Do You See What I Mean?

This week, we’re looking back at some of the films we haven’t yet dished about from 2026, including:The Drama (2026)In the Grey (2026)Crime 101 (2026)Project Hail Mary (2026)The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)Mother Mary (2026)Obsession (2026)Is God Is (2026)The Death of Robin Hood (2026)Tuner (2026)Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2026)

After the success of her brilliant feature directorial debut Booksmart in 2019, actor-writer-director Olivia Wilde faced tougher times with her follow-up, Don’t Worry Darling (2022), which was eclipsed by the PR nonsense around her affair with Harry Styles (honestly, good for her), Florence Pugh’s moralizing, and ex Jason Sudeikis’ petty antics. Now, Wilde is back, and better than ever, in her new, surprising and fantastic film, The Invite. Join me and Joey as they parse this very special evening amongst neighbors, with a few references alive and well as the drama unfolds.

Disclosure Day is the long-anticipated new blockbuster by one of the greatest directors of all time, Steven Spielberg, who brought us Jaws, Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan. Emily Blunt is tongue-tied in the teaser and trailer, which indicate an otherworldly presence is already here. Will this be classic Spielberg? Or another retread of long-told tropes of UFOs and conspiracies? Let’s see what he means.

We all love a heist, and watching one unfold on screen is one of the oldest traditions in Hollywood. In this special episode, we look back at over 50 years of crime and heists in cinema, what drives the robbers and cops alike, and what role poses the most risk in a crew.

“People don’t want to be the art – they want to be the artist.” We’d be hard-pressed to find another living artist with as much imagination and slapstick genius as Boots Riley, the Oakland multimedia artist and political provocateur behind the 2018 hit Sorry to Bother You. A band of fashion thieves (“boosters”) take revenge on an evil queen designer, and no color in the rainbow is left out.

Mia and Joey are back for another season of Do You See What I Mean, and they are starting off with the horror hit of the year -- Backrooms. Step inside to find out how far the rabbit hole goes (and whether it went far enough) on our first episode of a new season.

The show, the awards, the brooches, the Babs -- we've got it all covered on our season finale episode about the 98th Annual Academy Awards.

Ten nominees, two contenders: will Best Picture go to One Battle or Sinners in five short days? Mia and Joe revisit one of their favorite films of 2025, and make a case for why it is Best. From the idea, to the cast, to the music and more, we're headed to the Mississippi delta in 1932 to explore and celebrate Ryan Coogler's historical epic.

It's time for tunes on this special episode, where Joe and Mia break down the five scores nominated for Academy Awards on March 15: Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and Sinners. We're talking composers, leitmotifs and what makes a Best Score on Do You See What I Mean.

Kate Hudson — really? (Yes.) What about Ethan Hawke? (Absolutely.) How about the other Safdie brother’s film? (Definitely.) Every year is a great year for film if you know where to look, and fortunately, the Academy has expanded its sights to include a wider variety of films as the years go on. In the latest episode of Do You See What I Mean, we cover notable films that didn’t get their own episodes from the 2026 Oscar nominations list: Marty SupremeThe Secret AgentNo Other ChoiceBlue MoonSong Sung BlueSiratThe Smashing MachineDead Man’s Wire

Cathy's here, and Heathcliff too -- but that’s nearly we get from Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel in the latest of a long line of adaptations and interpretations, this one from director Emerald Fennell. In place of the full story, we do get eggs, synth pop and swoony lighting. In the latest episode of Fo You See What I Mean, Mia and Joe explore why Fennell made the choices she did, who this version is for, and why the amount of sultry steam we were promised in the trailers — ended up being conspicuously small.

There are all kinds of films that reference, or stage in the story, or explicitly discuss sex but have little to none onscreen. These are films that felt the romance, sexual identity, gender identity, or sex scenes had to go because they would hurt the storyline, not help it. (Or for other reasons.) Sometimes, Hollywood flinches. Sometimes a performer says “no thanks.” And sometimes, these decisions work — while at others, they leave something missing. We take a look back at five films from the last several decades and ask why. The Color Purple (1985)Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)The Silence of the Lambs (1991) A Few Good Men (1992) 300 (2006)

In this episode of Do You See What I Mean, Mia and Joe take on two recent films about motherhood pushed to the breaking point: Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love and Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You. Both films center mothers in crisis—but they provoke very different reactions. As the conversation unfolds, Mia and Joe find themselves sharply divided, interrogating not just the films themselves but the assumptions critics and audiences bring to stories about maternal suffering. Together, these films raise difficult questions: what happens when motherhood is moralized on screen? When does empathy curdle into indulgence? And do we allow women to be monstrous when they become mothers?

Racing through awards season is Jessie Buckley for her raw portrayal of a longsuffering mother and wife of William Shakespeare in Chloe Zhao’s adaptation of the Maggi O’Farrell novel. Mia and Joe share slightly different takes about this fatiguing story that features a whole lot of wailing and very little Shakespeare. Nonetheless, it has captured audiences for its simplicity and raw portrayal of loss, in a return to form for Zhao, who described having a breakdown after the misfire that was Marvel’s The Eternals. Is her hyper natural approach enough to fuel a long career? What about her did producers Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes jump to get behind? And is there anything to learn from such a dour slog through parental pain?

Joe and Mia reflect on the 98th annual Academy Award nominations, and the surprises and shutouts that always surface.

Introducing: Do You See What I Mean, a conversational film and culture podcast. Each episode blends cultural analysis, lived experience, and humor to explore how we tell stories about love, work, art, and identity—and where those stories fall short or rise to the challenge. We’re talking about movies, performances, relationships, and the social, and psychological dynamics running through them. From classic films and prestige indies, to modern remakes, we aren’t interested in hot takes for shock value. We’re interested in understanding the films of our time: what works, what doesn’t, and why films land the way they do.

Lifelong obsession, painstaking craft and the gothic horror of the romantics – Mary Shelley’s time tested tale is brought, finally and passionately to screen by one of our modern masters of the macabre. It’s gorgeous, it’s engaging, and yet something doesn’t quite work, even after the two years del Toro spent in his thirteen home libraries reading and writing. Mia and Joe get up on the surgical table to slice apart the what and the why of del Toro’s latest – blood, guts and all. What do we want from well trodden remakes? How should we receive passion projects of masters of their craft? And how should we think about a hot Frankenstein?

Mia and Joe unpack Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a quiet, prestige drama about grief, family, memory, and the emotional inheritance passed down through generations. From comparisons to Birdman and Lost in Translation to a sharp critique of prestige filmmaking that prioritizes aesthetics over narrative clarity, this episode asks a central question: What does a film actually need to do in order to justify its existence? How do families tell their histories through the medium?

In their first episode, Mia and Joe dive into One Battle After Another, PTA’s most political and provocative film yet. From ensemble performances to fetish, class shame, and state power, they explore why this film unsettles—and why that matters. Much buzzed about as 2026’s Best Picture winner (having already nabbed that Golden Globe prize), it’s a rollicking modern fable in three arresting acts, featuring a dynamite cast and a whole wacky range of ideas. Beneath the PR campaign, the director’s legacy and the star studding, does it have something substantive to say? And what does it show us about the world we live in today?