The Reel Pineapple

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Thirteen years. 900 episodes. Zero filter. Host Joshua Hunter breaks down new releases, revisits cult classics, and says exactly what he thinks — no hype, no pandering, no pretending a bad movie is good just because it's popular. Expect deep-dive film history, candid interviews with filmmakers and industry voices, and a laid-back, nerdy energy where conversations go wherever they want to go. Whether he's tearing apart an overrated blockbuster or defending an underappreciated gem nobody else will, Joshua brings honesty, humor, and a genuine love of cinema to every episode. New episodes weekly.
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Episodes

54 minutes ago

🦄 Buddy (2026) Review — Nobody Hugs Back 🦄

54 minutes ago

14 min

Remember the bright orange unicorn from that cheerful kids’ TV show, the one who always wanted to give you a hug? Director Casper Kelly, the mind behind the cult internet classic Too Many Cooks, makes his feature debut with a horror comedy that turns the warm, sing-along world of 90s children’s television into a nightmare. Freddy (Delaney Quinn) and her friends live inside the show, and they slowly realize their unicorn pal Buddy, played by Keegan-Michael Key, is not as innocent as he seems. When one child refuses to play along, Buddy is not pleased, and cracks start to show in the perfect world.

With a cast that also includes Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace, Michael Shannon, and Patton Oswalt, this one premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance in January 2026 before hitting theaters in August. A mascot that smiles too wide and a world that’s way too cheerful is a great horror setup, but can it hold for a full feature? I’m getting into the scares, the nostalgia, the performances, and whether Buddy earns a spot on your Halloween watchlist or leaves you wanting your hug back.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

In Theaters August 28, 2026 | Runtime: 1hr 35min | Dir. Casper Kelly | Roadside Attractions & Saban Films | Premiered Sundance 2026

🍍 The Reel Pineapple is your one-stop shop for honest movie reviews, trailer breakdowns, and unfiltered film talk — no hype, no gatekeeping, just reel takes from your favorite podcaster’s favorite podcaster.

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🎙️ Hazy Core Crew — this one’s for you. Drop your thoughts in the comments and let me know what YOU thought! #HazyCoreCrew #HazyCoreFam #JoinTheHazyCore #ReelPineapple #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #Buddy #CasperKelly #HorrorMovies #SpookySeason #Halloween

54 minutes ago

14 min

2 days ago

🎭 Hamnet — The Grief Behind Hamlet 🎭

2 days ago

20 min

Before there was Hamlet, there was Hamnet. Chloé Zhao, the Oscar-winning director of Nomadland, adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel, which she co-wrote for the screen with O’Farrell herself. Jessie Buckley plays Agnes, a free-spirited healer, and Paul Mescal is a young, ambitious playwright named William Shakespeare. When tragedy strikes their family with the death of their young son, their bond is tested in ways that would eventually inspire one of the greatest plays ever written.

With Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, and Jacobi Jupe in the cast, a score by Max Richter, and Steven Spielberg as an executive producer, this one swept the 2026 awards season. It earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and Jessie Buckley won Best Actress. But does the film live up to the buzz, and does it earn every tear? I’m getting into Buckley and Mescal’s performances, Zhao’s filmmaking, and some surprises from the film.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

🎙️ Hazy Core Crew — this one’s for you. Drop your thoughts in the comments and let me know what YOU thought! #HazyCoreCrew #HazyCoreFam #JoinTheHazyCore #ReelPineapple #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #Hamnet #ChloeZhao #JessieBuckley #PaulMescal #Oscars

2 days ago

20 min

2 days ago

💋 I Want Your Sex Review — Screwball With a Safe Word 💋

2 days ago

16 min

Gregg Araki, the director behind Mysterious Skin and Kaboom, is back with a colorful, kinky erotic comedy thriller that premiered at Sundance in January 2026, and the early buzz was loud. Cooper Hoffman plays Elliot, a young man who lands a job as the sexual muse of Olivia Wilde’s Erika Tracy. The two quickly discover they have very different expectations for the arrangement, and the fantasy turns into a mess of sex, power, lies, and murder.

Written by Araki and Karley Sciortino, it has a stacked supporting cast: Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Charli XCX, Johnny Knoxville, and Margaret Cho. The reviews have been warm, and I wanted to love it, and maybe I did.....maybe I didn't.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

🎙️ Hazy Core Crew — this one’s for you. Drop your thoughts in the comments and let me know what YOU thought! #HazyCoreCrew #HazyCoreFam #JoinTheHazyCore #ReelPineapple #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #IWantYourSex #GreggAraki #OliviaWilde #CooperHoffman #CharliXCX

2 days ago

16 min

2 days ago

🎃 Ali G: Who Iz I? — Who Is This For? 🎃

2 days ago

21 min

Happy Halloween, Hazy Core Crew. You came here for something scary, and I’ve got it: the scariest thing this season might be how bad this movie is. After twenty years of insanity, Ali G is back, and nobody asked for it. Sacha Baron Cohen returns to his most iconic character for his feature directorial debut, and this time Julie is eight months pregnant, which means Ali G actually has to get off his batty and do something. So he heads to America to reclaim his former glory, with unsuspecting real people along for the ride as usual.

Shot entirely in secret, in the same guerrilla, man-on-the-street prank format that made the original so gloriously uncomfortable, this is less a traditional film and more a chaos documentary. Does Sacha Baron Cohen still have the bite, or is this the real horror story of the year? I’ve got thoughts, and they are not small ones.

And if you want something actually worth your Halloween watch time, go watch “Taboo,” the award-winning short film from the brilliant Jennifer Levinson. She always deserves the shoutout. 🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=kMz2bSNvgao

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

In Theaters October 23, 2026 | Rated R | Dir. Sacha Baron Cohen | Amazon MGM Studios

🎙️ Hazy Core Crew — this one’s for you. Drop your thoughts in the comments and let me know what YOU thought! #HazyCoreCrew #HazyCoreFam #JoinTheHazyCore #GiveJenniferAnA24 #ReelPineapple #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #Halloween #SpookySeason #AliG #SachaBaronCohen #AmazonMGM #Comedy #Taboo #JenniferLevinson

2 days ago

21 min

6 days ago

🦉 Wildwood — The Art of Doing It the Hard Way 🦉

6 days ago

24 min

n an era where studios are racing to automate everything and cut every corner, LAIKA is still out here building entire worlds by hand, one painstaking frame at a time — and thank god for it. The studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo returns with its most ambitious film yet: a handcrafted stop-motion epic following headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) as she launches a desperate rescue into the Impassable Wilderness, an enchanted and dangerous forest hidden just beyond Portland, after her baby brother is stolen by a murder of crows.

Directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) and written by ParaNorman’s Chris Butler, Wildwood brings a genuinely stacked voice cast — Mahershala Ali, Carey Mulligan, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Tom Waits, and more — to a surprisingly mature, PG-13 fantasy adventure full of talking animals, bandits, and power-hungry figures driven by grief and ambition. This is a movie that could have been churned out fast and soulless, and instead chose the hard, beautiful way. I’m getting into the craft, the darkness, the ambition, and whether this two-hour-plus odyssey earns every handmade frame.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

In Theaters October 23, 2026 | Rated PG-13 | Runtime: 2hr 19min | Dir. Travis Knight | LAIKA

6 days ago

24 min

7 days ago

🧟 Resident Evil (2026) — Finally, a Good One? 🧟

7 days ago

17 min

Hollywood has been trying to crack Resident Evil on the big screen for over two decades — and mostly whiffing. So when Zach Cregger, fresh off the one-two punch of Barbarian and Weapons, signed on to reboot the whole thing, I paid attention. This is the eighth live-action Resident Evil film, but a total fresh start: no legacy characters, no rehashing the Milla Jovovich era — just a brand-new story set on the periphery of Raccoon City’s worst night, built to honor the dread and pacing of actually playing the games.

Starring Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Kali Reis, and drawing inspiration from RE2, RE3: Nemesis, RE4, and even Evil Dead 2, this thing already shattered franchise box office records. But does Cregger finally give us the Resident Evil movie the games always deserved — genuinely scary, genuinely faithful — or is it just the best of a cursed bunch? I’m getting into the scares, the Cregger of it all, and whether the video game movie curse is officially dead.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

In Theaters September 18, 2026 | Rated R | Dir. Zach Cregger | Sony Pictures

🎙️ Hazy Core Crew — this one’s for you. Drop your thoughts in the comments and let me know what YOU thought! #HazyCoreCrew #HazyCoreFam #JoinTheHazyCore #ReelPineapple #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #ResidentEvil #ZachCregger #HorrorMovies #SpookySeason

7 days ago

17 min

Oct 26, 2026

🍷 The Invite Review— Don’t Worry Darling, It’s Just Dinner 🍷

Oct 26, 2026

23 min

Olivia Wilde is BACK in the director’s chair — and after the whole Don’t Worry Darling saga, this one’s a genuine redemption. In this A24 dark comedy, Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde) are a long-married couple stuck in a stale rut, so they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors — the magnetic Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) — over for dinner. What begins as awkward small talk about cheese and wine spirals fast into something far more provocative, as the night’s unexpected propositions turn a quiet evening into a full-blown psychological pressure cooker.

Have they reignited the spark, or lit the match that burns it all down? This is the kind of one-location, star-driven ensemble piece that lives or dies on its cast — and this cast absolutely delivers. I’m digging into the performances, Wilde’s genuine growth as a filmmaker, the deliciously uncomfortable tension, and why this thing earned a standing ovation at Sundance. So pull up a chair and pour a glass. You’re invited... but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

Now Streaming on HBO Max | Rated R | Runtime: 1hr 47min | Dir. Olivia Wilde | A24

Oct 26, 2026

23 min

Oct 26, 2026

🌊 Moana (2026) — What Can I Say, Except It’s a Cash Grab 🌊

Oct 26, 2026

18 min

You’re welcome... for yet another live-action Disney remake nobody asked for. Nine years after the animated classic charmed the world, Disney sends Moana beyond the reef again — this time with newcomer Catherine Laga’aia in the title role and Dwayne Johnson back as Maui, under the direction of Hamilton’s Thomas Kail. The songs are here, the ocean’s here, the nostalgia’s here... but the question is whether any of it needed to be.

So is this a soulful reimagining that justifies its existence, or just Disney running the same play for the same reasons they always do? I’m getting into the performances, the CGI, the “why does this exist” of it all, and whether the magic survives the translation — or got lost somewhere out past the reef. Spoiler: I’ve got OPINIONS.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

In Theaters July 10, 2026 | Rated PG | Runtime: 2hr | Dir. Thomas Kail | Walt Disney Pictures

Oct 26, 2026

18 min

Oct 23, 2026

🗽 The Only Living Pickpocket in New York — Pocket Full of Trouble 🗽

Oct 23, 2026

21 min

John Turturro is doing career-best work, and we need to talk about it. In “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” Turturro plays Harry Lehman — an aging pickpocket whose craft is quietly going extinct in a city that’s left him behind. Cash-stuffed wallets have given way to easily-canceled credit cards, and Harry’s barely scraping by while caring for his disabled wife, Rosie. Then he lifts the wrong mark, fences a USB stick he never should’ve touched, and suddenly he’s racing to return it before a vengeful crime family catches up to him.

Written and directed by Noah Segan and stacked with a murderers’ row of talent — Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany, and Steve Buscemi all bringing that weary, soulful New York texture — this is a jazzy, minor-key crime drama about the struggle to stay afloat in a world that won’t stop changing the rules. It’s a love letter to a vanishing New York and a showcase for one of our greats. We’re getting into all of it today.

This is The Reel Pineapple. Let’s talk about it. 🍍

In Theaters October 23, 2026 (Limited) | Rated R | Runtime: 1hr 28min | Dir. Noah Segan | Sony Pictures Classics

🎙️ Hazy Core Crew — this one’s for you. Drop your thoughts in the comments and let me know what YOU thought! #HazyCoreCrew #HazyCoreFam #JoinTheHazyCore #ReelPineapple #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #TheOnlyLivingPickpocketInNewYork #JohnTurturro #NoahSegan #IndieFilm

Oct 23, 2026

21 min

Oct 21, 2026

Reel Scary Series 2026 Presents: 🎬 Dream Scenario Review — When Fame Finds You in Your Sleep

Oct 21, 2026

13 min

Joshua Hunter continues the Reel Spooky Series with Dream Scenario, the surreal A24 horror-comedy starring Nicolas Cage as an unremarkable professor who suddenly starts appearing, inexplicably and passively, in millions of strangers' dreams — turning him into an overnight viral phenomenon he never asked to become, before things get very dark very quickly.

Joshua digs into Cage's deeply weird and oddly tragic performance, breaks down the film's sharp commentary on fame, cancel culture, and the internet's obsession with the surreal, and decides where this is one of Cage's most underrated roles in years — or a premise that never quite figures out what it wants to be.

🍍 The Reel Pineapple is your one-stop shop for honest movie reviews, trailer breakdowns, and unfiltered film talk — no hype, no gatekeeping, just reel takes from someone who actually loves this stuff.

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Oct 21, 2026

13 min