The Film Stage Presents

On a special 2025 wrap-up podcast, The Film Stage co-founder and editor-in-chief Jordan Raup is joined by managing editor and Emulsion host Nick Newman and The B-Side co-host Conor O'Donnell to discuss our favorite films of the year. We also discuss our favorite first-viewings of the year, favorite documentaries, the most overrated and most overlooked films of 2025. Before signing off, we provide a look ahead at our most-anticipated films of 2026, plus a few films coming this year we've already seen to have on your radar. On the episode, we also discuss The Film Stage's Top 50 Films of 2025: https://thefilmstage.com/the-film-stages-top-50-films-of-2025/ The Film Stage's 100 Most-Anticipated Films of 2026: https://thefilmstage.com/the-100-most-anticipated-films-of-2026-part-one And more of our year-end features: https://thefilmstage.com/tag/best-of-2025/ Thanks for listening all year long, and stay tuned for more conversations!

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we discuss America’s everyman and one of its most indelible movie stars: James Stewart! Our returning guest is our dear friend Mitchell Beaupre, Head of Editorial at Letterboxd and our B-Sides today include Vivacious Lady, You Gotta Stay Happy, No Highway in the Sky, The Far Country, and Fools' Parade. We debate what it is exactly that made Stewart so relatable and endearing to millions, we marvel at his WWII service and how it affected his on-screen demeanor, and we acknowledge that even though he starred in dozens of westerns most people still remember him better as George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life. Mitchell, Conor, and I discuss the incredible films he made with Anthony Mann, the late pictures he made with Andrew V. McLaglen, and the early starring roles in his career. We also mention how he was one of the most reliable box office stars over decades, a legendary ladies man in his younger days, and a staunch conservative throughout his life. There’s also the already-infamous trailer for the forthcoming James Stewart biopic. Wow, does it look bad! Listen below and subscribe here. Be sure to give us a follow on Bluesky at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Enjoy!

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we celebrate filmmaker James L. Brooks! His new movie Ella McKay is in theaters now! Our returning guest is very good friend Adam Drosin, and together we are The Brooks Brothers. Our B-Sides today are I’ll Do Anything (musical cut included), Spanglish, and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. We discuss Brooks’ impossibly successful career as a producer of both film and television, his keen eye for talent (his support of superb filmmaker Kelly Fremon Craig), and, of course, his reckoning with failure. There’s also the recipe for that sandwich in Spanglish, Julia Roberts’ feelings about Nick Nolte on the set of I Love Trouble (which came out the same year as I’ll Do Anything, a rough year for Nolte professionally), and that Gracie Films fanfare. We also give The Critic some deserved love. We ponder the editing choices in Brooks’ 2010 debacle How Do You Know and celebrate his acting in the masterpiece Modern Romance (directed by Albert Brooks!). Cinematographer John Seale also said in an interview that the movie he shot that he used the most film on was Spanglish!

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we talk about someone who played Bond, James Bond, and Blanc, Benoit Blanc. It’s Daniel Craig! Our returning guest is the great Gavin Mevius, co-host of both The Mixed Reviews Podcast and The Q Division on Glitterjaw. Our B-Sides today include The Mother, Enduring Love, The Golden Compass, and Cowboys & Aliens. We also spend some time on The Invasion. We remember the controversy of Craig’s being blonde and being cast as Bond (silly!), as well as the early roles he took on before our B-Sides. There’s conversation on the films of Roger Michell and if he really is some version of Mike Leigh lite. There’s also an earnest debate about which film is worse: The Golden Compass or Cowboys & Aliens? Mild shock takes hold as we three recall both that HBO did in fact make FULL THREE SEASONS of His Dark Materials (!) and the somewhat disingenuous, cash-grabby way Cowboys & Aliens came to be.

One of the many special things in Train Dreams, directed by Clint Bentley, is the production design. Nearly every element of each setting feels like it was just sitting there, waiting to be captured. Of course, this is not the case. It was meticulously, carefully planned and built. The Film Stage's Dan Mecca was lucky and honored to speak with Alexandra Schaller, the film’s production designer, about the agonies and ecstasies of bringing Train Dreams to life, as well as some earlier, accomplished work in her career. Additional thanks to Schaller, who provided The Film Stage access to mood boards and behind-the-scenes photos from the project. Explore here: https://thefilmstage.com/train-dreams-production-designer-alexandra-schaller-on-finding-beauty-in-the-land-and-making-small-films-feel-big/