Kino Lefter

Latest Episodes:

80 - The King of Staten Island: Bravely Defunding Firefighters Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

Truly a saga of an episode. Ostensibly, we discuss the new Judd Apatow film The King of Staten Island, a Pete Davidson semi-autobiographical film about a hot couch guy whose dead dad gives him trauma. It is perhaps the most MacDonald Test movie we have ever covered.
This leads to lengthy conversations on how long the financial crisis lasted for, the step-dad industrial complex, and nearly *twenty minutes* on the merits of funding the fire department. If you make it through, we discuss articles from the brightest minds at National Review: Armond White and Ross Douthat.
ReComradations:
Abdul: The Last of Us Part II (PS4)
Evan: Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 (support your local comic book store)
Laura: The Nova Scotia shooter case has hallmarks of an undercover operation | Maclean's

79 - Da 5 Bloods/Did B*sh do 9/11? [Spike Lee miniseries part two of two] Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

We end our Spike Lee spectacular with DA 5 BLOODS, his latest, but is it his greatest?
Lots of tangents on this one, from Scottish foibles to conspiracy after conspiracy.
ReComradations:
Laura: Reading, specifically books from Verso.
Evan: Paris is Burning (1990)
Abdul: Uncle Drew and the ongoing NBA return to play dispute.

78 - Do the Right Thing: Time is a Flat Circle [Spike Lee Miniseries Part One of Two] Jun 14, 2020

Show notes

This week, we revisit Spike Lee’s seminal 1989 film on racism in America and police violence Do The Right Thing.
We discuss the critical response at the time, the film’s connections to the current moment, and eventually get to how the solar cycle is using energy from the Dark Multiverse to make 5G.
This is also Part One of a back-to-back series on Spike Lee, with next week’s review of Da 5 Bloods joining it soon.
ReComradations:
Evan: Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (2018)
Laura: Paris is Burning (1990)
Abdul: RTJ4 + The Game is Not a Game: The Power, Protest and Politics of American Sports by Scoop Jackson

UNLOCKED: Space Jam with Dog Island's Hugh Stewart Jun 10, 2020

Show notes

We don't have a new episode for you yet this week, so we've gone back through our premium archive to give you a recent hit!
Hugh Stewart from Dog Island, Atlantic Canada's #1 Cultural Marxist podcast, joined Abdul and Evan in February to examine the 1996 animated classic Space Jam. The American dream, unionization, and Michael Jordan's legacy are all up for discussion in the context of a film where Bugs Bunny is seconds away from indentured servitude.
Great places to support movements for justice in Canada and the U.S.:

77 - Capone: Level 35 Boss with Will Menaker Jun 03, 2020

Show notes

We recorded this episode before the demonstrations in response to the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police began. We've donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund (which now has a pause on donations), so we ask you to consider giving to some of these great causes:

Will Menaker from Chapo Trap House joins Team Kino this week to explore Josh Trank's Capone: a film where Tom Hardy waddles around in a diaper chomping a carrot and squawking like Danny DeVito's Penguin. It's an odyssey of fake friends, shitting your pants while being interviewed by the FBI, and yes, we get into the Armond White review.
ReComradations:
Will: State of Siege, dir. Costa-Gavras (1971) and Z, dir. Costa-Gavras (1969)
Abdul: Rebels of the Neon God, dir. Tsai Ming-liang (1992)
Evan: Abt dropped by Audi over imposter controversy | Sam Smith, The Race
Laura: The Raid, dir. Gareth Evans (2011)

BONUS - Masameer, Saudi Arabia's First Animated Movie ft. Seamus Malekafzali May 26, 2020

Show notes

EDIT: There was an issue with the upload, if you're into getting one sided audio, delete the episode and redownload it, it is fixed now!
Abdul is joined by Seamus Malekafzali to look at Saudi Arabia's first, inexplicable, insane animated film, MASAMEER.
You can find Seamus' fantastic writing here

ReComradations:

Join the Discord
Access Primo Lefter, our weekly premium show, for just $3/month through Patreon

76 - SCOOB! (Watching Movies is Killing Us) May 20, 2020

Show notes

Movies. They're still coming out during COVID. There's a lot of them. We picked this one. We don't know why we did, but we did. In the grim darkness of the quar, there is only SCOOB!.

ReComradations:

Laura: Listening to Kate Bush
Abdul: [1] Neighbor Science [2] Fictitious Capital: How Finance is Appropriating our Future
Evan: The Fall of Phoenix Jones

Join the Discord
Access Primo Lefter, our weekly premium show, for just $3/month through Patreon

BONUS: Justice League Dark: Apokolips War with Mattie Washburn May 15, 2020

Show notes

This is a spiritual sequel to our first collaboration, the Primo Lefter episode on Arctic Dogs, which you can hear in our premium feed.
Evan and friend of the show Mattie Washburn from Watchtower Database are here to give you a comprehensive review of the last installment in the DC Animated Movie Universe, capping off seven years of storytelling.
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War sees the Justice League, John Constantine, the Suicide Squad, and the Teen Titans come together to face an existential threat: Darkseid's conquest of all reality. They quickly learn that all of their strength isn't enough, and are left picking up the pieces in the wake of tragedy.
We discuss our favourite installments of this 15-film series, Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok's Darkseid War Saga (which loosely connects to this film), which DC heroes we would send to Apokolips, and go through the highlights of the story - all the way from a kryptonite-infused Superman to bottoming for King Shark. It's a journey.

Subscribe to Watchtower Database on YouTube, and check out Mattie's spoiler-free review on their channel.
Follow Mattie on Twitter (@MattieWashburn)
Join the Discord

Cane Fire: A Conversation With The Filmmakers May 14, 2020

Show notes

Director of Third Shift and Pure Flix and Chill: The David A.R. White Story (mentioned on our Unplanned episode) Anthony Banua-Simon and Producer Mike Vass sit down with us in the Socially Isolated Digital Studio to discuss their latest film, Cane Fire, premiering at the 2020 Hot Docs International Film Festival, streaming May 28 - June 24.
Cane Fire tells a story about the exploitation of land, people, and stories in Kauaʻi over several generations. Using archival footage, older films whose propaganda is painfully clear, and personal footage shot in Kaua'i interviewing family, workers, and the powerful, Cane Fire weaves together the exploitation of the sugar industry, declining union power, settler colonialism, and the Hollywood machine to "create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as “extras” in their own story."
There's also a real estate guy named, I shit you not, *Chad Deal* in this movie. You'll want to stick around for that.
Notes:

Check out Anthony's website
Check out Mike's website
Follow Anthony on Twitter (@ABanuaSimon)
Streaming information for Cane Fire: https://boxoffice.hotdocs.ca/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=125066~741853d5-bf72-40a5-a015-09aded779383&epguid=6a65e702-bd95-4e18-a0a3-71081ecb15b2&

Donate to Migrante Alberta, and check out the #AHS4All campaign on Twitter for barrier-free access to health care in Alberta.
Join the Discord
Get access to Primo Lefter, our weekly premium show, for just $3/month by joining our Patreon.

75 - Blood Quantum: exploring colonialism with a katana May 11, 2020

Show notes

Blood Quantum, Jeff Barnaby's Miꞌkmaq zombie movie is sick and you should watch it:
Shudder // YouTube // Apple TV
Genre fiction has always been home to robust social critique, and this timely movie is no different. Set on the Red Crown reserve, a sheriff, a nurse, and their fractured family need to adapt to a new zombified world. Along the way, conversations on Indigenous-settler relations, decolonization, apocalypse, refugees, and putting a chainsaw through a zombie's head are handled nicely.
Notes:

Is The Crown At War With Us? (2002) [NFB]
Dancing Around the Table Parts 1 + 2 (1987-1988) [NFB]
Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity by Darryl Leroux [Buy]

ReComradations:

Laura: Rewatching Mad Men
Abdul: [1] Inside the Kingdom by Robert Lacey [2] Narmada: A Valley Rises, dir. Ali Kazimi (1994) [more]
Evan: Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States by Audra Simpson

Join the Discord
Access Primo Lefter, our weekly premium show, for just $3/month through Patreon

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected