River Cities Reader Podcast

River Cities Reader Podcast

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River Cities Reader Podcast episodes

  • March 27, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “Snow White,” “The Alto Knights,” “No Other Land,” and “Locked”

    Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra love to review movies and ruin each others’ days — in this instance, Dave telling Mike who the lead for the forthcoming Blumhouse Mummy reboot will be. That’s just cruel. . .

    • Snow White (dir Marc Webb, starr Rachel Zegler, Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia, Patrick Page, and Gal Gadot).
    • The Alto Knights (dir Barry Levinson, starr Robert De Niro multiplied by two, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, and Michael Rispoli).
    • The documentary No Other Land (dirs Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham,). And Rachel Szor
    • Locked (dir David Yarovesky, starr Bill Skarsgård, Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Cartwright, Michael Eklund, and Navid Charkhi).

      • Previews:

      • Death of a Unicorn (dir Alex Scharfman, starr Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Tea Leoni, and Richard E Grant).
      • A Working Man (dir David Ayer, starr Jason Statham, Michael Peña, and David Harbour).
      • The Woman in the Yard (dir Jaume Collet-Serra, starr Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Russell Hornsby, Peyton Jackson, and Estella Kahiha).

        • “Snow White,” “The Alto Knights,” and “No Other Land”

        “Locked”

        18 min
      • Iowa’s HF927 Geoengineering Bill’s Origin Story Feb 11.2025

        On February 11, 2025, more than 75 concerned citizens gathered in room 102 at the Iowa state capital for the House Environmental Protection Sub-Committee hearing regarding House File 191 (now HF927 see below) proposed legislation from Iowa District 87 (Van Buren County) State Representative Jeff Shipley. [As of March 24, 2025 the House bill has been renamed to HF

        The proposed bill opens with: “An Act relating to the intentional emission of air contaminants into the atmosphere.” The room was packed wall to wall with people of all ages, including mothers with their young infant children. These citizens were there to support Shipley’s bill to be passed out of this subcommittee onto the broader committee funnel to hopefully make it to the House floor for debate and passage. The effort had been broadly supported by ClearSkiesIowa.com founders who generated more than 1,700 petitions online and hand-signed from across Iowa. The subcommittee is made up of Republicans Sam Wengryn (District 42/Decatur County) and Craig Johnson (District 67/Buchanan County) and Democrat Ken Croken (District 97/Scott County). After listening patiently to more than a dozen citizens state their concerns and support for this effort to outlaw geoengineering, or aerial spraying of contaminants in Iowa, Croken was the only “No” vote to move the bill to the larger committee.

        For transcripts of speakers Shipley, McGreevy and Kroken, see the article:

        Uphold Your Oaths of Office and Protect Iowans’ Property Rights by Criminalizing Geoengineering

        [Publisher’s Note: This article linked above first appeared in the Reader’s March 2025 issue #1031 monthly print edition on March 6, 2025. That same day the full House Environmental Protection commitee voted to recommend to the House “Do Pass” with 11 yays and 5 nos, 1 excused.

        HF191 was subsequently retitled to HF927. On March 24, 2025, Representative Shipley stated in an email “Rep Wengryn and I just filed this amendment language to HF927. https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=H-1167. Basically we delete the language directing the environmental protection commission to adopt rules, and instead just declare the intentional emission to air contaminants a felony. We also added more language explicitly prohibiting the federal government. Lastly we call for a study committee for the DNR to figure out how they can detect substances associated with these practices and discuss cloud seeding impact on Iowa agriculture.” ]

         

        31 min
      • March 20, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “Black Bag,” “Novocaine,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie,” “Opus,” “Omni Loop,” and “The Electric State”

        Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra talk movies, of which there are many, and many of them risible, and probably not by intention:

        • Black Bag (dir Steven Soderbergh, starr Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan).
        • Novocaine (dirs Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, starr Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, and Matt Walsh).
        • The animated feature The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (dir Pete Browngardt, voice Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Fred Tatasciore, Laraine Newman, and Wayne Knight).
        • Opus (dir Mark Anthony Green, starr Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami, and Tatanka Means).
        • Omni Loop (dir Bernardo Britto, starr Mary-Louise Parker, Ayo Edebiri, Carlos Jacott, Harris Yulin, Hannah Pearl Utt, Chris Witaske, and Steven Maier).
        • The Electric State (dirs Anthony and Joe Russo, starr Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, and Stanley Tucci).

          • Previews:

          • Snow White (dir Marc Webb, starr Rachel Zegler, Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia, Patrick Page, and Gal Gadot).
          • Locked (dir David Yarovesky, starr Bill Skarsgård, Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Cartwright, Michael Eklund, and Navid Charkhi).
          • The Alto Knights (dir Barry Levinson, starr Robert De Niro multiplied by two, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, and Michael Rispoli).

            • “Black Bag,” “Novocaine,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie,” “Opus,” “Omni Loop,” and “The Electric State”

            19 min
          • March 13, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “Mickey 17,” “In the Lost Lands,” and “The Rule of Jenny Pen”

            Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra discuss the films Schulz reviewed as well as the celebrated ‘tunes of their youths — and some of their harder-to-explain-away plot developments:

            • Mickey 17 (dir Bong Joon-ho, starr Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo).
            • In the Lost Lands (dir Paul WS Anderson, starr Milla Jovovich, Dave Bautista, Arly Jover, Amara Okereke, and Deirdre Mullins).
            • The Rule of Jenny Pen (dir James Ashcroft, starr John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare, and Holly Shanahan).

              • Previews:

              • Novocaine (dirs Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, starr Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, and Matt Walsh).
              • Black Bag (dir Steven Soderbergh, starr Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan).
              • Opus (dir Mark Anthony Green, starr Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami, and Tatanka Means).
              • The animated feature The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (dir Pete Browngardt, voice Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Fred Tatasciore, Laraine Newman, and Wayne Knight).

                • “Mickey 17,” “In the Lost Lands,” and “The Rule of Jenny Pen”

                18 min
              • March 6, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “Last Breath” and “Riff Raff”

                Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra get into it over the latest batch of releases. For a moment, one saw the preview info for In the Lost Lands and thought the “Paul Anderson” director was “Paul Thomas Anderson,” not “Paul WS Anderson.” Appreciable difference there. . .

                • Last Breath (dir Alex Parkinson, starr Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis, Mark Bonnar, and MyAnna Buring).
                • Riff Raff (dir Dito Montiel, starr Jennifer Coolidge, Gabrielle Union, Pete Davidson, Ed Harris, and Bill Murray).

                  • Previews:

                  • Mickey 17 (dir Bong Joon-ho, starr Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo).
                  • In the Lost Lands (dir Paul WS Anderson, starr Milla Jovovich, Dave Bautista, Arly Jover, Amara Okereke, and Deirdre Mullins).
                  • The animated comedy-horror Night of the Zoopocalypse, dirs Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro, voice Gabbi Kosmidis, David Harbour, Scott Thompson, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Pierre Simpson, Heather Loreto, Kyle Derek, and Christina Nova).

                    • “Last Breath” and “Riff Raff”

                    10 min
                  • February 27, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “The Monkey” and “The Unbreakable Boy”

                    Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra discuss the latest films and the forthcoming Oscars. Dave predicts glamour, Darren expects a dour affair, and Mike carries an umbrella with him wherever he goes, because you can’t have your rainbows without the rain, y’know?

                    • The Monkey (dir Osgood Perkins, starr Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, and Elijah Wood).
                    • The Unbreakable Boy (dir Jon Gunn, starr Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell, Gavin Warren, and Patricia Heaton)

                      • Previews:

                      • Last Breath (dir Alex Parkinson, starr Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis, Mark Bonnar, and MyAnna Buring).
                      • Riff Raff (dir Dito Montiel, starr Jennifer Coolidge, Gabrielle Union, Pete Davidson, Ed Harris, and Bill Murray).

                        • “The Monkey” and “The Unbreakable Boy”

                        Predicting the 2025 Academy Award Winners

                        16 min
                      • February 20, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Paddington in Peru,” and the 2025 Oscar-Nominated Short Films — Animated and Live Action

                        Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra talk movies and wonder aloud about the wisdom of re-releasing The Comeback Trail (dir George Gallo, starr Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, Emile Hirsch, Eddie Griffin, Kate Katzman, and Blerim Destani) and showing it once a day at 9PM. Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?

                        • Captain America: Brave New World (dir Julius Onah, starr Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford).
                        • Paddington in Peru (dir Dougal Wilson, starr Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Carla Tous, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington).

                          • Then there are the fifteen short films, both animated and live-action, that have been nominated for Oscars — brace yourself:

                          • Yuck! (dir Loïc Espuch, feat the voices of Noé Chabbat, Katell Varvat, Enzo Desmedt, Camille Bouisson, Hugo Chauvel, Roman Freud, Mattias Marcussy, Mokhtar Camara, Olivia Chatain, and Théo Costa-Marini).
                          • Magic Candles (dir Daisuke Nishio, feat voices Yoshifumi Hasegawa, Hiroshi Iwasaki, Haruto Shima, Sakiko Uran, Ikkei Watanabe, Kazuhiro Yamaji, and Kiko Ôi).
                          • Beautiful Men (dir Nicolas Keppens, feat voice Peter Van den Begin, Peter de Graef, and Tom Dewispelaere).
                          • In the Shadow of the Cypress (dirs Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, starr Zahra Moosavi).
                          • Wander to Wonder (dir Nina Gantz, feat voice Neil Salvage, Toby Jones, Amanda Lawrence, and Terence Dunn).
                          • The Last Ranger (dir Cindy Lee, starr Avumile Qongqo, Liyabona Mroqoza, and David S Lee).
                          • Anuja (dir Adam J Graves, starr Sajda Pathan, Ananya Shanbhag, Nagesh Bhonsle, Gulshan Walia, Sushil Parwana, Sunita Bhadauria, Rudolfo Rajeev Hubert, Jugal Kishore, and Pankaj Gupta).
                          • A Lien (dirs David and Sam Cutler-Kreutz, starr William Martinez, Victoria Ratermanis, Koralyn Rivera, and Jennifer Bergum).
                          • I’m Not a Robot (dir Victoria Warmerdam, starr Ellen Parren, Henry van Loon, Thekla Reuten, Juliette van Ardenne, and Asma El Mouden).
                          • The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (dir Nebojša Slijepčević, starr Dragan Mićanović, Goran Bogdan, and Alexis Manenti).
                          • The documentary Instruments of a Beating Heart (dir Ema Ryan Yamazaki).
                          • The doc The Only Girl in the Orchestra (dir Molly O’Brien).
                          • The doc Death by Numbers (dir Kim A Snyder).
                          • The doc I Am Ready, Warden (dir Smriti Mundhra).
                          • The doc Incident (dir Bill Morrison).

                            • Previews:

                            • The Monkey (dir Osgood Perkins, starr Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, and Elijah Wood).
                            • The Unbreakable Boy (dir Jon Gunn, starr Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell, Gavin Warren, and Patricia Heaton)

                              • “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Paddington in Peru,” and the 2025 Oscar-Nominated Short Films — Animated and Live Action

                              16 min
                            • February 13, 2025, with Dave and Darren — “Heart Eyes,” “Love Hurts,” and “I’m Still Here”

                              Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra talk smack about movies, the best habit of them all:

                              • Heart Eyes (dir Josh Ruben, starr Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa, and Jordana Brewster).
                              • Love Hurts (dir Jonathan Eusebio, starr Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Marshawn Lynch, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Rhys Darby, André Eriksen, and Sean Astin).
                              • I’m Still Here (dir Walter Salles, starr Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, Selton Mello, Guilherme Silveira, Antonio Saboia, Valentina Herszage, Maria Manoella, Luiza Kosovski, Marjorie Estiano, Barbara Luz, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Cora Mora, and Olívia Torres).

                                • Previews:

                                • Captain America: Brave New World (dir Julius Onah, starr Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford).
                                • Paddington in Peru (dir Dougal Wilson, starr Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Carla Tous, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington).

                                  • “Heart Eyes,” “Love Hurts,” and “I’m Still Here”

                                  13 min

                                About River Cities Reader Podcast

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                                Live to tape interviews with Reader team members as guests on other broadcast, radio and podcast shows. Alive & Free Since 1993. The Quad Cities’ Independent Newspaper. Know More. Do More.