Low Key

What does "Joker" want to say about poverty, mental illness and other problems society has failed to solve? That's the subject of our latest "Low Key" podcast.

Every week on "Low Key," your hosts Aaron Lanton, Keith Dennie and Tim Molloy look into pop culture subtleties you may have missed. Well, except for this week: This week Tim is replaced (quite successfully) by special guest Sam Perrin of the “Sam Said It” podcast. 

Sam, Aaron and Keith go deep on "Joker," questioning how to interpret its ending, whether it wants to make political statements or avoid them, and where it stands on the divide between rich and poor. They focus especially on how the film deals with mental illness, and how to interpret director Todd Phillips' presentation of Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur losing his grip on reality.

Also: Do nice pearls really fall that way?

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How to interpret Amazon's acclaimed animated series "Undone"?

The series is about a 28-year-old woman named Alma (Rosa Salazar) who suffers a serious car accident and develops the ability to communicate with her long-dead father Jacob (Bob Odenkirk). She also becomes unstuck in time, and learns to bounce back and forth across decades to try to understand how her father died.

The show leaves many questions open, including whether Anna is really traveling through time, or suffering from a serious mental illness. The show, which reminds us of Richard Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly," occupies an interesting place between real-life and dreams. It makes you appreciate life, reality, and the ability to tell reality from dreams.

Every week on "Low Key" we talk about pop-culture subtleties we think others may have missed, and "Undone" leaves a lot of details open to interpretation. Everyone in the supporting cast feels human and compelling, and almost everyone has ethically troubling secrets. Alma has to not only decipher what's happening in her own mind, but also in everyone else's. 

If you like this episode, we'd love for you to subscribe to the podcast and rate us.

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Shimmy Shimmy Ya! On the latest episode of the Low Key podcast we talk about “Wu Tang Clan: An American Story,” brought to you by RZA -- the man who brought us “The Man With the Iron Fists.”

(Also: We just found out what RZA stands for “Ruler, Zig-Zag-Zig, Allah.” I don’t know what any of that means, but it sounds dope. Can you say new X- Box Gamertag?)

The series chronicles the formation and the rise of one of hip-hop’s greatest groups, The Wu Tang Clan. So far Hulu has six episodes available for streaming. We're not quite sure what it is just yet, and we discuss how the show works to create the mythos behind the Wu Tang, but seems to lack what we most admire about Wu Tang: the music.

We get a little bit of Bobby (aka RZA) laying down a track with Shotgun (aka Method Man), but we mostly get drug deals and drive-bys. That's fine when accompanied with music, but we want more music. (By the way, we don't endorse drug dealing or drive bys, kids).

During the episode, Aaron brings up the point that movies based on musicians' lives usually have songs that are incorporated into the story. We don’t get much of that here, but to the show's defense, this is a series, not a movie. The series is probably using the early episodes to introduce the characters and their circumstances, and will hopefully use the remaining episodes to show how they use music to overcome these circumstances.

We also never realized that the members of Wu had so many aliases. They seem to have three to five apiece. They're a whole team of superheroes, we're convinced. They are the Avengers… if all the Avenger were rappers, and black men from Staten Island.

Plus, Tim's still trying to figure out if Raekwon really shot up Ghostface Killah’s home back in the day.

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Will Todd Phillips' new "Joker" prove the exception to the rule that villains are best left mysterious? And also, did we ever figure out why Garth Brooks' adopted an emo R&B persona named Chris Gaines? These two equally relevant subjects are the focus of our latest "Low Key" podcast.

This week on "Low Key," we're joined by special guest Sam Perrin of the "Sam Said It" podcast. All of us are comic-book nerds, but despite that, we weren't necessarily desperate for a solo "Joker" film. 

As Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader can attest, sometimes it's better not to know a scary villain's entire backstory. But we're cautiously excited for Todd Phillips' highly praised "Joker," which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Crown Prince of Crime in an homage to Martin Scorsese-Robert De Niro classics like "Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy."

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Our discussion of the Joker leads us to speculate about what other comic-book villains deserve origin stories (looking at you, Doctor Doom), which leads into a discussion of fanfic, which leads into a discussion of "Twilight," which delves smoothly into some praises for Lil Nas X, and the oft-forgotten contribution that Nine Inch Nails made to "Old Town Road."

That in turn leads us into a lengthy discussion of the time Garth Brooks adopted a kind of emo R&B alterego named Chris Gaines, and the beauty of the Chris Gaines' single "Lost in You." It's really pretty. Have you listened to it? You should.

Anyway, given that Joker won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, we're prepared to be pleasantly surprised by Phillips dark vision. Also pleasantly surprising is the way Gaines' voice goes liltingly high at around the 1:40 mark of "Lost in You," before going into a delicate and impeccable guitar solo. Is "Lost in You" our favorite Garth Brooks song? Are we allowed to say that?

Needless to say, this is a wonderful episode, and you should subscribe to both "Low Key" and "Sam Said It."

Here are some of the key issues we talk about this episode, with timestamps:

3:40: Batman questions aside, could the Joker beat Superman?

4:27: "You tell 10-year-old me, hey, you want to hear about Darth Vader? The answer would be, 'Sure, why not? I would love to see how Darth Vader became evil.' And then we got it, and it was like, now I renege on that. I don't want that again."

7:19: "I think Doctor Doom needs a movie."

11:43: Some thoughts on Namor as a potential villain in "Black Panther 2."

15:10: Why you should keep writing all that fanfic.

16:30: The whitest thing that has ever happened on the podcast happens

17:13: Keith informs Aaron of the existence of Chris Gaines and the Chris Gaines phenomenon is discussed at length

21:44: "Jojo Rabbit looks incredible to me"

25:00: A confession about "The Dark Knight," and a lengthy discussion of that complicated scene with the two boats.

33:50: Let's talk about "The Killing Joke"

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Fae! Pucks! Critches! This week on the "Low Key" podcast, we talk about these and other words we think might be racial slurs in the world of "Carnival Row," Amazon's unique take on bigotry and immigration.

The new series examines a star-crossed relationship between a human detective named Philo (Orlando Bloom) and a winged fae named Vignette (Cara Delevigne) that is filled with metaphors we're trying very hard to follow. The show creates a vast and complex fictional world, then populates it with storylines that seem oddly reminiscent of things happening in America today.

Every week on "Low Key," we look for pop culture subtleties, often through a racial lens, so "Carnival Row" was kind of made for us. It's filled with nuance, and rewards viewers for patience and close attention. Our favorite subplot involves the "there goes the neighborhood" arrival or the mysterious puck Mr. Agreus (David Gyasi), who draws the intense interest of privileged neighbor (and master to Vignette) Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant).

We're also caught very off-guard by a subplot involving fae fetishist Jonah Breakspear (Arty Froushan), son of the eminent Absalom Breakspear (Jared Harris). Whether you like "Carnival Row" or not -- and we do -- it's a lot of fun to talk about.

Here are some of the main points of our conversation, with timestamps:

5:30: Apologies to Downton Abbey

7:05: Praise for Tamzin Merchant

8:45: “If you were to make like an eight-episode porn scene where sex only happened in the seventh episode? If you have the dedication to watch that kind of pornography, you’ve got it. ‘Carnival Row’ has it.” 

16:38: Some thoughts on the precarious Spurnrose situation

17:10: “The only-person-to-survive thing felt unnecessary.”

30:00: A pretty big spoiler

36:51: Someone yells "YEAH!" a little too loud

If you like us, subscribe. If you don't, check out the "Shoot This Now" or "Meanwhile in the Multiverse" podcasts.

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"Don't Let Go" stars David Oyelowo as an LAPD detective who starts getting phone calls from his niece, played by Storm Reid -- after she and her parents are brutally murdered. Is it about time-travel? Parallel dimensions? God? We talk it out on the new "Low Key."

The Blumhouse film, from Jacob Aaron Estes, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival under the original name "Relive." It quickly sets up the plot before taking us through a series of twists that challenge everything you thought you knew about cell phone conversations between the living and the dead.

Is it a time-travel film? A story of crossed realities? We spend this episode puzzling it out, while praising the work of Reid and Oyelowo.

We also talk about how Estes and Oyelowo, a producer on the film, changes the setting from a farm in Ohio to the streets of Los Angeles, an especially intense scene late in the film, and the Zodiac killer.

Here are a few of our topics, with time stamps:

2:30: "I don't know if it's a time-travel movie, I don't know if it's a movie about parallel universes, I don't know if it's a movie where when you die you don't really die you're just transported to another world where you're actually living."

6:05: Has there been another movie quite like "Don't Let Go"?

11:30: Go watch "Jacob's Ladder"

16:30: “Hitman” is hard

17:37: This movie was originally set on a farm in Ohio with a bunch of white people

18:45: Props, Blumhouse

24:05: If someone was pointing a gun at you, would you rather run or ride a bike to escape?

28:35: The man-in-a-horror-movie dilemma

If you like us, please subscribe.

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Usually on the "Low Key" podcast, we talk about pop culture moments we think others may have missed, often through a racial lens. This week, we just talk about some projects we're excited about, from "Cannon Busters" to "The Witcher" to "The Irishman" to "The Mandelorian," "Dolemite is My Name" and "Harriet."

Of all those films and TV shows, only one -- the Netflix anime series "Cannon Busters," has been released. Aaron, a hardcore anime fan, tell us how intrigued he was to see anime with black characters in key roles.

Keith, meanwhile, wonders if "The Witcher," starring Henry Cavill, can overcome the curse of many video-game adaptations.

And Tim is eager to see if "The Irishman" -- from the super team of Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci -- can win its big CGI gamble to become the instant gangster classic we hope it will be. 

We also talk about Kasi Lemmons' upcoming Harriet Tubman biopic "Harriet," Eddie Murphy in "Dolemite Is My Name," and Jon Favreau's mysterious "The Mandalorian."

Netflix is very well-represented on the list of projects we're excited about -- "Cannon Busters," "The Witcher," "The Irishman" and "Dolemite" are all Netflix projects. But we also talk about how Netflix may change in response to Disney+, future home of "The Mandalorian" and many more "Star Wars" and Marvel Cinematic Universe stories.

Here are some highlights of the episode and timestamps:

00:40: A quick recap of the great Tennessee Wing-Off (Congratulations, Sarah!)

2:15: The majesty of "Cannon Busters"

4:56: Why we think "The Witcher" looks good, and the risks of video game adaptations. We also try to name as many video game adaptations as we can, off the top of our heads.

7:59: How bad movies get made (featuring some advice by William Goldman)

10:44: Let's nerd out about "The Irishman" and digital de-aging

14:40: Speaking of de-aging... "Gemini Man"!

18:40: What would it take go get Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to play Goro?

22:00: Why it's hard to be the movie trailer before the one for "Harriet"

25:10: "Who's asking for this?"

37:30: Dolemite!

40:16: Don't forget to please subscribe and review us on Apple, please.

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Do you need to know the history of the Manson Family and Sharon Tate to appreciate "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"? That's one of our first questions in our wrap-up of Quentin Tarantino's latest.

Every week on "Low Key" we talk about pop culture moments we think others may have missed. This week: Prior to "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood," one of your hosts, Tim, knew much too much about the Manson murders. But your other two ghosts, Keith and Aaron, didn't know that Manson's followers killed Sharon Tate and her friends in August of 1969.

That means this episode offers you two radically different perspectives on the film. Does it work if you've read up on the Manson murders? Does it work if you haven't? Did Aaron and Keith watch a totally different movie than Tim did?

We also talk about Tim's exclusive interview this week with Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter, about the screen legend's portrayal in the film. Shannon Lee says she understood the film was meant as a revenge fantasy, but felt, as she watched, as if her father was treated disrespectfully for laughs.

We also talk about whether we should believe anything in the film that happens from the P.O.V. of Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Did he misremember his encounter with Bruce Lee? Did he misremember his encounter with the Mansons?

There's a lot to break down this episode as we try to understand "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood."

Here are some of the points we discuss, and when we discuss them, with time stamps:

2:21: What it's like to watch "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" if you don't know the real-life details of how Sharon Tate and her friends were killed.

3:07: "This is the opposite of a horror movie."

5:25: "I don't think it's one of his best films. I wouldn't watch it again."

7:05: Tim offers three different interpretations of the film.

7:30: Is the whole film an attack on "Social-Media Justice Warriors"? (Thanks for that phrase, Neal Brennan.)

10:15: How essential is LSD to this movie?

14:48: Does Amy Nicholson's new podcast, "Quentin Tarantino's Feature Presentation," contain a huge clue about how to interpret "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"?

16:42: "Keith, let me ask you... how many black people are in this film?"

17:19: "There was a point in time... I forgot that it was a Tarantino movie."

19:25: Let's talk about the whole wife thing.

21:25: Why Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is kind of a "nightmare figure."

21: 30: Tim gets corrected

22:17: We list the Tarantino characters who aren't pretty terrible people

24:50: Let's discuss Tim's exclusive interview earlier this week with Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter

35:20: Did Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) have enough to do onscreen?

36:30: Tim recommends this story by Trey Williams on why the book Sharon Tate buys for Roman Polanski, "Tess d'Urbervilles," is significant

42:30: Does "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" have "a replay quality"?

If you like this episode, please subscribe.

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"Game of Thrones" decapitated fairy tale and fantasy tropes by giving us deeply flawed knights, kings and queens. Amazon's new "The Boys" similarly demystifies superheroes, as we discuss on the latest "Low Key" podcast.

Every week on "Low Key," Aaron Lanton, Keith Dennie and Tim Molloy look at pop culture subtleties and what they mean. "The Boys," Eric Kripke's adaptation of Gareth Ennis' comic book about the antiheroes who try to rein in corrupt superheroes, is full of nuance -- as well as very unsubtle sex and violence. 

"The Boys" works if you love superhero movies, but might work even better if you're totally sick of them. If you're one of those people who thinks DC and Marvel movies are crowding out movies for grown-ups, you'll probably appreciate the "Boys" POV that superheroes are mass-marketed profit generators, not uber-beings who deserve our adoration.

"The Boys" is pretty gruesome and cynical in places, but that feels like a direct responser to the occasional slickness of past superhero stories. It asks us to imagine what heroes would be like if they didn't turn down salaries and try to deflect attention from themselves, and instead bickered over photo ops and marketing deals. It's easy to imagine "The Boys" as a show about crisis PR.

And it throws in quite a few surprises.

"The Boys" is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who previously executive produced the Ennis adaptation "Preacher."

Here are a few of the things we discuss, with timestamps: 

:45: Some interesting feedback on our last episode, on pandering. (Send your feedback to @timamolloy or @alanton11 on Twitter, or @thelowkeypod on Instagram

3:46: Some thoughts on "Preacher."

6:20: Comparing how we think about superheroes, and how we think about cops

9:20: Is Batman a little bit fascist?

15:20: Remember how selfish Spider-Man used to be?

17:30: Praise for Elisabeth Shue, Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Jesse Usher, Chace Crawford, Anthony Starr and everyone else in the cast

18:25: How Homelander kind of reminds us of John Paul Gosselaar

18:49: "He just looks like the human personification of white supremacy"

23:30: "It's been a while since I watched a show and I get to the end and I'm about to flip the f---ing table"

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A dubious news report that a black actress, Lashana Lynch, will play 007 in the next James Bond film got your friendly neighborhood "Low Key" hosts wondering: When do Hollywood's attempts at diversity in casting feel positive, and when do they feel like pandering? And is there such a thing as positive pandering?

This week we're joined by special guest host Sarah Lanton as our discussion of the James Bond franchise leads us into a discussion of the American James Bond, Batman. That in turn leads us into a discussion of the CW's new "Batwoman," played by Ruby Rose, and how much one of your hosts, Keith, does not like the trailer. He explains why.

Here are a few of the other subjects we handle:

1:55: Tim expresses his strong reservations about The Daily Mail newspaper, which reported on Lashana Lynch's casting.

3:22: Could Lashana Lynch's casting just be an attempt to placate audiences, when want we really want is Idris Elba as the first black Bond?

6:20: Who was the best Bond?

7:55: Who is the audience for the new Bond movie? And what Marvel and "Into the Spider-Verse" did right in their reimagining of Spider-Man, and avoided bad pandering.

10:01: Does James Bond have to be a man for his character to make sense? And is misogyny built into the character?

15:24: We talk about characters who don't pander at all, but are still fascinating and fun to watch -- from Patrick Bateman ("American Psycho") to Humbert Humbert ("Lolita") to Hannibal Lecter ("Silence of the Lambs") to Norman Bates ("Psycho") to Anthony Jeselnik's onstage persona.

21:59: Sarah says something shocking

22:22: Aaron and Sarah agree that "Black Lightning" is "super-pandering"... in a good way

23:20: Is the new Batwoman more or less deserving of the "Bat" legacy than Miles Morales is of the "Spider" legacy?

32:30: Is pandering always a bad thing?

39:01: Shoutout to pandas!

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