We've got a great episode for this holiday week, as Neal speaks to Stephen Garrett about The Menu, whose trailer kinda said it all. Then Chris Lites stops by to discuss something that's proven almost impossible -- successfully adapting William Gibson for the screen. Johnny Mnemonic was but one forgettable attempt. ‘The Peripheral' gets off to a promising start and might just cross the finish line as worthy visual companion to the rich and complex dystopias Gibson has created in print.

Finally Paula Shaffer joins Neal to ponder: why are sitcoms no longer funny? They discuss Reboot, the new one from Modern Family creator Steven Levitan, and Blockbuster. The former feels precious and unfunny and the latter is "a clueless, clumsy sitcom that can’t even muster nostalgia for itself, much less the golden age of video rental stores."

Then Rachel Llewellyn stops by to lighten the mood by talking to Neal about the ridiculous Chelsea Clinton cameo at the end of 'Derry Girls.' Rachel found it annoying, but in general she thought the third and final season of Derry Girls was stretching the joke a bit thin. But they could have been on top if only they hadn't given Chelsea Clinton the final scene.

Next our podcast welcomes the host of three other podcasts, Margo Donohue, the author of the new book 'Filmed In Brooklyn'. We liked her print interview with us so much that we invited her along to talk about Brooklyn movies again. Neal and Margo talk about 'The French Connection,' 'Saturday Night Fever,' 'Do the Right Thing', and 'Smoke,' alongside other Brooklyn films.

Finally it's Stephen Garrett time again. Stephen seemed to like 'Armageddon Time' from James Gray pretty well, though he and Neal nearly come to blows over whether or not Charlie Hunnam (who starts in another James Gray movie) is a good actor. He is not. But Armageddon Time is warm and heartfelt.

You can't say the same for 'Triangle of Sadness,' a vicious anti-capitalist satire that got a standing ovation and a Palme D'Or from all the rich socialists at the Cannes Film Festival. Neal and Stephen agree it's a film to be admired, not enjoyed. Stephen found the satire obvious. Neal liked the performances, especially Dolly DeLeon as a put-upon maid who takes her revenge.

As always, our podcast has range. Enjoy the show!

Halloween may be in the past, but vampire shows are still on TV. Scott Gold joins Neal Pollack to talk about Interview with the Vampire, a new adaptation of the classic Anne Rice novel. Scott admires the new setting in Jazz Age New Orleans, and finds the lead vampires dynamic and magnetic, but a bad casting decision of the orphan vampire Claudia brings the proceedings down a little.

Just as biting is the Showtime adaptation of the classic Swedish vampire movie Let The Right One In. The setting is now America, and the girl vampire’s caretaker is now her aging father. But the basic premise remains the same. Scott has good things to say about the show but is critical of some somewhat convenient plot choices.

In non-vampire news, it’s the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Neal and Daniel Cohen go deep into the weeds of the TOC, talk about why some players are favored over others, and discuss efficacy of using flash cards to study for trivia competitions. If you’re not ready, you’re not going to win. Also, Neal laments the fact that they never ask any questions about Park Chan-Wook on the show.

Enjoy our podcast, this week and every week!

Matthew Ehrlich checks in to discuss Season 2 of 'The White Lotus.' Matthew has lots of problems with this show, but he still finds himself tuning in eagerly on Sunday nights. Neal loves 'The White Lotus,' he thinks it's sexy and juicy and fabulous, qualities not always apparent in TV shows. And they both agree that Jennifer Coolidge is a comic masterpiece who must be protected at all costs.

Finally, Danny Gallagher visits the show to discuss 'Weird,' the Weird Al Yankovic biopic. What could be more appealing than listening to two Gen-X guys talk about why Weird Al is awesome and funny? Nothing, we say! We have the courage to like Weird Al here at BFG. Screw all the haters, of which there are none.

Enjoy the podcast!

We've got a great episode for this holiday week, as Neal speaks to Stephen Garrett about The Menu, whose trailer kinda said it all. Then Chris Lites stops by to discuss something that's proven almost impossible -- successfully adapting William Gibson for the screen. Johnny Mnemonic was but one forgettable attempt. ‘The Peripheral' gets off to a promising start and might just cross the finish line as worthy visual companion to the rich and complex dystopias Gibson has created in print.

Finally Paula Shaffer joins Neal to ponder: why are sitcoms no longer funny? They discuss Reboot, the new one from Modern Family creator Steven Levitan, and Blockbuster. The former feels precious and unfunny and the latter is "a clueless, clumsy sitcom that can’t even muster nostalgia for itself, much less the golden age of video rental stores."

Then Sara Stewart pops up to talk about 'She Said,' a new movie about the journalists who uncovered the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal. Sara says that the Weinstein affair affects more people than Watergate, the subject of 'All the President's Men." Neal disagrees with her there, but admits that #metoo scandals are certainly more contemporary and relevant. Then they struggle to remember that Charlize Theron played Megan Kelly in 'Bombshell.' Shame on these two Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critics!

Finally, Stephen Garrett appears because we say his name three times to talk about Steven Spielberg's autobiographical love letter to the cinema, 'The Fabelmans.' Stephen loved the movie's exploration of childhood trauma and neurosis, Neal found it all a little overlong and self-serving, but they both really liked the fantastic cameo at movie's end. Check it out, experience the wonder...of our podcast.

Paula Shaffer stops in to discuss 'Wednesday.' She says it looks great but is not "fun." It would seem that "fun" is important for a show set in the Addams Family universe, but producer Tim Burton decides to take that universe in the "dark fantasy" direction of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Riverdale. It's what the kids want, maybe.

We have entered the Harry and Meghan discourse, as Matthew Ehrlich discusses the first half of 'Harry & Meghan,' the Netflix documentary. Matthew doubts the "falling in love" narrative that the documentary presents. Neal is surprised to learn that, by the end of the documentary, Harry & Meghan aren't even married yet. Are they heroes? Villains? Are they winning just because we're talking about them on the podcast? Probably.

We do the same with a roundtable discussing the year's best and worst TV shows. JonPaul Guinn and Paula Shaffer join Neal to go over the disasters of "Mexican Week," House Hunters, 'She Hulk: Attorney At Law,' and various Star Wars shows. The usual suspects make our top lists, like The White Lotus, The Bear, Severance, Better Call Saul, and House of the Dragon, while JP chooses 'Our Flag Means Death' as an idiosyncratic choice, and Paula has nothing but good things to say about Upload on Amazon Prime. It's our usual idiosyncratic assortment, the kind that only BFG can bring. We will all be watching TV until we die, which may be soon. So watch more TV.

'Babylon', directed by Damien Chazelle, will also not get an Oscar nomination, but it has a chance to sweep the Razzies, thanks to over-the-top performances, insane scatology, and a manic stupidity and pretentiousness that just won't quit. Stephen seems to like the film more than Neal does, and he certainly knows more about the silent-film era of Hollywood, but no one can deny that the movie lacks humor, character development, or the courage to unfold a plot that makes any sort of sense. One of the great turkeys of all time, that's what we say!

Associate professor of Duttonology Adam Hirschfelder stops by the podcast bank to talk about '1923,' the latest prequel to 'Yellowstone that Taylor Sheridan has churned out of its factory. Not only does this show star Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, it also gives the most detailed account of life inside "Indian Boarding Schools" ever put to film. The great project of American history-telling is underway. And Hirschfelder is here for it, without having to convene a New York Times focus group. No one covers the Yellowstone universe like Adam. It is his entire life.

Happy New Year! Enjoy the program.

Later, JP pops back to talk about season 3 of 'Jack Ryan.' This is an odd show, he says, because there's no actual spy intrigue, and not a lot of fun chase scenes. It's just kind of boring, and no one will ever be as good a Jack Ryan as Alec Baldwin was in The Hunt For Red October. He and Neal find the Jack Ryan universe so unengaging that they actually end up talking about better pulp-fiction characters who have become TV heroes, like 'Reacher' and 'Bosch." And then they make fun of the CIA for a bit.

Pablo Gallaga had the fun job of reviewing 'M3GAN' for us, and he and Neal both really appreciate the spot-on satire of artificial intelligence, as well as the many memorable and meme-able creepy doll movements sprinkled throughout the Blumhouse pulp hit. Pablo's thesis is that horror movies have moved out of their brutal dissection-of-personal trauma phase, and have now just transitioned into bonkers fun.

Just like BFG itself. Enjoy the show!

Aubrey Plaza is just getting started with her legacy, and Neal welcomes Rachel Llewellyn to talk about Plaza's new indie film 'Emily the Criminal,' now streaming on Netflix. Neal loves the show's gritty crime-drama feel, which resembles breaking bad, and praises Plaza's nuanced performance, which carries the movie above the usual genre fare. Rachel also mentions Plaza's work in Black Bear, Neal talks about her in Ingrid Goes West, and it's probably pretty certain that The White Lotus comes up at some point. It's not as though Aubrey Plaza is some sort of hidden gem, she's quite famous at this point, but her cultural footprint will certainly only grow from here.

Rachel sticks around to talk about 'The Rig,' a new eco-sci-fi thriller series now airing on Amazon Prime. She praises the way the show tackles difficult issues with subtlety, and then occasionally it sounds like an extended Facebook thread argument about climate change. But creator David MacPherson grew up around Scottish oil workers, so he understands their politics and their point of view on the world much better than the average script writer would. A very tense ocean thriller that does not, according to Rachel, feature The Loch Ness Monster.

Low marks, however, for another HBO Max product, Mindy Kaling's obnoxious 'Velma,' a Scooby-Doo cartoon without Scooby-Doo. The show is relentlessly bitter, mean, unpleasant, and unfunny, a legendary disaster that everyone hates, including our critic, Paula Shaffer, a "contrarian" by nature who "really wanted to like it." The right hates it because it's too "woke," the left hates it because it's "turning people into Republicans," and we just hate it because it's not charming or funny.

Stephen Garrett makes his appearance to talk about the 'House Party' reboot. Stephen has seen the original 'House Party' a dozen times, and loves its charming innocence and depiction of a still-underdog hip-hop culture. For the reboot, he does enjoy Kid Cudi's wacky supporting role as himself, but the movie feels very corporate and cynical, much like LeBron James, the King, himself.

Then Stephen listens to Neal review 'A Man Called Otto,' a family-friendly or at least grandma-friendly two-tissue weeper about a grumpy old man who finds meaning late in life despite carrying around a massive duffel bag of disappointment and grief. Is there anything Tom Hanks can't do? A Man Called Otto isn't really 'good,' but people love it anyway, so we need to pay attention.

Enjoy the show!

BFG provides the most comprehensive coverage of Sundance anywhere. A roundtable for the ages.

Meanwhile, we welcome Susie Bright to the BFG podcast stage for the first time, to talk about Sarah Polley's "B+" film 'Women Talking,' a theatrical interpretation of a decade-old horrific sex-abuse scandal that occurred in a Bolivian Mennonite colony. Neal and Susie both admire the performances, and the excellent writing, but agree that the film sometimes drags a bit and hits the same conversational beats over and over again. Still, this is the kind of "quality" film, Susie says, that will finally bring perpetually terrified NPR listeners back to the movie theaters. Neal begins one of his rants about how movie theaters never should have been closed to begin with, but they get back to talking about the movie pretty quickly, so don't worry.

Finally, Paula Shaffer pops in to talk about the reboots of 'Night Court' and 'That 70s Show' currently on TV, even though 'That 70s Show' is actually 'That 90s Show' now. Neither show is particularly bad, though 'Night Court' exists in a weird kind of temporal limbo. Both Neal and Paula agree that 'That 90s Show' is a bit better and seems to know what it wants to do with itself. Regardless, old TV shows never die, and either does the BFG podcast.

Enjoy!

Meanwhile, Stephen has to listen to Neal rant about 'Knock at the Cabin,' which will win no Oscars, but will set new standards for depicting the Progressive apocalypse on film. Dave Bautista can act? Who knew?

The BFG podcast! Your one-stop shop for everything in entertainment. Please enjoy the show.

Rachel Llewellyn stops in to chat about 'Poker Face,' the Natasha Lyonne murder-mystery vehicle from creator Rian Johnson. Lyonne wanders about the Mountain West, encountering murder and mayhem. Some people are comparing this to 'Columbo,' some are not. Regardless, Rachel is totally hooked by this story of a woman who knows when you are lying.

Neal's pick of the week is 'Cunk on Earth," starring Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, the most blissfully clueless history-show host you'll even encounter. Most of this segment involves Neal telling his favorite jokes from the show, so let's not spoiler the spoilers. Just listen to the BFG podcast and be the best-informed pop-culture enthusiast in your pod.

Enjoy the show!

Then Stephen Garrett appears to ask Neal: What's the big deal about Ant-Man. Neal proceeds to give a complete nerdy history of Kang the Conqueror, and they both wonder why 'Quantumania' didn't include more Bill Murray. The new Ant-Man movie is a huge hit, despite the critics. Neal and Stephen don't really take a side. Like Thanos, Marvel movies are inevitable. They simply acknowledge that it's Ant-Man's world, and we're just living in it. Remember what it was to be a child while watching movies. That's what Marvel movies are like. And that's what the BFG podcast is like.

Enjoy the program!

At last, Cocaine Bear has arrived in theaters. Stephen Garrett and Neal acknowledge that it has some narrative flaws and characters that are thinner than the ozone layer. But at the same time, there is a bear who does cocaine, and rowdy, pulpy movies are back live. So even if Cocaine Bear isn't great, which it isn't, this is the world that Cocaine Bear made and it's more fun than the world was before Cocaine Bear.

But while Cocaine Bear is super-gory, it's not sexy, and that's because there's no longer sex in movies. In fact, kids online are calling for the return to the Hays Code, when movies were called Pillow Talk and could only vaguely imply that sex even existed. Why is this new Puritarianism happening? Neal talks to Jake Harris to figure it all out.

What a great show, enjoy!

Then it's time for a long dessert as Neal welcomes Rob Kutner and Paula Shaffer to listen to him rant endlessly about Mel Brooks's History of the World Part 2, now streaming on Hulu. It's very clear that History of the World Part 2 means more to Neal than it does to any human on Earth. So if you want to listen to an in-depth analysis of the joke construction that basically ends up with Judas peeing on Jesus's feet, you need to go no further. This show is the final word, as it is about everything.

Enjoy!

Also great, though much less serious, is Companion, a new Black Mirror-style robot sex thriller-comedy (yes, that's a genre now) from writer-director Drew Hancock. Neal welcomes Pablo Gallaga to the podcast for a chat about Companion, and neither of them can find much to criticize, though Neal, still a relative horror noob, seems to like it a bit more than Pablo. But neither of them have anything negative at all to say about Sophie Thatcher, the film's star, who gives a smashing, star-making performance as Iris, a thinking, murderous sex android with a heart of gold, or at least a heart.

No one knows what to think about Severance, now streaming in its second season on Apple+, other than that it's the most interesting show on TV right now. Scott Gold joins Neal on the podcast to talk about Ben Stiller's puzzlebox, to praise the cast, particularly Britt Lower and John Turturro, and to hope against hope that Severance doesn't go the way of Lost and that Stiller knows where he's going with this incredibly surreal, and funny, workplace comedy that is about way more than being a workplace comedy. Your innie will love it, and so will your outie. We will allow you both to listen to this episode.

First up, Neal and Stephen review 'Priscilla,' the excellent new film from director Sofia Coppola about the young woman who found herself trapped in a strange marriage to Elvis Presley. They both found it a little sleepy, but also quite affecting, and they both praise Jacob Elordi, who steals the show as The King even though the movie isn't really about him. Another excellent dissection of celebrity from Coppola, who knows her way around the topic.

Their next movie is The Killer, a gorgeously-crafted, pretentious bore from director David Fincher. Stephen found the story unrealistic and ridiculous. Neal hated the screenplay and the overbearingly pretentious narration. There are some great set pieces and meticulously crafted images, but nothing can save the movie's "scriptboner," as Neal calls it. A minor work from a director who seems to be descending a little bit into self-parody.

After that comes this year's Cannes-award-winning film Anatomy of a Fall. Stephen admires the subtlety and ambiguity of the murder-mystery script. Neal likes the child and dog performances. Neither of them think "she did it" but neither of them is exactly sure. It's the perfect art film for the NPR-tote-bag-loving person in your life, 'Gone Girl' for subscribers to The New Yorker. Our critics say go have a sophisticated night at the cinema.

Or watch Fair Play on Netflix. This nasty, wicked, fun erotic Wall Street thriller from Chloe Domont won raves at the festivals and is kind of sitting around on the back of the platform, not doing much. But it's an effective David Mamet-style morality play about sex and violence and hedge funds, and a perfect capper to a perfect episode.

Neal has fulfilled his Siskel and Ebert dreams! Give them a listen.

Neither Neal nor Stephen Garrett can get over a revelation that the main character in Alexander Payne's 'The Holdovers' "smells like fish." It's the most disgusting character detail in a movie in a long time. Both critics like the perforamances of Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa, but they found Paul Giamatti very grating, and the "realistic" 1970 setting of the movie too cute by half. A dissent from our two BFG professional critics!

On the other hand, both Neal and Omar Gallaga love Nate Bargatze and Taylor Tomlinson, who in recent weeks have risen to the top of the comedy world. Skirting the verge of "family-friendly," both these comics are white and are from Red-tinged political zones, but both deliver a brand of humor that people across the political spectrum can enjoy. Maybe this is the actual way forward for popular entertainment. We could do much worse and we couldn't do much better.

Enjoy the show!

'Napoleon' has finally arrived in theaters, and Stephen Garrett stops by to talk with Neal about the ultimate dad movie. They both really enjoyed the battles of Austerlitz and Waterloo and some of Joaquin Phoenix's campier lines. Stephen would like to see more of the charisma that made Bonaparte so beloved to the French people. Totally fair. But Neal will brook no criticism of Ridley Scott's Napoleon, the movie of the year if not even close to the best movie of the year.

'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,' the Hunger Games prequel, took both Neal and contributor Sara Stewart by surprise. They both enjoyed the gritty early days of Panem vibe, both appreciated the good-quality country-style music, and found the performances persuasive. There's a reason it's a hit, though the love story is unconvincing and the act 3 coda goes on a bit too long. Still very much worth watching, just as the show is very much worth listening to.

Enjoy!

JP Guinn appears on leave from his semester at Oxford to discuss 'Saltburn' with Neal. They both agree that this move is "very horny" and that it's fun to watch it in a theater with people who it makes uncomfortable. Neal thinks it's more than a bit of a Talented Mr. Ripley knock-off, while not as good as The Talented Mr. Ripley. JP says it's a huge leap forward for Emerald Fennell as a filmmaker. And they both love Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant. It's a real talking-piece of a film, which is why we're talking about it.

But we're really talking about Todd Haynes's 'May December', which Stephen Garrett and Neal give their highest recommendation. Neal reads it as a comedy, Stephen as a tragedy, but why not both? Regardless, it's "peak Todd Haynes," which is saying something in a career that has already had so many peaks. Both Stephen and Neal agree that this Netflix release about Hollywood exploiting people involved in childhood sex-abuse scandals is one of the year's best films.

Enjoy our show!

Stephen Garrett steps out of Neal's dreams to talk to him about 'Dream Scenario,' which Stephen found "delightful." Neal won't go so far as to proclaim the Nicolas Cage movie, made by a Danish director, a "delight," but it is original and funny and thought-provoking, kind of a modern take on 'Adaptation' or 'Being John Malkovich,' which clearly are part of its DNA.

Rachel Llewellyn parks her sleigh at the door to discuss with Neal the ironic millennial and Gen-Z appropriation of cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies, which have found a new audience with younger viewers who enjoy clowning on the clichés of the genre, though we suspect that they, too, want to meet a handsome amnesiac royal who is wearing a nice Christmas sweater in a small town. Who doesn't?

Ho ho ho, it's our podcast! Give us a listen.

There is no split, however, about 'Godzilla Minus One,' which Neal proclaims one of the year's best pictures. Our critic London Faust isn't quite as enthusiastic, but does appreciate how GMO manages to create some human-scale characters worth caring about, even while it does deploy a somewhat hammy Japanese acting style. Neal appreciated the historical depth of the screenplay and frankly found Godzilla himself quite terrifying. You must see this film.

'The Boy and the Heron', on the other hand, is only for Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli complete list. Critic Pablo Gallaga and Neal both admire the movie's beauty and off-kilter character design, but agree the world-building and the story just aren't up to the usual snuff. This film feels more serious and message-y than Miyazaki's previous animes, and it suffers from the old master trying to teach us a lesson.

But we're not trying to teach you a lesson at BFG, we're just trying to present the best pop-culture podcast on Earth. And we succeed, every week. Enjoy the show!

Neal also spends many minutes talking to film critic Stephen Garrett about 'Poor Things,' a surrealist horror sex comedy that's in theaters now, just begging for Oscar nominations. Neal and Stephen admired Emma Stone's fully committed performance, and the movie's odd syntax and sex design, but both found its extended scenes in a French brothel to be kind of gratuitous and weirdly exploitative. Your mileage may vary. That's why God made critics and Book and Film Globe.

Happy New Year!

First up, darling, Steven Garrett joins host Neal Pollack to discuss 'Maestro,' Bradley Cooper's love letter to Leonard Bernstein. Steven liked this picture more than Neal did, admiring the over-the-top passion that Cooper brings to his larger-than-life subject. Neal found the movie pretentious and Oscar-baitey. But they both liked the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Snoopy balloon cameo.

Steven Macaulay, no relation, pops in next to school Neal on a little automotive history. Neal liked 'Ferrari,' he found the racing scenes exciting and admired Penelope Cruz's performance as Enzo Ferrari's wife, Laura. And, as it turns out, the history that the movie depicts is pretty accurate. A stylish Michael Mann outing, a must for any car buff, a maybe not for any car non-buff.

Stephen Garrett returns to the ring to discuss 'The Iron Claw', Sean Durkin's wrestling tragedy about the battling Von Erich family of Denton, Texas, one of the most headline-grabbing wrestling acts of the 1980s. Stephen found the whole wrestling milieu a little ridiculous, but Neal admired the passion that Durkin brought the subject, and also the "secret weapon" of Jeremy Allen White, in his first major motion picture role. "It could have been directed by Richard Linklater," Neal says, delivering a high compliment almost as powerful as the Iron Claw itself.

Plenty of pictures to watch and to discuss. Enjoy the show!

Reacher is no longer a dark horse. JP Guinn steps in as a naysayer on Season 2 of the popular Amazon show, saying it lacks the snap and wit of the first season, features boring supporting characters, and has a questionable morality despite the fun side entertainment of watching Reacher mess up cars in creative ways. Something about the season makes JP feel uncomfortable, and JP is not a squeamish person. Regardless, BFG is your one-stop shop for all things Reacher.

Neal likens the Canadian show Letterkenny to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but Robert Dean says, at its heart, Letterkenny is all about people who take care of one another even if they don't like each other, whereas It's Always Sunny is about total scumbags. But they are both long-running sitcoms that kind of came out of nowhere. Letterkenny emerged from a failed actor's YouTube show with his buddies. It's a beer-league hockey underdog success story. "It makes you interested in hockey," Robert says. That's an accomplishment. Letterkenny, now available to watch forever on Hulu.

Enjoy the show, it is good!

Kristin Clifford shows up to discuss the somewhat less discussable 'Mean Girls' musical adaptation, which both she and Neal agree is fine but kind of a weak cash grab. It can't compare to the original 'Mean Girls' in terms of star power, and the songs, which are OK, take time away from some of the original movie's best jokes, and even end up kicking certain characters to the curb. It's kind of like a pretty good community theater production of 'Mean Girls,' fine if you like that sort of thing. We didn't, really.

Neal is a mega-nerd, and so is Paula Shaffer, so their discussion of the 60th anniversary special episodes of 'Doctor Who' reach nerdy podcast heights. They both feel relief to have Russell T. Davies back in the showrunner chair instead of Chris Chibnall, are thrilled to see the brief return of David Tennant, and both have high hopes for the charming Ncuti Gatwa in the TARDIS for a few seasons. It's not the nerd-hip thrill of 1976 or 2007, the peaks of Doctor Who in popular culture, but the show has successfully regenerated for Gen Z, and we're here for it.

And we're definitely here for you. Enjoy the show!

Scott Gold appears to talk about 'Echo,' the new Disney+ Marvel show that is part street-level violence, part warm-and-fuzzy Disney lady-powers show. Both he and Neal love Vincent D'Onofrio as the Kingpin, amazing as always, and have good things to say about the supporting cast. But they both agree that the lead actor, Alaqua Cox, could be a little better, the tone a little more consistent, and the ending action sequence a little sharper. Echo pays nice tribute to the Choctaw culture of Oklahoma, but as a superhero show, it's a little schizo.

Robert Dean stops in to lambaste the new George Carlin AI special now available on YouTube. Neal plays devil's advocate, or maybe just the devil, and says he doesn't think that the AI is a bad imitation of George Carlin, and actually discusses contemporary topics in a relevant way. Robert wants nothing to do with AI, except for maybe to help him check his grammar, and says it's "destroying the middle class." Hard to argue with him. Support your local standups, and enjoy our podcast.

Stephen Garrett is back from Sundance, and is feeling extremely inconvenienced! He had to wait for buses, sometimes for 20 minutes, to take him to his next movie. How inconvenient! He recommends films like 'A Real Pain,' directed by Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, and 'Love Lies Bleeding,' a "lez-ploitation" bodybuilding and crime movie from director Rose Glass. Sounds good, as do documentaries about Devo and Brian Eno.

Rachel Llewellyn stops by the Blue Zone to talk about the Netflix docuseries 'You Are What You Eat,' which she slams as an advertisement for the processed vegan-food industry. A hot take from the BFG Dietary Institute. Neal recommends a diet comprised of 80 percent movie-theater popcorn. It works for him!

Enjoy the show.

First, Michael Washburn does not love the way SAG-AFTRA is trying to run cover for Alec Baldwin in the shooting case on the set of the movie 'Rust.' New Mexico brought new charges against Baldwin last week, and Michael breaks down the nature of the charges and the nature of how the Hollywood elite is trying to protect one of its own in one of the most tragic on-set disasters in Hollywood history.

Matthew Ehrlich does love, or at least likes, the new 'True Detective' series 'Night Country,' but host Neal Pollack pretty much disagrees with him, as does the rest of the Internet. But Matthew has found himself drawn in by Jodie Foster's performance and by the puzzlebox nature of the show. He's on Reddit discussing Easter eggs with fellow obsessives, and maybe you will be too after listening to his take on the show.

No one is on Reddit discussing 'Argylle,' least of all Stephen Garrett, who just despised the Matthew Vaughn action-spy comedy, which he found "exhausting," and he has no interest in spending any more time with that "damn expressionless cat in a backpack." Don't worry, Stephen, the cultural drought of January and early February is almost over. Movies and TV will get good again soon, and we'll be here soon enough to talk about things we love.

Hope you love our show!

But that's not all! We also talk about the amazing Netflix narco crime drama 'Griselda.' First-time guest Jenny Parrott joins Neal to praise Sofia Vergara's amazing performance, her amazing jewelry and lipstick, and all the amazing narco gun-battle action on the cruel streets of 1970s Miami. It's a top-notch drug melodrama with more than faint echoes of 'Scarface, and it gets the BFG podcast's highest signal of approval.

Enjoy the program!

On a more positive note, JP Quinn drops by to talk to Neal about 'Mr. And Mrs. Smith,' which Donald Glover produced and stars in along with Maya Erskine. This is a long way off from the Brangelina action movie of the aughts, yet it still has glamorous locations and exciting action. It's sexy but also deeply ironic, able to embrace the spy genre while also deconstruction yet. Donald Glover is the smartest person in the room as usual.

Jon Stewart is also the smartest person in the room and he is back with new Monday episodes of The Daily Show. Jake Harris shows up to discuss with Neal the backlast to Stewart's first monologue, which was absurd, and also about how it's a huge relief to have Stewart back in the TDS chair and to see that he has not lost a step, even as he implores you to look deep into his eyes to see how much he's aged.

Enjoy the show!

Ryan Murphy is back doing Ryan Murphy things in 'Feud: Capote Versus the Swans,' and Neal and Matthew Ehrlich break it down. Matthew's main criticism is that Capote had plenty of feuds in his life, but his feud with the swans was really more like an excommunication. They examine the various actors doing their various swan schticks, and while Matthew thinks that Tom Hollander does a pitch-perfect Capote impression, he finds this version of Truman quite creepy and not at all magnetic and compelling.

Kingsley Ben-Adir's Bob Marley is the opposite of creepy. Adam Hirschfelder returns to the show to discuss Bob Marley: One Love, which he likens to the posters for Bob Marley's Legend greatest hits album that adorned the walls of many white people in college dorms in the 1980s and 1990s. The film, which Marley's estate made in full consultation with the director, is a continuation of Marley's hagiography. Adam wanted more explanation and information, Neal wanted either more or less religion, but audiences seem not to care, as the music is a huge hit, because Marley's music is eternal.

Enjoy the podcast!

Bonus: Neal complains at great length about the eating habits of the woman who sat next to him at the Alamo Drafthouse during his screening!

Finally this week, Michael Washburn enters the podcast dome to school Neal on the historical realities behind the excellent FX miniseries remake of Shōgun, currently running. The series, to its credit, doesn't shy away from some of the more ethnocentric aspects of feudal Japanese culture, and paints both its Asian and Western protagonists as complicated and flawed. For straightforward historical drama, you don't get much better than this. It's an epic saga of the world on the brink of modernity, and it's well worth your hours.

Enjoy the podcast!

We do not, however, love to watch 'Spaceman' starring Adam Sandler. Omar Gallaga reviewed Spaceman for us and just does not buy Adam Sandler as a sad Czech astronaut in an alternative 1980s. Dan Friedman actually read the book upon which Spaceman is based, and he says the movie doesn't even come close to approximating the book's satire of post-Cold War Czech identity. Dan also had trouble with the Carey Mulligan wife character, who's stuck back on Earth with nothing to do. They both kind of liked the odd imaginary space spider, voiced by Paul Dano, but this movie is a big miss overall.

Not missing is 'The Tourist,' whose second season is on Netflix right now. Jenny Parrott joins Neal to talk about The Tourist, a show that she likes and that our dad likes. It's a deep dive into identity and consciousness, and also a great adventure show and a surprisingly moving romance. Neal senses comic elements of the Coen Brothers in The Tourist, and he thanks Jenny for bringing this fun show to our attention.

And we hope you enjoy this podcast as well!

We will also continue to cover lesbian road-trip crime movies if they make any more, which they probably won't. Regardless, Stephen Garrett is here so he and Neal can be two straight guys talking about lesbian road-trip crime movies. Stephen makes the interesting point that 'Love Lies Bleeding' and 'Drive Away Dolls' both take place in the past, because only in the past would gay female relationships be an issue that would create any kind of dramatic tension. They both praise Katy O'Brien's magnetic performance in Love Lies Bleeding, and Neal liked the ironic ending, but Stephen found the movie too self-satisfied and didn't really admire the empty artistic flourishes.

'Drive Away Dolls' from Ethan Coen, on the other hand, is the kind of embarrassing lesbian movie "grandpa" would make, Stephen says, though, like Neal, he found the central relationship sweet and Margaret Qualley's lead performance really compelling. Both these movies suffer from script problems and relevance problems, though they're relevant enough for us to talk about.

Enjoy our show, which is always relevant!

'Top Chef' has managed to reboot itself without its host Padma Lakshmi, replacing her with former champion Kristin Kish. Rachel Llewellyn joins Neal and they basically have nothing but nice things to say about Kish's vibe on the show, about the production quality, and about the quality of the cooking, the competition, and of its narrative abilities. In a food-media world oversaturated with cooking competitions, Top Chef remains state of the art, and we're glad to have it back.

Magically, Stephen Garrett returns to the podcast to wax enthusiastically about the reboot of 'Road House.' Neal points out that the movie basically has no plot and no real character development, but Stephen doesn't seem to think those things are necessary in a movie. He argues that we should accept Road House on its own terms and just let the dumb wide-angle action carry us along. They agree to disagree, then bash each other over the head with a chair.

Enjoy the show!

Not as good or as fun is '3 Body Problem' on Netflix, which guest William Schwartz describes as being about how great scientists are but not really actually caring about what science does. That sums up a big problem in our culture, and in the show, which is about a super-team of super-scientists who get together to be attractive and stop a global threat, but does not even begin to approach the philosophical depth of the Chinese novel series on which it's based. We consider this a shallow disappointment over at BFG.

We talk about food on the podcast, as we often do. Robert Dean stops by to praise and also make fun of 'Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions,' which both he and Neal find entertaining, but they also find themselves wondering: What are we doing here? Why are we watching this? No one actually has the skill to cook like this in real life? Why is cooking now a sport, and not a daily activity for nourishment? And what's with all the nicknames?

We ask the important questions on the BFG podcast. Thanks for listening.

Rachel Llewellyn appears to talk with Neal about 'Ripley,' the new eight-hour black-and-white adaptation of 'The Talented Mr. Ripley,' now airing on Netflix. Neal finds the new 'Ripley' way too self-consciously literary. A lot of people have been asking Neal if he's been watching Ripley, and he has been watching Ripley. Though he finds the black-and-white cinematography quite gorgeous, and has no issues with Andrew Scott's performance as Ripley, this "Ripleyist Ripley" ever made might be a little too much. It's a TV show for people who still subscribe to the New York Review of Books. Our memories of the 1990s 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' loom large. The new one looks gorgeous, but lacks glamour.

'X-Men '97' also likes glamour, but it's not supposed to be glamorous. It's supposed to bring back a classic 1990s Marvel Saturday morning cartoon. Scott Gold joins Neal to wax geekily about this fantastic reboot of a very influential show. The new X-Men cartoon is so true to the old X-Men cartoon that it feels like a direct continuation. But in a lot of ways, it's better, telling classic comic-book stories in a way that old cartoons just simply couldn't. If you like weird comics lore, this is the show of the year.

And this is the podcast of the year! Enjoy.

Stephen Garrett and Neal reunited on a couch to talk about Alex Garland's 'Civil War.' Neal appreciated the aesthetics of the movie but despised its politics. Stephen didn't mind the politics but didn't really think the story works. Neal says the movie is an absolute projection of liberal neurosis about the possible re-election of Donald Trump. Neal likens it to 'Red Dawn,' which Stephen thinks is vaguely ridiculous, but the comparison is apt. What kind of American are you? Hopefully not the kind of American who thinks 'Civil War' is a documentary. Does this movie imagine what a Civil War would be like in modern America? Sure. But it's still a paranoid fantasy.

On the opposite end of the cultural spectrum is the fun and funny Girls 5Eva. we suppose your mileage may vary on this Tina Fey comedy about an aging 90s girl group. Contributor Matthew Ehrlich journeyed from New York City to the Jersey Shore to have a delightful conversation with Neal about the Tina Fey comedy factor, the fabulous Renée Elise Goldsberry, and who sings the Fuck the Police parody, "Ducks Are Mean Geese."

Thanks to Stephen and Matthew for making the trip, and thanks for Sea of Reeds Media for operating such amazing bookstores. This will not be our last live recording ever. Thanks for listening at all times, and in all formats!

Pollack also reviews 'Knife,' the new memoir from Salman Rushdie about his near-fatal stabbing at the hands of an ignorant jihadist. While Pollack admires Rushdie's description of the attack and the resulting medical trauma, and has much respect for him as an outspoken defender of free speech, he also thinks Rushdie isn't hard enough on his fellow PEN America members, who are a real menace to the values that Rushdie supposedly stands for and holds so dear. Maybe you're seeing a theme to this week's show.

But for dessert, Stephen Garrett joins Neal on the podcast to discuss 'Challengers,' the new tennis melodrama from director Luca Guadagnino. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor burn up the screen as a racket-based love triangle. Neal and Stephen both love the script, the performances, and the general adult-drama vibe of the picture. Neal, as always, has trouble with the non-linear narrative structure. Stephen got a little tired of the aggressive musical cues. But you can forgive Challengers its little sins, because overall, the movie is a lot of fun, and allows us to forget for a while that contemporary "writers" hate freedom of speech and sound like a bunch of Maoist propagandists.

Enjoy the tennis movie! Enjoy our show!

Now, onto this week's podcast fare. Stephen Garrett is here as always, first to talk to Neal about 'The Fall Guy,' which Stephen found fun and charming. He bought into the popcorn-movie vibes entirely. Neal is a grouchy old man and hated the screenplay and didn't actually think Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling had good chemistry. Too much cutesy-pie insider Hollywood baseball, not enough stunt mechanisms. Stephen thought the whole thing worked pretty well.

Neither Neal nor Stephen liked 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.' Where are the cool ape houses and the groovy leather jackets? Whither Dr. Zaius? Why is the story taking so long to develop? Why does May's skin look like she just visited Sephora? What the hell is William H. Macy doing there? So many questions, and this movie is so dumb.

Not particularly dumb is 'Sugar,' on Apple+ TV. Chris Farnsworth joins Neal to discuss the Colin Farrell detective series that actually looks like it's a stealth Martian Manhunter series. Neal and Chris are apparently both huge nerds, and they buy into the detective series-ness of it all and definitely are buying into the John Sugar Is An Alien twist. That definitely gives the series a little something extra, makes it iconic, even.

At this point, we're determined to get to episode 200. Why not 300? Why not indeed? There will still be books and films and streaming TV in three years. That's our prediction. Enjoy the show!

First up, Omar Gallaga joins Neal to talk about 'Nuclear War: A Scenario,' a book by Annie Jacobsen that scared the hell out of him, and will scare you, too. Jacobsen posits what would happen if a "Mad King," like, say, the one currently in North Korea, decided to test the limits of their nuclear arsenal. The answer: nothing good. There will be no hope. The only positive takeaway, Omar says, is that the Earth will regenerate without us. So let's all get on with our days, shall we?

We could, for instance, watch 'Fallout' on Amazon Prime, which is based on a post-nuclear apocalypse video game and is a lot more fun to watch than the war-room scenarios depicted in Jacobsen's book. Omar was totally hooked on the show, which BFG recommends highly.

As for Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis,' which debuted this week at Cannes, well, god bless him, Stephen Garrett says. The 40-year-old script is the equivalent, he says, of a pool shot that rips the fabric of the table and sends the ball flying into the wall. But it's also big and fun in a campy sort of way. Megalopolis is Coppola's moonshot, and at a press conference in Canness (which Stephen attended), he said he'll still be making movies in 20 years, which would make him 105 years old. Sure, why not? Go for it!

Other highlights of Cannes include a new movie from 'Poor Things' director Yorgos Lanthimos, and a bunch of other stuff that sounds very depressing. Stephen will be spending the week seeing many more movies and drinking lukewarm rosé at beach parties. This is how he suffers for his art.

Enjoy the show!

Stephen Garrett is back from Cannes to review 'Furiosa' with host Neal Pollack. He calls it "one of the great prequels ever made," and Neal can't really disagree. Yet there's an element of surprise missing from this 'Fury Road' origin story that has left it somewhat high and dry with audiences. Chris Hemsworth really chews the scenery, Anya Taylor-Joy does a lot of grunting, and there are plenty of exploding glider attacks on truck convoys if you like that sort of thing. We do!

Gillian Gear returns to the show to talk with Neal about 'Back to Black,' the Amy Winehouse biopic. Gillian was bored by the movie. Neal said it pales in comparison with any Amy Winehouse documentary from a decade ago. It's a minor film trying and mostly failing to capitalize on the massive success of Bohemian Rhapsody from a few years back. The music isn't as central to Back in Black as it should be. Though Neal liked the two leads, Gillian was too bored to really care about them. This movie should go to rehab, HEYO.

Saving the best movie for last, Omar Gallaga stops in to talk to fellow Austinite Pollack about 'Hit Man,' the years most Austin movie even though it takes place in New Orleans. Richard Linklater directs a script by himself and the movie's star Glen Powell, adapted from a Texas Monthly article. Powell and Adria Arjona steam up the screen in the hottest comedy crime-romance since Clooney and Lopez hooked up in Out of Sight, and that was a long time ago. It's a small-screen Netflix project in a lot of ways, but it still warrants a big-screen viewing if that's available to you. Highly recommended by us at BFG.

Enjoy the show!

But the studios have only themselves to blame, Rushfield says. You can't blame the strikes. "It's like saying, I had to do my homework but went to the beach instead, so of course I didn't do my homework. What do you expect?"

Later, Rushfield has praise for Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin and for 'Masters of Air,' and says that he is hate-watching Season 3 of 'Hacks,' though he does like Jean Smart essentially playing Joan Rivers. He finds the rest of the show "amateurish." His aesthetic judgment is golden. Neal also forces Rushfield to talk about 'For All Mankind' on Apple+, which hasn't aired new episodes since January but which Neal has been bingeing much to the chagrin of his wife. Rushfield considers For All Mankind one of the top 5 shows of the streaming era, and Pollack agrees.

Two grumpy old Jewish dads discussing the entertainment industry. It's why podcasts exist! Check it out.

First up, Scott and fellow Star Wars nerd, author and TV writer Rob Kutner discuss whether the latest Disney+ series to tap into a galaxy far, far away, The Acolyte, gets far enough away from the Skywalker saga to make things interesting again. Does switching the tone and theme to something darker and more mystery focused shed fresh light on what makes Jedi the way they are? And it it all enough to make casual fans as excited about this show as we all were when The Mandalorian exceeded expectations?

Next, film critic Stephen Garrett gets in our heads with a discussion of Pixar's much-anticipated sequel Inside Out 2, which continues the story of Riley Andersen as puberty brings a whole new set of personified emotions including Anxiety and Ennui. How does it measure up the the beloved original? Did you happen to catch that Bing Bong Easter Egg?

Last but not least, Sharyn Vane explores Netflix's wildly popular true-crime story Dancing for the Devil, a three-part docudrama about the 7M TikTok cult. Sharyn talks about the internet rabbit hole she fell down getting to know these personalities long before Netflix came to the party with its own twisty take on the church that was producing popular dance content.

Enjoy the show!

Neal came home from Las Vegas and immediately started mainlining as much TV as possible. The first priority was a new season of House of the Dragon, now airing on Max. Omar Gallaga, the world's greatest House of the Dragon recapper, joins Neal to talk about season 2. Neal loves HOD, he finds it reminiscent of the early seasons of Game of Thrones, when we were all much younger and the world was a happier, more innocent place. Omar is entertained, in the classical sense, but he also sees HOD as more of a faux-Shakespearian history and less of a faux-Shakespearian tragedy. It's based on a fake history book by George RR Martin, as opposed to GOT, which was a novel adaptation, so Omar regrets that the characters don't have the rich interior lives they need to make this show great. Neal just wants dragon fights.

William Schwartz joins Neal to talk about the new season of The Boys. They parse the "controversy" surrounding the show. The right-wing expresses outrage that The Boys satirizes the right wing, which it always has. But stupid liberals also come under the microscope. As do corporate diversity programs. The Boys takes the piss out of our superhero-saturated culture like no other cultural property ever could, and any critique of it is essentially invalid. Season 4 is just as wild and gross and outrageous as ever, and Neal and William both love it.

Meanwhile, at the movies, The Bikeriders has opened Stephen Garrett saw this film a year ago and barely remembers it, but Neal saw it last week and found it surprisingly effective. Jodie Comer is as Midwestern as a British woman has ever been, and Tom Hardy and Austin Butler give filthy greaser biker-guy star turns. As Neal said in his review, The Bikeriders is a 1960s Village Voice article, but in movie form, and it's one of the entertainment year's most pleasant surprises.

Enjoy our show!

Greg Ford doesn't like The Bear at all. He tried, oh he tried. Neal also really wanted to like The Bear, but in Season 3, the show is clearly high on its own supply, over-enamored with its own artistry and gorging on self-importance. We are not alone in taking on The Bear here. Critical opinion has flipped quickly. Our beloved new TV restaurant changed its menu, and people don't like what it's serving. Neal and Greg certainly do not.

But Neal and Stephen DO like Kinds of Kindness, the new film from Yorgos Lanthimos, starring a "fearless" and occasionally naked Emma Stone. Neal likens the film to a short-fiction anthology, sort of a sexy Kafka set in Louisiana, with sex cults. It's kind of a great film, Neal and Stephen agree. Willem Dafoe also gets naked.

Enjoy the podcast!

First up, special guest Kat Rosenfield, a columnist for the Free Press, appears to talk about her recent column on last week's ridiculous online tumult that went down after a millennial on X discovered an old Rowling interview where Rowling called Vladimir Nabokov a "love story." That's about as stupid as it sounds, but Kat and host Neal Pollack pick it apart quite intelligently. The conversation is a riff on Rosenfield's take: "People, in their fervor for recreational hatred, are rendering themselves functionally illiterate." Amen to that.

Stephen Garrett shows up on the podcast like he does nearly every week. This time, he and Neal discuss 'MaXXine,' the "thesis" movie from director Ti West, if a thesis movie can be an artsy riff on 1980s direct-to-video horror movies and also the sleaziness of the 1980s porn industry. Needless to say, this is not a family film. Stephen thinks it's a little cold, studied, and pretentious, but there's no denying that MaXXXine is true to its pulp sensibility, and it really captures a certain kind of 1980s vibe. Highly recommended, or not, depending on your sensibility.

Eddie Murphy is back, not on the podcast, but in 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'. Resident Beverly Hills Cop JP Guinn joins Neal to sass-talk the ultimate cinematic sass-talker. JP places this new Netflix number somewhere between Beverly Hills Cop 2 and the disastrous Beverly Hills Cop 3 on the Axel Foley timeline. There's not much good to say here, though "Neutron Dance" remains a fun song for a dumb action sequence, even if that action sequence involves a snowplow destroying downtown Detroit. "What are we really being nostalgic for here?" Neal asks. Good question.

From high to low, we cover it all on BFG. Enjoy the show!

First, we travel north of the border, where Canadian literary society is in crisis after the Nobel Prize-winning writer Alice Munro finds herself posthumously embroiled in a terrible scandal. She essentially attempted to cover up the alleged sexual abuse of her own daughter. Host Neal Pollack and contributor Michael Washburn in no way condone Munro's actions, but they wonder why the literary world is so quick to pass judgment on someone who, when she died a couple of months ago, they hailed as the greatest short-story writer of all time. What are we actually doing here? The BFG podcast wants us all to slow our roll.

Stephen Garrett stops by to talk to Neal about the lousy space-race comedy 'Fly Me To The Moon,' though he balks when Neal refers to co-star Channing Tatum as a "himbo." It is highly unlikely that the government would have been able to set up a fake moon landing in an empty hangar on the site of the Apollo 11 launch. Neal spends a lot of time pointing out the outfits of Scarlett Johansson and her assistant, which is a real problem when you're talking about a movie about the moon landing. What a turkey.

However, we do recommend 'Longlegs,' or at least Pablo Gallaga does. Neal gets scared easily at movies, and Pablo tells him that Longlegs is, in fact scary. But it's scary in the way that 'Zodiac' is scary. Neal does not find Zodiac scary. Look, who knows, this is a horror movie. Pablo likes it. It's a huge hit. And we're on top of things here at BFG.

Enjoy this episode!

"It's as if one of my memoirs had become a huge best-seller, and then I became a Senator from Texas, and now was Kamala Harris's Vice-President." That would be quite a multiverse timeline. Meanwhile, 'Hillbilly Elegy' is "off the chains." "Those houses in the Hamptons don't build themselves," Adam says.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump cannot stop invoking "the late, great Hannibal Lecter" on the campaign trail. Not much to say here other than it's hilarious and ridiculous. Also, Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character. And he's not dead even in his fictional universe.

Jake Harris joins the podcast to talk about 'Twisters.' He saw it in a screening in Dallas with a bunch of meteorologists. Talk about a receptive audiences! 'Twisters' has a strong female protagonist, weather porn, lots of trucks and red-dirt country music, beautiful Oklahoma landscapes, and a realistic rodeo scene. It's the perfect summer blockbuster to appeal to Red and Blue America alike, the film that will bring us all together. Neal refers to costar Glen Powell as the "emotional support dog" for the protagonist, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones. If you feel it, chase it!

Adam Hirschfelder returns after 10 minutes in the green room to talk about his favorite subject, Kevin Costner. Why did Costner leave 'Yellowstone' to make 'Horizon,' a 12-hour Western epic? We don't know. Adam sat through the first three hours in a theater, the second three hours remains unreleased, and the fate of the saga's back end is unknown. Does 'Horizon' do anything differently than 'Centennial,' 'Lonesome Dove,' 'Dances With Wolves,' 'Unforgiven,' 'Deadwood,' or any other modern Western. It does not. Kevin Costner, you have broken Adam Hirschfelder's heart.

It's a great episode. Please enjoy!

Frequent sci-fi and fantasy reviewer Dan Friedman joins Neal Pollack on the podcast to discuss 'The Bright Sword,' a very modern retelling of the Arthurian legend from Lev Grossman, who wrote The Magicians series. Did you know Sir Bedivere was gay? Lev Grossman does! In any case, The Bright Sword is quite engaging and fun to read, and both Dan and Neal reserve praise for this book, which injects fresh life into a moldy mythology.

'The Book of Elsewhere,' by China Mieville and, we guess, Keanu Reeves, is a bit more of a lift, despite being half the length. Based on an ultra-violent comic book series by Reeves, this is the story of 'B,' an 80,000-year-old immortal warrior who cannot die, or who at least comes back to life after he dies. Think John Wick meets Highlander. It's not as much fun as it sounds, if it sounds fun at all. Mieville fills the pages between grisly action sequences with philosophical rumination on the meaning of identity, approach at your own risk. Both Dan and Neal found this book to be a bit much.

Stephen Garrett crosses over from another realm in the multiverse to discuss 'Deadpool & Wolverine' with Neal. They both found this meta-entry in the MCU to be kind of cheap and a load of fun. There's not much else to say about the #1 movie in the world, other than "Marvel is back," and nothing is going to stop it from reasserting its dominance over the pop-culture landscape. They also discuss, along those lines, the return of Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU. The years of Dr. Doom are in front of us. It's Marvel's multiverse, and we just live in it.

Enjoy the show, people of The Gambia!

But we are not long past M. Night Shyamalan movies, and JonPaul Guinn joins our Rotten Tomatoes-approved editor-in-chief to discuss M. Night's wacky new locked-room serial-killer movie 'Trap,' which is almost a comedy, and is quite a lot of fun. JP way prefers Trap to Longlegs, and both he and Neal way prefer it to the previous Shyamalan movie A Knock At The Cabin, which collapsed under the weight of its own pretentiousness. There's nothing pretentious about Trap, it's fun. You will have fun. Have fun at it.

There's also nothing pretentious about the Apple+ TV adaptation of Time Bandits, though Scott Gold, our resident Time Bandits effort, admits that showrunners Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement lack the artistry of Terry Gilliam, who made the original Time Bandits. But for men of a certain age, which Scott and Neal most definitely are, a Time Bandits reboot is nostalgic catnip. Scott says the show is funny, if not a surrealist masterpiece like the original. A little warm glow of time-traveling nostalgia. No pop-culture product ever really dies, and the new Time Bandits is no exception.

Enjoy the show!

If you mess with Dave Eggers, you'd best not miss. And they did miss. Arthur was once a writer but is now a documentary filmmaker. He and Eggers had been talking about doing a documentary, but this was the obvious topic. Eggers went to South Dakota and met with students, and Arthur accompanied him. A crusade against injustice ensued. Neal and Arthur talk about the film and the issues at hand, and also about Neal's "psychological issues" surrounding his former colleague and mentor Eggers. A revealing conversation ensues about the realities of book banning and why Neal wants a camera crew to "follow me to Trader Joe's."

A more conventional but still insightful segment follows. Contributor Greg Ford joins Neal to talk about the strange new adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron', now airing on Netflix. They both enjoyed the performance of main character Tanya Reynolds but also found the adaptation to be overly long and needlessly silly. Greg, who has actually read 'The Decameron,' also notes that the show isn't nearly as bawdy as the book itself, which was controversial in its time for its overtly sexual and anti-clerical content, two issues that are not a problem today.

Enjoy the show!

We’ve got a shortish episode this week as Neal Pollack, our site’s fearless editor — and this podcast’s host — embarks on an odyssey of non-trivial consequence. But as Peter Parker's uncle said, with great brevity comes great wit. Or something like that.

Neal speaks about Alien: Romulus with Pablo Gallaga, who feels that the Fede Alvarez installation to the series can’t quite make up its mind about what it wants to be.

[caption id="attachment_25944" align="alignright" width="269"] Photo of Jennifer Shirk courtesy of the author.[/caption]

Next up is Laura Roberts, who gets into it about It Ends with Us, the new Justin Baldoni-directed romantic drama with Blake Lively based on the novel by Colleen Hoover. If you’re wondering where to buy Colleen Hoover’s books, you’ve come to the right place -- our indie book store The Book House sells a ton of It Ends With Us and all of Ms. Hoover’s considerable output. With just a few weeks left of summer, head to Millburn or Long Branch to stock up on this prolific author’s paperbacks.

And speaking of The Book House …

When you finish The Book and Film Globe podcast, please give our new podcast a spin. The Book House podcast is hosted by journalist and author Liz Alterman, who every week opens a window on the business of publishing, interviewing a different author or editor. In this week’s episode, Liz talks to Jennifer Shirk, the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of 12 sweet and funny romance novels. Jennifer’s latest, Resorting to Romance, was released on July 2. The South Jersey author actually got her bachelor's degree in pharmacy and was contemplating a doctorate before turning to fiction. Listen to The Book House podcast on Apple or Spotify.

And don’t forget to like, review and follow the Book and Film Globe podcast, also on Apple and Spotify.

Special guest Michael Kaplan, a former writer for Roseanne and Frasier (not Friends), part of a group of L.A. writers who have protested the exhibit, laments the obvious tokenism of the museum display, as well as its smallness and lack of consequence. Not once, he points out, does the exhibit celebrate the Jewish tradition of storytelling that led the founders to establish the movie business in the first place. The exhibit is a cryin' shame, and both Neal and Michael worry about the imprint it will have on the many thousands of schoolchildren who march through the museum every year.

Speaking of Jewish storytelling, Rebecca Kurson drops in to talk to Neal about 'Between the Temples,' a new movie that celebrates ordinary Judaism in all its messy glory. Becky saw Between the Temples on the date that we learned Hamas had murdered six Jewish hostages, and boy did she need this tonic, which depicts American Jewish life and celebrates it as not only normal, but necessary. Carol Kane, in full Ruth Gordon mode, is an older lady who decides, late in life, to become a Bat Mitzvah. Despite some twitchy direction, this is one of the best and most accurate depictions of Jewish devotional life in recent memory. If only the Academy Museum would have done the same.

If you're listening this week, then Mazel tov!

It's possible, however, to overthink 'Strange Darling,' now playing at a grind house near you. Neal saw 'Strange Darling' at the Vista Theater in Los Angeles, appropriate since JT Mollner's film owes such a huge debt to Quentin Tarantino. Pablo Gallaga, who has seen Strange Darling TWICE, has nothing but praise for the film, for first-time cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi, and especially for the film's star, Willa Fitzgerald. Both he and Neal agree that Fitzgerald is a major actor in the making, and that this odd serial killer love story with an unconventional narrative structure could be her signature role.

Then there's Jeff Goldblum as Zeus in the Netflix show 'Kaos.' Critic Samuel Porteous joins Neal to deconstruct this "very British" take on the Greek gods. Sam enjoys the "world building" of the show, but wishes there were more grandeur and less overtly, or at least less obvious, political posturing. It all tries a little bit too hard and is a little bit less fun than it should be. Kaos is less of a "masterpiece" and more of an interesting failure, he says.

Unlike the BFG Podcast, which is always a success. Enjoy!

But Stephen Garrett can recommend many of the films coming out of this year's Toronto International Film Festival with good conscience. There was tons of crowd-pleasing Oscar bait this year, including the Papal succession movie Conclave, Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman on all fours, a documentary about Pharrell Williams where everyone is a Lego figure, and a biopic about Robbie Williams where the star is played by a chimpanzee. You heard it here first! Listen up and get your fall movie viewing calendar ready. It should be fun.

Why does this new Ronald Reagan biopic feature a narrator, played by Jon Voight, who's an ex-KGB agent? If you're trying to turn nonbelievers into Reagan fans, this is not the way to do it. Contributor Adam Hirschfelder joins Neal to talk about the strange trip that is 'Reagan.' Dennis Quaid plays Ronald Reagan, a good bit of casting. Apparently, Ronald Reagan single-handedly defeated Communism and had nothing to do with the Iran-Contra Affair. Is that true? It's not up for this podcast to decide. But we can certainly decide that 'Reagan' is a silly film, an unintentional comedy that plays like a sketch-show parody of a Reagan biopic.

OK, that's all we wrote. We thank you for listening, this week and every week!

Writer Meghan Daum, the founder of the Unspeakeasy community for women who have dangerous thoughts, joins Neal to talk about the dangerous-thinking movie 'Am I Racist?' a documentary from conservative online personality Matt Walsh that takes on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion industry. Neal has his criticisms of Am I Racist? as a movie, but neither he nor Meghan can find much fault with his taking the piss out of DEI hustlers. Meghan has actually interviewed Saira Rao and Regina Jackson, two of the people that the movie calls out, and she has some insider-baseball insight about why they're successful. It has something to do with the "weaponization of female rage," or maybe grievance, which Neal knows nothing about but Meghan does.

This is a great episode, the reason we do what we do, featuring two of the smartest and most contrarian thinkers in the literary world. If this doesn't put our podcast at the top of the conversational board, then nothing will. Enjoy the show, and share it with Zionist friends.

'Agatha All Along,' the Halloween-themed witch show from Marvel, also gets extremely high marks from Neal and Scott. Unlike 'The Penguin,' this show, a spinoff of the groundbreaking 'Wandavision,' doesn't take itself too seriously. But it does delve deep into witch lore, and subsumes witchcraft into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe framework. Kathryn Hahn hams it up to great effect, and Marvel has surrounded her with a harmonious supporting cast that includes Aubrey Plaza, Sameer Zamata, Debra Jo Rupp, and, in an incredible casting coup, Broadway megastar Patti LuPone. It's a star-stuffed ensemble even by Marvel standards, and the show is fun, a little scary, but still light enough to watch with your eyes fully open.

We can't say the same thing about 'The Substance,' the new feminist body horror movie from French director Coralie Fargeat. Neal couldn't actually watch this movie because he hates things coming out of other things. But Stephen Garrett is mercifully not so squeamish, and he appreciated the over-the-top metaphor about female aging and how our society treats women over 50. Demi Moore gives a signature performance, Margaret Qualley plays a villain with unhinged vigor, and Dennis Quaid gorges on shrimp in the most disgusting way. And this is the year's most disgusting movie, but people are digging it so we give it high marks even though Neal Pollack is a total coward.

Enjoy the show!

Rabbi Pollack (not an actual rabbi) invites Rebecca Kurson on the podcast to talk about 'Nobody Wants This,' the Netflix sitcom about a sex podcaster, played by Kristen Bell, who falls for a Jewish rabbi, played by Adam Brody. Boy, did Becky hate this show. It depicts a Judaism where no one talks about October 7, Israel, or the Holocaust. Neal argues that this is a Netflix sitcom about a sex podcaster so no one wants to hear characters talk about those things. Fair enough, Becky says, but this is still a morally questionable show about horrible people who don't deserve love. Neal just likes watching Brody and Justine Lupe, who plays Kristen Bell's sister, and also feels like it is a somewhat accurate depiction of a certain type of bourgeois Angeleno who he knows too well. This show does not hate Jews, Neal concludes. Maybe it's just kind of dumb.

It is a contentious week on the BFG podcast! Give us a listen and find out why host Neal Pollack calls it "the number 4 rated entertainment news podcast in The Gambia."

'English Teacher,' now streaming on Hulu since its initial run on FX has ended, is one of the best-reviewed and least-watched shows of the year. Critic Matthew Ehrlich takes time out from digging a swimming pool in his backyard by hand to praise the show and its creator Brian Jordan Alvarez for one of the best and least woke depictions of gay life ever put to screen. Neal also really digs the show and the Texas setting and finds the side characters charming and delightful. Above all else, the show is funny, and it's also short, and it's something you really should watch.

Your opinion about 'Megalopolis' will vary from frame to frame. Neal and Stephen Garrett have a blast picking apart the weird phenomenon of a $100 million boondoggle made by Francis Ford Coppola, an 85-year-old man. Coppola is doing things that we haven't seen in movies since the 1930s. Whether or not that's a good thing will widely depend on the viewer. But we can all agree that Aubrey Plaza knows exactly what kind of a movie she's in, and boyo, does she deliver the goods as a character named Wow Platinum.

Thanks for listening to the BFG Podcast, with your new host, Wow Platinum.

First up is 'Conclave,' a pulpy not-quite-murder mystery set in the Vatican. Apparently there's more intrigue surrounding the election of a new Pope than there is surrounding the selection of the new head of a Mafia crime family. Maybe they're actually the same thing, Conclave posits. Stephen calls Conclave director Edward Berger the king of "empty prestige" pictures. Neal sort of agrees with him but still enjoyed Ralph Fiennes's campy lead performance as a Cardinal-detective who's undergoing a crisis of faith.

On a less serious note, we have 'Venom: The Last Dance,' which Stephen points out has the same creator as the previous two Venom movies, both of which he also reviewed for us. While he absolutely hated the first Venom, Stephen has warmed to each subsequent installment, and he's almost a fan. At this point, we have to wonder if a Venom symbiote isn't inhabiting his body, or at least his reviews.

Parker Finn, the creator of Smile 2, is almost like a horror auteur at this point. The sequel is flashier than the first installment, and it's also a huge hit. Stephen found it a bit too long and maybe a bit too full of itself, but it's also genuinely creepy and also has some deliciously nasty ideas about how deep-seated psychological trauma can haunt people, and even kill them. But even if it doesn't, the franchise is a hit and it's here to stay.

With the election approaching, The Apprentice should be required viewing. Neal calls the Donald Trump origin story, set in the 1970s and 80s, "one of the best movies I've seen all year." Stephen won't go that far, but he has nothing but praise for Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and Sebastian Stand as Donald Trump. This movie is more popular overseas than in the U.S. Neal thinks it's not pro-Trump enough for MAGA types and not anti-Trump for people who are anti-Trump. But for people who love good movies, it's perfect.

We can't say the same about 'We Live In Time,' a completely dopey romantic drama about cancer and chefs and who knows what else. Stephen calls this Florence Pugh/Andrew Garfield movie "so dumb," and Neal and Stephen both marvel at the millennial uber-beta-male who is Garfield's character. Then there's the non-linear narrative, a curse on the world that hopefully this movie will end. But we wouldn't count on that

Enjoy the show!

First-time guest and first-time BFG contributor Shana Burg joins Neal Pollack to discuss her new book Poof! The Disappearance of a Writer in the Age of AI. Shana has had a fascinating journey through her writer's life. She worked in publishing in her 20s, put out three young-adult historical novels, and then, when that market dried up, transitioned into being a content creator who wrote about her lifelong love...of taking baths. But then, just as it looked like she was going to be able to make a permanent living, AI reared its head, making her type of content creation obsolete. She and Neal discuss if it's possible to still make a living as a writer in this day and age, and what the path might be going forward.

Sharyn Vane comes by the pod dome to talk to Neal about the growing trend of "literary" writers speaking out against Israel's war in Gaza. Unfortunately, that trend has expanded to the cancellation of literary events, and now, a petition boycotting "Israeli cultural institutions." Neal Pollack, himself a writer of extreme renown, has signed a counter petition, and is firmly against canceling any Jewish writer for any reason, even if those doing the canceling are also Jewish. Look, it's a huge mess, but we will continue to try to clean it up on Book and Film Globe.

Tune in this week, and next week, when we will be the only people on Earth talking about the aftermath of the United States Presidential election. Thanks, all, for listening!

Bobby Hilliard joins host Neal Pollack to discuss the outsized impact that the Austin comedy and podcasting scene had on this election. Bobby, a comedy-scene insider, explains to Neal that even though figures like Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe are millionaires many times over, they have an unfiltered, no-bullshit casual tone that appeals to the modern audience that is tired of the artifice of the news and entertainment industries. After the pandemic, hundreds if not thousands of comedians moved to Austin because it was less expensive, restrictive, and dangerous than other American metro areas. And the city, which was dealing with a downturn in the music industry caused by an upturn in the tech industry, had a ton of empty performance spaces to host them. Elon Musk appeared on Rogan, said, "this place is cool," and the modern Republican cultural ethos was born.

Neal ends the segment by telling Bobby that he, too, is going to start doing standup comedy. Bobby warns him that it's tough out there.

But not as tough as it is in Hollywood. Richard Rushfield, columnist and founding light of The Ankler, joins Neal to discuss Hollywood's disastrous participation in this election. From the condescending tone of the Julia Roberts ad telling liberal women to defy their MAGA husbands in the voting booth, to the weird twerking of Megan Thee Stallion at a Kamala Harris rally, to the endless, clueless online endorsements, the traditional entertainment industry revealed itself as completely out of touch with reality. Richard talks about how young people don't respond to movies and TV like they once did. They like their celebrities unscripted and unfiltered. Neal points out that may have something to do with the success of Donald Trump. He's a celebrity, but he's a different kind of celebrity, kind of a proto viral celebrity. Oprah Winfrey just can't compete.

You will understand everything after listening to this podcast. Thanks for joining us.

Meghan and Neal pivot to talking about the rise of Justine Bateman, who Meghan thinks is doing witty work right now on Twitter, providing "director's notes" for liberals having crying meltdowns over the Trump election. But let's be clear, Meghan says, Justine is one phone call away from being on Joe Rogan. She is not our friend. She has moved far beyond our reach. That's another important lesson to glean from recent weeks.

Onward to less self-deprecating topics. Stephen Garrett appears to discuss 'Anora,' which both he and Neal agree is a funny but also serious modern take on the hooker with a heart of gold motif, a kind of hyper-realistic Pretty Woman set in Coney Island. Neal considers this an Oscar contender, Stephen is maybe a little more reluctant to hand off the statuette. But they both agree that Anora is a real crowd-pleaser.

As is 'A Real Pain', from writer-director-actor Jesse Eisenberg. Neal takes the lead on this one, saying it's nice to see a movie that takes generational Holocaust trauma seriously, yet is also still funny and meaningful. And both he and Stephen agree that Kieran Culkin steals the show and deserves the praise that's about to rain down on him for the next few months.

Justine Bateman does not then make a surprise appearance on the podcast.

Enjoy the show!

There's no such disappointment when it comes to 'Gladiator II.' Stephen thought the sequel was fun but unnecessary. Neal, on the other hand, really appreciates a movie that features CGI baboons, sharks, an angry rhino, Denzel Washington, and a monkey wearing a diaper. He calls star Paul Mescal an "angry barista". An instant camp classic, that's what we say.

Bobby Hilliard joins Neal to discuss something very disgusting, the 'Terrifier' movies, which Neal is too scared to see. Bobby worries, and with good reason, that the antics of Art the Clown are desensitizing audiences to the worst possible violence imaginable. There are things in the 'Terrifier' movie so horrible, you couldn't begin to imagine them. Bobby warns Neal that there's nothing even remotely humanizing about Art the Clown. He has no Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, or Michael Myers backstory. It's irredeemable gore, with absolutely no reason to exist other than to make audiences go "ewwww". Terrifier 3 made more than $80 million at the box office. Someone is digging it.

Our podcast is unlimited. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Writer and comedian Sheri Flanders joins Neal next to discuss yoga. That's right, yoga, in the form of 'Breath of Fire,' a compelling Max documentary about the cultish kundalini yoga. The documentary needed an edit and the cult of kundalini needed a bucket of cold water dumped on its head. But it's a tragedy and a story worth knowing. Come to listen to Neal talk about the true meaning of yoga. Sheri wisely does not follow Neal into the light. She has three crystals and that's all she needs.

Omar Gallaga is very disappointed in the syrupy mess that is 'A Man on the Inside,' the Ted Danson Netflix "sadcom" based on an Oscar-nominated documentary. Both Omar and Neal have a lot of negativity toward this show, which, despite an amusing setup, quickly sinks into stereotype and refuses to engage realistically with the problems that seniors actually face in our society, which paradoxically might have made it funnier. Instead, Neal recommends the movie 'Thelma', airing on Hulu, which has a similarly high-concept premise but is in fact much more grounded in the real lives of senior citizens who outlive their friends, their spouses, and pretty much everyone else. It's a problem without an easy solution, and 'A Man On The Inside' just pours on the sap.

What a great episode! Thanks for listening to the pod.

Decidedly not Game of Thrones in space, but almost as weird (in a different way) than Dune: Prophecy is Queer, the new William S. Burroughs adaptation from director Luca Guadagnino, who's never afraid of a challenge. Stephen Garrett joins Neal on the podcast to talk about Daniel Craig's radiant performance as a midlife seeker who desperately wants love, and also drugs. There is plenty of unrequited love in the film, and plenty of requited drugs. The really amazing part is that everyone in 1948 could just afford to kind of hang out and do whatever they wanted. This is the dream, really, and also kind of the nightmare. A brilliant adaptation of an unadaptable book.

And that's all of the podcast for this week. Isn't that enough?

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There is plenty of good to mine. Omar loved shows like 'Fallout' and 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith', but he and Neal talk in detail about Julio Torres's 'Fantomas' and John Mulaney's 'Everybody's In L.A.' Scott pops in to join the Shōgun discourse. Neal had problems with the Anglo lead, Cosmo Jarvis, but Scott and Omar both assure him that the Japanese cast takes over by the end.

Scott's favorites included Guy Ritchie's 'The Gentlemen,' and both he and Neal fanboy over Theo James for a few minutes. It's the rare TV continuation of a movie that actually improves on the original. Neal's picks include the Australian sitcom 'Colin From Accounts,' which he and Omar both agree is totally delightful.

Now for the bad news. Matthew Ehrlich thinks 'The Perfect Couple' is ridiculous, a bad Netflix version of Succession that includes a cheesy murder mystery. He's also not high on the new network procedurals, like 'Elspeth,' 'High Potential,' and 'Matlock,' which like AI wrote them. In addition, he offers a counter-attack on 'Hacks,' which does a disservice to the memory of Joan Rivers, and he offers the perspective that Rivers was actually friends with Donald Trump and might have been a victim of cancel culture if she had lived to see the day.

Omar likes Hacks, but has his pans too, and he and Matthew take turns battering the "icky" and weird and unappealing Baby Reindeer, which is getting praise around the joint but does not meet our approval.

Neal then goes off on several shows, including 'Last Bite Hotel,' a weird semi-horror-themed Food Network show starring Titus Burgess, 'The Acolyte,' and especially the new season of Doctor Who, which featured a character who was literally the spirit of Christmas, and some gross, weird, "Space Babies."

Here's hoping for a better 2025 for all TV viewers! A new season of The White Lotus is coming.

Stephen Garrett, who sees every movie in the world, and Sara Stewart, who used to but has backed off to attend graduate school and pursue an actual career, join perpetual cinephile Neal Pollack to talk about their picks. Everyone loved Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Stephen and Sara try to persuade Neal that Dune 2 is great. Sorry, Neal finds Dune 2 boring. Neal himself loved The Apprentice and Challengers. For his art-house pick, he went with La Chimera. Stephen loved The Brutalist and Queer. Sara goes hard in the paint for Dev Patel's Monkey Man.

And because this is Book and Film Globe, Jewish-themed movies came up. Sara was a big fan of Between the Temples, which we've discussed exhaustively on this site. Neal and Stephen went for the more Oscar-friendly 'A Real Pain.' Other movies, selected by our critics but not discussed on this episode, include 'I Saw the TV Glow,' Dahomey,' 'Eno,' and 'His Three Daughters.' Finally, Neal gets real squeamish about 'The Substance.' Sara and Stephen both loved it, but Neal cannot tolerate movies where things come out of other things. It's a lot for him. And if movies in 2025 feature things coming out of other things, he'll assign them elsewhere.

Enjoy the show!

No one is more grown-up than Count Orlok, Nosferatu himself. He's a real oldy-moldy. Two night dwellers themselves, Neal Pollack and Stephen Garrett find a lot to admire in Robert Eggers's atmospheric take on the vampire legend. But Stephen finds the movie kind of silly and not very scary, and neither of them are really down with Lily-Rose Depp's literally convulsive performance as the vampyr's eternal love object. But then Willem Dafoe shows up and seems realize what kind of movie he's in, and things get kind of fun anyway.

A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic, is pretty fun from the outset. Jim Arndorfer joins Neal on the podcast to pick some nits at the Dylan legend as James Mangold tells it, but even the crankiest Dylanologist has to admit that the movie hums along on a vibe of good feeling and great music and really magnetic performances from pretty much the entire cast. Neal thinks it's going to be Best Picture. It's hard to argue. It's always hard to argue with him.

Things get pretty sexy when Stephen Garrett returns to the Pod Dome to talk about 'Babygirl,' a sort-of comedy starring Nicole Kidman as a robotics CEO with some pretty repressed kinky desires. A foxy intern shows up and gives her what she wants and then some. The move is sort of provocative but also kind of ridiculous. In the end, it's thin characters stuck in a fun conceit, but the screenplay never quite delivers and the sex, frankly, isn't kinky enough to carry the premise So sayeth our male critics who always satisfy every desire.

Enjoy the show!

But only the sickest and most desperate among us would want to play 'Squid Game,' which is kind of the point of the mega-hit Netflix show. Season 2 of Squid Game is now available. Omar Gallaga joins Neal on the podcast to talk about the many ways in which the sequel to one of the most popular streaming shows of all time follows up, and even improves on, the original. There hasn't been a drop-off in quality at all, which is kind of amazing. Squid Game 2 heightens the stakes, ramps up the tension, and adds even creepier and more original games than the first season. We offer no advice to surviving Squid Game other than: Stay alive, and hide under your bed at night.

Come to think of it, that might be decent advice to succeeding at Jeopardy! as well. But Jeopardy! is more fun, and you can usually grab drinks with your opponents after the taping.

Enjoy the show!

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Now our brows dip low as Neal welcomes Paula Shaffer to discuss the recent crossover episode between 'Abbott Elementary' and "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia,' which surprisingly go together as well as chocolate and peanut butter. Paula and Neal then go down the rabbit hole of TV crossover history. She introduces him to Poobala.com, the rabbit hole of rabbit holes.

Did you know that Mr. Carlin from 'The Bob Newhart Show' was also a patient on 'St. Elsewhere?' That's correct. And since St. Elsewhere, we later learned, existed only in the imagination of an autistic middle schooler, that means that The Bob Newhart Show, along with Cheers, Frasier, and hundreds of other shows, also only existed in his imagination. To further tangle the web, it was later revealed that 'Newhart' was just a dream that existed in the world of The Bob Newhart Show. So was Newhart also in Tommy Westphall's imagination? Or was St. Elsewhere part of Bob Newhart's dream life? Are we nothing but a dream ourselves?

These are the kinds of questions we try to answer on Book and Film Globe. Enjoy the show!

Not so great is 'Wolf Man,' a sad horror dud from Leigh Whannell, who made the entertaining 'Invisible Man' reboot in 2020. But this is not entertaining, says Pablo Gallaga, despite decent performances and good visual effects. It's just not entertaining, and not scary enough. And Neal continues to warn the world that werewolves are real and should not be used for our amusement. But is the world listening? No!

Enjoy the podcast. And for god's sake, watch a David Lynch movie!

'Star Wars: Skeleton Crew', a TV show on Disney+, hearkens back to a time when new Star Wars content was fresh and exciting and filled kids with wonder. Scott Gold joins Neal to talk about the ultimate tween Star Wars pirate adventure, a fun, exciting romp through a fictional galaxy that doesn't take itself too seriously, and features Jude Law chewing every ounce of scenery imaginable. "Space Goonies," directed by leading Hollywood talent. No notes.

Enjoy the podcast!

Our other Stephen, one Stephen Garrett, went to the Sundance Film Festival this year, like he does every year. It's the second-to-last Sundance, and it was a cold Sundance to boot, so there's a kind of wistfulness to his report. Some of the Sundance content will be coming to TVs and movie theaters soon, and Stephen is on top of what you should see, or shouldn't see. But mostly, you should see everything. That's kind of the BFG mantra.

Enjoy the podcast!

Also great, though much less serious, is Companion, a new Black Mirror-style robot sex thriller-comedy (yes, that's a genre now) from writer-director Drew Hancock. Neal welcomes Pablo Gallaga to the podcast for a chat about Companion, and neither of them can find much to criticize, though Neal, still a relative horror noob, seems to like it a bit more than Pablo. But neither of them have anything negative at all to say about Sophie Thatcher, the film's star, who gives a smashing, star-making performance as Iris, a thinking, murderous sex android with a heart of gold, or at least a heart.

No one knows what to think about Severance, now streaming in its second season on Apple+, other than that it's the most interesting show on TV right now. Scott Gold joins Neal on the podcast to talk about Ben Stiller's puzzlebox, to praise the cast, particularly Britt Lower and John Turturro, and to hope against hope that Severance doesn't go the way of Lost and that Stiller knows where he's going with this incredibly surreal, and funny, workplace comedy that is about way more than being a workplace comedy. Your innie will love it, and so will your outie. We will allow you both to listen to this episode.

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Therefore, it's with complete neutrality that we report that Donald Trump has taking charge of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, along with taking charge of America, The Gulf of America, and, to some extent, the rest of the world. Neal Pollack welcomes Michael Washburn to discuss the cultural implications of Trump taking over the Kennedy Center. Michael says "there are other voices out there in America" that have not had the opportunity to appear at the Kennedy Center. Neal is unsure about what those voices might be. "What is a Donald Trump-run cultural center going to look like?" he wonders. We'll spend the next four years trying to unravel the answer for that question.

It's not that mysterious, on the other hand, what the MCU is going to look like the next four years. It will look exactly the same as it always has, and will continue to make hundreds of millions of dollars a movie no matter how inconsistent the narrative or the quality of its movies. Neal and Stephen Garrett don't make any claim that 'Captain America: Brave New World.' This "very non film-festival movie" kicks off the MCU's 2025. Neal wonders why they changed the name from "New World Order" to "Brave New World." "Oh no," he says. "You might make Donald Rumsfeld's ghost mad."

"This is a new movie and there's a brave new hero," Stephen says. We guess that's technically true, though as Neal points out, it's really a stealth sequel to a 2008 Hulk movie that happens to feature a new Captain America. Anthony Mackie is actually kind of a dour new hero, and the movie continually moves away from potentially interesting storylines to focus on Harrison Ford turning into a Red Hulk. Spoiler alert, it's in every trailer and on every poster. And it features a villain who has a cauliflower head.

Enjoy the podcast!

A couple of Max (HBO?) shows are on the table this week. Matthew Ehrlich is here to dish with Neal about the incredible Season 3 from 'The White Lotus'. Who is going to die? What's up with Patrick Schwarzenegger's abs and Parker Posey's accent? What is Lisa from BlackPink doing here? Where did Greg get all his money? Why do we talk about this show like these are real people? The White Lotus is so back!

As far as real people go on TV, they don't get any realer than the people on 'The Pitt,' Max's hit medical drama that is so much like ER, it stars Noah Wyle and was basically created by the same team, minus Michael Crichton. Paula Shaffer, sounding fabulous, joins Neal on the podcast to discuss this new frontier of "competence porn." It is gripping and emotional. They have their favorite doctors. Paula likes Noah Wyle, who doesn't, but is also partial to intern Trinity. Neal is considering spraining his ankle or something just to have a few minutes getting to know Dr. McKay. This show is so realistic, it almost makes you want to go to the emergency room. In Pittsburgh. Almost.

Enjoy the podcast!

In addition to his great conversation with Harper, Pollack welcomes in Stephen Garrett, as he does almost every week. Pollack and Garrett discuss the amazing career, and very strange death, of the actor Gene Hackman. Hackman was one of the greatest of the Greatest Generation, a paragon of gruff, realistic acting in an era where film actors feel more plastic than ever. The celebration of his life, and the mourning of his death, gives us some hope.

Our hope is a bit more muted for James Bond, now the intellectual property of Amazon. But contributor Jamie Mason isn't quite as worked up as the rest of the world. Bond has become a bit too self-serious over the years, and maybe this changing of the guard will give us all a chance to rediscover what is fun and kitschy about Bond. We can get some period pieces. The spinoff shows won't necessarily be a disaster. James Bond is not George Smiley, and Sir Ian Fleming was not John LeCarré. Make James Bond fun again, that's what we say.

Enjoy the podcast!

Daredevil is on Disney+ now, but this is no Disney-friendly show. 'Daredevil: Born Again' is the most violent and brutal content the Marvel Cinematic Universe has yet produced, which is actually completely necessary. Daredevil is a violent character, trying to protect a violent city. Scott Gold joins Neal to break down all that's good about 'Born Again,' which is a lot, but in particular they single out Charlie Cox, as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, and Vincent D'Onofrio, once again owning his role as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. If you're Marveled out, you're Marveled out, but this is still peak Daredevil.

Enjoy the podcast!

Stephen feels like the stars, Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, have zero sexual chemistry, but Neal feels the heat from Rege Jean Page and especially Marisa Abela, who plays a horny young surveillance analyst. It's a clever, fun, tight thriller. And modest. Enjoy.

South By Southwest (SXSW) is in the past now, and despite what you might hear, it's not dead. But the Austin-based cultural festival has trimmed back the bloat somewhat, condensing the struggling tech and music festivals and placing the booming film and TV festival more front and center. That's certainly not a problem for veteran SXSW heads Neal Pollack and Pablo Gallaga, who between them saw more than a dozen movies and waited in more than a dozen lines.

Tune in for Neal and Pablo's comprehensive breakdown of where SXSW is going, and where it's been, and also a very detailed breakdown of the new Tim Robinson movie 'Friendship.' They liked it, maybe they wanted to like it more. If you meet Neal anywhere in public after May, when the movie comes out, you will have to have a similar conversation. That's why you need to follow BFG. You'll be able to talk about anything in the culture.

Enjoy the podcast!

They both criticize, somewhat lightly, that Top Chef has become little more than a feeder ramp for bad Food Network shows. Rick, much to Neal's surprise, has little bad to say about 'House of Knives,' which Neal considers to be the absolute nadir of the food competition genre. Neither of them are willing to offer any praise to 'Wildcard Kitchen,' which feels phony and derivative. Regardless, this is the deepest dive into the politics and machinations of food competition TV as you're ever likely to hear anywhere.

More discussed in the zeitgeist is 'Love Is Blind,' which recently concluded its 8th season with a couple of high-profile jiltings, one at the altar itself, because the betrothed couldn't agree on politics. In both cases, it was liberal women rejecting conservative or at least apolitical men. Neal and guest Rachel Llewellyn parse what this actually portends for society. It used to be the case that people in romantic relationships could disagree on politics, at least as regards some issues. Love Is Blind is really just a symptom of a larger societal illness where people are no longer allowed to disagree. Many of them simply exist in different realities entirely. These are sad times, especially if you're competing in a cooking show against someone who you might want to marry but cannot because you hold different political opinions than they do on important issues of the day.

Enjoy the podcast!

Death of a Unicorn does not reach peak cinema. Stephen Garrett pretty much hated this horror comedy about, well, killer unicorns. Neal saw Death of a Unicorn at South By Southwest, whose audience responded to it as though they were seeing Ghostbusters for the first time. Well, this is not Ghostbusters. It is Death of a Unicorn, and it is a huge bomb. Stephen found himself sympathizing with the so-called "villains". Sometimes you have to kill a unicorn, he says. Neal is a little less heartless. He just doesn't much like Jenna Ortega. Death of a A Unicorn is a footnote. A unicorn-shaped footnote.

Bill Burr is on a tear lately, boosting the legend of accused healthcare CEO murderer Luigi Mangione, giving the business to Elon Musk, and generally excoriating billionaires even though he himself is quite wealthy. Bobby Hilliard is all about Bill Burr. He calls him the heir to George Carlin. Whereas Neal thinks that though Burr is a top-end comedian, he also thinks that Luigi is a murderer. Therein lies the debate. Bobby is an avowed socialist. Neal is an avowed not socialist. Bill Burr and his magic helicopter are getting rich all the way to the banking app, and on the way back, too.

Enjoy the show!

Meanwhile, in the real world, American museums are facing tremendous budget cuts from the Trump Administration. Sharyn Vane joins Neal to talk about this disturbing trend, and highlights the struggles of a basically apolitical children's museum in Madison, Wisconsin, which, like so many other people and institutions, is finding itself caught up in the winds of massive political change. It may not be as dire as we think, or it might be more dire.

Val Kilmer died last week at age 65, and Stephen Garrett joins Neal to talk about the work and legacy of one of our more eccentric and talented screen actors. Neal, as is his tendency, pretty much just talks about Top Secret! the entire time, but Stephen broadens the scope a bit and discussions Kilmer's unique filmography and his life as a truly strange and beautiful man of California. RIP Val Kilmer, the world will miss and remember you.

This episode is pure BFG: cinematic history, a little politics, a little light pop culture. If you listened to this show, you'd understand everything that's going on. So listen! Thank you very much.

For the first time in many years, Richard says, major franchises had no representation at Cinema Con. There was no Fast and Furious movie to tout. Even superhero offerings seemed kind of muted. The idea of a 90-day theatrical window went out the, well, window during COVID, and now they're trying to claw back a 45-day theatrical window. That seems highly unlikely. Finally, the conversation turns to what all of America has been waiting to hear about: Richard Rushfield's sleep apnea. It's a major problem for, we assume, his wife, but also for theatergoers around him when he takes his traditional nap an hour into a turkey. Neal and Richard try to find a workaround.

BFG has also given near round-the-clock coverage of 'Drop,' an unserious thriller about cell phone misuse and bad dates that has been bombing at the box office since it released two years ago. Pablo Gallaga joins Neal to talk about 'Drop,' as the two of them continue to try to sell the public on the fact that this is the genre of the moment, the blood-soaked violence picture with a bit of cheeky comedy. We will write retrospectives about this genre, if not songs. Drop is pretty bad, they both agree, and it also accelerates a trend in modern pictures of extreme violence against women played as entertainment. How many females slammed into coffee tables do we really need to see?

These are the important questions we ask at the BFG Podcast. Enjoy the show!

And then, once they do, it's as thrilling a horror movie as you'll ever see. Michael B. Jordan gives a career-defining performance as the twins at the center of the narrative. Hallee Steinfeld absolutely steams off the screen as a femme fatale for the ages. Jack O'Connell is one of the most sinister and compelling movie villains that we've seen in a long time, and Delroy Lindo lands a sure Oscar nomination as an old Delta bluesman who's comic relief, except when he's not. This is one of the best American movies in a long while, and it will be certain to be a huge contender for an awards season that doesn't start for another nine months. Sinners gets the BFG podcast's highest recommendation.

Also heavily in the plus column, though maybe not quite as heavily, is the new season of Black Mirror. Omar Gallaga swoops into the pod dome to talk to Neal about the seventh season of Charlie Brooker's tech dystopia sci-fi anthology show. By this point we're all comfortable enough with Black Mirror's twists and tropes that they've ceased to be shocking, but there are few things on TV as satisfying as a well-executed Black Mirror episode. And this season is well-executed even by Black Mirror standards. Omar thinks that some of them run a bit long, but there are still plenty of twists and and thought-provoking ideas about tech, as well as some dark laughs and plenty of Easter eggs for true fans.

It's a great week to be a fan of pop culture, and to listen to the BFG Podcast!

While it may sometimes be a little too "grownup" for its own good, 'Andor' is still thrilling and intelligent entertainment, a Star Wars not really for kids, with great action scenes, a skilled cast, nuanced writing, and gorgeous costumes. It's about the best you could hope for out of a TV show, particularly a Star Wars one. Neal and Scott feel no shame.

Stephen Garrett pops into the pod-dome to discuss the surprisingly popular 'The Accountant 2,' which Stephen didn't really like much. It takes a brotastic genre turn away from the moody character piece that was the first 'Accountant' movie several years ago. While Stephen admires it when a sequel breaks so far from the original source material, he found this one just plain goofy.

Unable to comment on 'The Shrouds' from David Cronenberg because of a professional conflict of interest, Stephen mostly lets Neal have at this film, which is weird and awkward and stiff and throws away cool ideas and amazing future tech on a weird conspiracy plotline about sinister Chinese doctors helping the CCP throw a surveillance blanket over the entire world--by using dead bodies. It's not a bad conceit for the movie, but there's lots of telling, not showing. Stephen breaks character to say he thinks The Shrouds is a profound meditation on mortality and grief. That's true, but it buries its depth beneath six feet of plot exposition.

Meanwhile, Neal and Stephen are celebrating, because the box-office is through the roof. It's a glorious time to go to the movies, and to be a movie fan. At last, movies are back. We never lost faith at the BFG podcast. Just please keep your devices silent and out of sight, and no talking unless you're at a special screening of A Minecraft Movie.

Enjoy the show!

There are no issues with 'Thunderbolts,' a current hit from that underdog Marvel Studios. Richard went to the world premiere in Los Angeles, and, frankly, he found the buffet kind of wanting. I mean, it tasted good, but was maybe a little skimpy. You could say the same about Thunderbolts, which, let's face it, is trying to sell us some C-list heroes as A-list heroes and it's hard to tell if people are going to bite permanently or not. There's so much Bob, so little Spider-Man. And that buffet? My lord.

Matthew Ehrlich makes a late-episode appearance to absolutely ravage Tina Fey's remake of a very dated Alan Alda movie called 'The Four Seasons.' Except that this isn't a movie. It's a four-hour miniseries on Netflix. No one cares about these three couples who are somehow supposed to be able to afford to take four luxury vacations a year. Together. Matthew wonders why the gay couple, half of whom is Colman Domingo, would even consider going on holiday with such boring straight people. Once, maybe, because they went to Vassar together. But four times? In a year? What are we doing here, people. Everyone loved Alan Alda back in the day, but Matthew broaches the unthinkable: That maybe Tina Fey has peaked. We will rue such words, I'm sure.

Enjoy the podcast!

Nathan Fielder delivered a brilliant six episodes of television with Season 2 of The Rehearsal, which ostensibly is about airplane safety, and is about airplane safety, but is also about so much more. Omar Gallaga appears to talk with Neal about The Rehearsal's narrative sleight-of-hand, which they both love. But there's a curious phenomenon: It's mostly men who jibe with Nathan Fielder's comedy. Neal and Omar, or actors playing them, try to break down this curious situation. In the tradition of Nathan Fielder, they both fail and succeed at the same time.

Stephen Garrett is back, to discuss Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning, which he saw at Cannes and which Neal saw at his usual spot, the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline in Austin. Either way, it's a bombastic edition of the long-running action franchise. Both Neal and Stephen loved the extended submarine action sequence in the middle, and enjoyed a taste of the biplane action scene toward the end, but found the overwrought dialogue tiring, the characters thin at best, and some of the plot laughably stupid. It's about as subtle as a hammer to the face or a nuclear bomb that must be defused in five minutes.

Did we mention that the podcast is back? Enjoy!

Neal welcomes his one and only guest this week, film critic Stephen Garrett, to discuss two new films and a bunch of older ones. First up, Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme, which both Neal and Stephen agree stands above the usual fare that Anderson has been producing in recent years. That has a less to do with Anderson's endlessly arch visual style and more to do with emotional and fun performances from the film's three leads, Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera. There's also a fun basketball segment in the middle, and a poignant ending that makes this feel more like a movie and less like an art-school experiment.

There's nothing particularly art-school about Ballerina, a side-sequel of sorts to the John Wick saga. Stephen and Neal both were able to see past the self-seriousness of John Wick and Wick-adjacent movies to see the slapstick heart at the film's center. There's an extended flamethrower battle toward the end that is one of the zaniest action sequences ever put to film. And Ana de Armas, while about the size of a peanut, has enough movie-star charm to hold it all together. Plus, there's an extended Keanu Reeves cameo. This is pretty fun.

Finally, Neal and Stephen reconsider the hundreds of movies they've reviewed since 2018, when Neal took over the reigns. Mostly, they focus on the five-star movies, films that are good, but that reviewers reacted to in a personal way. They argue extensively about Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, which Neal likes way more than Stephen, and First Man and Ad Astra, which Stephen likes way more than Neal. If you can take any one thing away from Neal Pollack's tenure at BFG, it's that he doesn't like movies where astronauts cry. Astronauts should never cry. They are in space. It is their dream.

That's all from us at the BFG podcast. Thank you so much for listening over the years, and enjoy our final episode!

In surgical fashion, they whittle the list of 10 Best Picture nominees down to five that really matter: One Battle After Another, Sinners, Bugonia, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme, analyze the good and bad of each, and, as they're wont to do, solve all the world's problems in a mere 25 minutes. No one loves movies more than Stephen and Neal do, which is why we love them.

They did not, however, love The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal's bizarre reinterpretation of the Frankenstein mythos. Jessie Buckley may win the Oscar this year. But she's going to win a Razzie next year. The Bride! is an all-time turkey. BFG likes to be on the right side of history.

Enjoy the show! Hopefully there will be more.

[ED'S NOTE: The Holocaust story from Marty Supreme is actually based in fact]

Next up, BFG Editor-In-Chief and resident science-fiction expert Dan Friedman stops by the Pod Dome to talk with Neal about the hit film Project Hail Mary, which he reviewed for the site. Dan wasn't as charmed by either book or film versions of Project Hail Mary as the public in large, finding the science a bit soggy and the buddy comedy less than totally amusing. Neal liked the film more than Dan, though he continues, deep into his dotage, to hate flashback-style narratives and believes that astronauts should never cry in space.

Finally, contributor Robert Dean stops by to make a meal of Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions. Both he and Neal watch this food-competition show, but there's something kind of unseemly about watching these formerly Top Chef contenders turn into dancing circus performers for our, and Fieri's amusement. And there's something extremely unseemly about the dire financial circumstances in which they find themselves. Neal also discusses other cooking competitions like Top Chef itself as well as CBS's new America's Culinary Cup, which seem like quality programming, but to what end? They don't feed us, but they do feed the hungry Guy Fieri entertainment machine.

Enjoy our show!

Next, Neal and Jess talk about Age of Attraction, the reality-dating show on Netflix where people hook up despite not knowing each other's ages, which leads to some very awkward encounters indeed. Neal wonders why everyone has such a blank gaze in the show, but Jessica reminds him that people don't go on these shows because they're substantial. If you're looking for interesting conversations, look elsewhere.

The show switches up in the second half as Neal and Jess talk about The Forsytes, a desecration of the legendary Forsyte Saga now airing on PBS's Masterpiece. The Forsyte Saga is one of the great works of 20th century British literature, was a landmark British TV show in the 1960s, and was one of the best-ever Masterpiece adaptations in 2002. The Forsytes is dumb Bridgerton. This is a miniseries for a post-literate ages, featuring some of the worst hair, costumes, and dancing you'll ever see on TV. Also, you should still watch Fackham Hall on HBO Max, as Neal reviewed on the site weeks ago.

Thanks for tuning into the show!

They're here to comprehensively discuss Season 2 of The Pitt, which just concluded it run on HBO Max. Editor-in-chief Dan Friedman, former editor-in-chief Neal Pollack, and now-frequent BFG podcast contributor Jessica Babbitt break down the highs and lows, but mostly highs, of the season, discuss their doctor crushes, and dissect the politics of The Pitt, the most sneakily political show on TV, in detail so granular, you'd think that they might need an MRI.

You have to listen to this episode until you're done with your charting.

Enjoy!

Less seen, but somewhat important, is The AI Doc, Or How I Became An Apocalyoptimist, which Neal and Stephen found interesting and thought-provoking, but rather twee. This is what happens when you give millennials access to a camera. Perhaps you shouldn't give Gen-X directors access to filming millennials, which is what happened with Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, who made the romantic "comedy" The Drama. Neal and Stephen discuss the movie's weird tonal shifts, disturbed morality, and class cluelessness better than any two critics have or ever will.

Finally, Stephen admits that he just wasn't the audience for the Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie, and Neal recommends Pixar's charming Hoppers for him instead. At BFG, we see everything. And we see it well!

Enjoy the show.

First up is Michael, the bizarrely popular Michael Jackson biopic that has the world forgetting how weird and sinister late-era Michael Jackson really was. This is a hero's origin story, from the beginnings of the Jackson 5 up until the near-tragedy of the "Victory" tour. Contributor Gillian Gaar joins Neal in breaking down why she thinks this movie is a flat highlight reel that doesn't really work, and compares it to other recent popular music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Back in Black. Neal agrees with her mostly but really liked Colman Domingo as Michael's Machiavellian father, and has to admit the music scenes are pretty good.

Stephen Garrett makes his regular stop to talk about The Devil Wears Prada 2, the sequel to a popular movie from the fashion industry from 20 years ago. Our critics agree that this sequel seems flat and unnecessary and they get very bitchy talking about music and fashion, which is appropriate. Neal did like Justin Theroux as a Jeff Bezos-style billionaire magnate weirdo, and Emily Blunt is also pretty funny in the sequel. But most of the goings-on are pretty annoying.

Neal and Stephen clash on The Christophers, a Steven Soderbergh indie joint about the London art world. Soderbergh, who is 63, claimed to have retired 13 years ago, Ian McKellen is 87 at the end of this month and is not retiring any time soon. They agree that McKellen is wonderful as the lead, a dying 80-something former "Bad Boy" painter, and Neal tries unsuccessfully to persuade Stephen that Michaela Cole is NOT a film actress. They agree to disagree, as they always do.

Much more stylized, but no less effective, is Widow's Bay, a new comedy-horror semi-anthology series from comedy writer Katie Dippold, which embraces and deconstructs horror tropes with unabashed delight. It's like the X-Files meets Northern Exposure, with a touch of Twin Peaks and Parks and Recreation. The cast includes Matthew Rhys, Kate O'Flynn, and Stephen Root, and a bevy of monsters and supernatural happenings that bedevils a cursed Massachusetts island. Four episodes in, and Widow's Bay is already a TV legend. Omar and Neal give it their highest recommendation, and no one has better taste than they do.

Enjoy the show!

Stephen Garrett, on the other hand, comes straight from France, to report on a starless Cannes Festival, where studios spent millions of dollars to distribute films that you'll probably never see. That doesn't stop him from seeing them, though, and if you want to know everything that's going on in cinema, we advise you to give Stephen a listen. Pollack hasn't left his house in months, so you and he can virtually go to France, courtesy of Stephen, together.

We take that back, Neal did leave the house. Unfortunately, it was to see The Mandalorian and Grogu, the movie that might just be the lightsaber into the gut that kills the Star Wars franchise once and for all. Editor-in-chief Dan Friedman stops by the Pod Dome to talk to Neal about this two-hour action sequence that introduces us to the lamest Star Wars character since Jar Jar Binks. We're talking about Rotta the Hutt, Jabba's son, who's more jacked than Clavicular but talks like a laid-back skater bro, courtesy of an all-time bad vocal performance from Jeremy Allen White. April Fool's came early this year, or maybe late, depending on how you look at it.

Enjoy the show, and shield your eyes. Summer movie season is here.

We get around to Backrooms this week as well. Critic Daniel Aaron joins Neal to discuss the Internet phenomenon turned box-office sensation. Backrooms is a completely fresh premise, sure to be ground down over time by bad sequels. But for now, it’s all about liminal spaces, and genuinely haunting performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, as two Californians in the early 1990s who get caught in another dimension in the back of a failing furniture store. Creepy, unsettling, and weirdly funny, Backrooms will have you thinking twice before entering a strange space.

Finally, Scott Gold is back on the podcast this week, talking to Neal about Spider Noir on Amazon Prime, featuring an iconic Nicolas Cage performance as a 1930s noir detective who also happens to have the power set of Spider-Man. The series is eight episodes when it should have been six, with its share of repetitive story beats. But that doesn’t take away from its core pleasures: watching Cage give it his all, in a spectacularly physical comic, and semi-tragic, performance. There are excellent supporting turns as well, and enough action scenes to keep this from becoming too dull. Recommended quite highly by our two non-superpowered contributors.

Regular listeners of the Book and Film Globe podcast will also notice that we have new theme music this! It’s by composer Matthew Sheffer and is 100 percent appropriately licensed for use by Sea of Reeds Media. All Rights Reserved.

Enjoy the show!

Then Stephen Garrett drops into the pod-dome to take stock of this summer's movie offerings. Neal expresses extreme disappointment in Supergirl, which is way too grim-dark and not fun or sexy enough for his tastes. Why studios should be listening to the tastes of a 56-year-old man is an open question, but Supergirl was a huge bomb so they might as well hear what he has to say. Stephen, meanwhile, saw Toy Story 5, which was fine, Minions and Monsters, which was fine, and the new Jackass movie, which was also fine. The Jackass guys are in their 50s now, so none of their old activities are safe. But Neal and Stephen mostly go to the movies, which is perfectly safe, and probably will be until they're in their 80s.

Our new theme song and incidental music are by composer Matthew Sheffer and licensed for use by Sea of Reeds Media. All Rights Reserved.

Enjoy the show!

Then Neal invites BFG contributor Laura Pruden into his virtual apartment for a delightful chat about The Invite, director Olivia Wilde's four-character chamber comedy-drama about modern marriage and sexual mores. It's a movie for adults, by adults, and it's proof of concept that Wilde is a director worth watching, and that Rashida Jones is a screenwriter well worth watching. Neal and Laura disagree about Seth Rogen. She found him delightful, he found him distracting. Neal wonders when the next dinner party invite is coming his way.

Our new theme song and incidental music are by composer Matthew Sheffer and licensed for use by Sea of Reeds Media. All Rights Reserved.

Enjoy the show!

Omar Gallaga joins Neal from the wilds of Montana to talk about the new season of House of the Dragon, which is better, at least somewhat, than the old season of House of the Dragon. It's still a bit muddled, and, as Omar points out, there's no actual novel on which to base the show, so it sometimes reads like notes that someone turned into a screenplay. But still, in a summer low on appointment TV, you have dragon fights, and we shouldn't discount that.

Enjoy the show! Excelsior!