The Next Reel Film Podcast

Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 film Spirited Away shot to the top of the Japanese box office and still holds the spot as the highest grossing film in Japanese history, sinking box office juggernaut Titanic. Perhaps it says a lot that it’s a Japanese story that is so universally appealing and that it’s for all ages. Or that it’s timeless. Regardless of why it’s so popular, it’s great to see Miyazaki as the person whose creation holds that spot.

The Film Board Gathers! This month we’ve hit the Feel-a-Round Cineplex for Ridley Scott’s latest entry to the Alien Cinematic Universe: Alien: Covenant. The film tells the story of a colony ship on their way to brave new horizons seeding a distant planet with new life when they have to go check out this one thing on that one other planet only to discover… yeah, you know the drill. How well does Scott get us back into the Alienscape and engaged with this fancy new crew? What do we make of cinematographer Dariusz Wolski’s camera as a window into this new Alien? How much would we pay to see a standalone film of Michael Fassbender talking to Michael Fassbender? All these questions answered, and SO much more as as Steve Sarmento leads Andy Nelson and Pete Wright on a journey through the deepest, darkest alien woods.