The Next Reel Film Podcast
Ex Machina
We dig into Alex Garland’s tense, unsettling Ex Machina — a Thinking Machines entry about consciousness, creation, and who’s really running the test.
April 9, 2026
For all you proper film enthusiasts who would like to peruse the films of TruStory FM’s entertainment podcasts by release year. Get ready for a firehose of film history in these here stacks.
We dig into Alex Garland’s tense, unsettling Ex Machina — a Thinking Machines entry about consciousness, creation, and who’s really running the test.
We close True Lies with Big Eyes: Burton’s restraint disappoints, Waltz’s choices divide us, Adams shines, and domestic coercion gets bland treatment.
We continue our John Carney’s Streetwise Musicals series with Carney’s first experience working with a bigger budget and Hollywood actors, specifically Kiera Knightley and Mark Ruffalo. Tune in to hear us chat about Begin Again!
We return for a one-film dip back into our Found Footage series with a horror offshoot of Mumblecore, aka Mumblegore, starring Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice. It’s the start of their Creep-iverse, Brice’s 2014 film “Creep.”
We sit down with hair and makeup designer Frances Hounsom to talk about her career, including her recent work on Peacock’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz, as well as one of her favorite films, Damien Chazelle’s 2014 film Whiplash.
We dig into the mysterious world of assassins, stunts, and neon as we start our John Wick series. Today, we’re talking about where it all started: Chad Stahelski’s (and David Leitch’s) 2014 film JOHN WICK. Is it more than just the fantastic stunt work? How does the emotional throughline work? What about the cast? And how great is the Continental as part of the amazing world-building? Tune in!
We wrap up our look at Gareth Evans’ series of Indonesian action films with a conversation about ‘The Raid 2: Berandal.’ It’s intense, it’s epic, it’s bloody, it’s operatic. We have a great time chatting about it.
We voyage from darkest Peru to London with one of our favorite bears, Paddington. In this episode, we kick off our exploration of the ‘Paddington’ films with Paul King’s 2014 ‘Paddington.’ It’s a sheer delight and yes, we brought our marmalade sandwiches.
So many people love Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, but does its grief metaphor go too far? Pete and Andy dig into its craft, its divisive reception, and its unlikely second life as an LGBTQ+ icon.
A lonesome vampire stalks a fictional Iranian ghost town on a skateboard in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Pete and Andy continue Horror Debuts with Ana Lily Amirpour’s black-and-white debut.