No radio show today so we can make room for high school football, and no radio show for the next two Fridays as I galavant throughout Europe. But good news! You can listen to past shows here, and you can read my review of SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE below.

SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE is getting a lukewarm reception elsewhere (63% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing), but I really liked this movie. It’s low-flash, high-feeling—a portrait not of “the Boss,” but of Bruce Springsteen the person on the edge of something raw and risky. And while a good chunk of critics don’t love it, audiences disagree with a score 20 points higher, clocking in at 84%.

What it’s about (spoiler-light): Set around the making of NEBRASKA, the film follows Springsteen as he wrestles with loneliness, doubt, and the urge to strip everything down. Instead of chasing stadium anthems, he holes up with a 4-track cassette recorder, cutting skeletal demos that sound more like confessions than hits. The industry expects a blockbuster; Bruce delivers a ghostly map of the American soul.

The two standouts in the movie – no surprise here – are the two main leads:

• Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen — inward, coiled, compelling without showy fireworks.

• Jeremy Strong as Jon Landau — the manager/ally who challenges and protects in equal measure, a quiet counterweight to Bruce’s storms.

No single performance “wins the movie,” and that’s the point—the acting is ego-less and lived-in. White is solid (per usual), and Strong meets him with an equally sure, unflashy turn.

How the music is made (and why it matters): We watch Bruce lean into limitations: a small house, a modest setup, late-night takes that let breath and tape hiss bleed in. Arrangements get pared to bone—voice, guitar, harmonica—until the songs feel like field recordings from the interior. The process itself becomes the theme: you can’t outrun what’s eating you; you have to face it and press “record.”

Why it works (for me): Scott Cooper directs with restraint and respect. He’s never made a bad film (HOSTILES was criminally underrated and grossly unwatched), and this one continues his run of character-first stories—quiet craft, unfussy frames, and just enough grit. Don’t expect a greatest-hits jukebox; this is less about the music business and more about the battles within the man that opened the door to some of Springsteen’s most heart-wrenching, soul-revealing work.

Awards? It probably misses the big trophies. Don’t let that trick you into thinking it’s a miss—because it isn’t. It’s one of the year’s best films: humane, intimate, and exactly the kind of “small” movie that lingers long after the credits.

Check out the trailer for SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE below: