The Pestle: In-depth Movie Talk, No Fluff | Film Review | Spoilers

Latest Episodes
Ep 326: “Bring Her Back”
Child violence on screen; Story & Writing, torturing the audience & characters; Competent filmmaking, character work; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 325: “Tropic Thunder”
Cinematography, selling satire; Story & Writing, satire vs tropes; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 324: “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning”
Editing dialog-heavy scenes; Story & Writing, exposition dumps, the real villain; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 323: “There Will Be Blood”
Story & Writing, plot vs character; Daniel Day-Lewis; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 322: “Stardust”
Cinematography, polished camera moves; Story & Writing, fairytale rules, character wants, love; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 321: “The Road” (2009)
Cinematography, compositions, first frame last frame; Story & Writing, structure, morality, terse dialog; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 320: “Sinners”
Story & Writing, fairytales, flashbacks, and protagonists; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 319: “The Amateur” (2025)
Story & Writing, how world-building impacts the audience experience, setting up your character arcs; and other such stuff and things and stuff.
Ep 318: “Perfect Sense” (2011)
We devour Eva Green & Ewan McGregor's "Perfect Sense" and discuss: Cinematography, contrast, camera movement; Story & Writing, scene character, relationship epidemics; and other such stuff and things
Ep 317: “Mission: Impossible” (1996)
We double-cross Tom Cruises original Mission: Impossible and discuss: Cinematography, split focus diopters; Story & Writing, the opening, big set pieces; and other such stuff and things and stuff.