Book and Film Globe Podcast

It's a typically great show this week as host Neal Pollack welcomes the heavily compromised but still insightful Stephen Garrett, who worked on the trailer for the Brazilian Oscar nominee I'm Still Here. But Stephen would have to have a heart of stone to not like this beautiful and thoughtful movie, and he doesn't. Neal is full of praise for the film's passionate defense of human rights, and its beautiful elegy for a time and place that's no more. And they are both enthralled, as is everyone else, by the lead performance of Fernanda Torres, who, like her character in the movie, has called attention to herself through sheer force of will. A great film.Also great, though much less serious, is Companion, a new Black Mirror-style robot sex thriller-comedy (yes, that's a genre now) from writer-director Drew Hancock. Neal welcomes Pablo Gallaga to the podcast for a chat about Companion, and neither of them can find much to criticize, though Neal, still a relative horror noob, seems to like it a bit more than Pablo. But neither of them have anything negative at all to say about Sophie Thatcher, the film's star, who gives a smashing, star-making performance as Iris, a thinking, murderous sex android with a heart of gold, or at least a heart.No one knows what to think about Severance, now streaming in its second season on Apple+, other than that it's the most interesting show on TV right now. Scott Gold joins Neal on the podcast to talk about Ben Stiller's puzzlebox, to praise the cast, particularly Britt Lower and John Turturro, and to hope against hope that Severance doesn't go the way of Lost and that Stiller knows where he's going with this incredibly surreal, and funny, workplace comedy that is about way more than being a workplace comedy. Your innie will love it, and so will your outie. We will allow you both to listen to this episode.

In this tremendous milestone for BFG, for BFG editor-in-chief Neal Pollack, for Sea of Reeds Media, and for the history of the world in general, this week we celebrate the 100th episode of our podcast! And by "celebrate," we mean, "do what we've always done on the show at a high level, and with a funky new theme song."Neal summons frequent guest Stephen Garrett to discuss the vampire action-comedy 'Renfield.' No one has a bad word to say about Nic Cage as Dracula. Who could? But Neal in particular found the screenplay to be a tonal mess, with a useless drug-lord subplot taking away what is good and fun about the movie. Stephen, a happier person, tends to only see the good and fun. You be the judge, and beware if you invite Nicolas Cage into your house.There's no dissent about 'How To Blow Up A Pipeline,' though. Sara Stewart joins Neal to praise the indie environmental activism thriller, now in theaters. It reminds them both of gritty, realistic 1970s political movies. And there's the added juice that studios refused to touch the movie because of its politics and because they are funded by oil companies. But it's a raw and engrossing film with nary an ounce of narrative fat. It's the most left-wing movie you'll see all year, but whatever your politics, check it out.'Beef' is our TV show of the week. Susie Bright joins Neal to heap praise on this Netflix show, which, she wisely points out, has all the elements of classic Korean revenge dramas. The show is Korean-American by birth, and Susie also informs us that Korean filmmakers are steeped in classical French film techniques as well. She even susses out elements of classic French farce in the narrative. Neal agrees the show is good, but is also deeply raw and emotional, and asks "why are we watching this?" I guess you could ask that about anything, which we do every week on the podcast.Enjoy the episode! See you for #200!

A great episode of the BFG podcast this week, as host Neal Pollack welcomes Jamie Mason to the pod-dome to talk about the plague of sensitivity readers that is smothering big publishing, particularly in the U.K. Despite no "hue and cry," as Jamie puts it, the readers are changing classic Agatha Christie novels to bring them up-to-date with modern sensibilities. Jamie posts that there's no real need for this, that it's "make-work" for disaffected liberal arts graduates. But it's happening, and we have to keep an eye on the censors, because we can't let them win.On a cheerier note, 'Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' has come to theaters, and it's surprisingly successful. Neal and contributor Jim Arndorfer, who aren't nerds at all, no sir, give the movie high marks for its rollicking sense of adventure, silly sense of humor, and surprising fealty to the D&D game itself. Again, they are not nerds, just guys who went to a movie.Matthew Ehrlich closes out the proceedings with a chat about the fourth and final season of 'Succession,' now airing on HBO. The saga of the Roy family has grown maybe a little stale, he and Neal conclude. But they're still watching. And 'Succession' has the good grace to end while it's ahead. Unlike other cultural properties like it, the show isn't overstaying its welcome.And either is our podcast! Enjoy.

In this week's excellent show, Neal Pollack welcomes Scott Gold to explain what's going on in The Mandalorian to him. Apparently Din Djarin has to bathe in the living waters and is the Moses of the Black Sword and has a Naboo Spaceship number one or some such thing. Regardless, Neal goes into the segment getting ready to make fun of the show and by the end Scott has convinced him again that Star Wars is cool. How much longer can this go on?Next, we travel to Shanghai, China, by way of Samuel Porteous, who was not exactly a fan of Shazam! Fury of the Gods. It seems that Neal liked the new Shazam! more than Sam did, or at least it appreciates it was light in comparison with the turgid mess that was Black Adam. Sam wonders how many CGI companies DC employed to make this new film possible. It was too many, or not enough, and Fury of the Gods appears to be headed for the remainder bin.A much more reliable sequel is Top Chef, now in its 20th season. The Bravo gold-star cooking competition brings in the best of the best from around the globe to showcase the cuisine of London, which is more than mushy peas. Our food and gaming expert Daniel Cohen stops by to lay the odds but he and Neal instead go off on an extended rant about the Guy Fieri Food Network cooking competition show Tournament of Champions, which is a lot easier to make fun of than Top Chef, which just continues to shake off scandals and live at the top of the cooking-show pyramid.Enjoy our program! It is clearly a winner.

In this week's fascinating edition of the BFG Podcast, host Neal Pollack welcomes Michael Washburn to talk about the recent "sensitivity" rewriting of Roald Dahl's novels. Among the things no longer acceptable: mentioning that a character likes to read Joseph Conrad, saying that women work as cashiers, and talking disparagingly about people who wear wigs. We join the universal chorus of the people who disdain this development, and hope it ends soon, though it probably won't. Neal and Michael break it down in full.At last, Cocaine Bear has arrived in theaters. Stephen Garrett and Neal acknowledge that it has some narrative flaws and characters that are thinner than the ozone layer. But at the same time, there is a bear who does cocaine, and rowdy, pulpy movies are back live. So even if Cocaine Bear isn't great, which it isn't, this is the world that Cocaine Bear made and it's more fun than the world was before Cocaine Bear.But while Cocaine Bear is super-gory, it's not sexy, and that's because there's no longer sex in movies. In fact, kids online are calling for the return to the Hays Code, when movies were called Pillow Talk and could only vaguely imply that sex even existed. Why is this new Puritarianism happening? Neal talks to Jake Harris to figure it all out.What a great show, enjoy!

No publication online covers the highs and lows of culture quite like BFG, and this week's podcast is no exception. Neal Pollack gives us a complete rundown of the week that was.Then Stephen Garrett appears to ask Neal: What's the big deal about Ant-Man. Neal proceeds to give a complete nerdy history of Kang the Conqueror, and they both wonder why 'Quantumania' didn't include more Bill Murray. The new Ant-Man movie is a huge hit, despite the critics. Neal and Stephen don't really take a side. Like Thanos, Marvel movies are inevitable. They simply acknowledge that it's Ant-Man's world, and we're just living in it. Remember what it was to be a child while watching movies. That's what Marvel movies are like. And that's what the BFG podcast is like.Enjoy the program!

In the latest soon-to-be-award-winning edition of the BFG podcast, Neal Pollack welcomes Sara Stewart and Stephen Garrett back to the show. Stephen went to Park City, Utah, to see all the Sundance movies, and Sara watched them from home. Sundance is back, the movies are back, and this was one of the best festivals in years! They both loved the Wall Street-set erotic thriller 'Fair Play.' Stephen loved a quirky movie called 'Theater Camp,' though Sara has an extreme aversion to its star, Ben Platt. And let's get the discourse going again about 'Cat Person,' now a movie adapted from a New Yorker short story.BFG provides the most comprehensive coverage of Sundance anywhere. A roundtable for the ages.Meanwhile, we welcome Susie Bright to the BFG podcast stage for the first time, to talk about Sarah Polley's "B+" film 'Women Talking,' a theatrical interpretation of a decade-old horrific sex-abuse scandal that occurred in a Bolivian Mennonite colony. Neal and Susie both admire the performances, and the excellent writing, but agree that the film sometimes drags a bit and hits the same conversational beats over and over again. Still, this is the kind of "quality" film, Susie says, that will finally bring perpetually terrified NPR listeners back to the movie theaters. Neal begins one of his rants about how movie theaters never should have been closed to begin with, but they get back to talking about the movie pretty quickly, so don't worry.Finally, Paula Shaffer pops in to talk about the reboots of 'Night Court' and 'That 70s Show' currently on TV, even though 'That 70s Show' is actually 'That 90s Show' now. Neither show is particularly bad, though 'Night Court' exists in a weird kind of temporal limbo. Both Neal and Paula agree that 'That 90s Show' is a bit better and seems to know what it wants to do with itself. Regardless, old TV shows never die, and either does the BFG podcast.Enjoy!

In this edition of the BFG podcast–now with vastly improved sound quality!–host Neal Pollack welcomes the well-read Michael Washburn to discuss the work and legacy of the novelist Russell Banks, who died recently at the age of 82. Michael and Neal have nothing but praise for Banks's two best-known novels, Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, both of which became popular and critically-acclaimed movies. But they also recommend you check out his novel Continental Drift, and Michael has special affection for Banks's short stories, which so accurately describe the struggles of working-class New Hampshire residents. They aren't so keen on his later works, when Banks drifted away from what he knows best, but he still leaves behind a literary legacy worth celebrating.Aubrey Plaza is just getting started with her legacy, and Neal welcomes Rachel Llewellyn to talk about Plaza's new indie film 'Emily the Criminal,' now streaming on Netflix. Neal loves the show's gritty crime-drama feel, which resembles breaking bad, and praises Plaza's nuanced performance, which carries the movie above the usual genre fare. Rachel also mentions Plaza's work in Black Bear, Neal talks about her in Ingrid Goes West, and it's probably pretty certain that The White Lotus comes up at some point. It's not as though Aubrey Plaza is some sort of hidden gem, she's quite famous at this point, but her cultural footprint will certainly only grow from here.Rachel sticks around to talk about 'The Rig,' a new eco-sci-fi thriller series now airing on Amazon Prime. She praises the way the show tackles difficult issues with subtlety, and then occasionally it sounds like an extended Facebook thread argument about climate change. But creator David MacPherson grew up around Scottish oil workers, so he understands their politics and their point of view on the world much better than the average script writer would. A very tense ocean thriller that does not, according to Rachel, feature The Loch Ness Monster.

Welcome to 2023! The BFG podcast has turned the calendar with you, with no changes whatsoever, as it's a perfect show. Host Neal Pollack switches it up and welcomes Stephen Garrett back for the 70th time. This week Neal and Stephen talk about 'Glass Onion.' This big, expensive sequel to 'Knives Out' resembles a big-budget live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo, but it's fun as long as you don't take it too seriously. And if you are taking it too seriously, you might want to consult a doctor. Stephen immediately knocks down the idea that Janelle Monae might get an Oscar nomination. No nominations forthcoming for this picture, now on Netflix.'Babylon', directed by Damien Chazelle, will also not get an Oscar nomination, but it has a chance to sweep the Razzies, thanks to over-the-top performances, insane scatology, and a manic stupidity and pretentiousness that just won't quit. Stephen seems to like the film more than Neal does, and he certainly knows more about the silent-film era of Hollywood, but no one can deny that the movie lacks humor, character development, or the courage to unfold a plot that makes any sort of sense. One of the great turkeys of all time, that's what we say!Associate professor of Duttonology Adam Hirschfelder stops by the podcast bank to talk about '1923,' the latest prequel to 'Yellowstone that Taylor Sheridan has churned out of its factory. Not only does this show star Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, it also gives the most detailed account of life inside "Indian Boarding Schools" ever put to film. The great project of American history-telling is underway. And Hirschfelder is here for it, without having to convene a New York Times focus group. No one covers the Yellowstone universe like Adam. It is his entire life.Happy New Year! Enjoy the program.

On this week's podcast, Neal Pollack welcomes in Stephen Garrett for an exhaustive conversation about 'Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,' which the once-a-decade Sight and Sound poll recently named the 'Greatest Film of All Time.' Such things are inherently subjective, and maybe two middle-aged men aren't the ones to discuss the film, but Stephen thinks it's a fascinating experiment and Neal mostly marvels at the fact that he actually lived in Brussels in 1975. I mean, who does that? In any case, Jeanne Dielman is waiting for you, for the next decade and beyond.Paula Shaffer stops in to discuss 'Wednesday.' She says it looks great but is not "fun." It would seem that "fun" is important for a show set in the Addams Family universe, but producer Tim Burton decides to take that universe in the "dark fantasy" direction of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Riverdale. It's what the kids want, maybe.We have entered the Harry and Meghan discourse, as Matthew Ehrlich discusses the first half of 'Harry & Meghan,' the Netflix documentary. Matthew doubts the "falling in love" narrative that the documentary presents. Neal is surprised to learn that, by the end of the documentary, Harry & Meghan aren't even married yet. Are they heroes? Villains? Are they winning just because we're talking about them on the podcast? Probably.

Happy Thanksgiving, Book and Film Globe podcast fans. We're thankful for your support as we continue to press our nose against the glass on the low end of the Podcast 100.We've got a great episode for this holiday week, as Neal speaks to Stephen Garrett about The Menu, whose trailer kinda said it all. Then Chris Lites stops by to discuss something that's proven almost impossible -- successfully adapting William Gibson for the screen. Johnny Mnemonic was but one forgettable attempt. ‘The Peripheral' gets off to a promising start and might just cross the finish line as worthy visual companion to the rich and complex dystopias Gibson has created in print.Finally Paula Shaffer joins Neal to ponder: why are sitcoms no longer funny? They discuss Reboot, the new one from Modern Family creator Steven Levitan, and Blockbuster. The former feels precious and unfunny and the latter is "a clueless, clumsy sitcom that can’t even muster nostalgia for itself, much less the golden age of video rental stores."

We lead off this edition of the BFG podcast with a discussion of Nobel Prize laureate Bob Dylan. That’s the Literature Prize to you. Dylan has written a new book called Philosophy of Song, about songs he likes, and it’s as inscrutable as the rest of his body of work. Book and Film Globe contributor Jim Sullivan joins host Neal Pollack to talk about his review of The Philosophy of Modern Song. And they make fun of rock critics as well as Dylan’s somewhat purplish prose style. This might just be a joke that Dylan is playing on all of us.Halloween may be in the past, but vampire shows are still on TV. Scott Gold joins Neal Pollack to talk about Interview with the Vampire, a new adaptation of the classic Anne Rice novel. Scott admires the new setting in Jazz Age New Orleans, and finds the lead vampires dynamic and magnetic, but a bad casting decision of the orphan vampire Claudia brings the proceedings down a little.Just as biting is the Showtime adaptation of the classic Swedish vampire movie Let The Right One In. The setting is now America, and the girl vampire’s caretaker is now her aging father. But the basic premise remains the same. Scott has good things to say about the show but is critical of some somewhat convenient plot choices.In non-vampire news, it’s the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Neal and Daniel Cohen go deep into the weeds of the TOC, talk about why some players are favored over others, and discuss efficacy of using flash cards to study for trivia competitions. If you’re not ready, you’re not going to win. Also, Neal laments the fact that they never ask any questions about Park Chan-Wook on the show.Enjoy our podcast, this week and every week!