The Next Picture Show

The new GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS looks and acts a lot more like one of the other recent entries in Warner Bros’ “Monsterverse” than it does the classic creature features inspired by the original GODZILLA, but it also consciously echoes Ishiro Honda’s 1954 film in some key ways. After airing our grievances with the frustratingly incoherent KING OF THE MONSTERS, we dig into what links this newest film to its very different predecessor, from its city-flattening monster effects to its shaky attempts to inject human drama amid the kaiju destruction. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about any and all GODZILLAs and/or monsters, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show: 

• Scott: Kirill Serebrennikov’s LETO

• Tasha: Olivia Wilde’s BOOKSMART

• Keith: William Gibson’s ALIEN III (an Audible Original Drama)

Outro music: The Flaming Lips, “Godzilla Flick”

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The new CGI spectacle GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS further extends the longest running film franchise in history, but it’s a far cry (roar?) from the 1954 film that first set this fire-breathing, city-flattening phenomenon in motion. So this week we’re looking back at Ishiro Honda’s originating film to speculate how and why its central nuclear metaphor shifted over the decades, to discuss how the film and its effects—don’t call them dated or Keith will be sad!—benefit from Godzilla’s literal and figurative weight, and debate what, if anything, the central love triangle adds to this story. Plus, some feedback taking us to task for some things we overlooked in our recent discussions of THE WARRIORS and JOHN WICK 3.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about any and all GODZILLA movies, or anything else film-related, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Outro music: Kesha, “Godzilla”

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We return again to the deadly streets of the Big Apple at night to discuss Chad Stahelski’s latest entry in the JOHN WICK franchise, CHAPTER 3—PARABELLUM, and its place in the action pantheon alongside Walter Hill’s 1979 cult classic THE WARRIORS. After talking over our reactions to the latest JOHN WICK, and the series as a whole, we bring in THE WARRIORS to compare how these two films’ respective styles approach the streets of New York and action choreography, how they both embrace the trope of “honor among thieves,” and how their respective portrayals of masculinity play on the juxtaposition of vulnerability and indomitability. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE WARRIORS, JOHN WICK or anything else in the world of film by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

**Show Notes**

Your Next Picture Show:

• Keith: Stanley Kramer’s ON THE BEACH

• Scott: Sebastian Lelio’s GLORIA BELL

• Tasha: Marti Noxon’s TO THE BONE

Works Cited:

•”Horror Sequels Are The Exact Opposite of Horror” by Tasha Robinson (thedissolve.com)

• The Big Picture Podcast, “Making John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum With Chad Stahelski, and Watching It With Shea Serrano” (theringer.com)

Outro music: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, “Angry Mad”

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The latest chapter in the JOHN WICK saga, the new PARABELLUM, follows its assassin hero on a long perilous journey through hostile territory, a setup that brought to mind Walter Hill’s controversial hit turned cult classic THE WARRIORS. In this half of our pairing of violent journeys through the night, we examine Hill’s film in the context of the director’s late-’70s/early-’80s hot streak, to discuss how its rain-slicked streets and stylized version of New York gang culture came to typify a certain strain of ’80s action filmmaking, and debate whether its portrayals of masculinity and romance work in the context of Hill’s bare-bones approach to storytelling. Plus, the UNDER THE SILVER LAKE feedback keeps rolling in.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE WARRIORS, JOHN WICK 3, or anything else film-related by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Works Cited:

• Primer: Walter Hill, by Scott Tobias (avclub.com)

Outro music: Pop Will Eat Itself, “Can U Dig It?”

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It’s rare for a rom-com to situate itself firmly in the realm of contemporary American politics, which makes Jonathan Levin’s new Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen-starring LONG SHOT feel in many ways like a spiritual sequel to 1995’s THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, right down to both films’ exploration of moral compromise through a big environmental initiative. But LONG SHOT takes a distinctly different comedic approach to its material, which we dig into before bringing these two political romances together to talk about the role dignity, or lack thereof, plays in selling their respective fantasies, how they function as both a romance and a comedy, and how each pulls off its respective grand gesture. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, LONG SHOT, or anything else in the world of film by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show: 

• Tasha: Jason Reitman’s YOUNG ADULT

• Scott: James L. Brooks’ HOW DO YOU KNOW?

• Keith: Yimou Zhang’s SHADOW

• Genevieve: Andrew Rossi’s THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY

Outro Music: Boyz II Men, “Motownphilly”

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The new Charlize Theron/Seth Rogan rom-com LONG SHOT looks for comedy at the intersection of love and the highest tier of American politics, an unusual combination that positions it as a spiritual successor to an earlier, much more earnest portrayal of a similarly unlikely romance — that of Rob Reiner’s 1995 Aaron Sorkin-penned crowd-pleaser THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. In this half of our pairing of the two films, we look back at THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT to consider how its Clinton-era populism scans in today’s much different political atmosphere, how it functions as both a political film and a rom-com, and how it handles the extreme power differential at the core of its central romance. Plus, some feedback inspired by our recent episode on UNDER THE SILVER LAKE.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, LONG SHOT, or anything else film-related by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Outro music: Kylie Minogue, “Mr. President”

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David Robert Mitchell’s wandering, shaggy, endlessly referential UNDER THE SILVER LAKE isn’t nearly as tightly plotted as Roman Polanski’s CHINATOWN, one of its many cinematic reference points, but it’s just as stark and cynical about both human nature and its Los Angeles setting. In this half of our pairing of twisty, paranoid LA mysteries, we dig into whether UNDER THE SILVER LAKE is a movie that can be solved, or a movie that mocks attempts to solve it, before bringing in CHINATOWN to see how these two films approach conspiracies and paranoia, L.A. as a setting and symbol, and women and their would-be saviors. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about CHINATOWN, UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, or anything else in the world of film by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Your Next Picture Show: 

• Genevieve: Joe Cornish’s THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING

• Tasha: Julia Hart’s FAST COLOR

• Scott: Alex Ross Perry’s HER SMELL

Outro Music: R.E.M. “Strange Currencies”

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In David Robert Mitchell’s new UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, every clue leads deeper down a rabbit hole toward an endpoint that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the beginning point. In a film as referential as Mitchell’s, that structure seems purposefully lifted from Roman Polanski’s 1974 classic CHINATOWN, another sunlit noir about a private investigator who starts with a simple philandering case and winds up peeking into a secret battle for control of the city. In this half of our pairing of the two films, we dig into CHINATOWN’s legacy and how to reconcile it with the Polanski Problem, examine how its story and performances diverge from the noir tradition, and consider whether its twisty mystery ultimately lands in a satisfying place. Plus, some feedback inspired by our recent episodes on US and VELVET BUZZSAW.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about CHINATOWN, UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, or anything else film-related by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Outro music: Destroyer, “Chinatown”

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The new superhero movie SHAZAM owes such a debt to Penny Marshall’s weird and whimsical 1988 comedy BIG that it includes a giant piano as an homage, but the connections between these two wish-fulfillment fantasies go beyond their shared premises. After discussing how SHAZAM distinguishes itself from other superhero films, and what it might say about the future of the DCEU, we bring in BIG to see how these two films echo and refract each other in their ideas about what maturity looks like to kids, in their depictions of home and family, and in their use of toys as signifiers of childhood. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BIG, SHAZAM, or anything else in the world of film by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Your Next Picture Show: 

• Tasha: Wim Wenders’ WINGS OF DESIRE (via The Criterion Channel)

• Genevieve: Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek’s THE BREAKER UPPERERS

• Keith: Joseph H. Lewis’ MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (via The Criterion Channel’s ‘Columbia Noir’ Collection)

• Scott: Don Siegel’s THE LINEUP (via The Criterion Channel’s ‘Columbia Noir’ Collection)

Outro Music: Queen, “Don’t Stop Me Now”

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The new SHAZAM, about a 14-year-old kid granted the power of becoming a grown-up superhero, openly acknowledges the debt it owes to Penny Marshall’s 1988 breakthrough BIG, which made a potent comic fantasy out of what adolescents imagine adulthood to be. In this first half of our pairing of the two films, we wrestle with BIG's age-shifted central relationship and marvel over how stars Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins manage to find some real sweetness within an uncomfortable romantic scenario, which leads us to consider how the horrors lurking beneath the comedic premise reveal themselves with age, and whether the film works despite that. Plus, some feedback inspired by our recent episodes on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and US, and a response to some criticism of our recent string of superhero pairings.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BIG, SHAZAM, or anything else film-related by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Works Cited:

• ’Big’ Is Secretly a Horror Movie, by Shea Serrano (TheRinger.com)

• ‘Big’ Review, by Keith Phipps (TheDissolve.com)

• Robert De Niro and the origin of “The Face,” by Scott Tobias (TheDissolve.com)

Outro music: Nelly, “Country Grammar”

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