Michael and Us

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With the decennial Sight & Sound "Greatest Films of All Time" poll dominating Film Twitter, we discuss Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville's eccentric rumination on film history, 2 x 50 YEARS OF FRENCH CINEMA (1995). Commissioned as a documentary on the history of French cinema, the result is a cheeky dismantling of the commission itself, as well as an earnest lament to "the death of cinema." PLUS: We check in on the Kanye West meltdown tour, and its implications.

The quintessential American folk troubadour and a beloved national icon, Woody Guthrie was also a committed lefty for whom art and politics were intertwined. We discuss his life and legacy via Hal Ashby's biopic BOUND FOR GLORY (1976), which takes a broad look at Guthrie and during the Great Depression. PLUS: How Joe Biden crushed a railroad workers' strike.

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After fleeing the Swedish tax authorities, Ingmar Bergman briefly set up shop in Germany to make what is widely considered his worst film. We look at his Berlin-set, David Carradine-starring rise-of-fascism drama THE SERPENT'S EGG (1977) to find out if it's really as bad as all that. PLUS: What does David Brooks' taste in music tell us about him?

Released shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Howard Hawks' SERGEANT YORK (1941) was an attempt to rouse popular support for America entering the Second World War. We excavate one of the biggest box office hits of its day and find a movie in which God and Country are pitted together, and Country wins. PLUS: we hash over some of the drastic and unhappy changes that have happened to our local government in Toronto, Canada.

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The dystopia is already here in Boots Riley's SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (2018). This anti-capitalist comedy follows a telemarketer who is nearly seduced by a superstar billionaire. We discuss how the film identifies revolution as both necessary and nearly impossible. PLUS: musings on the end of Twitter and Chicago-based columnist John Kass.

We've gazed into the abyss many times before but the Ray Romano/Gene Hackman comedy WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (2004) - in which a former U.S. president runs for mayor against a small-town handyman - comes close to breaking us. PLUS: We recap the U.S. midterms, and ask: Is Ron DeSantis a serious threat to Donald Trump? (Short answer: no)

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We finally felt lucky enough to discuss the grandaddy of right-wing law-and-order movies, DIRTY HARRY (1971). One thing is for certain: this is one cop who takes no guff from no one. PLUS: fiery hot takes on the U.S. midterms, the labour strike that is rocking Canada, and the future of entertainment.

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Adam McKay's VICE (2018) sought to give Dick Cheney the full reckoning for his crimes through art that he will never receive in life. Is the film necessary cinematic intervention in the ongoing Cheney reclamation project, or a condescending failure? Your hosts disagree sharply on this cinematic polemic. PLUS: fiery hot takes on Elon Musk's Twitter takeover.

"'Damn right,' I said" by Eliot Weinberger - https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n01/eliot-weinberger/damn-right-i-said

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The terrible right-wing documentary RIDING THE DRAGON: THE BIDENS' CHINESE SECRETS (2022) attempts to argue that Joe Biden has used his diplomatic relationship with China to enrich his family. It's a theory that strikes us as basically true, but delivered with right-wing blinders. PLUS: on the political efficacy of throwing soup at paintings, and an update on the U.S. midterms.

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Brazil’s extreme-right president Jair Bolsonaro might go down to defeat in the second round of presidential voting. But, win or lose, the political coalition he’s assembled may endure after October 30. In this interview, Luke talks to Vincent Bevins — who lived in Brazil from 2010 to 2016 and worked as a correspondent, wrote The Jakarta Method (2020), and moved back to São Paulo last year to work on his second book — about the issues at play.