Michael and Us

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/462-most-famous-89633259

In 2009, a wildly popular movie told the allegedly true story of a poor black football player who was uplifted by a rich white family. Nowadays, the movie's real-life subject says that the reality of the situation was very different. We discuss THE BLIND SIDE (2009), the most racist Hollywood blockbuster this side of D.W. Griffith. PLUS: Tim Ballard, the subject of Sound of Freedom, is at it again!

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/461-set-of-89409879

We Need to Talk About the Death (or Rebirth?) of Cinema. On this special episode, we gather to discuss David Zaslav, Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, and other visions of cinema's future (or lack thereof).

In Robert Altman's MCCABE & MRS MILLER (1971), a couple of entrepreneurs find themselves crushed by monopoly capitalism. Of course, this could only happen in a small Old West mining town. We discuss the power and beauty of one of the greatest films of all time. PLUS: A primer on the Ontario greenbelt scandal, and why are Joe Biden's poll numbers so bad?

Preorder Luke's new book "Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality," coauthored with Ed Broadbent - https://ecwpress.com/products/seeking-social-democracy-ed-broadbent

See Luke and Ed Broadbent in conversation at the Toronto Reference Library on October 22 - https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/seeking-social-democracy-a-conversation-with-ed-broadbent-tickets-713793665067

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

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/459-jerrys-kids-89032472

From 1966 to 2010, THE JERRY LEWIS MDA LABOR DAY TELETHON raised billions for muscular dystrophy causes. It also lived long enough to become a relic of a long-gone monoculture, and incited the wrath of disability advocates. We discuss a bona fide American cultural phenomenon from a very, very different time.

Widely described as "Hollywood's response to the Lewinsky scandal," THE CONTENDER (2000) imagines a Vice Presidential confirmation process derailed by sexism and moral prudishness. We excavate some Oscar bait from the very tail end of the Clinton Era and find... yes, another Politics Movie™.

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

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/457-free-drama-88663195

What happens when a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives makes a feature film? We discuss Robert J. Mrazek's THE CONGRESSMAN (2016), starring Treat Williams as an incumbent House member tackling the twin crises of influence-peddling and... overfishing.

In the middle of the 20th century, some of America's biggest companies made a habit of staging Broadway-quality musicals simply to hype up their employees. The documentary BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY (2018) chronicles the obsession that David Letterman's writer Steve Young developed with the arcane genre of the "industrial musical." Will is joined by special guest host Jesse Brenneman to discuss the film, and to hash over their experiences collecting really, really, really niche interests.

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

Follow Jesse - https://linktr.ee/jkbrenneman

Check out "Tech Talk" - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-talk/id1498677455

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/455-avatars-of-88293850

Last week's Republican presidential debate, competing Tucker Carlson/Donald Trump interview, and concurrent Trump mugshot drop had us hankering to find the worst Donald Trump documentary we could find. And boy, did we find it. We dived back into the Tubi mines and dredged up TRUMP: THE FIRST TERM (2020).

Released in the middle of the Obama era, George Clooney's THE IDES OF MARCH (2011) has a lot to tell us about a time when the horizons of possibility were contracting. That's right, folks - it's time to have fun with a good, old-fashioned Politics Movie™.

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We've been talking about a lot of soulless, big-budget IP movies that represent a rot in our culture... so how about a how about a hand-crafted, achingly personal movie that exists as a wart on the back of that rot? We discuss Kevin Smith's CLERKS III (2022), a harrowing vision of Gen X culture trapped in amber.

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

"Awkward Americans see themselves in Ron DeSantis" by Ben Terris - https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/08/17/ron-desantis-awkward/

"Talk is Cheap" by Nick Pinkerton - https://nickpinkerton.substack.com/p/talk-is-cheap