In the second episode of THE NEWSROOM, MacKenzie lays out her theory of what a quality news broadcast should look like, and Will McAvoy presides over one of the worst broadcasts of his career. It's one of the Sorkinest Sorkin shows we've ever seen - it's "News Night 2.0"

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/589-x-factor-2-120060633

The White House has been destroyed by an earthquake, President Sean Young is trapped under the rubble, and House Speaker Eric Roberts wants to take over America in DC DOWN (2023), a low-budget disaster movie from the most trusted names in entertainment, Tubi and The Asylum. We treated ourselves to a good old-fashioned "good movie movie." PLUS: How seriously should we be taking Trump's threat to annex Canada?

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TORONTO: See Will introduce a screening of Jess Franco's Bloody Moon on January 14, 7pm at the Fox Theatre. Tickets - https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/the-important-cinema-club-masterpiece-classics-bloody-moon/

"The failure of Trudeauism" by Luke Savage - https://www.newstatesman.com/author/luke-savage

When the possibility of positive political change seems so distant, and the stakes are so high, at one point is radical action advisable? This was a question posed by the Earth Liberation Front, the environmental group that became synonymous with "eco-terrorism." We watch the Academy Award-nominated documentary IF A TREE FALLS: THE STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT (2011), which charts the group's rise and fall.

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/587-action-will-119515764

On our Patreon, we will be discussing the full run of Aaron Sorkin's THE NEWSROOM. This is the first episode.

Join us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Hot on the heels of our magisterial Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip project, we return to the Aaron Sorkin mines with the Sorkiest Sorkin show that ever Sorked. We begin our deep dive into THE NEWSROOM with the pilot episode, "We Just Decided To."

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/119311355

From Hyde Park on Hudson to Deadpool and Wolverine ... from the corridors around Studio 60 to the streets of Braddock, Pennsylvania ... we bid farewell to 2024 with one last look back at some of the most (and least) memorable things we discussed this year.

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/585-fifth-annual-118912478

With a biopic about Bob Dylan about to reach screens, we examined the last time that the Voice Of His Generation attempted to translate his songwriting style to cinema. MASKED AND ANONYMOUS (2003) finds Dylan working through his ambivalent feelings about politics, while also struggling to keep up with a hilariously overqualified cast.

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The filmmaker who coined the term "ecstatic truth" becomes the subject of a memorable docu-fiction hybrid in INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS (2004), in which Werner Herzog joins forces with Hollywood screenwriter Zak Penn to create a hoax involving the Loch Ness Monster. PLUS: Are these the last days of the Justin Trudeau government?

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/583-bad-producer-118175616

In the latest instalment of the God's Not Dead franchise, Pastor Dave answers a different kind of calling, and takes aim at the barrier between Church and State. We welcome back our friend Alex Shephard, staff writer at The New Republic, to discuss GOD'S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST (2024).

Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Alex Shephard at The New Republic - https://newrepublic.com/authors/alex-shephard

We all know that WWE founder and ex-CEO Vince McMahon shared a long friendship with Donald Trump, and would you believe that the two men share some stuff in common? We discuss the new Netflix documentary series MR. MCMAHON (2024), an exhaustive chronicle of a man whose "Allegations" tab on Wikipedia could fill a library.

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/117741859