Brotherly movie talk with sharp detours.
Oh Brother is a film-centered conversation led by Dan Smith and Mike Smith, where review notes share space with family ribbing, weather updates, and Oscar arguments. Recent episodes move from Hamnet and The Secret Agent to The Killers, movie trivia, holiday romances, and commuter-style industry chatter.
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Oh Brother is a movie conversation show with a strong sibling engine. Dan Smith and Mike Smith bring the rhythm of brothers who can disagree, interrupt, correct, and still keep moving toward the next scene. The show’s center of gravity is film, but it does not treat film criticism as a sealed room. Weather, birthdays, studio posters, old episodes, commute calls, and family history all slip into the frame. Recent episodes follow a broad viewing diet. Oscar nominees such as Hamnet, Marty Supreme, and The Secret Agent lead to arguments about awards categories, nominations, performance recognition, and whether the ceremony itself should change. The reviews can get specific. A discussion of Hamnet moves into language choices, creative restraint, Jesse Buckley, Paul Mescal, and Chloé Zhao. The Secret Agent opens space for Wagner Moura, Brazilian political history, Jaws imagery, corruption, and the odd humor inside a thriller. The classic-film side is just as present. The Killers gives the brothers a reason to talk Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Criterion releases, noir, and the shock of discovering a major star for the first time. The show also likes formats. Movie trivia turns into brother-versus-brother competition, with old scores and rough early episodes lingering in the background. Cruisin’ with O’Brother loosens the structure further, turning a commute into a quick run through entertainment headlines such as Jim Carrey speaking French while accepting an award. Holiday films get their own seasonal treatment, including There’s No Place Like Christmas and earlier conversations around holiday favorites. The tone is casual, but the references are not thin. The brothers talk about directors, editing, final cut, acting wins, genre comparisons, and the small details that can make or break a film. They also nitpick. That nitpicking is often the point. Oh Brother suits listeners who enjoy reviews that preserve the mess of real conversation: jokes, tangents, weather reports, affectionate digs, and sudden close readings. It is less about delivering a verdict from on high than watching two movie-minded brothers work out what they think in real time.
Made for: For film fans who like reviews with awards talk, classic cinema references, trivia, and conversational digressions. It especially suits listeners who prefer critic-level detail without losing the looseness of a sibling argument.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is the brother dynamic: Dan Smith and Mike Smith mix structured reviews with interruptions, corrections, family shorthand, and recurring bits. That gives Oscar contenders, noir classics, holiday movies, and entertainment headlines the feel of an ongoing private argument made public.
Real brothers, Reel Talk: Dan & Mike Smith cover film, TV, & artist interviews 🍿📺🎤My brother Mike and I launched the “Oh Brother” podcast in 2020. The show’s primary objective is to share our enthusiasm for film and cinema in an informative and entertaining way. We also enjoy interviewing artists with diverse backgrounds in film and television who work both in front of and behind the scenes. We invite you to join us each week and follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. We’d love to hear from you, so email us or text us some fan mail to share your feedbac
Dan and Mike turn "hello" into the kind of Hamnet dispute you will want to referee.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A brotherly film chat that turns awards-season noise into a clearer discussion of craft and recognition.
Marty Supreme becomes less a verdict on the film than a look at how it gets cut, framed, and judged under awards-season pressure. Dan and Mike move from Timothee Chalamet and Josh Safdie to the note that Safdie also handled the editing, which gives the discussion a sturdier…
A skeptical Oscar-season chat that keeps restraint and performance in view.
Dan and Ike spend the penultimate stop on their Oscar run on a film that prefers restraint to overstatement. They linger on Jessie Buckley's performance, the ghostly image work, and the way suggestion does the heavy lifting instead of spelling everything out.
Solo-narrated video essays decoding film and TV endings, symbolism, and cultural meaning.
Kim Masters and Puck's Matt Belloni break down Hollywood's dealmaking and executive shake-ups.
Story analysis with jokes still attached.
Film culture, festival heat, awards nerves.
Messy horror talk with real teeth.
Rick Moranis jokes that he was not retired from acting; he was negotiating.
Dan Smith and Mike Smith wrap their Oscar Best Picture coverage with Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, an A24 film they say became the studio’s highest-grossing release.
Dan Smith and Mike Smith review Hamnet, the Maggie O’Farrell adaptation directed by Chloé Zhao, and note that Jessie Buckley won Best Actress at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
Two brothers discuss a news story about Jim Carrey receiving an award and speaking French, analyzing his appearance and language skills.
Two brothers discuss film and TV, with this episode focusing on director Yorgos Lanthimos.
Brothers Dan and Mike Smith compete in a movie trivia round, starting with a question about which Oscar-winning actor was offered the lead role in The Matrix.
Two brothers discuss and review classic films, starting with 'The Killers' and exploring the careers of actors like Burt Lancaster.
Brothers Dan and Mike Smith kick off a new holiday segment by reviewing the Christmas movie 'There's No Place Like Christmas' from Great American Family.
Brothers Dan and Mike Smith discuss the new John Candy documentary on Prime, sharing their thoughts and personal anecdotes.
Brothers Dan and Mike Smith discuss Guillermo del Toro's film Frankenstein and his career.
Brothers Dan and Mike Smith discuss and analyze the film 'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere' and its connection to Bruce Springsteen's album Nebraska.
Brothers Dan and Mike Smith discuss the film 'Cleaner' and director Martin Campbell's career.