Podcast: MidSommar & Wild Rose

with Murtada Elfadl, Nathaniel R, and Chris Feil

 

Index (56 minutes)
00:01 A spoiler-filled discussion of Ari Aster's new horror film MidSommar starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor. We have three different opinions about its value.
38:10 Tom Harper's Wild Rose. You've seen this musical drama before but three performances by Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, and Sophie Okonedo and the music (the finale song is by Mary Steenburgen!) elevate it. 
50:00 Lots of randomnees including Almodóvar movies, bad television, and future movies we're looking forward to including The Farewell and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Reading Assignments
• Chris Feil's MidSommar review
• "The End of Empathy" -Andrew Kendall on MidSommar
• Halfway Mark Actresses - Nathaniel's fav performances of 2019
• Nick's VOR ratings -an explanation

 

MidSommar & Wild Rose

Podcast: Last Black Man in San Francisco, Toy Story 4

by Murtada Elfadl and Nathaniel R

 

Index (49 minutes)
00:01 Toy Story 4. Fun but was that necessary?
06:57 Emma Thompson shines in Late Night. Deserves a bigger audience.
20:10 Sienna Miller's character study American Woman 
32:00 We highly recommend the stylized, moving The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
47:11 The wrap-up 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Late Night and Last Black Man in San Francisco

Smackdown '01: Connelly, Tomei, Winslet, and the Dames

A bohemian novelist, a longsuffering wife, a snobbish Lady, and a supremely competent housekeeper were the Oscar-honored roles in the Best Supporting Actress competition of 2001. 

The shortlist that year was a veritable who's who of this very category, most of the actresses had been nominated before / would be again. One was already a two-time winner and Dame of the British Empire in fact (Maggie Smith... Helen Mirren wouldn't become a Dame until 2003). The anomaly / party crasher was Jennifer Connelly, who had been a teenage star and was receiving her first taste of awards glory as an adult, building on the momentum of a critically well-received turn the previous year in Requiem for a Dream with a borderline leading role in on of the year's biggest hits (A Beautiful Mind made an incredible $170 million at the US box office, believe it or not). 

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS   

Here to talk with your host Nathaniel about these five nominated turns are (in alpha order): Erik Anderson of Awards Watch, freelance critic Valerie Complex, This Had Oscar Buzz's Joe Reid, and Shane Slater from Awards Circuit. Now it's time for the main event...

2001
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Booksmart, Ma, Diamantino, and Rocketman

by Murtada Elfadl and Nathaniel R

 

Index (53 minutes)
00:01 Drama Desk Awards (plus Tony buzz)
10:00 Rocketman w/ Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard
25:40 Olivia Wilde's Booksmart w/ Kaitlyn Dever & Beanie Feldstein
34:00 The thoroughly bizarre Diamantino
39:10 Octavia Spencer in the horror flick Ma (plus Missi Pyle!)
48:00 Randomness: summer movies, Nathaniel's bday, upcoming Smackdowns

Mentioned (Extra Credit Reading!)
• Rocketman vs Bohemian Rhapsody Vulture Quiz
• New Yorker Ma Essay by Doreen St. Félix
• TFE Nathaniel's Review of Rocketman
• TFE Murtada's interview with the Diamantino directors 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Rocketman, Ma, Booksmart

New Podcast: Poms, The Hustle, and Under the Silver Lake

by Murtada Elfadl and Nathaniel R

 

Index (50 minutes)
00:01 Diane Keaton and Jacki Weaver and Pam Grier (sort of) in Poms
10:30 David Robert Mitchell directs Andrew Garfield in bizarre red-herring filled hallucinatory noir called Under the Silver Lake
24:45 Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson in The Hustle 
34:00 Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir starring Tilda Swinton's daughter
40:22 Olivier Assayas' Non-Fiction
42:30 Ralph Fiennes's Nureyev biopic The White Crow
48:18 Bye for now! 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Poms, The Hustle