Best Adapted Podcast

Bested Adapted Podcast stumbles back into your feed with the iconic and super-well-known and easily streamable Where the Buffalo Roam. Based on the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, the film stars Bill Murray as the gonzo journalist and follows his relationship with Chicano activist Oscar Acosta. Pitched as both a slapstick comedy and meditation on the death of counter-culture, Where the Buffalo Roam presents a boozy rendition of American pop-culture and history. But does this adaptation live up to the wit and irreverence of Hunter S. Thompson’s writings? Or is it simply a gonzo-goofout?

Joined by scholar, labor organizer, and journalist Omari Averette-Phillips, Caleb and Frank discuss the NFL (bad), Bill Murray (good), and Bruno Kirby (the best).

Listen to Omari on the New Books Network here

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Tune in for the true-true on the Wachowski siblings’ effort to film the staggering Cloud Atlas (also Tom Tykwer but he’s a small fry). Adapted in 2012 from the David Mitchell novel of the same name, Cloud Atlas is a genre-bending, time-traveling epic that attempts to consider the totality of human history. Starring Tom Hanks, Hallie Berry, Hugh Grant, and a host of other great performers, Cloud Atlasis a film like no other, deserving a podcast episode like no other. Joined by returning guest Josh Marcus (The Independent) Caleb and Frank discuss David Mitchell’s era-hopping prose, the Wachowskis’ unique blend of spectacle and sap, and the contradicting strains of humanism and insensitivity that run throughout the film.

Find Josh on twitter @joshwmarcus

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Much like the Green Knight coming back to claim your head, it’s that time of the year in your podcast feed. Concluding their King Arthur adaptations miniseries, BAP has brought in a ringer with special guest Ted Meyer. Episode includes discussion of chivalry and arthouse film in the 2020s and features some of the worst Ralph Ineson impressions ever recorded.

Find Ted on Twitter @Elliot_Goulda

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It's the Quest we can't Quit. In the early 2010s, Hollywood execs timidly pushed through the mists if Avalon in search of their own  Holy Grail -- marketable IP. In the hopes of creating an interlocking universe of superheroic Knights, Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow tapped sorcery skeptic franchise veteran Guy Ritchie to helm the project. Can Guy Ritchie's cockney sensibility transform Romance to a genre fit for kings? Or is King  Arthur: Legend of the Sword another cynical cash grab by an industry terrified of new ideas?

Joined by Anna Menta (Decider) Caleb and Frank discuss Sherlock Holmes and the drinking habits of David Beckham and Guy Ritchie, and pitch other directors that should take a stab at King Arthur.

Follow Anna on Twitter @annalikestweets

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BAP, the most chivalrous film podcast on the airwaves, strides majestically back into your feed. This week we cover Excalibur, the 1981 fantasy Arthurian epic from John Boorman. With a booming Wagner score and an absolute rogue’s gallery of British performers, Excalibur turns Le Morte d'Arthur into the archetypal swords-and-sorcery extravaganza. But how does it fare at adapting the legend of King Arthur for modern moviegoers?

Joined by researcher and fantasy enthusiast Alexandra Sitner, Frank and Caleb discuss Ben Carson, kids with beards, and Gandalf’s second life as an improv comic.

Find Alexandra on twitter @Alex_Sitner

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Best Adapted Podcast returns to Camelot by way of New York City. Continuing our King Arthur miniseries, BAP takes a look at The Fisher King, Terry Gilliam’s 1991 retelling of Perceval, the Story of the Grail. Gilliam reconfigured the romantic poem to the world of shock-jock radio hosts and the homeless population in New York. Starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, The Fisher King garnered Oscar nominations and critical acclaim at its release. But does does this film grasp the mythical grail of “radaptation”? Or does it fall to wayside among the defeated knights of the “badaptation” table?

Joined by investigative journalist Donald Morrison (The Wall Street Journal, Passion of the Weiss, Law360), Frank and Caleb discuss Howard Stern, video stores, and the great journalism movies.

Best Adapted Podcast begins its King Arthur miniseries with two films, Eric Rohmer’s Perceval le Gallois and Robert Bresson’s Lancelot du Lac. Both adaptations come from 1970s France, featuring two auteurs at the height of their powers. Rohmer’s Perceval faithfully highlights the lyricism and whimsy of Arthurian poetry, while Bresson’s Lancelot takes a scalpel to the chivalric code to peek at the wounded masculinity inside. Joined by critic and author A.S. Hamrah (The Baffler, N+1, The Earth Dies Streaming), Frank and Caleb discuss Medieval Times (the restaurant), Medieval times (the era), and the surprising strength of Hollywood's Talking Fox Lobby.

The final entry in Best Adapted Podcast's Jane Austen miniseries. Whit Stillman, the poet laureate of the Upper East Side, emerged from semiretirement in 2016 to breathe new life into Jane Austen's little known novella Lady Susan. Stillman and Austen share comic sensibilities and bourgeois sympathies, but can Old New York's proudest son turn back the clock and embrace a world other than his own?

Joined by Austen superfan Jamie Herman, the Frank and Caleb discuss epistolary novels, advanced agricultural techniques, and which of the 12 Commandments is their favorite.

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What is life without wife? Don't ask Frank or Caleb, they're miserable bachelors. Joined by Delhi native and Caleb's college bully Raghu Aggarwal, the boys discuss Indian weddings, Netflix's disruption of the Indian film industry's squeaky clean image, and of course, Gurinder Chadha's 2004 Bollywood-lite Jane Austen adaptation, Bride and Prejudice. How well do song and dance numbers fit into Jane Austen's classic comedy of romance and misunderstanding? Will Martin Henderson choke on his enchilada? Could someone please make Martin Henderson choke on his enchilada? These questions and more, all answered on BEST ADAPTED PODCAST

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In 1995 the greatest podcast host of all time, Frank Meyer, was born. That same year, Amy Heckerling transported the story of Jane Austen’s Emma from rural England to Beverly Hills. Over the following 26 years, Clueless has become a cult hit that portrays timeless tropes of adolescence while preserving an incredible time capsule of mid-90s teenage culture. Starring Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, and Paul Rudd, Heckerling’s film translates the witty repartee of Jane Austen into SoCal slang. But is this makeover of nineteenth literature "a total Betty?" Or did this teenage adaptation die during a routine liposuction? 

Joined by cold weather Canuck and cold-blooded lizard Faith Tetlow, Frank and Caleb discuss Jennifer's Body, National Lampoon, and even find some time to mention Clueless, the movie they are ostensibly gathered for.

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