Michael and Us

We mark Queen Elizabeth's passing by looking at towering work of royalist kitsch, THE KING'S SPEECH (2010). We discuss how this Oscar-winner humanizes the monarchy in order to uphold it.

See Luke speak at the Toronto International Festival of Authors on September 27 - https://festivalofauthors.ca/event/critical-conversation-new-working-class/

Hear Will on Canadaland - https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/815-our-royals-our-elves/

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PATREON EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/365-journeys-72120783

Luke finally returns to the podcast, and have we got a doozy of a movie for him. We return to the oeuvre of political scion Alexandra Pelosi and discuss DIARY OF A POLITICAL TOURIST (2004), a freewheeling account of the 2004 Democratic Party primary. It's both the worst and the best Alexandra Pelosi documentary we've watched yet... as well as the most elusive movie we've ever tried to find.

This episode was made possible by Kyle Bridgett, who found a very rare movie. Check out his website: https://kylebridgett.com/

Kyle Bridgett's YouTube channel, Canonically Crumb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gm3vZynb5E&list=PLkZYyAJDZgAymetXARt7X8jmnzKM5U_nU&index=5&ab_channel=LittleCozyNostril

PATREON EXCLUSIVE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/71837828

At last - conservatives have made a movie about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Director Robert David (yes, the villain from Goonies) and Breitbart Media present MY SON HUNTER (2022), a feature film that alleges to expose the Bidens as an international crime family. Longtime friend of the show Chris Berube stops by to discuss why the biggest scandal is how damn boring this movie is.

Popularly known as "one of the worst movies ever made," Ed Wood's GLEN OR GLENDA? (1953) was a pioneering attempt at progressive cinematic treatment of trans issues. It's also a film at war with itself. We're joined by special guest Valerie Faye to discuss why this extraordinary film is cinema's greatest depiction of "closet mindset."

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

Check out Valerie's podcast The Odd Pod - https://anchor.fm/theoddpodd/episodes/ODD-PODD-CLASSIC---Missing-feat--Chris--Kurt-e1lt39g

On Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/oddpodd

Valerie on Twitter - https://twitter.com/StealingValerie

Watch Glen or Glenda? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVR1JmmvGiA&ab_channel=BloodyVengeance

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/71449739

In the mid-'90s, a car dealership in Texas offered contestants a chance to win a free truck if they could perform one feat of physical and mental agility: keep one hand on the truck for longer than anyone else. The documentary HANDS ON A HARDBODY (1997) captures the contest in all its agony. We're joined by John Semley to discuss what - if anything - this highly evocative document has to say about America.

One of the key films of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement, Glauber Rocha's masterpiece TERRA EM TRANSE aka ENTRANCED EARTH (1967) envisions a fictional Latin American country where the left- and right-wing parties both feed from the same trough, and asks what role art can play in revolution, if any. Friend-of-the- show Violet Lucca returns to place the film within the context of Brazil after the 1964 coup that led to decades of military dictatorship.

"Revolutionary Lessons" by Robert Stamm - https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC10-11folder/TerraTranseStam.html

Check out Violet on The Harper's Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-harpers-podcast/id1405872370

PATREON EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/360-hitch-in-71080314

A new book collection, A HITCH IN TIME, brings together a wide range of writings by Christopher Hitchens from before his 9/11-era neocon conversion. Returning once again to one of our favourite subjects, we discuss how the essays show Hitchens at his best, while also foreshadowing the negative qualities that would come to overwhelm his work.

Luke also discussed the book on this week's episode of The Harper's Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/christopher-hitchens/id1405872370?i=1000577130158

The new documentary ALEX'S WAR (2022) seeks to "look past the caricature" of the Infowars gadfly Alex Jones. Your hosts find themselves disagreeing on the usefulness of this nonjudgmental profile of the notorious conspiracy theorist.

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

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/posts/358-arc-of-70689387

A wonk who believed in incremental reform and parliamentary process, the Canadian NDP politician Stanley Knowles was a genuine socialist who earnestly embodies many of the qualities that we distrust in liberals. We watched STANLEY KNOWLES: IN WORD AND DEED (1987), and Luke discusses why he finds Knowles an inspirational figure in these troubled times.

Our Superdelegate patron tier was mad as hell that we hadn't yet discussed Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky's NETWORK (1976) and wasn't going to take it anymore. We watched an American classic and discovered that Howard Beale's famous speech isn't even the most important speech in the movie.

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