The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

Latest Episodes:

Richard Rushfield on Scott Rudin, Bad Boss, and More! Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

The show’s first ever guest, Richard Rushfield, returns to the program to discuss all sorts of stuff. Super-Producer Scott Rudin: bad boss, or something worse? What went down with Ray Fisher and Warner Bros.? Are theaters coming back? What’s the industry hoping for in terms of Oscars viewership? All this and more on this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Thomson on His 'History of Movie Directors' Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

On this week’s episode, Sonny talks to David Thomson about his new book, A Light in the Dark: A History of Movie Directors. The book is a look at the evolution of the very idea of a “director,” from the workmanlike efforts out of studio system craftsmen to the auteur theory to the world of TV, where directors get very little notice and writers get all the glory. It’s a personal history, in a way—you see who Thomson enjoys and who he respects—as well as an economic history. The business of building up directors is a fascinating one, given all the financial and social and artistic imperatives that come with identifying a singular vision and person as the author of a massive project like a feature film.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sean O'Connell on the Grassroots Efforts to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut Mar 26, 2021

Show notes

Snyder Cut week at the Bulwark wraps up with Sean O’Connell, author of Release the Snyder Cut: The Crazy True Story Behind the Fight that Saved Zack Snyder’s Justice League. We talk about his new book, the social media campaign that not only secured the release of Zack Snyder’s four-hour version of Justice League but also raised more than half a million dollars for suicide prevention charities, and how the rise of streaming helped ensure this film could be released at all.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tom Shone on Christopher Nolan Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

This week, Sonny is joined by Tom Shone, film critic for the Sunday Times, to talk about his recent book The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan. The book is a must-own if you’re a fan of Nolan, as Shone spent hours with the director of The Dark Knight trilogy, Memento, and Inception. On this episode we talk about influences on Nolan’s work like Jorge Luis Borges (whose collected fiction is also a must-own for those looking to understand the director), how fatherhood has influenced his work, and the politics of The Dark Knight.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Malloy on the Business of Blu-ray Supplements Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

On this week’s episode, Sonny talks to Mike Malloy about the home video landscape, what it’s like to make supplements for specialty Blu-ray purveyors, and the world of tough-guy cinema writ large. Mike began as a film journalist for newspapers, magazines and the occasional book. After the decline of print media, he moved into filmmaking with larger projects like his EUROCRIME! documentary. But with budgets hard to come by, he has lately settled into the groove of producing—and appearing in—bonus content for Blu-Rays. You can find his YouTube channel here and his Instagram account here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scott Feinberg on the Business of Hollywood Awards Season Mar 04, 2021

Show notes

This week Scott Feinberg, the Hollywood Reporter’s awards columnist and host of the excellent podcast Awards Chatter, joins Sonny to talk about the business of awards season. How corrupt are the Golden Globes? What could improve them? And Sonny asks Scott about his absolute favorite part of Oscars season: The Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballots! All this and more on this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Abraham Riesman on the Rise (and Fall) of Stan Lee Feb 25, 2021

Show notes

Joining Sonny on this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood is Abraham Riesman, the author of the excellent new biography True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee. We discuss the long-running fight for credit between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as well as Lee’s greatest contribution to the world: the character of Stan Lee, a catchphrase-spouting mascot whose ability to connect with fans and create a sense of community helped shape the idea of fandom to this day. For more on Riesman and his book, make sure to check out his website, abrahamriesman.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Harold Mintz on the Past, Present, and Future of CinemaScore Feb 18, 2021

Show notes

This week on The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny is very excited to have the president of CinemaScore, Harold Mintz, on the show. CinemaScore is the fantastically useful company that polls opening weekend moviegoers for their grades on new releases, and it’s a more accurate and unbiased measure of audience opinion than just about any other easily available metric.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alan Zilberman on life as a critic during awards season Feb 11, 2021

Show notes

Alan Zilberman, a critic for the Washington City Paper and the Washington Post, joins Sonny Bunch for a very special episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood in which the two discuss life as a part-time film critic during awards season. Both Sonny and Alan are members of the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association, and both Sonny and Alan slaved away on our annual year-end nominations for the WAFCA awards. No one knows the struggles we’ve seen—until now! What’s it like to have to watch multiple movies a day in order to futilely try to impact an award that’s just going to go to an Oscar frontrunner anyway? How are the awards in 2020 different from the awards in almost every other year? Why is everyone so in love with Nomadland anyway?

For the full list of WAFCA winners and nominees, go here: http://wafca.com/awards/index.htm You’ll notice a disturbing absence of both Fatman and The Wolf of Snow Hollow from the nominees. It’s like most critics can’t recognize great art unless it comes wrapped in a pricey Oscar campaign!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Glenn Kenny on 'Goodfellas,' Martin Scorsese, and the Business of Movie Books Feb 04, 2021

Show notes

This week’s guest is Glenn Kenny, the author of the excellent new book Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas. Glenn is is a film critic whose work appears in the New York Times and Roger Ebert dot com. He has also written for The Current, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, the New York Daily news, Playboy, Film Comment, and other publications. In addition to Made Men, Glenn is the author of Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor and the editor of an excellent collection of essays about Star Wars, A Galaxy Not So Far Away.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices