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FilmWonk episodes

  • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #203 – “Aftersun” (dir. Charlotte Wells), “Somebody I Used to Know” (dir. Dave Franco)

    CW: Mental health issues

    This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel find themselves in another February streaming season, as a trope-subverting rom-com drops on Prime Video with Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s new film, Somebody I Used to Know. But first, we check out a 2022 selection we missed, Aftersun, a father-daughter drama from director Charlotte Wells, making her feature debut to great acclaim (including several Best Director awards, and the DGA nomination for best first-time feature film) (58:50).

    May contain NSFW language.

    FilmWonk rating (Aftersun): 9 out of 10
    FilmWonk rating (Somebody I Used to Know): 6 out of 10

    Show notes:

    • [02:01] Review: Aftersun
    • [18:59] Spoilers: Aftersun
    • [24:51] Review: Somebody I Used to Know
    • [42:50] Spoilers: Somebody I Used to Know
    • Cloudy With a Chance of Christmas is actually not on Hulu; it was a Lifetime film, and is available on Lifetime’s standalone streaming subscription, or as a paid rental.
    • As promised, here is a list of the rom-coms Daniel watched over the holidays:
      • Puppy Love for Christmas -8.5
      • Merry Textmas – 5.5
      • Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas – 7
      • Mistletoe in Montana – 4
      • Hanukkah on Rye – 9
      • Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas – 6.5
      • Thank you for listening.

        • Listen above, or download: Aftersun, Somebody I Used to Know (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

        59 min
      • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #202 – “Knock at the Cabin” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

        This week, Daniel is out sick, and Glenn makes a solo journey (and a bite-sized review) of Knock at the Cabin, the latest dire and sincere world of director M. Night Shyamalan, as an adaptation of a Paul G. Tremblay novel. Tune in next week when Daniel will be back to review Aftersun and a new streaming selection (10:55).

        May contain NSFW language.

        FilmWonk rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Glenn)

        Show notes:

        • Check out our previous reviews of Shyamalan films:
          • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #78 – “The Visit” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
          • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #97 – “Split” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
            • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #186 – “Old” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan), “Mosquita y Mari” (2012) (dir. Aurora Guerrero)

              • Listen above, or download: Knock at the Cabin (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

              11 min
            • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #201 – “Avatar: The Way of Water” (dir. James Cameron), “Triangle of Sadness” (dir. Ruben Östlund), “Tár” (dir. Todd Field)

              This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel venture back to into the vast natural and technological ecosystem that is James Cameron‘s imagination, with Avatar: The Way of Water, a film we could hardly believe we were watching until the first frame actually appeared. Glenn also shares his spoiler-free thoughts on the myriad delights of Todd Field‘s Tár, a film which only feels impenetrable from the outside, and by design. And then we return to Force Majeure director Ruben Östlund‘s satirical Triangle of Sadness, which perhaps sails slightly off course but largely maintains its focus on razor-sharp satire of the privileged few (01:38:22).

              May contain NSFW language.

              FilmWonk rating (Triangle of Sadness): 7 out of 10
              FilmWonk rating (Avatar: The Way of Water): 8 out of 10

              Show notes:

              • [01:57] Intro: Tár (Glenn only)
              • [13:21] Review: Triangle of Sadness
              • [33:31] Spoilers: Triangle of Sadness
              • [57:10] Review: Avatar: The Way of Water
              • [01:25:38] Spoilers: Avatar: The Way of Water
              • Assuming Twitter still exists by the time this episode drops, here is the tweet in which I mistook an old post from a fan account for Neytiri for an official account because it had one of Elon’s dumb little fake blue-checks. We regret and are amused by the error.
                https://twitter.com/legotrillermoth/status/1597438701751017472
              • We cannot have the same experience as anyone else watching this film, nor is that experience monolithic. And we’ll be the first to admit we were unprepared when it came to the discussion of Avatar: The Way of Water‘s depictions of Indigenous tribes and tropes. Elevating Indigenous voices when it comes to a discussion of this film is both the right thing to do and makes us better film viewers. Here is some reading on the subject. If you find more, please send it our way. Each of these stories reference the same 2010 comments about the Lakota Sioux by Cameron, but they each interview a variety of other voices on the subject.
                • Indigenous People React to Director Comments, Cultural Appropriation in New ‘Avatar’ Movie by Darren Thompson (Native News Online)
                • Indigenous people slam Avatar (again) for tropes and inaccuracies by Samantha Chery (Washington Post)
                • James Cameron’s old comments prompt Native American boycott of new ‘Avatar’ sequel by Jonah Valdez (Los Angeles Times)
                • We’ve talked a lot about Avatar:
                  • 2009: James Cameron’s “Avatar” – A savage and gorgeous Eden
                  • 2012: FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #19: “Titanic” (dir. James Cameron), Avatar, and the State of 3D Cinema
                  • 2019: James Cameron’s “Avatar” (presented by 10 Years Ago: Films in Retrospective)
                  • We referred to a video on cruise ship economics – it was not from Wendover Productions (although that is an excellent channel) – it was actually from PolyMatter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY1BFv8qEeM
                  • Thank you for listening.

                    • Listen above, or download: Tár, Triangle of Sadness, Avatar: The Way of Water (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

                    1 hr 39 min
                  • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #200 – “Athena” (dir. Romain Gavras), “Careless Crime” (dir. Shahram Mokri), “Saloum” (dir. Jean Luc Herbulot)

                    This week, on the 200th Episode of the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel venture out into the world to check out a trio of dramas with an accidental common theme of violent revolution. First, we visit Athena (new on Netflix from director Romain Gavras), in which a Parisian tower block is under police siege and burning for answers and justice following the murder of a 13-year-old boy by three unknown men wearing police uniforms. Then we return to the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey world of Iranian director Shahram Mokri (who directed previous FilmWonk favorite Fish & Cat) for a Mobius strip of interconnected timelines all intersecting with the Cinema Rex fire, a real-life arson and disaster which caused hundreds of deaths and led (among other events) to the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 – that film is Careless Crime, and it is newly available for rent. And finally, we head to the watery delta of Saloum for an absolutely raucous African neo-Western (called a “southern” by its Congolese director Jean Luc Herbulot), as a trio of badass, Senegalese mercenaries hide out amid a thwarted escape from a military coup, navigating the strange and violent waters of a mysterious river town (new on Shudder) (01:24:21).

                    May contain NSFW language.

                    FilmWonk rating (Athena): 7/10 (Daniel), 8/10 (Glenn)
                    FilmWonk rating (Careless Crime): 6 out of 10
                    FilmWonk rating (Saloum): 8.5 out of 10

                    Show notes:

                    • [02:32] Review: Athena
                    • [25:01] Spoilers: Athena
                    • [36:02] Review: Careless Crime
                    • [58:59] Review: Saloum
                    • [01:12:24] Spoilers: Saloum
                    • Netflix released an amazing featurette on YouTube about the making of Athena – well worth a watch if you want to see how its many elaborate tracking shots, stunts, and pyrotechnics came together.
                    • Thank you for listening.

                      • Listen above, or download: Athena, Careless Crime, Saloum (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

                      1 hr 25 min
                    • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #199 – “Three Thousand Years of Longing” (dir. George Miller), “Prey” (dir. Dan Trachtenberg)

                      This week, Glenn and Daniel check out Prey, a taut new actioner streaming on Hulu featuring the Predator doing what it does best: being hunted on Earth in a film somewhere at the intersection of war, historical drama, and slasher flick. And then we venture into the colorful world of George Miller and much of his team from Mad Max: Fury Road, bringing to life an epic, supernatural romance and an unpretentious look at the nature of humanity (57:35).

                      May contain NSFW language.

                      FilmWonk rating (Prey): 6.5/10 (Daniel), 7/10 (Glenn)
                      FilmWonk rating (Three Thousand Years of Longing): 7/10 (Daniel), 8/10 (Glenn)

                      Show notes:

                      • [02:08] Review: Prey
                      • [26:47] Review: Three Thousand Years of Longing
                      • [43:31] Spoilers: Three Thousand Years of Longing
                      • The book we mentioned was Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan, and it is an excellent oral history which is well worth a read or a listen (with interviews brought to life by a full cast of voice actors).

                      Listen above, or download: Prey, Three Thousand Years of Longing (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

                      58 min
                    • FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #198 – “Don’t Make Me Go” (dir. Hannah Marks)

                      This week, Glenn and Daniel once again return to the streaming world following a months-long, baby-induced hiatus with a film purpose-built to tug at fresh parental heartstrings, Don’t Make Me Go, from director Hannah Marks, new on Prime Video (39:12).

                      May contain NSFW language.

                      FilmWonk rating: 6.5 out of 10

                      Show notes:

                      • [03:32] Review: Don’t Make Me Go
                      • [19:55] Spoilers: Don’t Make Me Go
                      • We referred back to one of the very early episodes of the podcast – check it out and see if our critical voices have gained any clarity after 10 years:
                        FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #13: Jonathan Levine’s “50/50”

                        • Listen above, or download: Don’t Make Me Go (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

                        0 min

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