#512: Pop Classics, Pt. 1 — Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Emerald Fennell’s new Wuthering Heights is full of stylistic provocations — skin walls, bed eggs, and light BDSM among them — but whether they are in service of, or distractions from, a bigger idea about the source material is up for debate this week. The divided reactions to Fennell’s contemporized take on an oft-adapted classic are reminiscent of the love-it-or-hate it response that greeted Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet back in 1996, which we bring back in for Connections to examine the core romantic notions driving these two tales of doomed (and frequently soaking wet) love and/or lust. And in Your Next Picture Show we continue the Wuthering Heights adaptation discussion with a couple of recommendations that illustrate some of the different tonal directions this material can take. Please share your thoughts about Romeo + Juliet, Wuthering Heights, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With its bold stylization, pop soundtrack, and provocative sensibility, Emerald Fennell’s new Wuthering Heights appeals to a contemporary audience so openly it can’t help but call to mind Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation of another literary classic about doomed lovers, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Fennell citing it as a reference point for her film prompted us to revisit what made Lurhmann’s approach so enticing and/or annoying at the time, and consider how its maximalist mix of reverence and irreverence toward the source material — not to mention an ascendant Leonardo DiCaprio in peak heartthrob mode — has turned it into a generation’s formative Romeo and Juliet.  Please share your thoughts about William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Wuthering Heights, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Raimi's new survival thriller Send Help is more overtly comedic and cartoonishly violent than the other film in this week's pairing of dueling castaway duos, but those qualities are both rooted in complimentary ideas about class, gender, and power. They're also both rooted in a baseline cynicism toward humanity that informs a lot of Raimi's work, as well as our discussion of Send Help, for which we are once again joined by cultural critic and friend of the show Charles Bramesco. Then in Connections we bring 1974's Swept Away back into the discussion to see how its sexual fantasy aligns with Send Help's revenge fantasy, and how both are shaped by these films' desert (or is it deserted?) island setting. Please share your thoughts about Swept Away, Send Help, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when two people on opposite sides of a power imbalance end up stranded together on a deserted island? Before that was the premise of Sam Raimi’s new comedic thriller Send Help, it was the setup for Lina Wertmüller’s 1974 romantic farce Swept Away, only with the genders reversed and the sexual and political provocation turned way up. So this week we’re joined by critic, friend of the show, and Wertmüller aficionado Charles Bramesco to sort through Swept Away’s overlapping layers of satire, metaphor, and titillation, in an attempt to pinpoint what the film is actually trying to say about gender and class relations. Please share your thoughts about Swept Away, Send Help, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even without Al Pacino's name in its cast list, the new Dead Man's Wire would invite comparisons to Dog Day Afternoon in its dramatization of a real-life 1970s hostage situation turned public spectacle. Whether it benefits from comparisons to Sidney Lumet's 1975 crime classic is another question, one we take up in our discussion of Gus Van Sant's first new feature in eight years. After that, we bring Dog Day Afternoon back in for Connections, to consider how these two films about volatile, narcissistic men and their ostensibly populist schemes fit into the proud tradition of amateur-hour crime movies, and whether a modern film depicting Indianapolis half a century ago has any hope of evoking its setting the way Lumet captured contemporary 1970s New York. Please share your thoughts about Dog Day Afternoon, Dead Man's Wire, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next pairing: Sam Raimi's Send Help and Lina Wurtmuller's Swept Away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In adapting the true story about a '70s hostage crisis that played out on television and in the public eye, Gus Van Sant's new Dead Man's Wire is just asking to be compared to 1975's Dog Day Afternoon — and who are we to resist an invitation to talk about yet another Sidney Lumet classic? So this week we revisit a film we have all previously seen and admired, but still has the ability to surprise with its unconventional approach to a bank robbery gone wrong, from its persistent sense of humor to its shifting perspective on Al Pacino's criminal protagonist. Then in Feedback, we continue the conversation about our podcast's namesake film, and answer a recurring question about our archives. Please share your thoughts about Dog Day Afternoon, Dead Man's Wire, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re kicking off the new year with our old tradition of looking back on the film year that was, as Scott, Keith, and Tasha gather to talk through their top films of 2025. After touching on some of last year’s broader filmgoing trends and blitzing through the bottom half of their top 10 lists, they talk through their respective top fives, which include several Next Picture Show selections from the last year, as well as a few curveball picks that appear on no other lists. Next Pairing: Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire and Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to the confluence of holiday and flu seasons, our Best of 2025 episode is delayed a week, so in its place we're sharing a recent episode of The Lobby, our Patreon-exclusive series focusing on movies we don't cover on the main feed. If you'd like to become a Patreon supporter and get ad-free versions of the show, as well as more bonus content like this, you can head over to patreon.com/nextpictureshow to sign up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether he’s playing billiards or table tennis, a successful hustler requires no small amount of charisma, something Timothée Chalamet’s ping-pong pro undeniably has in Marty Supreme, though it’s of a decidedly different flavor than that of Paul Newman in The Hustler. Whether that charisma translates to a character we want to root for as he makes a mess of his own life, as well as those of the people (and one unfortunate dog) around him, is up for debate in our discussion of Josh Safdie’s new anxiety attack in movie form. Then we pit Marty’s game against Fast Eddie’s as we move into Connections to discuss the magic and morality of hustling, charismatic liars and the women who are drawn to them — even when they can see right through them — and whether these men chasing victory on their own terms, and at the cost of everything else, is inspirational or pitiful. Then in Your Next Picture Show, Scott sticks up for The Color of Money, Scorsese's Hustler sequel that can’t quite best its predecessor, but still has plenty of swagger all its own.  Please share your thoughts about The Hustler, Marty Supreme, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Marty Supreme follows a table-tennis phenom with the talent necessary to beat the best players in the world, if only he can keep his self-destructive tendencies from getting in the way. Swap out “table tennis” for “pool” in that description and you more or less have Robert Rossen’s 1961 drama The Hustler, which we revisit this week not only to bask in the incomparable onscreen charisma of Paul Newman, but also to consider the film’s ideas about what makes a winner — and a loser — and its noir-adjacent portrait of the gambling underworld. Then, in place of Feedback this week, we’re reflecting on the late Rob Reiner’s legacy on screens both big and small, and within an industry he helped shape in countless ways.  Please share your thoughts about The Hustler, Marty Supreme, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices