Access the entire 79 minute episode (and additional bonus episodes) by becoming a patron of the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100-michael-mann-70847596

For the 100th episode of Junk Filter, public health worker and trivia host James Majure joins us from Athens, GA to discuss Michael Mann’s first feature film as a director, 1981’s Thief starring James Caan and Tuesday Weld.

Thief is a fundamental text of modern cinematic language, and the starting point for all of Mann’s career-long preoccupations; the personal code of the professional, the challenges facing the criminal trying to re-enter society, and an immersion into a nocturnal world of city streets, dive bars and diners. Notably Thief offers a fairly Marxist critique of the capitalist system and the personal compromises one is forced to make to operate within it.

Plus: farewell to the great James Caan, and a preview of the new novel “Heat 2”!

Patrons of the podcast can hear this and over 30 premium episodes that are exclusive to the Patreon feed, including guests Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Alex Shephard, Chris Calogero, and Jacob Bacharach.  Access bonus episodes every month and support the show directly by going to https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

James Majure runs a mobile public health vaccination team operating in and around Northeast Georgia. He also hosts a weekly trivia game in Athens!

Trailer for Thief (Michael Mann, 1981)

The author Jacob Bacharach returns for a show about the new film about the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Michael Morbius.

The failure of Morbius, both critically and commercially, is interesting to ponder: why did this particular Marvel movie bomb? Why did this film inspire so many viral memes that Sony Pictures decided to re-release it in cinemas to cash in on Morb Fever? And is the ironic online Morbius Cult our contemporary equivalent to the Juggalos?

Jacob and I discuss Morbius in detail, but along the way we also talk about Jared Leto as a “risk-taking” actor, including his notorious Joker, his Oscar-winning role as a trans woman in the frustrating Dallas Buyers Club, and his laboured bid for another Oscar nomination in House of Gucci.

Follow Jacob Bacharach on Twitter and visit jacobbacharach.com

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Bryan Quinby, Sooz Kempner, and Will Sloan. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

International trailer for Dallas Buyers Club (Vallée, 2013)

The first teaser for Morbius (Espinosa, 2022), from 2020

ESKE - Off the Meds (aka The Morbin’ National Anthem), 2020

Manhattan-based actor and writer Mike Mekus returns to the show for a discussion of one of Spike Lee’s most underrated films, 1998’s basketball drama He Got Game starring Denzel Washington and NBA player Ray Allen.

Denzel is Jake Shuttlesworth, a convict secretly released from Attica by order of the warden to try to get his son Jesus, a future NBA star, to sign a letter of intent to play college ball for the Governor’s alma mater “Big State”. But Jesus is estranged from his father and under great pressure to either sign with a competing college (the aggressive “Tech U”) or head straight to the pros from high school.

He Got Game is a film about American exploitation in its many forms, and as messy as it can be, it contains many sequences of great power and beauty, filmed primarily around Coney Island in Brooklyn. It’s also a film from the brief period at Touchstone Pictures where Disney was making complex movies for grownups made by great filmmakers.

We discuss several aspects of the film including Spike’s use of music (the inspired pairing of Aaron Copland with Public Enemy) and his perennial blind spot: the portrayal of his female characters.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Alex Shephard, Chris Calogero, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Mike Mekus on Twitter and check out his blog!

Trailer for He Got Game (Spike Lee, 1998)

Spike Lee’s cryptocurrency commercial for Coin Cloud, July 2021

Access the entire 84 minute episode (and additional bonus episodes) by becoming a patron of Junk Filter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/69724035

The very funny actor and comedian Chris Calogero joins me from Los Angeles for a discussion on one of the great L.A. films, Michael Mann’s Heat!

Michael Mann is back in action lately, with Ferrari in production, the impending release of his first novel Heat 2, and the news that it will be adapted for the screen as a prequel/sequel to the 1995 classic.

Chris and I go to Riff City for this episode: we talk about the influence Waingro has had on today’s hard-right insurrectionists, Mann’s 1989 TV movie L.A. Takedown which Heat is a remake of, the increasing insanity of Al Pacino’s portrayal of Vincent Hanna, and finally we also offer Mann some free ideas for what he can do when he finally adapts Heat 2 for the big screen.

You can watch L.A. Takedown (Mann, 1989) for free on YouTube.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Alex Shephard, Sooz Kempner, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Chris Calogero on Twitter and visit chriscalogero.com

The writer, actor and musician Patrick Marlborough, a regular contributor to Vice, Gawker and The Guardian, joins me from Perth in Western Australia for a show about the groundbreaking 1995 miniseries Blue Murder, starring Richard Roxburgh.

Blue Murder tells the true story of corruption in the New South Wales police department and the friendship between the hot-headed detective Roger Rogerson and the Sydney crime kingpin Neddy Smith, who was given the “green light” by Rogerson to commit crimes, including murder, with police protection. This bombshell series, produced by the public broadcaster ABC, was banned from the airwaves in New South Wales for 6 years.

We discuss this terrific miniseries, the inferior recent sequel Blue Murder: Killer Cop (2017), produced by the private channel Seven Network, and Patrick offers some insights into Toxic Masculinity, Aussie-style, and the landscape of media culture Down Under that these two miniseries represent.

Both Blue Murder and the sequel are currently available to stream on Prime Video in Canada, and can also be found on YouTube.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Alex Shephard, Sooz Kempner, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

You can find Patrick Marlborough on Twitter and Patrickmarlborough.com

“Blue Murder: Nothing Has Exposed Australia’s Mean Streak Better Than This Sleazy Drama” by Patrick Marlborough, for The Guardian, July 26, 2022

Ad for the DVD release of Blue Murder (Michael Jenkins, 1995)

Ad for Blue Murder: Killer Cop (Michael Jenkins, 2017)

The hosts of the Hit Factory podcast, Aaron Casias and Carlee Gomes, return to the show from San Francisco to defend John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), generally considered the weakest film in the series.

Woo’s underappreciated sequel is best enjoyed as his attempt to fuse modern American blockbuster filmmaking with the delirious style of Hong Kong action cinema and the spirit of Hitchcock’s grand Hollywood entertainments, in this case openly echoing the plot of Notorious. It also set the template for Mission: Impossible as a continuing series of thrillers.

Most importantly, this was the movie where Tom Cruise turned into the Tom Cruise we have today: the man who does his own death-defying stunts and the last real Hollywood movie star, who practically makes propaganda for himself.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Alex Shephard, Sooz Kempner, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Aaron Casias and Carlee Gomes on Twitter.

Subscribe to the Hit Factory podcast; you can also support the show directly through Patreon.

Trailer for Mission: Impossible 2 (John Woo, 2000)

Trailer for Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

"Aeropuerto", John Woo’s great commercial for Nike, 1998 (he was working on this when he was tapped by Cruise to direct M:I 2.)

A great interview with Thandiwe Newton for Vulture where she spills the tea on her film career and talks about working on M:I 2.

Access the entire 84 minute episode (and additional bonus episodes) by becoming a patron of Junk Filter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/68615908

Alex Shephard, senior writer for The New Republic and co-host of the Mr. Difficult podcast, returns to Junk Filter for a discussion of Baz Luhrmann’s maximalist jukebox musical biopic Elvis, starring Austin Butler in a star-making role as The King and the distracting cartoonish performance from Tom Hanks as his manager/svengali Colonel Tom Parker.

Plus: Alex discusses his recent TNR interview with the documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, recently subpoenaed to testify for the January 6 Committee in DC about what he captured on the day of the insurrection for his upcoming Discovery+ series on the outgoing first family in the final days of the Trump Presidency.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive access to additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Will Sloan, Bryan Quinby, Karen Geier, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Alex Shephard on Twitter and check out the Mr. Difficult podcast.

Writer Adam Jackson (Vice, Noisey) returns to the podcast for a discussion of the new Disney/Pixar animated feature Lightyear.

Why did Lightyear fail at the box office? Was it the convoluted premise (this isn’t a movie about the toy Buzz Lightyear or even a Toy Story film, this is the movie about the actual Buzz Lightyear that young Andy loved so much in 1995 that he bought the toy)? Was it the “controversial” LGBTQ content (which adds up to about 45 seconds of screen time and yet triggered hysterical calls for boycotts of the movie from the anti-Disney religious right)? Was it anger over the replacement of the conservative Tim Allen with the affable Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz? Was it stiff market competition from Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick? Adam and I went to see it together to see for ourselves where things went wrong.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive access to additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Will Sloan, Bryan Quinby, Karen Geier, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Adam Jackson on Twitter.

Trailer for Lightyear (Angus MacLane, 2022)

Toronto-based writer and content strategist Karen Geier returns to the show for a discussion of John Waters and his 1994 “true crime” comedy Serial Mom, starring Kathleen Turner as a suburban Baltimore housewife who is eventually discovered to be a serial killer and becomes a tabloid sensation during her criminal trial. The remarkable thing about this film is it was released mere weeks before the O.J. Simpson murders and Waters strangely anticipated the cultural issues brought up by this case: the American obsession with crime and celebrity.

Karen and I discuss the film and some adjacent current topics including Cancel Culture, the moral panic over Trans Rights and Drag Queen Story Time, the legacy of the O.J. trial, and the popularity of True Crime podcasts and documentaries.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive access to additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Will Sloan, Bryan Quinby, Karen Geier, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Karen Geier on Twitter and check out her podcast On Belief. She also has a Patreon!

Trailer for Serial Mom (John Waters, 1994)

Access the entire 90 minute episode (and additional bonus episodes) by becoming a patron of Junk Filter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/67675544

The hosts of the 30 Years Later podcast, Ricky Camilleri and Chris Chafin, join me from New York City to discuss Larry Clark’s 2001 true-crime drama Bully.

Possibly the ultimate Florida movie, Bully is a tale of crime and punishment that contrasts a strongly moralistic narrative with Clark’s sweaty, lurid and lecherous visual approach to adapt the true story of a group of sex-crazed stoner teens in Fort Lauderdale who conspire to commit the brutal murder of young Bobby Kent, himself a tormentor of one of the killers, his lifelong pal Marty Puccio.

We discuss this film as a black comedy, Chris vouches for the accuracy of the film’s portrayal of Y2K South Florida teens, we tackle the issues of exploitation and consent that accompany tales of the film’s turbulent production, and we wonder if a movie as uncompromising as Bully could even get made in America today.

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Will Sloan, Bryan Quinby, Sooz Kempner, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Ricky Camilleri and Chris Chafin on Twitter.

Check out the 30 Years Later podcast! I was a recent guest of the show to discuss Patriot Games. They have also launched a new Patreon feed.

“An Oral History of Larry Clark’s Cult Classic Bully” by Daniel Clemens, for i-D magazine, July 27, 2021

Trailer for Bully (Larry Clark, 2001)