#craftbeer #jennaortega #tesla 
This week we jump right into the controversy with the new Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman "hot for teacher" trailer, plus A24's ominous action flick, Civil War. Then, The Rock may finally have himself a prestige project — a biopic about troubled UFC champ of yesteryear, Mark Kerr, in The Smashing Machine. Can he flex some acting skills instead of just his charm? Finally, we take an unexpected left turn (ha ha) into the news that Tesla has recalled more than two million of its vehicles due to safety concerns. Is the dream of autopilot a lot of smoke and mirrors or are drivers to blame? All that, plus a special brew we've been saving just for you. Cheers!

0:00 Beer Intros and The Clap
8:24 Trailer Trash: Miller's Girl feat. Jenna Ortega
21:44 Trigger Warnings in Trailers
27:07 Trailer Trash: A24's Civil War
40:07 The Rock Gets a "Real" Movie with The Smashing Machine
50:34 Tesla's Great Recall
1:04:25 Cheers of the Week
1:13:35 Beer Review

*Beer of the Week*
Red Cypress Brewery Lost Barrels: Volume 1 SLICE Bourbon Barrel-Aged German Chocolate Cupcake Imperial Milk Stout (Presented by Hourglass Brewing)

Hot For Teacher | Ep. 410

For Episode 440, I am joined by Josh Parham, Nadia Dalimonte, Dan Bayer & Giovanni Lago as we preview the 2025 Summer Movie Season with the films we're most excited to see. This is also the theme of this week's poll as we ask, "Which 2025 Summer Movie Are You Most Looking Forward To Seeing?" and we reveal the winner of last week's poll for the release of "Thunderbolts*" asking, "What Is Your Favorite Movie About A Ragtag Group Of Misfits?" We also give our reactions to the trailers for "The Smashing Machine," "Weapons," "Sorry, Baby," "Now You See Me: Now You Don't," answer your fan-submitted questions, and more! Thank you all for listening, supporting, and subscribing. We hope you enjoy this episode, and we will see you all next week.

Check out more on NextBestPicture.com

Please subscribe on...

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

Episode 440 - Our 2025 Summer Movie Preview, "The Smashing Machine," "Weapons" & "Sorry, Baby" Trailers

It’s Part One of our Way Too Early 2025-26 Oscars Predictions Special, or Guarantees Special as we should have called it. Screenplays, VFX, Sound, Score, Song, the Shorts, yes - The Shorts, Make-up & Hairstyling, plus Lead Actor and Actress are all discussed.

Original Screenplay reveals films where we’re heavy + where Vegas leans - 3:07 
Adapted Screenplay includes former winners, noms + a UFC champ - 11:37 
VFX w/ Avatar & F1 + sentimental favorites & trailers that look good to us - 18:00 
Sound Design w/ F1 as the favorite + other blockbusters - 23:00 
Original Score has a murderers row of legendary contenders - 25:22 
Original Song includes multiples by two films + the Diane Warren rule - 28:48 
Documentary Short included the most research ever - 31:48 
Animated Short included the least research ever - 35:09 
Live Action Short is as clear a vision into the future as we’ve ever had - 36:44 
Make-up & Hairstyling where we share 4 noms, but talk honorable mentions more - 39:26 
Lead Actor has huge stars and irrational confidence levels from us in our picks - 41:05 
Lead Actress - 47:07

OUTRO - 55:00 - Make sure to go back to the rest of our Oscars Year In Preview Series. We have specials to preview each section of the calendar, plus a Sundance review and a Cannes preview. Also stay locked on our feed for Part Two, where we’ll predict the Supportings, Director, Casting, Best Picture and the rest of the 24 Oscar categories. And as always, let us know your thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, and your predictions via our socials. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar



100% Accurate Oscar Predictions Part 1 for 2025/26 - Guarantees Really - YIP 5, ORC 5/10/25

It’s the second half of our 100% Accurate Way Too Early Oscars Predictions for 2025/26. In this episode, we discuss the Supportings, Casting, Director, Picture and 12 categories in all!

Cinematography - 2:16 
Film Editing - 5:07 
Animated 9:38 
International - 13:09 
Documentary - 17:51 
Costume Design - 20:24 
Production Design - 23:24 
Supporting Actor - 29:00 
Supporting Actress - 37:24 
Casting - 41:17 
Director - 45:00 
Picture - 52:00 

OUTRO - Go back and enjoy our entire Oscars Year In Preview Series as we discussed the calendar, reviewed Sundance, and previewed Cannes. Do look forward to our continuation of our Oscar Profile Movie Reviews series as we’ll do film study episodes on upcoming contenders. But first, we cannot wait to review the reviewers and time the standing ovations from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival later this week. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar


Part 2 of our 100% Accurate Oscars Predictions for 2025/26 - ORC 5/13/25

Ladies & Gentleman. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. Stephen Rusk.

ItsMeSpkn2U Ep. 152 Stephen Rusk

What is This Episode? - Top of Show
.
CANNES IS UNDERWAY:
DeNiro Hints at Trump Tariff Unrest - 2:24
Mission Impossible Meh - 11:23
.
A “Febrile” Reviewing the Reviewers of the In Competition Films - 16:24
The Best Review of 2025, and What’s with These Pushes? - 28:11
.
GOLDEN GLOBES ADD BEST PODCAST - 38:23
.
CONTENDER TRAILERS:
The Smashing Machine - 45:47
Weapons - 49:51
Highest 2 Lowest Teaser - 54:31
F1 - 57:44
Materialists - 59:28
Superman Trailer #8000 - 1:01:50
Conjuring Last Rites - 1:06:59
.
.
WHAT’S NEXT/LEAVE US 5 STARS/WORDS OF WISDOM - 1:09:19

A "Febrile" Cannes Opening - ORC 5/17/25

What Is This Episode - Top of Show
Introducing The Duke of Bettingham David Long!
.
SUMMER OSCAR BETS, PART II:
Explaining Odds in Gambling (featuring Kalshi Odds) - 4:05
.
Lead Actor: Who The Duke Claims Offers the Best ROI- 7:40
Lead Actress: A Conversation of Many “No” Bets - 20:06
Supp Actor: The First Lines of the Season - 28:24
Supp Actress: Maybe the Most Wide Open Category - 37:36
Director: A Universally Agreed to Nom, and Then… - 45:02
.
Documenatry Feature: Or Where Dave and Mike Threaten AlsoMike’s Life - 53:25
.
.
Support Dave!/What’s Next From MMO/Leave Us 5 Stars! - 57:43

Summer Oscar Bets p.2 w/ David Long - AlsoMike's Life is in Danger! - ORC 6/15/25

Telluride & Venice first reactions are finally here, and rave reviews have hit for Hamnet, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Testament of Ann Lee, Adam Sandler, No Other Choice, Julia Roberts, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Greta Lee, and so many more.

VENICE & TELLURIDE REACTIONS (Including Reviewing the Reviewers): 

Jay Kelly + M1’s Headline for the Episode - 2:00 
. 
Supporting Actor Category Snapshot - 8:11 
. 
Bugonia + Our Trailer 2 & Poster Review - 12:02 
Hamnet, the Big 3 in Best Picture right now + Our Trailer Review - 16:48 
.
Lead Actress Category Snapshot - 23:14 
. 
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere & M1’s Born To Run Fantasy - 25:43 
Ballad of a Small Player & why we’re predisposed to love Colin Farrell in this - 32:09 
Tuner includes a starmaking performance per NBP - 34:16 
After the Hunt took a beating, but could Julia Roberts still get a nom? - 36:08 
No Other Choice is great, but non-werewolf loving critics are a problem - 40:47 
Frankenstein, another disappointing masterpiece from GDT (?!?!) - 45:27 
Late Fame might be another Greta Lee showcase - 51:48 
Father Mother Sister Brother & the ovation rule almost gets dealt with - 53:41 
The Wizard of the Kremlin & ovations that don’t fit the tomato score - 56:48 
La Grazia, Venice’s Opening Night film puts our rule to the test - 58:54 
The Smashing Machine & Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s big Venice moment - 1:00:20 
.
Lead Actor Category Snapshot - 1:02:51 
.
Supporting Actress Snapshot - 1:06:17 
. 
The Testament of Ann Lee & suspicions re: unexpected musicals - 1:08:34 
Cover-Up & a new Doc Feature contender - 1:13:43 
.
Holdovers from Cannes, Sundance, & Berlin including It Was Just An Accident, Sentimental Value, Train Dreams, Blue Moon, Nouvelle Vague, The History of Sound & The Secret Agent + its trailer review - 1:14:41 
.
Venice & Cannes Standing Ovations Tally - 1:18:45 
.
OUTRO: 1:20:49 Upcoming Venice & TIFF schedules + Words of Wisdom involving stopwatches that beep or not. If you enjoy our show, please help spread the word. You can rate, review, like, subscribe, and follow us via all these links here. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar 


Telluride & Venice '25: Big Moments for Hamnet, The Rock, Seyfried & Sandler - ORC 9/3/25

The 2025 Venice Film Festival has concluded. While most of us are in Toronto at the moment, Cody Dericks and Josh Parham took some time after they got home from Venice to discuss the international film festival. World premieres discussed include "Bugonia," "Jay Kelly," "Frankenstein," "The Testament of Ann Lee," "A House of Dynamite," "The Voice of Hind Rajab," "No Other Choice," "The Smashing Machine," and Golden Lion winner "Father Mother Sister Brother," along with many more! We hope you enjoy this recap. Thank you!

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

A Recap Of The 2025 Venice Film Festival

Join Kendall, Fulya and Michael on the podcast that refuses to behave! The crew chat about what they've watched this week before jumping into the latest in Nerdy News brought to you by the hostess with the mostest Kendall Richardson.

00:00 - Intro & weekly watchings
28:20 - Nerdy News: Nintendo Direct September 2025
1:05:37 - Trailer Park: Marvel Zombies, Wake Up Dead Man, Song Sung Blue, and The Smashing Machine.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***
1:39:36 - Popcorn Culture: Season 5 of "Only Murders in the Building" has finally arrived and so the team discuss the first three episodes "Nail in the Coffin", "After You", and "Rigor".

Let us know your thoughts in the comments! You can also check out the full video version over at youtube.com/fredthealienproductions

366: A Podcast Called Fred - Only Murders in the Building ep1-3

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
.
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

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

"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

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.

FRED the ALIEN Productions is a popular culture-centric art collective, where members explore their creativity and express themselves through podcasts, YouTube videos, and Melbourne stage shows.

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.


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!

Welcome to The One Beer in Podcast! 

We're two best friends that enjoy getting on each others' nerves and talking crap while enjoying a good beer (or two). This podcast is your invitation into our colorful conversations that range from PlayStation to Internet politics. Strap in -- this is very much a conversational podcast, as we take a layman's point-of-view and discuss our interests: beer, video games, movies, tech, entertainment and basically any rabbit hole that we may wander into along the way. 

We often end our podcast with a beer review, and sometimes sneak in a bonus brew, so stay tuned. 

Cheers

-The One Beer In Brews

New tracks tagged #The Smashing Machine