Michael and Us

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PREVIEW - #447 - Your Obedient Servant Jul 28, 2023

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PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/86802421 In a special solo documentary episode, Will looks at the 1946 radio broadcasts in which Orson Welles advocated for justice in the case of Isaac Woodard Jr., a black war veteran who was beaten and blinded by a police officer in the American south. Listen to the full Orson Welles Commentaries broadcasts here - https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/collections/show/9

#446 - Le petite mort (w/ Adam Nayman) Jul 25, 2023

Show notes

So, why do they call it "the little death"? Will is joined by film critic Adam Nayman to discuss Claire Denis's transgressive masterpiece TROUBLE EVERY DAY (2001) and how it scandalized film culture circa 2001. PLUS: What is it like to teach the history of satire at a university? Adam Nayman on Twitter - https://twitter.com/brofromanother Adam's books - https://www.abramsbooks.com/contributor/adam-nayman_19289396/

PREVIEW - #445 - Hollywood Crackup Jul 21, 2023

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PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/445-hollywood-86422479 With the winds of change (and a couple of major strikes) hitting the movie industry, we look back on a document from an earlier time when the tectonic plates shifted in Hollywood. Shot throughout the 1970s, Orson Welles' posthumously completed THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018) looked at the New Hollywood from the jaundiced perspective of an industry veteran. PLUS: Fiery hot takes on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy

#444 - He's Surely Alive (w/ Alex Shephard) Jul 19, 2023

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Reports of God's death remain greatly exaggerated in GOD'S NOT DEAD 2 (2016), in which Evangelical Christianity is put literally on trial. We welcome back Alex Shephard (staff writer for The New Republic and expert in the blockbuster Christian film franchise), and discuss how this instalment's relentless focus on Facts and Logic situates it in a recent but very different era of the culture war. PLUS: Ron DeSantis continues to have no juice. "Ron DeSantis Has a Ron DeSantis Problem" by Alex Shephard - https://newrepublic.com/article/174327/ron-desantis-ron-desantis-problem Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

PREVIEW - #443 - Comfortably Dumb Jul 15, 2023

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PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/443-comfortably-86096994 Many have called NOSTALGIA CRITIC: THE WALL (2019) the worst movie review of all time. But upon viewing this infamous YouTube video, we're forced to ponder: is it even worse than that? We cap our recent run of Pink Floyd content by revisiting one of the lowest moments in the history of the internet.

PREVIEW - BONUS: A Podcastful of Secrets (w/ Nick Mason) Jul 15, 2023

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PATREON EXCLUSIVE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-podcastful-86089621 In a very special interview, Luke talks to Pink Floyd's drummer Nick Mason about reviving the band's early music, their legendary 1975 Hamilton show, and why they're experiencing a renaissance.

#442 - The Futility Thesis Jul 13, 2023

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At the behest of our Superdelegate patron tier, we have returned to a TV show that is one of the prime relics of mid-2000s libertarian culture. We watch episodes of PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! on topics as disparate from handicapped parking to reparations, but find that for the libertarian funnymen, it all comes back to property rights. PLUS: thoughts on the QAnon human-trafficking thriller that's rocking the box office, and a shocking allegation that Napoleon Bonaparte was a bad guy. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Our first episode on PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! - https://www.patreon.com/posts/68-penn-teller-21372520 Our episode on TIM'S VERMEER - https://www.patreon.com/posts/367-penn-and-72436837

PREVIEW - #441 - The Flaming Cow (w/ Ron Geesin) Jul 08, 2023

Show notes

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/441-flaming-cow-85777013 In a solo documentary episode, Luke offers a brief history of Pink Floyd and its landmark 1970 suite Atom Heart Mother. He then sits down with the piece's co-writer Ron Geesin to discuss its composition, his unique career, his collaborations with Pink Floyd and Roger Waters, a chance encounter with Syd Barrett, and the unfairly-maligned institution of the adjustable spanner.

#440 - Deaths of Cinema Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019) hit the zeitgeist by consciously going against the 2019-era cultural grain. Tarantino looks back on the winds of change that greeted the movie business in the late 1960s and lands firmly - but not uncomplicatedly - on the side of the old guard. PLUS: Bluesky vs Twitter, wrapping up the Toronto mayoral election, and checking in on a man by the name of Lights Camera Jackson. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

PREVIEW - #439 - Rambo: Fourth Blood Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/439-rambo-fourth-85222850 John Rambo enters Myanmar - and affirms his belief that man is fundamentally barbaric - in the fourth and bleakest entry in the series, titled simply RAMBO (2008). We find in this ugly film the purest articulation of writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone's conservative politics. PLUS: Arnold Schwarzenegger's Netflix series, and the unexpected cinephilia of Toronto's most visible far-right mayoral candidate.

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