Screen Stuff Podcast

Paul and Elgin share their picks for

across all of screendom in the past 12 months.

The final edition of the annual screenies awards before we go on indefinite hiatus.

We bid you a bittersweet goodbye.

Thank you, all, for listening over the past five years!!!

We really appreciate your attention and time.

BlacKkKlansman.

Elgin and Paul review #BlacKkKlansman:

BlacKkKlansman, directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz, and starring John David Washington and Adam Driver. We share our takes on Lee’s latest joint–and they’re both against the critical consensus.

Crazy Rich Asians, with briefer takes on Mission: Impossible–Fallout, Howard’s End on Starz, Wild Wild Country, and How to Make It in America.

Paul and Elgin review #CrazyRichAsians:

Crazy Rich Asians (35:35), directed by Jon M. Chu from the screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the novel by Kevin Kwan, and starring Constance Wu, Michelle Yeoh, and Henry Golding. We give our takes on the first major motion picture with a nearly all Asian cast from a Hollywood studio since The Joy Luck Club (1993).

A Very English Scandal.

Paul and Elgin review A #VeryEnglishScandal:

A Very English Scandal on Amazon Prime (originally on the BBC), written by Russell T Davies, directed by Stephen Frears, and starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw. This three-part minseries tells the stories of Jeremy Thorpe (Grant), a Member of Parliament, and Norman Josiffe/Scott (Whishaw), a stable hand (and later a model). The former tried to have the latter killed in order to ensure their past relationship would remain out of the public eye. Thorpe was put on trial for conspiracy and incitement to murder, and while he was acquitted, his political career was ended. We talk about the two leads’ performances, the pacing of the three nearly hour-long episodes, and what the series says about gay life and British politics and society in the 1960s and ’70s.

Sharp Objects, plus some chit-chat on the 2018 Emmy nominations.

Paul and Elgin review #SharpObjects:

Sharp Objects on HBO, created by Marti Noxon and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, based on the novel by Gillian Flynn, and starring Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson. An eight-episode prestige drama (and Vallée’s follow-up to Big Little Lies), Sharp Objects tells the story of journalist Camille Preaker (Adams), who goes back to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the murders of two young girls. While back home, Camille must also deal with her haunted past, involving her mother, to whom she’s estranged. We focus on Vallée’s aesthetic choices (especially his editing) and Adams’s and Clarkson’s performances.

Sorry to Bother You, with briefer takes on Kim’s Convenience, Something in the Rain (밥 잘 사주는 예쁜 누나), First Reformed, and Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot

Paul and Elgin chat about #SorryToBotherYou:

Sorry to Bother You (36:00), written and directed by Boots Riley and starring Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, and Armie Hammer.  A hit at Sundance, Riley’s debut feature centers around Cassius “Cash” Green (Stanfield), a down-on-his-luck black telemarketer, who by donning an absurd white voice rises through the ranks to handle the accounts of a corporation owned by tech bro titan Steve Lift (Hammer). Set in Oakland, California, this film is packed with ideas about race, class, and the meaning of work in contemporary capitalist America, among many, many other topics. Does the story hold together despite (or maybe because of) the multitude of ideas it tries to juggle? And how about that ending?!

We also take a long, hard look at the performance of Steven Yeun (whom we both knew before he became famous) in this film, as well as Asian American acting more generally.