This episode contains spoilers for Superman.

The film writer Jessica Ritchey returns for a look at James Gunn’s hard reset of the DC cinematic universe starting with his new  Superman, starring David Corenswet as the Last Son of Krypton, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

After a decade of Henry Cavill’s Übermensch Superman, Gunn has returned to the original idea of the Man of Steel as a kind and decent protector of the planet. incorporating elements of the character from the last 90 years of comic books, radio, tv, cartoons and cinema, while also plugging the idea of Superman into modern life, where real life supervillains like Trump and Elon Musk seem to have the upper hand. Gunn’s Superman contends with techbros and oligarchs who use other metahumans to inspire fear and social media to corrode the public discourse while running private prisons and engineering global conflicts for profit.

Jessica and I discuss what we appreciate about Superman as a light and goofy movie that holds up kindness as a virtue and goodness as a choice one can make, including the gentle rebuke of Man of Steel in the main plot twist, and how it has enraged the Snyder Bros and conservatives who confidently predicted this movie would fail, but we also eat our words about how sure we were this movie was not going to meet the moment.

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Jessica Ritchey on Bluesky, and support her work on Patreon.

Pre-release teaser for Superman (Richard Donner, 1978)

Trailer for Superman (James Gunn, 2025)

The veteran boom operator for film and television Sean Armstrong returns to the show for a deep dive into Joseph Kosinski’s new big budget sports drama F1®: The Movie starring Brad Pitt as former racing prodigy Sonny Hayes who returns to the Formula One circuit decades later at the behest of his old friend, APXGP team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to provide mentorship to his hot-headed young British rookie Joshua Pierce (Damson Idris) and rescue the struggling underdog team’s season.

Made with the full co-operation of F1’s governing body the FIA, F1®: The Movie is propaganda for the sport where the screenplay takes a back seat to extraordinary action sequences as we follow the team through the back half of their circuit season all over the globe. Sean provides his full knowledge and understanding of Formula One to explain how this movie tries to serve two masters: fans of the sport and a general audience.

We also discuss the sport’s appeal to women and how F1®: The Movie sometimes lets this cohort down in terms of some sexist content, how this movie measures up to other racing films, Apple’s investment in the film biz (this being by far their most successful release, despite the gargantuan production cost). Plus how the stars have been using the high-profile publicity tour: Pitt hoping to  whitewash his damaged personal image of the last few years, Bardem taking every opportunity to use this spotlight to bring attention to the genocide in Gaza and remind people of reality.

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Sean Armstrong on Twitter and Bluesky.

Final trailer for F1®: The Movie (Kosinski, 2025)

Cinerama trailer for Grand Prix (John Frankenheimer, 1966)

Trailer for Le Mans (Lee H. Katzin, 1971)

In this Junk Filter sequel to our discussion of season 1 of Tony Gilroy’s Star Wars: Andor streaming series, the writers Roxana Hadadi and Corey Atad return to assess the second and final season, which compresses the four years leading up to the start of Rogue One into four sets of three-episode arcs.

On this episode we discuss the program’s political content and Gilroy’s refusal to play Culture War games during the promotion of the series. We cover the controversial first arc of the series which parallels the plans of the Empire with the Final Solution of the Nazi era, as they flood the galaxy with propaganda to demonize a planet they plan to colonize, and how a fascist regime uses sexual violence and unwitting dupes who think they’re serving a greater good through their collaboration. And we talk about the upsetting eighth episode of season 2 which depicts a massacre on the “French Planet” of Ghorman, clearly modelled on Nazi-occupied France in World War II, which of course has parallels both to Gaza and the Trump Era.

Plus: the fates of the show’s ‘Power Couple’ Dedra and Syril, the barnburning Saw Gerrara monologue, and Tony Gilroy’s illuminating interview with Ross Douthat, who is determined in their discussion to tag Andor (and Michael Clayton) as ‘left wing art’ and fails miserably.

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Roxana Hadadi on Twitter and Bluesky

Follow Corey Atad on Twitter and Bluesky and visit coreyatad.com

I Am High on Saw Gerrera’s Supply - by Roxana Hadadi, for Vulture, April 30, 2025

Andor Dared To Say ‘Genocide’ - by Roxana Hadadi, for Vulture, May 7, 2025

Print The Myth: A Few Words About a Star War - from Corey Atad’s Substack, May 14, 2025

Your Next Star Wars Addiction is Already Here - by Corey Atad, for Slate, May 23, 2025

Trailer for Star Wars: Andor, Season 2 (2025)

The film writer Meg Shields returns to the podcast from Vancouver for a show to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Tobe Hooper’s schlock sci-fi horror masterpiece, Lifeforce.

Cannon Films’ big swing for the fences, Lifeforce had an astronomical budget for the time, with huge practical sets, hundreds of extras and innovative special effects from the great John Dykstra including massive miniature work and cutting-edge optical effects, all in the service of a bonkers tribute to Hammer horror. The runaway production was a cocaine-and-Dr Pepper-fueled vision of naked space vampires hiding in Halley’s Comet (led by the beautiful Mathilda May) who arrive on Earth and unleash havoc on the city of London.

We discuss 1955’s The Quatermass Xperiment and 1967’s Quatermass and The Pit, huge influences on John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper, before diving into the madness of Lifeforce, rejected by audiences in 1985 and setting off the eventual collapse of Cannon Films. We also compare the two cuts of the movie (as the American distributor Tri-Star changed the title from Space Vampires and shortened their version by 10 minutes against the director’s will) and how this crazy movie has stood the test of time to become a cult favourite.

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Meg Shields on Bluesky.

Trailer for The Quatermass Xperiment aka The Creeping Unknown (Val Guest, 1955)

Trailer for Quatermass and the Pit (Roy Ward Baker, 1967)

Teaser trailer for Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985)

Full trailer for Lifeforce

“Cannon Fodder: The Making of Lifeforce” documentary (Calum Waddell, 2013)

Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself music video, directed by Tobe Hooper (1981)

The film writers Brian Abrams and Will Sloan return to the podcast for a salute to one of our favourite screen presences, the great American character actor Joe Don Baker, who passed away this month at the age of 89. 

We discuss the full arc of Joe Don’s career, thrust into leading man status in the early seventies playing Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser who waged war against the Dixie Mob in 1973’s populist smash hit Walking Tall, and the less financially successful followup with the same director (Phil Karlson), the brutal, sweaty noir thriller Framed, to the role that (like it or not) defined him for so many in the culture as a scuzzy cop in 1975’s Mitchell (immortalized on one of the funniest episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000) to his comeback in the eighties in the masterful BBC miniseries Edge of Darkness (where he received the most acclaim he ever got as an actor), his several appearances in the Bond series (where he played both a good guy and a bad guy), and his notable supporting role in Scorsese’s remake of Cape Fear. 

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Brian Abrams on Twitter and Letterboxd.

Brian and Liz Charboneau have a new film podcast: It Gets Better.

Follow Will Sloan on Twitter and Bluesky and subscribe to his substack and his podcasts The Important Cinema Club and Michael and Us.

Will’s new book Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA (OR Books) can be purchased now! 

“RIP JDB”, from Will’s substack, May 19, 2025

Trailer gallery:

Walking Tall (Phil Karlson, 1973)

Golden Needles (Robert Clouse, 1974)

Mitchell (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1975)

Checkered Flag or Crash (Alan Gibson, 1977)

Joysticks (Greydon Clark, 1983)

German trailer for Getting Even (Dwight H. Little, 1986)

Access this entire 90-minute episode (and additional monthly bonus shows) by becoming a Junk Filter patron for only $5.00 (US) a month! Over 30% of episodes are exclusively available to patrons of the show. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/posts/212-accountant-2-128936873

The comedy writer Ursula Lawrence returns to the podcast from Madison Wisconsin for a sequel to our Junk Filter episode about Ben Affleck’s ludicrous 2016 thriller The Accountant.

Coming along almost 9 years after the original, Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant 2 chronicles the continuing adventures of Christian Wolff, the autistic number-cruncher slash hitman who is brought in to solve the murder of retired Financial Crimes detective J.K. Simmons and crack a human trafficking ring with the help of his estranged assassin brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) and his silent partner Justine who runs a secret school of autistic hacker children who can break into any computer system to help him solve the case.

Whereas the first film was so serious in tone it lapsed into unintentional comedy, the sequel doubles down not only on the laughs (and convoluted plotting) but also on the controversial portrayal of autism as a superpower to create an equally loopy thriller / hangout film that forges the way to this becoming a regular franchise, and stands as a necessary cultural corrective to Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s ongoing real-life demonization of people with autism. In fact we hope RFK Jr. is the villain in The Accountant 3!

Plus: a discussion of the Oscar-winning short film The Accountant (2001) starring a pre-fame Walton Goggins, and a deluge of bad puns from the reviews of The Accountant 2!

Follow Ursula Lawrence on Twitter and Bluesky and you can purchase the latest edition of her French Republican Wall Calendar here!

Trailer #2 for The Accountant 2 (Gavin O’Connor, 2025)

CW: This episode contains discussions of alcoholism and cinematic violence including animal cruelty.

The writer, comedian and musician Patrick Marlborough returns to the podcast from Perth, WA to discuss Wake in Fright (1971), the landmark Australian film by the late Canadian director Ted Kotcheff. 

One of only two films to be shown twice in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, and influential in shaping both the Australian New Wave and Ozploitation genres, Wake in Fright was acclaimed around the world but outraged local audiences with its brutal and merciless depiction of Australian toxic masculinity, violence, and alcoholism.

Patrick gives us some insight on how Wake in Fright captures some of the ugliest aspects of the Australian national character, and we discuss how Kotcheff’s Canadian-ness was an asset for his outsider’s view of this world, the amazing supporting performance by Aussie comic screen icon Chips Rafferty in his final role, and how this great film was nearly lost forever.

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Patrick Marlborough on Bluesky, and subscribe to their wonderful Substack The Yeah Nah Review.

Trailer for the new restoration of Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff, 1971)

Original US trailer for Wake in Fright (aka Outback)

"The Making of Wake in Fright", Peter Galvin’s extensive 3-part feature on the production, for SBS 

“Wake in Fright understood the horrors of Australian booze culture. 50 years on, nothing’s changed” by Joseph Earp, for The Guardian, April 9, 2025

“Andor in the Genocide” by Patrick Marlborough, for the literary journal Overland, April 30, 2025

The writer and podcaster Will Sloan returns for a show about Robert De Niro’s latest film, Barry Levinson’s The Alto Knights, where he plays two parts on screen, the mob boss Frank Costello and his hotheaded rival Vito Genovese, and their decades-long struggle for control of the New York mafia.

The Alto Knights was the pet project of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who brought this expensive vanity production to the screen seemingly as a personal favour to the veteran screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, a film made by elderly creatives that flopped hard at the box office on release. So why this project? And why is Robert De Niro playing both lead parts? This is what Will and I wanted to know, and so we discuss the failures of The Alto Knights along with a look at De Niro’s public persona as one of Trump’s biggest haters and how he can still deliver as a great actor from time to time, depending on the director. 

Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Will Sloan on Twitter and Bluesky and subscribe to his wonderful podcasts The Important Cinema Club and Michael and Us.

Will’s new book Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA (OR Books) can be purchased now! 

Trailer for The Alto Knights (Barry Levinson, 2025)

Access this entire 92-minute episode (and additional monthly bonus shows) by becoming a Junk Filter patron for only $5.00 (US) a month! Over 30% of episodes are exclusively available to patrons of the show. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/posts/209-beekeeper-126797811

The writer and friend of the pod Adam Jackson returns for a look at the new dynamic duo of American action cinema, Jason Statham and director David Ayer, who are on a roll these days at the multiplex.

2024’s The Beekeeper was a solid hit, a ludicrous conceit milked for every drop of its potential, starring Statham as a retired secret military operative who goes back to the life when a friend is exploited by a shady phishing operation, and as he moves up the pyramid taking revenge it turns out this criminal enterprise goes all the way up to the heights of state power.  

The followup, A Working Man (co-written by Sylvester Stallone!) finds Statham as Levon Cade, a former British soldier now working in construction in Chicago, who is asked to rescue the daughter of his employer from a sex trafficking ring run by the Russian Mafia. 

We discuss this unique writer/director partnership, a lightning round of some of our favourite Jason Statham movies, and the many highlights from both The Beekeeper and A Working Man, action films that know what they are, deliver the goods and correctly identify the worst people in today’s society (scam artists, crypto bros, white South African psychos and guys with Jared Leto beards). 

Follow Adam Jackson on Twitter and Bluesky. 

Follow Junk Filter on Bluesky too!

Trailer for The Beekeeper (David Ayer, 2024)

Trailer for A Working Man (David Ayer, 2025)

To mark the passing of the great Gene Hackman, the writer and critic Sean T. Collins and the cartoonist and graphic novelist Julia Gfrörer are my special guests for a deep dive into one of our favourite films, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974).

The Conversation was groundbreaking in terms of film editing; when Coppola was pulled away to direct The Godfather Part II, editor Walter Murch had to streamline a narrative out of an incomplete film shoot and synthesized new approaches to picture editing and sound design which he credited to studying Hackman’s precise performance as the surveillance expert Harry Caul, a lonely middle-aged man whose Catholic guilt and past sins begins to weigh on his conscience as he obsesses over his latest spycraft job, plagued with worry over the fate of the young couple he’s recorded and what the tape will be used for by his sinister corporate client. 

We discuss the autobiographical details Coppola lent to the characterization and Jungian psychoanalysis that can be applied to the content, some of our favourite moments, and how the themes of The Conversation continue to resonate with audiences over half a century later. 

Follow Sean T. Collins and Julia Gfrörer on Bluesky. And support Sean and Julia’s work on Patreon!

Julia Gfrörer’s newest collection of fiction World Within the World: Collected Minicomix & Short Works 2010-2022 (Fantagraphics) is now available. 

‘I’m Not Afraid of Death’: How Gene Hackman’s Dream in The Conversation Mirrors Our Dark Moment, by Sean T. Collins, for Decider, February 27, 2025

“The Making of The Conversation: An Interview with Francis Ford Coppola” by Brian De Palma, from Filmmakers Newsletter, 1974, reproduced by Cinephilia & Beyond 

‘I Spent 12 Hours a Day for 16 Months with Gene Hackman – But Never Met Him’: by Walter Murch, for The Guardian, February 28, 2025

Trailer for The Conversation (Coppola, 1974)