Lynn & Carl are joined this week first by director Bradley Rohlf and star Joe Hanrahan of Midnight Company's production of St. Nicholas this weekend at the Greenfinch.  Next, the director of the documentary: Percy Green Man of ACTION, Joseph Puleo. Also, Lynn went to the NYFF & saw A House of Dynamite &  The Smashing Machine. Plus Stages STL announced their shows for next season.

October 1st, 2025 ft. Midnight Company's St. Nicholas & Joseph Puleo

What Is This Episode - Top of Show
.
THE SMASHING MACHINE OSCARS PROFILE
.
Nonspoiler Review:
Rock and Safdie Passing Ships in the Night - 2:42
Expectations - 8:36
The Highs and Lows of the Script - 10:07
(And The Rock Becoming The Boulder - 13:33)
Performances: It Goes to 11 - 16:47
How Many Noms?, p.1 - 21:43
Production Values - 22:50
How Many Noms?, p.2 - 27:34

.
SPOILER WARNING - 29:05
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Spoiler Review:
Mike1 Heel Turns on Rocky - 29:51
Your Toxic Lungs Filling Under - 39:30
Baseketball Shoutout - 42:33
More Highs and Lows - 46:02
.
FINAL GRADES - 48:49
.
.
What’s Next From MMO/Leave Us 5 Stars! - 49:52

The Smashing Machine - An Invulnerable Rock - Ep 498

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Joselyn Safadi, Dan Bayer, and Giovanni Lago join me to review and discuss the latest film from Benny Safdie (his first solo directorial credit after working with his brother, Josh, throughout his career), "The Smashing Machine," starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk. Based on the 2002 documentary "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr," the film had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it received the best reviews of Johnson's career for his committed performance and won the Silver Lion for Best Director for Safdie. Please tune in as we discuss the performances, direction, writing, authenticity to MMA, its awards season chances, and more in our SPOILER-FILLED review. Thank you for listening, and enjoy!

Check out more on NextBestPicture.com

Please subscribe on...

Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2

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YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw

And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture

"The Smashing Machine"

On this episode, JD and Brendan review Benny Safdie's new film THE SMASHING MACHINE, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt!

Visit https://insessionfilm.com for merch and more!

Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe! Become an ISF VIP today to get exclusive bonus content!

Follow us on X/Twitter! @InSessionFilm | @RealJDDuran | @BrendanJCassidy

Review: The Smashing Machine

Mike isn't impressed with The Rock's attempt to take on a dramatic role in an intimate biopic after decades of popcorn blockbusters, seeing it as Oscar bait. José doesn't share his cynicism and likes the lead performance. We discuss what The Smashing Machine depicts - disagreeing, in particular, about whether the protagonist shares any blame for the issues in his relationship - as well as whether its look and storytelling are problems, and just how shoddy things are getting at Cineworld. Yet we keep going back.

Recorded on 5th October 2025.

460 - The Smashing Machine

Ryan McQuade returns to discuss his film festival journeys, his love for One Battle After Another, and the state of the Oscars Race, especially as it pertains to OBAA, The Smashing Machine and other October films. 

Ryan McQuade’s favorite foods at Cannes, Telluride & AFI - 2:54 

ON THE CLOCK: PTI STYLE PRESENTATIONS BY RYAN: 7:55 
His 3 Minute Review of One Battle After Another - 8:28 
A discussion of Modelos and white Michaels - 11:35 
Review of The Smashing Machine: 3 Mins - 14:36 
Smashing Machine’s box office flop & likely huge door budget - 17:32 
How OBAA could lose Best Picture - 18:48 

What other films could win Best Picture. Ryan talks the full field - 24:36
Hamnet Acting Campaign Strategies + Buckley as the Actress Favorite - 29:40 


PERCENTAGE CHANCE: RYAN PREDICTS CHANCE OF NOM/WIN:
OBAA to win Best Picture - 30:14 
Leo to win Best Actor - 32:43 
Emily Blunt & Teyana Taylor (+Chase Infiniti Talk) in Supporting Actress - 36:28 
A quick Supporting Actor discussion re: Del Toro & Penn - 39:52
An official prediction on Chase Infiniti Nomination chances - 41:02 
Benny Safdie for Nomination & PTA to Win Best Director - 42:58 
A One Battle After Another Box Office Discussion - 46:01 
The Rock for Lead Actor - 50:57 
The Smashing Machine for MUAH - 55:27 

Ryan talks other October movies: Anemone, Roofman, Springsteen & Blue Moon - 57:23 

Ryan’s darkhorse Oscar Nom Predictions & Surefire Locks - 1:00:36 

OUTRO: Make sure to follow all of Ryan McQuade’s work including his film festival movie reviews and the AwardsWatch Podcast (including Director Watch for his PTA series and series on many more great filmmakers) https://awardswatch.com/author/ryan-mcquade/ 

Follow RyanMcQuade77 on X https://x.com/ryanmcquade77 

And you can also listen to him as a frequent guest on Pop Culture Confidential, where friend of the show - Christina Jeurling Birro is doing wonderful work. https://www.popcultureconfidential.com/

State of the Race with Ryan McQuade of AwardsWatch - OBAA vs the Field - ORC 10/8/25

We talk Ahsoka romance, Mando and Grogu, Rey in Straighter and more!

382.Ahsoka Bring ROMANCE to Star Wars

Join Andrew Dunn and Chris Triebel as they discuss The Smashing Machine!

Then stick around for a review of The Power Fantasy Vol 1 by Kieron Gillen. Or don't. Whatever. I'm not your boss.

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THE SMASHING MACHINE! And a review of The Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen - 177.2

"The Smashing Machine" is a biographical sports drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Benny Safdie. It stars Dwayne Johnson as former amateur wrestler and MMA fighter Mark Kerr, alongside Emily Blunt as Kerr's girlfriend Dawn Staples, with Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk in supporting roles. The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Lion and received positive reviews for the performances, notably Johnson's committed and transformational work and Safdie's re-creation of the world of MMA and the UFC during its early days. Filmmaker Safdie was kind enough to spend some time speaking with us about his experience working on the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now playing in theaters from A24. Thank you, and enjoy!

Check out more on NextBestPicture.com

Please subscribe on...

Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw

And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture

Interview With "The Smashing Machine" Filmmaker Benny Safdie

It’s been a year since the last time we sat down for a pod but this one is least recorded within the last month - we’re making progress!

Joe hosts JT, Sam, and Jono to talk all things games, TV (except this episode), and film.

Games
* Joe starts the show discussing Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima's unique open-world action game where you play a courier trying to reconnect a post-apocalyptic United States.
* Sam heads to Steam Deck Corner to check out the wacky physics-based comedy of What the Golf? (a game that makes fun of golf) and the digitally adapted classic board game, Carcassonne (where players build a medieval French landscape one tile at a time).
* JT and Jono give their first impressions after picking up the brand-new Switch 2 console.

Film
* Jono and JT review two major new films: the sleek sci-fi sequel Tron: Ares (about a highly advanced program crossing into the real world) and the gritty biographical sports drama The Smashing Machine (starring Dwayne Johnson as legendary MMA pioneer Mark Kerr).
* Sam took inspiration from Ed Gein to watch the 1960 horror classic Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
* Joe wraps up the reviews with two genre films: Weapons: A new supernatural mystery-horror film about a group of children who all vanish at the same time and Arrival: Denis Villeneuve’s thoughtful sci-fi drama about a linguist (Amy Adams) trying to communicate with aliens who have landed on Earth.

Get in touch with us:
X - https://x.com/DSTEPodcast
Email - dontspoiltheending@gmail.com


00:00:00 - Intro
Games
00:04:53 - Death Stranding
00:19:33 - Steam Deck Corner > What the Golf? > Carcassonne
00:25:12 - Battlefield 6
00:29:40 - Switch 2 > Pokemon
Film
00:43:59 - Tron: Ares > Jared Leto
00:48:46 - The Smashing Machine
01:03:00 - Psycho
01:17:37 - Weapons
01:39:40 - Arrival
01:45:41 - Outro

Episode 57 - Weapons

Lynn Venhaus is a veteran journalist, specializing in features, entertainment writing and local news. Reviews movies for KTRS Radio, Webster-Kirkwood Times, www.PopLifeSTL.com and podcast, formerly known as Reel Times Trio, now PopLifeSTL.com Presents.
Carl "The Intern" Middleman has 30 years in the radio business in St. Louis, now working for Audacy (stations KMOX, KFTK, Y98, KEZK, WFUN and WHHL). He reviews film with Max Foizey on "Max on Movies" at KTRS and for this podcast.

A podcast by NextBestPicture.com that reviews the latest film releases and discusses various topics within the world of film and the awards race.

The Media Lunch Break is your best resource for geek news, reviews, comedy, and the Oxford comma! We'll argue the oldest of debates: DC vs Marvel, Mac vs PC, Michael Bay vs our collective childhoods.
We're here to serve YOU!
And ourselves.
Mostly ourselves.
But hopefully you like it too! So sit back, relax, and listen to two idiots riff on topics they know nothing about.


A podcast that talks all things games, TV, and film
Joe hosts JT, Sam, Ste, and Jono

MMO is talk radio for movie fans with weekly news shows, reviews, previews, and special guests. We celebrate the Oscars by making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. If you love cinema, if you love showbiz, welcome home.

"I have this romantic idea of the movies as a conjunction of place, people and experiences, all different for each of us, a context in which individual and separate beings try to commune, where the individual experience overlaps with the communal and where that overlapping is demarcated by how we measure the differing responses between ourselves and the rest of the audience: do they laugh when we don’t (and what does that mean?); are they moved when we feel like laughing (and what does that say about me or the others) etc. The idea behind this podcast is to satiate the urge I sometimes have when I see a movie alone – to eavesdrop on what others say. What do they think? How does their experience compare to mine? Snippets are overhead as one leaves the cinema and are often food for thought. A longer snippet of such an experience is what I hope to provide: it’s two friends chatting immediately after a movie. It’s unrehearsed, meandering, slightly convoluted, certainly enthusiastic, and well informed, if not necessarily on all aspects a particular work gives rise to, certainly in terms of knowledge of cinema in general and considerable experience of watching different types of movies and watching movies in different types of ways. It’s not a review. It’s a conversation." - José Arroyo.

"I just like the sound of my own voice." - Michael Glass.

The best movie reviews, news, and podcast out there! Two guys that know movies and love talking about them!

The Rebel Scum Podcast Network is home to Rebel Scum Podcast, Unleased, Infinity Rewatch, Outlander Club: A Rebel Scum Podcast & more!

New tracks tagged #The Smashing Machine