Bad First Impression

Welcome to our awards coverage! In the spirit of the arbitrary and sometimes unfair, we've come up with a fun game as we discuss the nominees for this weekend's 96th Oscars!

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Promotional artwork by Lily Steinberg

Jump in this week as we discuss the new Amazon series "Expats," the fifth episode of which screened at Film at Lincoln Center with director Lulu Wang in person. Additionally, Lily and I talk about some of the Valentine's Day-themed programming we went to around the city.

Guest: Lily Steinberg

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Photographer and host of the Too Much Dialogue podcast Doyin Ayo makes her debut on Bad First Impression to discuss the 1997 Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown!

Discussion topics include:

• Is the chemistry between Pam Grier and Robert Forster believable as romantic?
• Does Tarantino's track record mean he deserves our skepticism that he could write a black woman well?
• Does Robert DeNiro know he's Doyin's boyfriend?

All this, and more!

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Promotional artwork by Lily Steinberg

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We're back with another new movie: 2024's first major wide release Argylle! But who is the real Agent Argylle? Find out in our spoiler-filled discussion of Matthew Vaughn's flop!

Also discussed this week: 1992's cult artifact The Lawnmower Man. This film screened at the Museum of the Moving Image earlier this month, and we not only watched this movie but also it's sequel Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (alternate subtitle: Jobe's War,) the 1987 Dollar Baby short film adaptation, and the season six episode of Community "Lawnmower Maintenenance and Postnatal Care" that spoofs elements of the 1992 movie. Discussion topics include:

•  Why has Ariana Debose's career since winning an Oscar consisted of a string of disappointing roles in box office bombs?
• Why did Matthew Vaughn spoil this movie's twist on Twitter, years before it was shooting?
• Did the sequel to Lawnmower Man invent the term "jacking off to VR?"

All this and much, much more in the episode!

If you wanna find the audio-only version of this episode, it's available here

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Promotional artwork by Lily Steinberg

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YouTuber Evasive returns to Bad First Impression for our first Guest's Choice episode!

Every episode, I end the discussion by asking the guest what movie they would want to come back for if it were ever screening in New York. As luck would have it, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie got a surprise screening, and I made another anime deep dive to prep for this movie.

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Promotional images and social media by Lily Steinberg

Logo artwork by Kristen Eng

For the first time on Bad First Impression, we’re covering a tv show?!

Film at Lincoln Center showed the new show from Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie in two episode chunks over the last couple months, so we decided to take the unique opportunity and cover the buzzy new show The Curse. But were our plans themselves cursed?

Show producer Lily Steinberg returns to the show to discuss the third addition to Nathan Fielders canon of format and reality breaking tv projects.

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Social media and promotional images by Lily Steinberg

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This week on Bad First Impression, returning guest Alex Campo and I dig deep into a movie that that a startling number of people have a childhood connection to: the 2004 blockbuster Christian exploitation film The Passion of the Christ. After we saw it at the Anthology Film Archives as part of their series "Jesus Christ! At the Movies," we sat down to parse how this movie became an Easter staple in Christian households. Discussion topics include:

•  Is this a horror film?
• Does its mere existence as a commercial product constitute blasphemy?
• Why is this movie apologizing for Pontius Pilate's behavior?

After weeks of behind the scenes shenanigans, we are finally able to welcome to the show- as a guest!- BFI's producer and social media manager Lily Steinberg. This week we discuss the first wide release of 2024: Blumhouse's PG-13 haunted pool movie Night Swim! Additionally, Lily and I talked about a recent repertory screening we attended for a film we both love: Elaine May's 1971 directorial debut A New Leaf. Topics include:

• Can Night Swim mimic the success that M3GAN enjoyed last January?
• Would Elaine May's unseen three hour cut of A New Leaf be as good as the masterpiece that the studio cut is?
• What exactly constitutes a Mom Movie, and how do you avoid watching bad ones?

All this and more!

Logo artwork by Kristen Eng

Episode artwork by Lily Steinberg

Returning to the show this week for our very first video episode are Sebass Maroun and Kevin Wingertzahn from The Skeeter Stevenson Variety Hour to discuss one of the most over-discussed film series of all time- that's right, we're talking Star Wars! After a midnight screening of Revenge of the Sith at the IFC Center, we sat down for an exhaustive conversation about Star Wars, how our relationships to it have changed over time, and what place it has and will continue to have in the culture at large. Topics include:

• Did George Lucas actually want to make this movie?
• Can any new Star Wars project avoid being too reactive to the reception of the last one?
• Were Yoda and Chewbacca always intended to be friends, and is Chewie's Ewok fetish problematic?

All this, and more!

Logo by Kristen Eng

Episode artwork by Lily Steinberg

This week on Bad First Impression:

I took my friend Alex Wolz to an age-appropriate showing of Moonrise Kingdom at one of my favorite movie houses in New York: The Film Forum. Discussion topics include:

• Does Wes Anderson make accessible, mainstream films, or does he deserve his reputation as a highfalutin auteur?
• How do the jokes in this movie feel off-the-cuff when their construction is so particular and specific?
• Have I successfully converted Alex to attending movies at smaller movie houses instead of exclusively maxing out his AMC A-List reservations?

All this and more!

Logo by Kristen Eng