intro
• ​3:18 Overall thoughts of the festival
• ​14:00 One Spoon of Chocolate
• ​21:31 Hokum
• ​29:29 Over Your Dead Body
• ​34:23 I Want Your Sex
• ​43:00 I Swear
• ​49:28 The Christophers
• ​53:52 Obsession
• ​1:08:31 Best Non-Film Events (Industry Parties, Red Carpet Events, Director Q&As, Forums)
• ​1:18:00 Return from Tomorrow
• ​1:20:56 First They Came For My College
• ​1:30:18 Best Food
• ​1:33:55 Best Supporting Performance
• ​1:41:43 Best Actor
• ​1:45:20 Return from Tomorrow SPOILERS
• ​1:49:13 Best Actor (cont.)
• ​1:51:00 Best Documentary, Best Short, Best Florida Film
• ​1:55:28 Best Actress
• ​1:59:10 Best of the Fest

We sit down with award-winning filmmaker Tatti Ribeiro to discuss her feature debut, Valentina. Fresh off winning a Special Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival, Tatti dives deep into the unique hybrid construction of her film, a poignant comedy that blurs the lines between narrative fiction and documentary reality.

Tatti explains the process of casting Keyla Monterroso Mejia (The Studio, Curb Your Enthusiasm) as the only professional actor in a world populated by real El Paso citizens, local officials, and even Keyla’s own family. Tatti discusses her desire to showcase the humor, hustle, and heart of the city she spent years reporting on as a journalist.

About the Movie:

Valentina follows a young woman navigating a series of bureaucratic mishaps at the El Paso-Juárez border. While the people, locations, and conversations are real, Valentina is not. Executive produced by Jessica Alba, this narrative feature debut is a rare, complex look at the systems that keep poor Americans poor, delivered with the vibe of a Richard Linklater slacker comedy.

Guest: Tatti Ribeiro (Filmmaker & Founder of franknews.us)

Follow the Film: @valentinamovie on Instagram for distribution updates.

We sit down with director Costa Karalis and producer Evan Barber to dive deep into their genre-blurring 'Frogtown,' which won Best Florida Feature at the 2026 Florida Film Festival.

Shot on location in Marianna, Florida, Frogtown is an exploration of three generations of women, a legendary "Frog King," and the delicate line between childhood wonder and adult skepticism. Listen to find out why North Florida’s unique landscape is the perfect setting for a story about what we choose to believe in.

About the Film:Frogtown (2026) is a slice-of-life portrait of a community proudly defined by its “5,000 dreamers.” Following a world premiere at the Florida Film Festival, this 86-minute feature balances wholesome absurdity with a quiet undercurrent of melancholy, delivering a heartfelt meditation on the enduring necessity of imagination.

Follow the Filmmakers:Director: Costa Karalis (@costakaralis)Producer: Evan BarberColorist: Gabe Sanchez (@gabe_jl_sanchez)

We bring you some quick interviews with filmmakers at the historic Enzian Theater for the Florida Film Festival. We chat about their films and then ask them to choose: Cruise or Hanks?

• ​David Anthony Ngo (Never Get Busted!): Fresh off a Sundance premiere, David discusses his "Tiger King in the war on drugs" documentary, executive produced by the team behind Searching for Sugar Man.
• ​Matthew Serrano (Xolo): The LA-based filmmaker and Defunctland collaborator talks about the challenges of directing a senior rescue dog in a narrative involving the Aztec god of death.
• ​Maggie Brill (All at Once): A deep dive into New York filmmaking, navigating surprise concerts in Central Park, and the importance of queer coming-of-age representation.
• ​Khoa Ha & Victor Velle (Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon): The search for the lost legacy of the "Quincy Jones of Saigon" and the journey of rediscovering a family musical heritage across two continents.
• ​We talk to Lena Greene (Tuna Tartare) about Broadway-singing trash, Sasha Shin (Juicy and Sweet) on being "haunted by apples," and Shengwei Zhou (Perfect City: The Mushroom) on using stop-motion to process grief.
• ​ Plus, Eddie Mauldin (Dreams) and Ryan McCown (Crab Diane) discuss everything from "nontraditional" mental health to cosmic crustacean colonies.
• ​Kim Blanck (Gloria): The Tribeca alum shares the "pre-pro panic" of filming on her own block and working with Gilmore Girls’ Emily Kuroda.
• ​Jorma Taccone joins us to discuss his new film Over Your Dead Body (hitting theaters April 24th!).

Here's our conversation with the team behind the Award-Winning film 'JUNKIE' - writer-director William Means and lead actor Rocky Shay. The film won both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards in the Narrative Feature category at the 2026 Florida Film Festival.

----

About the film:

Junkie, the gritty debut feature from writer-director William Means, follows a haphazard 72 hours in the life of Stevie Chapman (played by real-life recovering addict Rocky Shay). A perpetual screwup running on empty, Stevie has escaped rehab (again). On the run, she sets out to make amends and reconcile with her estranged, gay son, Liam, before she skips town for good. Through Stevie’s eyes, we are plunged into an eccentric tour of America’s southern underbelly. An unforgettable odyssey, Junkie evolves into a touching, emotionally raw mother-and-son story about dignity, identity, and the fragile hope of redemption. Executive produced by Patty Jenkins (Monster, Wonder Woman), Junkie announces a bold new voice in Means, while Rocky Shay’s fearless, darkly comic, and deeply human performance as the bonkers yet endearing Stevie stands as one of the great breakout performances of this year’s festival.

Director Bio:

William Means (Junkie) (he/him) is a Los Angeles-based writer and director who earned his MFA in directing at the AFI Conservatory in 2021. Since AFI, William worked alongside cinematographer Lawrence Sher as well as director Patty Jenkins. His most recent short, “Blue Square Heart,” qualified for the 2024 Oscars®.

Here's our interview with Kyle Smith (writer/director) and Jeff Powers (cinematographer), the team behind 'SYLVANIA,' which is part of the "Narrative Features Competition" selection at the 2026 Florida Film Festival.

-----

About the film:

In Kyle Smith’s Sylvania, a marriage on the brink becomes the backdrop for a sharply observed and deeply human road trip. Stewart (Morgan Beck) and Gracie (Kerry Bishé, Argo) load their four-month-old baby and 17-year-old, basketball-obsessed son into the car and head to St. Louis to convince Gracie’s estranged father, Frank (Paul Dillon), who is in the early stages of dementia, to accept help. But Stewart has his own coping mechanism: he’s abandoned his iPhone and moves the family from Chicago back to his childhood home, committed to living as if it’s the 1990s—complete with mixtapes, period-specific groceries, and analog nostalgia. For Gracie, already stretched thin by sleepless nights and emotional distance, the retro experiment feels less like a reset and more like regression. She’s resolved to leave him after the trip. Once they arrive, her father is mean-spirited and stubborn, but still lucid and with plenty to say about the current family chemistry. Though dementia clouds his present, it sharpens his recollections of the past, offering Gracie fragments of the mother she barely knew. Beautifully acted and emotionally resonant, Sylvania blends road movie and dramedy into a smart, funny, and tender meditation on family, memory, and the ways we cling to the past—set against a perfectly curated ’90s soundtrack.

Director Bio

Kyle Smith (Sylvania) (he/him) was raised in Columbia, Missouri. His previous films include Turkey Bowl and Blue Highway. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.