In this episode, Hal and Craig discuss colonialism by way of Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, an innovative film that delves into Algeria's National Liberation Front and their bloody battles against French colonizers in the 1950s. Discussions also include:

• New movie roundup: MAY DECEMBER, SATAN WANTS YOU, and EILEEN;
• How French colonization depicted in Battle of Algiers is an eerie parallel to America's colonial interests in Iraq and Afghanistan;
• Alabama's exploitation of the labor of incarcerated people;
• Elon Musk's doomed efforts to stand down Swedish labor unions; and
• A really weird garage sale where Craig bought all of Gore Vidal's "Narratives of Empire" books.

Sources and Links:

• https://aflcio.org/2023/12/15/service-solidarity-spotlight-labor-civil-rights-organizations-file-explosive-lawsuit
• https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/feb/4
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/12/12/alabama-prison-labor-lawsuit/
• Free Alabama Movement blog:https://freealabamamovement.wordpress.com/
• Prison Labor practices in Arizona: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2022/07/18/republic-kjzz-investigation-how-prison-labor-works-arizona/10051268002/

We continue our series examining the films of S. Craig Zahler and their increasingly bizarre depiction of a violent, conservative "uptopia/dystopia". This week we watched BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, Zahler's attempt at a prison exploitation flick starring Vince Vaughn, Don Johnson, and Udo Kier. Also:

• We celebrate the death of Henry Kissinger, one of history's greatest villains.
• Upcoming movies we're geeked for: THE IRON CLAW, THE SWEET EAST, POOR THINGS, and FERRARI.
• The Daily Wire has released an anti-trans comedy called LADY BALLERS (or based JUWANNA MAN)
• What makes an exploitation film?

Links and Sources:

• https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0096.xml

• https://www.propublica.org/article/tanf-welfare-biden-proposal-state-spending-low-income-families#:~:text=The%20Biden%20administration%20this%20fall,been%20engaging%20in%20for%20years.

We're talking labor unions! Hal and Craig watched Barbara Kopple's HARLAN COUNTY, USA, the ground-breaking 1976 documentary chronicling the struggles of coal mine workers in Harlan County, Kentucky as they fight against coal barons, police, and scabs in an effort to join the United Mine Workers of America. Discussions also include:

• Abortion rights winning at the ballot;
• Weaponizing the Civil Rights Act against student protestors;
• A round-up of our recently watched films: The Killer (2023), The Flash (2023), Serial Mom (1994), and The Conformist (1970); and
• The state of labor unions in Kentucky today;

Sources & Links:

• National Labor Review Board
• "The Search for Order 1817-1920" by Robert H. Wiebe (1967)
• "Democracy for the Few" by Michael Parenti (2002)
• "Subterranean Fire: A History of Working Class Radicalism in the US" by Sharon Smith (2006)
• Nyden, Paul. 1978. Rank-and-file organizations and the United Mine Workers of America. The Insurgent Sociologist. 8(2): 25.
• Harlan County USA: Songs of the Coal Miner's Struggle
• "They'll Never Keep Us Down" by Hazel Dickens
• "Which Side Are You On?" by Florence Reese
• "The Yablonski Murder" by Hazel Dickens

We celebrate our 1 year pod-iversary by beginning a new series of conservative films, specifically the violent fantasies of S. Craig Zahler. We begin with Zahler's directorial debut Bone Tomahawk, a western-horror starring Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, and Patrick Wilson. Zahler has a stylish eye and works well in genre conventions, but what lies beneath this horror western is a lot of tired tropes painting native tribes as inhuman. And we start tracking the different types of Manly Men in the Zahler-verse. Discussion also includes:

• Scorsese's KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON;
• Under-appreciated mensch David Arquette;
• Traditional vs. Revisionist westerns;
• And some of our favorite moments from our first year of podcasting!

Hal & Craig discuss Bill Gunn's 1973 film Ganja & Hess and how its the perfect allegory for the nightmarish world wrought by post-colonialism. In addition, we discuss how the film was nearly lost to the sands of time and Sam Waymon's (who also stars in the film) incredible, haunting score. Also:

• Craig watched some bad Frankenstein adaptations;
• Hal's undying love for Suspiria (2018);
• Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire are making a Snow White movie; and
• The Scholastic Book Fair capitulates to anti-LGBT morons.

Sources & Links:

• Brian Eggert's essay on Ganja & Hess: https://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/ganja-hess/

Spooky season continues with Bernard Rose's 1992 film Candyman. There's a lot to discuss! Hal and Craig break down how Candyman inverts the racist trope of the "savage brute". In addition, we look at Candyman's deft analysis of Chicago's Cabrini Green housing projects and how Candyman himself is a creation of White America whose pain tends to reverberate mostly in black communities. Discussions also include:

• Craig consoling himself after a disastrous baseball postseason from his beloved Tampa Bay Rays;

• Hal and Craig's recent concert experiences (Beyonce, and Run the Jewels, respectively);

• Tony Todd's ability to pull of terrifying and sexy at the same time; and

• Hal's slate of recent viewings: Saw X and Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Sources and Links:

• https://time.com/6092375/candyman-cabrini-green-true-story/

• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/what-is-redlining.htm

• "The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America" by Richard Rothstein

• "American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass" by Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton

• "The Truly Disadvantaged" by William Julius Wilson

In this episode, Hal and Craig discuss the sequel to Wes Craven's seminal horror classic. Hal takes Craig to school, dissecting this often-overlooked (and underrated) horror sequel and how it has become a classic in queer cinema for its often obvious (but sometimes quite subtle) metaphors to queer identity and escaping the closet in 1980s America. Discussion also includes:

• The merits of the more gloopy, wet iterations of Freddy Krueger's makeup;
• The United Auto Workers Strike;
• Hollywood scabs like gross little puke Bill Maher;
• Nicole Holofcener's new film YOU HURT MY FEELINGS; and
• Our Top 3 American Horror franchises.

Sources and Links

• Intercept Artifcle - "U.S. Helped Pakistan Get IMF Bailout...": https://theintercept.com/2023/09/17/pakistan-ukraine-arms-imf/
• "Will the real Robert Neville please, come out?..." by Jamil Khader: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23469816/
• "Creeper Bogeyman: Cultural Narratives of Gay as Monstrous" by S.F. Juarez: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004360150_011
• "4 The Monster and the Homosexual" by Harry M. Benshoff: https://doi.org/10.7560/771376-006
• "Frame variation in child protectionist claims: Constructions of gay men and transgender women as strangers" by Amy L. Stone: https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/97/3/1155/5066469

In this episode, Hal & Craig discuss Michael Bay's 2013 film Pain & Gain and its interpretation of how Reagan's American Exceptionalism of the 1980s led to rampant consumerism. This tangent-heavy episode also includes discussions of:

• The passing of WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt;

• The escalating violence and hostility towards the Cop City protestors in Atlanta (R.I.P. Tortuguita);

• Craig's simultaneous re-read of Lord of the Rings while watching Rings of Power;

• Hal watched the theater re-release of Park Chan Wook's OLDBOY;

• Russell Crowe's dubious Italian accent in THE POPE'S EXORCIST; and

• Armond White ABSOLUTELY crushing it (while also saying dumb things).

Sources & Links

• Arrest of Cop City protestors: https://jacobin.com/2023/08/stop-cop-city-activists-prison-free-speech-police-brutality
• Pain & Gain: The True Story Behind the Movie: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/27/true-story-behind-pain-and-gain

In this episode, Hal and Craig welcome guest David Bax, of the long-running film podcast Battleship Pretension (www.battleshippretension.com), to discuss Agnès Varda's 1977 film exploring explicit and implicit themes of Marxist feminism. Discussions also include:

• Craig got sick and watched the TWISTED METAL show;
• The recent military coup in Niger;
• Frederick Engels' and the Marxist take on family and private property; and
• The passing of William Friedkin, cinema's most delightful crabass.

Source and Links:

Petition to put abortion access on the ballot in Florida:

• https://floridiansprotectingfreedom.com/petition/

Overview of the coup in Niger:

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66406137

Sanctions against Niger:

• https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/what-sanctions-have-been-imposed-niger-since-coup-2023-08-08/

• https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/31/nigers-planned-51-mln-bond-issuance-cancelled-due-to-sanctions

France's role in the Niger coup:

• https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2023/08/nigers-crisis-coup-the-west

We finish off our triptych of latter-year Clint Eastwood films with THE MULE about an old man who gets mixed up with the Cartel, but in a cool old man way. Discussion also includes:

• Prano Bailey-Bond's 2021 film CENSOR;
• Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Josie Riesman;
• The documentary TAKE CARE OF MAYA; and
• Again we discuss which of Clint Eastwood's children he dislikes the most (still Scott).

SOURCES & LINKS:

• The Cartels Do Not Exist by Oswoldo Zavala - https://www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/9780826504661/drug-cartels-do-not-exist/
• Interview with Oswoldo Zavala - https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/oswaldo-zavala-interview-mexico-cartels/
• Frequently cites 1999 UNESCO report "Drug Trafficking in Mexico: A First General Assessment" by sociologist Luis Astorgo: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000117644