We were in the mood for something FUN for a change so we watched the 2021 Korean space action-adventure flick, Space Sweepers. It’s got scavenger space trucks, a motley crew of likable misfits, a Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk-type on steroids, and a cute little girl who just might be a weapon of mass destruction. We, of course, love that the heroes are ordinary folk, and that at the center of all the adventuring is a strong ethic of care. Would recommend!

We’ve been on a run of excellent movies and Harlan County, U.S.A. is no exception. This 1976 documentary about a yearlong strike of coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky is riveting, powerful, and one of the best depictions of collective organizing we’ve seen. A must-watch for every person out there who has to work to survive (i.e., most of us) and time to must-watch. (Also, we say to heck w/the both-sides-ism of later labor docs like the Obama produced American Factory. To heck!)

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.

All we have to say is WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Actually, here’s a little more:

Bacurau is one of the best movies we’ve seen in years. This 2019 Brazilian film is strange, funny, dark, and galvanizing, and it’s impossible to adequately capture its brilliance with a few choice adjectives. At first blush, it’s the story of a small village in Brazil (set sometime in the near future) grappling with things like lack of access to water and a corrupt and annoyingly unhelpful mayor. Not a lot of surprises there. But about halfway through the movie, the story starts to swerve off the rails in a direction that we just did not see coming, and the ending is a first-rate lesson on crafting the perfect cinematic third act.
There are a lot of surprises that we completely spoil in our conversation, so if you have any intention of watching this movie, wait to listen to this episode until after you watch.

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you do your podcast business.

Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow is a Western like no other, an immigrant story like no other, and a moving, funny, tragic tale of friendship born out of the need to survive and some stolen milk. It was just the movie to watch as we huddled up in a snow-covered cabin and turned the calendar page to 2021. 

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

Write us?

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you do your podcast business.

We took a sharp left turn and watched John Carpenter‘s 1988 action/sci-fi flick, They Live. 
The movie’s IMDB description is all you really need by way of introduction:

“They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.”

And by “they,” we mean…media savvy aliens with fancy watches that look like Skeletor. It was a wild ride!!

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you do your podcast business.

What are other critics saying? “No offense, but They Live is probably the stupidest film ever to take ideology as its explicit subject. It’s also probably the most fun.” –Jonathan Lethem

Now, a GIF dump.

We were long overdue to watch a truly good movie, and Merawi Gerima‘s poetic, quietly moving Residue, about a young filmmaker who returns home to DC to write a script about his neighborhood after being away for years, is a truly good movie. It’s an ode to childhood, an elegy for a city, and the best examination of gentrification we’ve seen yet.

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you do your podcast business.

Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy, based on the 2016 memoir of the same name by J.D. Vance, is bullshit, and we take a little time to talk about why. 

Referenced:

 Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy edited by Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Of special note:Amy Adams and Glenn Close have been nominated 13 times for an Academy Award between them, but neither have won yet.

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you do your podcast business.

Do we think in Twitter? Can we truly opt out of social media? Have we become machines of our machines? The Social Dilemma has us tackling these questions and so much more. Boot up your brains for a big honking episode. PS – we both shut down our Facebook accounts!!!

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.

It’s Dirty Dancing. DIRTY DANCING. DIRTY DANCING!

Dirty.

Dancing.

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.

We dive deep into Craig Foster’s man-octopus love story/documentary My Octopus Teacher. Polysemousness! Anthropocentrist narrative arcs! The leftovers of transcendentalism! Learning from the animal other! Cool octopus pics!

Thanks to slfhlp for providing us some SICK BEATS for our intro and outro.

As always, send yr comments, questions, and movie suggestions to twoforspacejamplease @ gmail.com and subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.