ACFmovie podcast

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ACF Asia #1 Rashomon Jul 31, 2019

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Titus & Molly McGrath discuss Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa's finest movie about the problem of justice. We talk through the different contradictory testimonies which deepen the crisis of justice--the conventional lies lead gradually to the full collapse of honor--but also about the relationship between humility, telling the truth, & saving a baby. Human nature emerges not only in its ugliness, but also in its beauty. Rashomon is both a story about Japan's collapse in WWII & a counsel of hope that times of decay need not lead to chaos.

ACF PoMoCon #6 Ben Sixsmith, Twitter culture Jul 23, 2019

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Titus & Ben Sixsmith talk about writing & audiences in the age of social media. Digital technology has rapidly democratized communications, turning broadcasting into narrow-casting & exposing everyone to the promise of access, interaction, & even celebrity. This has fostered not a brave new world, but serious political & social conflicts we discuss. The public space has been unwittingly privatized in the keep of a handful of tech corporations now facing a lot of hatred & with no sense of what the future holds!

ACF #21 I Confess Jul 17, 2019

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Titus & Eric Cook talk about Hitchcock's Catholic movie, I confess, about the conflict between justice & faith, public & private, secular law & holy men. Monty Clift plays a priest who receives confession of a murder only to gradually see himself get accused of that murder. A seeming accident turns into the theologico-political problem.

ACF #20 Strangers on a train Jul 10, 2019

Show notes

Titus & Eric Cook return to the Hitchcock series with Strangers on a train--a kind of companion piece to Rope. Both movies about murders committed out of enlightened immorality, one set among education elites in New York, the other among political elites in Washington--both stories about social climbers who have to face up to the ugliness of the elites they want to join & therefore warnings about the problems post-war liberalism will face.

ACF Critic #34 Paul Cantor, Deadwood Jul 03, 2019

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Titus & Paul Cantor talk about David Milch's most famous achievement, Deadwood--the movie & the TV show both: A lawless, but orderly vision of America. An America with commerce but without religion, with freedom but without equality--what kind of community & what kind of justice is possible in such a situation?

ACF Critic #33 Alan Moore Jun 26, 2019

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Titus & Peter Paik discuss Alan Moore's comics, which have made for a number of movie adaptations, few of which are successes. Zack Snyder's Watchmen is good. HBO is now making a series which looks terrible. The Wachawski's V for Vendetta was rather bad, as also From Hell. We try to explain why with reference to two themes that recur in Moore's stories--radical political change & the power of suffering to make for greatness, both ideas simply to be rejected in an End-of-History version of liberal politics. We also discuss Miracleman for one of Moore's depictions of such a realized End of History.

ACF Critic #32 Citizen Kane part 2 Jun 20, 2019

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Titus & Telly Davidson, critic & author of Culture War, a book about the 90s, return to Citizen Kane to wrap the discussion of the tyrannic soul, the erotic man who wants to be loved by everyone, & the characterization through love & friendship that helps us grasp what kind of man Kane was. We also talk about politics & media, how technology changes our situation & how we try to adapt to it.

ACF Critic #31 Citizen Kane Jun 13, 2019

Show notes

Titus & Telly Davidson talk about Citizen Kane, the story of politics & media technologies, the transformations radio brought to public & private lives, & the arrival of the fully erotic man--the tyrant-soul who wants to be loved by everyone. We also talk about transformations since Kane: TV & the internet, & the political, social, & cultural changes they've brought.

ACF PoMoCon #5 Education Jun 07, 2019

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Titus & Spotted Toad talk about education, the experience of the teacher, the crisis in public education & how to rethink it in the present circumstances. We talk about his book--13 Ways Of Going On A Field Trip--about his ten years teaching science in New York & the place of nature in our attempt to become rational.

ACF Critic #30 Teachout, North by Northwest May 30, 2019

Show notes

Titus & Terry Teachout talk about North by Northwest, Hitchcock's perfect comedy. We move by way of thriller from the noir to what it would take for a noir hero, betrayed by a beautiful woman, nevertheless to find his way to romance in the element of comedy. Cary Grant pulls off a performance by turns comic & tragic, trying to make sense of life in modern America, & end up getting married.

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