Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen debate new releases, classics, and their own film rankings.
Filmspotting treats movie talk as a sustained critical conversation, moving from current reviews to classics, marathons, Pantheon picks, and tournament matchups. Its best moments linger over craft, character contradiction, genre tone, and the strange afterlife of beloved films.
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Filmspotting is primarily a two-person panel show, with hosts Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen debating and ranking films in most episodes rather than delivering solo commentary. Regular installments include reviews of current theatrical and streaming releases, archived reviews of classic films revisited years after release, and franchise or director retrospectives. The show maintains several recurring formats: 'Filmspotting Madness,' a bracket-style tournament that pits films from a given decade against each other; 'Pantheon' inductions, an annual ranked canon of films voted on by the hosts; themed marathons built around a shared subject like political cinema; and periodic top-five list episodes on genres such as horror. A distinct 'SVU' segment focused on streaming titles is fronted by different contributors, Matt Singer and Jordan Hoffman, rather than Kempenaar and Larsen. Guests skew toward film critics and historians, such as Michael Phillips interviewing an author about New Hollywood directors. Listener emails and voicemails are read and discussed as part of the format, particularly around archive revisits. The show occasionally carries crossover or cross-posted episodes from other podcasts, such as The Black Guy Who Tips. Overall the tone is analytical and debate-driven, with hosts frequently disagreeing on rankings and interpretations rather than delivering consensus reviews. Listeners who want ongoing coverage of new releases paired with structured, long-running franchise and classic-film retrospectives are the core audience. Production is conversational and unscripted, centered on close reading of individual scenes and performances rather than news or industry reporting.
Made for: Film buffs who want detailed critical debate on new releases plus recurring deep dives into classic and franchise cinema.
What sets it apart: Structured recurring formats like the Filmspotting Madness bracket tournament and annual Pantheon inductions set it apart from single-format review podcasts.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies, offering "affable, insightful film analysis since 2005" (NY Times).
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Filmspotting makes movie judgment legible by tracing praise, frustration, and disagreement back to specific choices in craft.
Filmspotting treats a verdict as the start of the conversation. Reviews test immediate reactions against tone, structure, performance, and the emotional investment a film has actually earned.
A movie earns its keep by surviving Adam and Josh before it reaches your queue.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A smart Godfather Part II reading about Michael Corleone's pursuit of legitimacy, family, and control.
Filmspotting's archive review of The Godfather Part II digs into Michael Corleone's central contradiction: he still talks about legitimacy and family, yet the choices in front of us keep making him look monstrous.
A funny, blunt takedown of Outcome as a Keanu Reeves vehicle buried under awkward monologues and tell-don't-show scenes.
Filmspotting turns Apple TV's Outcome into a brisk autopsy of a movie it sees as all talk and very little dramatic payoff. The hosts are toughest on the film's parade of one-on-one reckonings, where Keanu Reeves visits people he has wronged, including figures played by Susan…
A sharp Filmspotting conversation that makes Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg feel less inevitable and more human.
Filmspotting comes at Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg by trying to make their fame feel unstable again. The conversation is strongest when it pushes past the built-in mythology around those names and treats them as young filmmakers still figuring out what they believe, what they…
A loose, likable Hoppers conversation that respects kid chaos and notices the soundtrack and voice-cast polish.
Hoppers gets a warm, practical reading, with the conversation centering on why its messier kid logic lands. The hosts make room for the idea that young characters can be impulsive, overemotional, defiant, and very good at making their own lives harder, without treating those…
Filmspotting uses a divided take on The Drama to probe provocation, tonal risk, and whether ambiguity can land without emotional investment.
Filmspotting turns its split response to The Drama into a patient argument about what provocation is supposed to do. Adam and Josh circle the film's major revelation, its outsider perspective, and the uneasy balance between seriousness and comedy, with the disagreement…
A practical Filmspotting entry that turns a Dissident Cinema Marathon announcement into a useful guide for finding harder-to-stream films.
Filmspotting uses its Pantheon inductions episode to open the door on the upcoming Dissident Cinema Marathon, and the useful part here is refreshingly practical.
A focused horror-list discussion about grief, craft, and scares that do not need brute force.
Filmspotting's archive entry on 21st century horror lands best when it talks about why a scary movie can move quickly and still hurt. The hosts dwell on a film that balances real-world grief with clean scare craft: a grieving widow, an anguished son, and sequences that deliver…
A lively Sweet 16 bracket debate where Double Indemnity certainty gives way to thornier Third Man doubts.
Filmspotting's '40s Madness hits the Sweet 16 with the arguments getting tighter and more personal. Double Indemnity is an easy call over Rebecca, at least for the host here, but The Third Man against The Maltese Falcon is the matchup with more friction.
Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant explain one topic per episode, from the bicameral mind to Boeing's MCAS.
Multi-part dramatized retellings of scandals like OceanGate's Titan and the Lehman Brothers collapse.
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins dissect Oscar races, new releases, and Hollywood news.
Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas argue their way through terrible movies.
Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey rewatch The Office, scene by scene, with the people who made it.
Michael wants legitimacy.
Filmspotting’s SVU revival centers on Apple TV Plus’s Outcome, which stars Keanu Reeves as Reef Hawk, a recovering addict and famous actor with a blackmail problem.
Three names sound settled before the conversation even starts.
The film gets a warm, grounded defense.
Provocation is the hinge.
Start with the library.
Horror stays close to grief.
Double Indemnity wins without much strain.
Marriage gets slippery here.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larson review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larson review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
This episode features promotional clips for multiple podcasts including The Clifford Show, Thanks Dad, and The Girlfriends, discussing topics like sports media, personal advice, and true crime stories.
Filmspotting revisits Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy 15 years after Return of the King, with Josh Larsen and Adam Kempenaar framing the three films as one nine-and-a-half-hour epic.
This episode features a review of the film Moonlight and an interview with its director Barry Jenkins and actress Naomie Harris.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
This episode is a review of the 1976 film 'Network' as part of an archive series, hosted by Clifford Taylor IV on his new podcast The Clifford Show.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful film analysis.
Starling is never just watched.
This episode features promotional ads for Capital Upfitters truck services, The Clifford Show podcast with athlete interviews, and the Thanks Dad podcast about a con artist story.
Casablanca still feels easy to enter.
Adam and Josh discuss Diane Keaton's scenes and a poll about 90s movie soundtracks.
The film turns ambition into pressure.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
A podcast where hosts review and analyze new and classic films.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
A film review podcast where hosts discuss new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review new and classic movies with insightful analysis.
A podcast where hosts Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen review and analyze new and classic films.