Make the Case

Join Conrad, Shwin and special guests Rebecca Goldstein, Simon Schiller and Dylan Visvikis as they break down their favorite films of the year. We laughed! We cried! We blew up a pipeline.

Please note that while we try to avoid specific spoilers, if you want to go into these films completely fresh, you may want to wait to listen to this pod or to avoid the specific segment on the film in question.

Below is a list of of the films we discussed with handy timestamps so that you may skip around:

May December 00:03:54

Beau is Afraid 00:12:09 

Killers of the Flower Moon 00:18:55 

Priscilla 00:30:08

Wonka 00:36:38

Oppenheimer 00:46:52 

Poor Things 00:58:02 

How to Blow Up a Pipeline 01:04:35 

Zone of Interest 01:12:07 

Satlburn 01:28:43 

Honorable Mentions 01:35:50 
(Past Lives, Shortcomings, Theater Camp, Bottoms, Sanctuary, The Holdovers, Monster, Juwan, Landscape with Invisible Hand, Missing, I Have To Do This)

Other Things We Liked This Year 01:42:29 
(Succession, The Last of Us, Jury Duty, I'm a Virgo, The Bear, Game Theory with Sam Vecenie, Troye Sivan's "One of Your Girls," Spider-Man 2 (the video game), The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen)

...OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE POD!

Today, we make this pod short and sweet, as we talk Stanley Kubrick's nuclear panic satire, DR. STRANGELOVE!

Topics include: 1) What is the corollary today for fear of nuclear war in 1965; 2) Are we more  afraid of atom bombs or bodily fluid theft; 3) did we want Peter Sellers to play a fourth role? (Of course we did).

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THEY TRAINED THEM TO PODCAST FOR THEIR PLEASURE...  BUT THEY TRAINED THEM A LITTLE TOO WELL!! // HOW DID THEY EVER MAKE A PODCAST OF LOLITA?

In this episode, we continue our analysis of Kubrick's career with the "Least Kubrick" of Kubrick's films: Kirk Douglas' SPARTACUS and Vladimir Nabokov's LOLITA! 

Topics include: SPARTACUS' tangled web of inconsistent subtext; the historical significance of SPARTACUS in breaking Hollywood's communist blacklist; an unexpected analysis of Brad Pitt's legacy; if there was  a good reason (besides $$$) to make a movie of LOLITA; alternate  Humbert Humbert casting ideas (including Marlon Brando and Matthew McConaughey), and a Hitchcock movie ranking.

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IN ALL ITS FURY AND VIOLENCE… LIKE NO OTHER PODCAST SINCE “BLANK CHECK” AND “THE BIG PICTURE”!

This week, we kick off our most ambitious series yet: a retrospective on the films of Stanley Kubrick, one by one, from the very beginning, INCLUDING BARRY LYNDON (that sound you just heard was Shwin crying in anguish). We start with Kubrick’s first two studio pictures, THE KILLING and PATHS OF GLORY.

Topics include: the historical context in which Kubrick came to self-actualize as an “auteur;” which directors and films were inspired by The Killing’s non-linear, cerebral approach to a pulpy crime plot (we’re looking at you, Nolan and Tarantino),  and whether or not Paths of Glory should be considered a satire.

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HE'S A PODCAST CO-HOST. HE WILL RISK HIS LIFE, THE LIVES OF HIS FAMILY, EVERYTHING HE HOLDS DEAR FOR THE ONE THING HE HOLDS SACRED... THE TRUTH.

This week, we finish off our Oliver Stone trilogy with his operatic paranoiac JFK. Released in 1991, this film tells you that if you think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, you're just not asking the right questions. Who benefits from the most epic conspiracy theory propaganda ever propagated by Hollywood? You, the consumer of course!!

Topics include: What exactly did Oliver Stone make up, and what were his intentions with the film? What is the appeal of Kevin Costner? And did the guy Joe Pesci is based on really look like that? We find out live!

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WHAT HAPPENS IF IT ACTUALLY PODS?

This week, we loop back to the 2004 cult classic time travel drama from Shane Carruth, PRIMER. Famously shot for $7000 (we have some thoughts about that) and supposedly containing enough information to articulate its own plot (we have some more thoughts about that), the film is a taut, psychological thriller about the deterioration of a friendship, and we go back to interrogate its existence.

Did we understand this movie? Maybe? Did you? Why are you asking so many questions? Is it because this movie is so confusing? Is that your double standing behind you?

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EVERY POD HAS A PRICE.

This week, we continue our Oliver Stone series (to Conrad's chagrin) with Stone's 1987 opus on greed, which takes place on a very well-known street in downtown Manhattan.

Is greed good? Is Charlie Sheen okay? Should Martin Sheen have played Gordon Gekko? Should Oliver Stone have been a stockbroker instead of a filmmaker? Let's discuss.

If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it (5 stars please), and click the subscribe button to get next week's episode.

What’s your favorite Oliver Stone movie? Please don't say the Putin docu-series. Leave us a voicemail at (818) 538-4966 or message us on twitter at @makethecaseshow — we want to hear from you!

In this pod, we bring in special guest Lester Lee of Dead Seriousness dot com to help us tear down this wall: How is this movie an interesting intersection of Fury Road and John Wick? What makes Charlize Theron so compelling as an action star? And what the hell is the plot of this movie? (Spoiler: neither of us have any idea).

If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it (5 stars please), and click the subscribe button to get next week's episode. And if you liked what you heard from Lester, you can find him on twitter at @thelesterlee & @deadseriousness and substack at lesterlee.substack.com

What’s your favorite Charlize Theron movie? Leave us a voicemail at (818) 538-4966 or message us on twitter at @makethecaseshow — we want to hear from you!

SOMEONE YOU PASS ON THE STREET MAY ALREADY BE THE GUEST OF YOUR POD.

It's a special Valentine's Day episode of Make the Case, as special guest Rebecca Goldstein presents an argument for the Nora Ephron classic You've Got Mail!

If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it (5 stars please), and click the subscribe button to get next week's episode.

Did we miss your favorite part of YOU'VE GOT MAIL? What's the romantic comedy you like to watch with your SO? Leave us a voicemail at (818) 538-4966 and we might play it on the next pod!

POD. OR BE PODDED.

In this pod, we tackle the big questions about football, and life: Does this movie have the greatest sports monologue ever? Is Jamie Foxx underrated? Why does "Bubble Pacino" work as a burnt out, old school football coach still clinging to his glory days? Does Oliver Stone suck? (Yes).

If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it (5 stars please), and click the subscribe button to get next week's episode.

Did we miss your favorite part of ANY GIVEN SUNDAY? What's your favorite football movie? Leave us a voicemail at (818) 538-4966 and we might play it on the next pod!