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Mindframe(s)

Mindframe(s)

By: Dave Canfield and Michael Cockerill
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Each week Dave and Michael talk about film and where it fits in the larger social story. Art
Episodes
  • Episode 122 - The Odyssey

    Episode 122 - The Odyssey
    Jul 24 2026
    The Odyssey (2026) Directed by: Christopher Nolan Written by: Christopher Nolan Starring: Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Bill Irwin, Travis Scott IMDB: [IMDB LINK] Episode Summary In this episode of Mindframes, Michael and Dave discuss The Odyssey (2026), Christopher Nolan's three-hour adaptation of Homer — a $250 million epic and the first narrative feature shot entirely on IMAX 70mm. The discussion covers Nolan as an auteur and whether the "never made a bad movie" claim holds up, the practical-effects approach to the Cyclops and Circe, the deliberately cold Northern palette imposed on the Mediterranean, Ludwig Göransson's score, and an ensemble so large the hosts concede they can't get to everyone. After the ratings, the spoiler section turns to the film's central choice: the Olympian gods have been removed while the monsters remain, and what that does to Odysseus' moral agency. Comparisons range across Nolan's own filmography, Troy, The Northman, and the sword-and-sandal epics of the 1950s and '60s. Reviews Michael: 4.5 / 5 — came out thinking four, and it has only grown in his esteem since. Praises the baseline of visual and musical quality, Damon working better as a lead than expected, and a supporting cast that carries every stop on the journey. Docks it for a cast so crowded it distracts, and for an ending too in love with its own moralism. Dave: 4.5 / 5 — would watch it again in a heartbeat. Calls it a film that grabs hold of empire, heroism, reverence, and humility all at once, and rates the separation of gods from monsters as pitch perfect. His one dent in the fender: the film plays a little episodic, a series of very large encounters rather than a single build. Thematic Discussion The Odyssey removes the Olympians but keeps the monsters. Circe, the Sirens, and the Cyclops are all simply part of the natural world here; it's Athena and Zeus who stay shadowy and inferred. Michael's reading is that this absence exists to hand moral agency back to Odysseus — if the gods were visibly steering, his guilt over the Trojan Horse wouldn't be his to carry. That guilt is framed through xenia, the Greek code of hospitality. Odysseus offered a gift that turned out to be murder, and comes to believe that breaking that norm is what set his civilization's collapse in motion. The hosts draw the parallel to the erosion of political and social norms in contemporary America, and to the film's closing turn — the Bronze Age is ending because of the Sea Peoples, and the Greeks realize they are the Sea Peoples. The episode's central disagreement is over Athena. Dave reads her as constructed: she wears the face of a priestess Odysseus watched his own men murder in her temple, and the film is showing how humans build gods out of guilt and the sense that something is sacred. Michael pushes back that the film sustains a genuine ambiguity — the idea that gods appear in human form is planted repeatedly, and the priestess is decapitated at the exact moment Athena's statue is, which leaves open that Odysseus may believe they killed a god. He points to the same ambiguity in the Cyclops' cry to Poseidon, which some of the crew claim to hear and neither Odysseus nor the audience does. Neither host resolves it, and both prefer it that way. Michael's position is that the ambiguity is the answer rather than the absence of one — something underpins their world that they don't fully see and are damaging anyway, whether that's Zeus and Poseidon or simply decency and the value of human life. Dave, arriving from a position of religious faith, says he likes that Odysseus has to live in the same uncertain world the rest of us do. The structural evidence they land on: Homer ends with a deus ex machina, Athena descending to stop the cycle of revenge. Nolan cuts it. Nobody intervenes, so Odysseus abdicates, gives the throne to Telemachus, and sails west with Penelope — a change that hands the ending's moral weight entirely to the man. Timestamps TimeSegment00:00Intro & setup05:08Nolan's filmography — is he an auteur?08:51Practical filmmaking and visual style09:37IMAX 70mm and the limits of the format14:40Hoyte van Hoytema17:16Why the Mediterranean looks cold19:39Ludwig Göransson's score25:20Travis Scott, the bard, and the casting discourse28:56The ensemble39:39Reviews & ratings49:56Spoiler section begins52:18Xenia and the collapse of norms54:50The gods and moral agency56:12The Athena reveal1:01:46The case for ambiguity1:05:03"We're the Sea Peoples"1:09:02The ending Nolan changed1:19:36Final interpretation debate — are the gods there?1:26:49Closing thoughts Films & Directors Mentioned Memento — Christopher NolanInception — Christopher NolanThe Prestige — Christopher NolanInterstellar — Christopher NolanDunkirk — Christopher NolanTenet — ...
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    1 hr and 29 mins
  • Episode 121 : Disclosure Day

    Episode 121 : Disclosure Day
    Jun 25 2026
    Mindframes Show Notes Episode 121 — Disclosure Day (2026)

    Directed by: Steven Spielberg Written by: David Koepp Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15047880/

    Special guest: Tarek Fayoumi (movieswithtarek.com), director of the Chicago Independent Film Critics.

    Episode Summary

    In this episode of Mindframes, Michael and Dave — joined by returning guest Tarek Fayoumi — discuss Disclosure Day (2026), Steven Spielberg's return to the alien genre and his first big sci-fi swing since War of the Worlds.

    The conversation works through Spielberg's recurring obsessions (renegade heroes, shadowy government forces, ordinary people swept into something enormous), Janusz Kamiński's return to the diffused-light, lens-flare look, and John Williams' 30th collaboration with the director — before splitting hard over whether the film's hopeful thesis actually lands. Comparisons run from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and War of the Worlds to Contact, Minority Report, and Coppola's Megalopolis as a fellow "late master with something to say."

    Verdicts split three ways: Michael 2.5/5, Dave 3/5, Tarek 4/4.

    Thematic Discussion

    Disclosure Day asks whether an undeniable, truthful image can still unite people in a cynical age — Brian Tallerico's "undeniable image" framing, run through the show's central question: not is there proof? but does proof still work on us?

    Michael argues the truthful image isn't wounded but dead — a shared reality the film is nostalgic for, but one that no longer functions when people deny what they're shown. Dave counters that the film's real hope is empathy and human-to-human connection replacing the broken image, while conceding Spielberg doesn't earn that buy-in the way his early work did. The film ends not on a revelation but on Margaret turning to the camera, saying "Listen," and cutting to black — proof getting humanity to the threshold, with faith and empathy left to carry it the rest of the way.

    Timestamps

    Note: recording was split into two files; Part 2 times below assume the parts run continuously (Part 2 offset by ~50:03). Verify against the stitched audio.

    TimeSegment00:15Intro & setup; welcoming guest Tarek Fayoumi02:33Spielberg as a director — recurring themes03:21Premise & the Wardex setup (spoiler-free)08:43Return to the alien genre vs. his recent dramas10:01Cinematography — Kamiński, lens flares, the "awe" look28:12John Williams' 30th collaboration; film & score preservation31:17Spoiler-free reviews begin31:47Michael's review (2.5/5)38:47Dave's review (3/5)43:02Tarek's review (4/4)~45:10Spoiler section begins~45:42The alien reveal & the decades of "disclosure" footage~55:27Thematic debate: empathy vs. the image~56:08"The truthful image is dead" — Michael's core position~60:17The ending: "Listen" and the cut to black~74:31Closing thoughts — can we still believe in a unifying image?~74:56Next episode tease Films & Directors Mentioned
    • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
    • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg)
    • War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg)
    • A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
    • Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
    • Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
    • Schindler's List / Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
    • The Terminal / Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg)
    • The Fabelmans / West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)
    • Jurassic Park / Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (David Koepp & Spielberg)
    • Contact (Robert Zemeckis / Carl Sagan)
    • Explorers (Joe Dante)
    • 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
    • Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola)
    • Super 8 (J.J. Abrams)
    • Watching the Skies (Norwegian sci-fi)
    • Poltergeist / Gremlins (Spielberg-produced, 1980s)
    • The Outer Limits — "The Architects of Fear"
    Contact

    Web: https://mindframesfilm.com Facebook: Mindframes Network: Now Playing Network Email: info@mindframesfilm.com
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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Episode 120 - Obsession

    Episode 120 - Obsession
    Jun 19 2026
    Mindframes Show Notes Obsession (2026)

    Directed by: Curry Barker Written by: Curry Barker Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37287335/

    Episode Summary

    In this episode of Mindframes, Michael and Dave dig into Obsession (2026), Curry Barker's micro-budget feature debut that turned into one of the biggest horror phenomenons in years — a $750K film bought for $15 million out of TIFF that went on to gross well over $148 million worldwide, growing at the box office in consecutive weekends rather than declining.

    The discussion explores the film's monkey's-paw premise, its working-class Gen Z setting, the moral architecture of Bear's wish, and the central question of whether Bear is the film's actual villain — while comparing the film to Weapons, Pearl, Get Out, The Witch, and Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire.

    Thematic Discussion

    Obsession explores consent and agency — what happens when desire is granted without consent.

    The film suggests that Bear doesn't earn or deserve Nikki's love; he eliminates her will and replaces it with his own. As Curry Barker has put it, "love is earned, not demanded," and "any time you wish for something, it's probably going to be selfish." The true engine of the horror isn't the curse twisting the wish — it's that the wish works exactly as asked.

    On-air verdict — Is Bear the villain? Both hosts landed on no. He's flawed, selfish, and prolongs the harm once he knows better, but he's the story's antagonist rather than its villain — if anyone is the "real" villain, it's the cursed object itself. Michael's framing: not every flawed person is a villain, and the film is more interesting because its characters are layered rather than purely good or evil.

    On-air verdict — the ending. Dave correctly intuited that Nikki originally killed herself in an earlier draft — that actually was Barker's original Romeo-and-Juliet mutual-suicide ending, before his playwright father pushed him toward the survival cut used in the final film. Michael argued the survival ending is more thematically persuasive: if the theme is one person's coercion of another's agency, the resolution should be Nikki's, not a mutual destruction that treats the harm as shared. Bear's selfishness has to die for Nikki to live.

    A live reference worth flagging for listeners: Michael cited Naomi Serpell's New Yorker piece "The New Literalism" (March 2025) as a framework for questioning how intentionally — and how literally — modern horror handles its themes of trauma and control.

    ⏱️ Timestamps TimeSegment00:01Intro & setup00:03Director background — Curry Barker, box office story00:09Cinematography & cast discussion00:30Reviews & ratings00:41⚠️ Spoiler section begins — "What would you wish for?"00:44Thematic discussion: consent and agency00:45Is Bear the villain?01:01The ending — survival vs. the original Romeo & Juliet cut01:13The New Literalism / intentionality debate01:22Closing thoughts & next episode 🎞️ Films & Directors Mentioned
    • Weapons / Barbarian (Zach Cregger)
    • Pearl (Ti West / Mia Goth) — Barker has cited this as a major influence
    • Get Out (Jordan Peele)
    • The Witch (Robert Eggers)
    • Backrooms (Kane Parsons)
    • Hurry Up Tomorrow (Jenna Ortega)
    • Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire
    📬 Contact

    🌐 https://mindframesfilm.com 📘 Facebook: Mindframes 🎧 Now Playing Network ✉️ info@mindframesfilm.com
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    1 hr and 18 mins
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