Cinema Death Cult

Colin's been wanting to see Paris Texas for a while so we watched it for the podcast and it didn't speak to either of us.

This will either be our most popular episode or no one will ever listen to it.

Here's the AV Club Kit Carson interview I mention on the episode.

Last week, we talked about the classic 1930 World War One movie 'All Quiet on the Western Front.' This week, we discuss the more recent World War One movie, 'Wonder Woman' and we don't think it's very good.

Adam and Colin are back, talking about the 1930 blockbuster war movie All Quiet on the Western Front.

Here's the Howard Zinn essay we mention in the conversation. It's probably smarter than anything we say.

_There's something red on the sheets when the director wakes up. Suspecting it's blood, possibly not his own, he jolts out of bed with a pounding heart. He's alone. The previous night comes back to him. The stain's not blood, merely an overpriced bordeaux. Still bad for the sheets but it could be worse. _

Unbeknownst to the director, Adam and Colin are talking about movies. This week, they continue their conversation about lists of great films and focus on their own lists of favorite movies. Those lists are below.

Adam's Favorite Movies

Colin's Favorite Movies

Adam does a quick hit solo episode about his exciting day on twitter.

Here's the thing I read, with links:

Modern police forces are expensive and drain resources that could be put to better use. Look at Los Angeles. LA spent 54% of the city’s general fund on cops while it cut the far smaller amount of money allocated for housing and economic development programs. (https://peoplesbudgetla.com/)

You’ll see similar patterns in other major cities. New York City spends more on policing than it does on the Departments of Health, Homeless Services, Housing Preservation and Development, and Youth and Community Development combined. (https://www.nydailynews.com/…/ny-oped-cut-the-nypd-budget-n…) Boston spends $60 million on police overtime alone.A 20 percent cut to the police force’s overtime budget would mean $12 million could be reallocated to other city services. (https://www.bostonherald.com/…/boston-councilors-mull-reje…/) In Minneapolis, where Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, police get a $1.6 billion budget while services get pocket change--$31 million for affordable housing, more than $400,000 for the Office of Crime Prevention and about $250,000 for downtown community organizations working with at-risk youth. (https://kstp.com/…/minneapolis-city-council-passes…/5576492/)

And despite all the money we spend on police, they’re remarkably ineffective. They’re probably an effective deterrent, keeping people from committing crimes for fear of being caught by police. That’s unquantifiable. We’ll never know. We can say, though, that they’re awful at solving crimes. Just dog shit. In 2015, 46% of the violent crimes and 19% of the property crimes reported to police in the U.S. were cleared, according to FBI data (https://www.pewresearch.org/…/most-violent-and-property-cr…/). Despite a revolution in technology for forensic investigations, cops solve less homicides today than ever (https://www.themarshallproject.org/…/why-are-american-cops-…).

And the crimes most needing their attention are ignored. It takes years for police to catch up with serial killers, particularly ones who prey on vulnerable populations (https://www.vice.com/…/how-cops-botch-serial-killer-investi…). Rape kits are piled up in police departments without being tested (http://www.endthebacklog.org/…/where-backlog-exists-and-wha…). Cops rarely investigate or prosecute stalking claims (https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228354.pdf).

And if we magically ended police brutality tomorrow, abuses would remain. Cops would still lie in courts to get convictions (https://www.nytimes.com/…/why-police-officers-lie-under-oat…), a practice so commonplace cops nicknamed it “testilying.” (https://www.nytimes.com/…/testilying-police-perjury-new-yor…) They could still routinely plant evidence during investigations. (https://www.themarshallproject.org/…/4692-cops-planting-evi…) They could target minorities in crackdowns on petty crimes. (https://www.nytimes.com/…/nyc-police-subway-racial-profilin…).

So, in conclusion, I believe the problems with police extend beyond police brutality and that I’ve spent way too much time on this Facebook post nobody’s gonna read. Thanks!

The director yawns and scratches at his side. The California sky was settling into night and the sunset was beautiful. It was late and he wondered how long it could hang on. He thought of fireflies floating on a warm breeze, inches away from a speeding car's windshield. He was alone in the house. His ex was quarantined in Arizona with the kids. He'd promised himself he wouldn't drink tonight but knew he'd pour himself something soon.

Far from him, on the East coast of America, Adam and Colin examine lists of great films compiled by critics, movie fans and themselves. This one ends on a cliffhanger (we recorded for 90 minutes and I split it into two 45 minute eps).

The AFI top film list is here:

The top lists from fans, critics and others are here, here and here.

"Lights, camera, action," the director said under his breath, staring at the cloudy water swirling in his swimming pool. He'd canceled the pool cleaning service when COVID locked down production and his investments tanked. First Madoff, now this. He had a firm commitment on a video game adapation project. Papers had been signed. Wheels were in motion. And then poof. God damn germs grind Tinseltown to a halt.

And miles in the distance, Adam and Colin were on the phone, talking about how they are going to talk about movies.

Quick note on the theme song: It's a long-distance collaboration between Colin (drums) and Adam (synth, bass, vocoder). The full version is here: https://soundcloud.com/adam-bulger/cinema-death-cult-theme