The Playlist Podcast Network

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo reloads to discuss “John Wick: Chapter 4” with director Chad Stahelski (“John Wick” 1-4). The fourth installment of the beloved action franchise follows Mr. Wick (Keanu Reeves), recovered from the final events of Chapter 3, and back in the crosshairs of The High Table, who turns old allies into ruthless enemies. The film also stars Bill Skarsgard, Donnie Yen, Lawrence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Rina Sawayama, Lance Reddick, and more.  READ MORE: ‘V/H/S/85’: Scott Derrickson Talks Joining the Cult Anthology Series, ‘Doctor Strange’ Creative Differences, ‘The Gorge’ & More [The Discourse Podcast] During the interview, director Chad Stahelski talked about being shocked that he's gotten this far, seeing as he thought the first “John Wick” film might have ended his directorial career. The filmmaker also talked about his work with Marvel as a second-unit action director his upcoming 'Highlander,' a potential 'John Wick 5' and much more.

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, your host, Mike D’Angelo and Playlist Editor-in-Chief jump on the mic to talk with Joanna Robinson, one of the writers on the new book “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios” co-written by Dave Gonzales and, Gavin Edwards. Given everything that’s happened/happening to Marvel this year, this all and this weekend—the flop of “The Marvels,” the Studios lowest-grossing opening ever and their first major failure in, well, forever—the book and the conversation, is timely. Robinson is a veteran journalist who has worked for Vanity Fair, many other outlets and currently works at the Ringer. For the book, her Gonzales and Edwards interviewed over 100 people and sources to tell the Marvel Studios story, from the early days of Stan Lee and producer Avi Arad, the pre-inception of Marvel Studios (when Marvel had movies and characters scattered all over at places like Universal, Paramount and of course 20th Century Fox), the big gamble of making Marvel Studios with Kevin Feige, all the risks they took and more.

In this week’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo saddles up to discuss Paramount+’s latest Taylor Sheridan-produced series, “Lawmen: Bass Reeves.” The show follows Bass Reeves (David Oyelowo) on his journey from Civil War-era slave and forced Confederate soldier to the first Black U.S. Marshal in history and one of the greatest frontier heroes of all time. The show also stars Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland, Barry Pepper, Lauren E. Banks, and more. Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the eight-episode series is showrunner Chad Feehan ('Ray Donovan,' 'Rectify,' 'Banshee'). During the chat, Feehan talks about his journey to being hand-picked by Bass Reeves himself, David Oyelowo (“Selma,” “Silo," “The Water Man”), to helm the show, working with Taylor Sheridan and much more.

Even though it didn’t make a billion dollars or score any awards, there’s no denying Damien Leone’s “Terrifier 2” was one of the most successful horror films of 2022. And for this special Halloween episode of The Playlist Podcast, I’m sharing a recent interview I conducted with Leone, the writer-director of one of the most successful horror films of the last year, “Terrifier 2.” Why am I interviewing a filmmaker about a movie that came out a year ago? Well, the film is actually getting a re-release in theaters on November 1, and the new version will feature a special teaser for “Terrifier 3.”

Horror has always been a great testing platform to new, interesting genre mashups. That’s showcased, to great effect, in the new film, “Suitable Flesh,” from filmmaker Joe Lynch. And in this episode of The Playlist Podcast, I speak with Lynch about his new film that mixes gruesome Lovecraftian horror with a good ol’ ‘80s/‘90s erotic thriller. 

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo pops in a tape to discuss “V/H/S/85” with director Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange,” “Sinister,” “The Black Phone”). The sixth installment of the beloved horror anthology series follows five sinister found footage tales that delve into the grim underbelly of 1980s America. The film stars James Ransone, Freddie Rodriguez, Jordan Belfi, Dashiell Derrickson, and more. During the interview, the modern horror master discussed joining the V/H/S franchise through his wife, Maggie Levin, who had done a short for “V/H/S/99.” Derrickson also spoke about leaving Marvel's 'Doctor Strange 2' over creative differences and 'Ghost Rider.'

In this episode of Deep Focus, your host Rodrigo Perez sits down to chat with Grant Singer, the director of the crime thriller/drama, "Reptile." Yes, it’s a crime film, superficially—a hardened detective investigates a mysterious murder— and resembles, in some respects, the grim mood of a serial killer procedural in the vein of, say, David Fincher. But it’s also a character-driven drama and murder mystery—featuring excellent and consistently surprising supporting turns by Alicia Silverstone, Justin Timberlake, Michael Pitt, Eric Bogosian, and more— that maybe more resembles something like Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners,” mixed with the system-is-rigged futility of “Chinatown.” This is high praise, obviously, but it’s deserved. Singer makes his feature-length directorial debut with "Reptile" which is co-written along with Benicio del Toro, and we spoke about what del Toro brought to the project, both as an actor and writer, the process of getting him and dive deep into its many themes of shedding skin, dreams, broken dreams and more. It's an underrated movie and you should check it out asap.

Brian Duffield has only directed two films, so far, but he’s already starting to carve out a specific niche. He’s a filmmaker who loves to take these character-driven, emotional stories and put them against the backdrop of genre. This is seen with the love story at the center of “Spontaneous,” a film were teens are literally exploding or in his new film, “No One Will Save You,” which is truly a film about a young woman feeling isolated and alone and has to deal with an alien invasion. And in this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Brian Duffield talks about integrating genre into his “Sundance dramas” and much more.

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo brings back directors Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah to discuss their new film “Rebel.” The dramatic musical thriller follows a Muslim Belgian family as they are slowly ripped apart by Islamic extremists through various devious radicalization techniques. The film stars Aboubakr Bensaihi, Lubna Azabal, Tara Abboud, Amir El Arbi, and more.  READ MORE: ‘Rebel’ Review: Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah’s Radicalization Drama Pulsates With Terrible Inevitability [Cannes] During the interview, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah discuss how personal the film is to them as it mirrors many experiences they had growing up in Belgium. They also cover the topics of their canceled "Batgirl" movie, whether or not they'll be a "Ms. Marvel" season two, and what's on tap for "Bad Boys 4" and possibly beyond.

It’s not very often we get a teen comedy that feels fresh and new. Thankfully, this week has the release of “Bottoms,” a teen comedy that subverts expectations and flips the script on a genre that can often feel stale. You can thank filmmaker Emma Seligman for that. And in this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Seligman joins us to discuss their newest film, “Bottoms,” and what makes it feel so different from other films that have come before.