The Dissolve: Podcasts

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Episode 30: The Great Gazoo And A Talking Dog Edition Feb 19, 2015

Show notes

As this episode posts, the Oscars are just two days away, and everybody’s talking about who’ll win. So we decided to skip the prognostications and talk about what we hope the winners will say and do, and what we hope for from Oscar speeches in general. Then Hot Tub Time Machine 2 gets us digging into the worlds of sequels that lost key personnel from the original film: What we expect from them, what we get, and what can redeem them. This week’s game, also about Oscar speeches, lets Scott Tobias again prove his lightning speed at identifying audio clips, and we close out with an unexpectedly close-to-home (and yet far, far away) edition of 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 29: The Always Gonna Show Up Edition Feb 05, 2015

Show notes

Though Michael Mann’s Blackhat and the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending opened to mostly tepid notices, there are pockets of intense interest among critics and fans of their respective bodies of work. On this week’s podcast, we talk about filmmakers whose work is—or is perceived to be—in decline, but who inspire us to keep our hopes us anyway, even knowing that, say, Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem may not turn out to be as good as Brazil. Then we follow up on Nathan Rabin’s Career View on Philip Seymour Hoffman and discuss the actor’s best and most unheralded work a year after his death. A favorite Onion headline inspires the game this week, which asks contestants to distinguish between two 1997 subterranean horror movies, Mimic and The Relic. Then it’s a Senior Editor throwdown as Tasha Robinson and Genevieve Koski battle it out in 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 28: The Adam Carolla Doesn't Deserve My Fart Noise Edition Jan 22, 2015

Show notes

Hey, remember when we had a podcast? Now’s your chance to relive those memories and make some new ones, because it’s back. We’re jumping back into the deep end with a discussion of the roiling debate over all the history-based Best Picture nominees, and whether there really is any value in “based on a true story” movies that don’t resemble true stories. Then we welcome our new News Editor Rachel Handler into a room of our own by examining the awkward twentysomething women of current film comedy. We celebrate our long-awaited comeback with a game about lengthy gaps between films and sequels, then head to the finish line with Rachel’s first ultra-pandering shot at our timed and competitive recommendation segment, 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 27: The 3,000 Fathers Of Tarantino Edition Aug 29, 2014

Show notes

Despite diminished box-office grosses, laments about Hollywood’s addiction to sequels and remakes, and portents of doom from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Dissolve podcast host Scott Tobias had a really good time at the movies this summer. But what of the other Dissolvers? On this week’s podcast, we discuss the hits and misses of Summer 2014 and cast an eye on the future. And with the site heavy on Elmore Leonard coverage—namely, our Movie Of The Week, Steven Soderbergh’s Out Of Sight, and Life Of Crime, a new adaptation of Leonard’s The Switch—we thought it would be a good time to reflect on the author’s fascinating legacy on screen. The game this week asks our panel to differentiate between Troy McClure movies, straight-to-video movies, and made-up movies, and we wrap it up as usual with our quick-fire recommendation segment, 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 26: The Produced By Jack Abramoff Edition Aug 15, 2014

Show notes

In theaters and/or On Demand now, you can check out new films by Alex Gibney, Michael Winterbottom, Woody Allen, and Joe Swanberg. Last year, you could also check out one or more new films by Gibney, Winterbottom, Allen, and Swanberg, and the year before that, too. This week’s podcast delves into the work habits of our most prolific filmmakers: Are they that inspired, or is something lost by working too fast? This week also sees the release of yet another YA adaptation, this one Lois Lowry’s 1993 YA standard The Giver. Though the film breaks from the book, Hollywood has been conservative about staying faithful to popular texts. But at what cost? The Expendables 3 inspires a game this week about its mostly ancient action stars, and we wrap it up as always with our quick-fire recommendation segment, 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 25: The Infinite Possibilities, Infinite Gauntlets Edition Aug 01, 2014

Show notes

Guardians Of The Galaxy opens in theaters this weekend, Marvel True Believers, and we all enjoyed it so much that we sat down to an enthusiastic (and spoiler-free) conversation about what it means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and where we hope the only partly fleshed-out Phase Three will go, now that Marvel has successfully taken the action off Earth and opened up a bigger, more complicated world. Joining us for the conversation: Eisner-nominated comics critic Oliver Sava. Our second segment also brings in a guest: L.A. Weekly’s Amy Nicholson, discussing her new book Tom Cruise: Anatomy Of An Actor, and how writing it turned her from a dubious Cruise detractor to a fan of his work ethic and ambition. The Movie Game Movie Game stumped some of the participants and led to a brief shouting match; we welcome your feedback over whether the rules of the game (so to speak) were fair play. And we brought in some enthusiastic new blood with our first all-intern edition of 30 Seconds To Sell. Speaking of feedback, we’re looking to launch a feedback and discussion segment on the podcast. Anything on the site, or in the broader field of movies—anything you’d discuss in The Dissolve's comments—is fair game. Email us at feedback@thedissolve.com to kick off a conversation.

Episode 24: The Muffing Up The Sex Talk Edition Jul 18, 2014

Show notes

This week, it’s APES APES APES APES, as Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes prompts our resident Planet Of The Apes superfans to look back on the long-running series, from its grim, heady 1970s longueurs to all the tie-in products that kept kids absorbed between films that likely went over their heads. Sex Tape has us talking about America’s awful record with sex comedies for or about adults, and wondering why it’s so hard for sex comedies to talk about sex in a remotely mature way. (Hee hee, “so hard.”) Our game this week, In A World, asks contestants to identify films by listening to trailer snippets—which in one case, happened in literally two seconds. And we close, as always, with our competitive-recommendation segment, 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 23: The Frosting On Top Of Frosting Edition Jul 03, 2014

Show notes

With the flourish of Scary Movie sequels and Friedberg/Seltzer productions like Meet The Spartans and Date Movie, the spoof hit rock bottom a few years ago, but our Movie Of The Week discussion of Airplane! and David Wain’s new rom-com riff They Came Together inspire a fresh look at the art of film comedy’s least respected subgenre. Another near-future MOTW (and Greatest Blockbuster poll winner), Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, has earned praise for keeping the shark off screen until the final third, but we question whether the decision to withhold information from an audience is always the right one. The game this week is “Oh, Roger,” which digs into the reviews, positive and negative, where Roger Ebert broke radically from consensus. And finally, Tasha Robinson and Nathan Rabin square off in the recommendation octagon that is 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 22: The Disintegrating Rubber Frog Edition Jun 20, 2014

Show notes

On this week’s podcast, the release of Clint Eastwood’s version of Broadway’s mega-hit Jersey Boys gets us talking about how fidelity, staginess, and Gerard Butler affect our appreciation, or lack thereof, for stage-to-screen musical adaptations. Crash writer-director Paul Haggis returns to the hyperlink-cinema well for Third Person, which gets us talking about what we call everything-is-connected movies: From Nashville to Short Cuts to Babel, the films that sprawl across a scene or a theme, linking disparate characters in sometimes-hokey ways. Our game this week, Name That Tune Without That Tune, proved unexpectedly rough; we hope you’ll do better, or at least leave the podcast humming along. And we wrap this time out with a record-breaking 30 Seconds To Sell.

Episode 21: The Death By Octopus Edition Jun 06, 2014

Show notes

The podcast is turning 21 this week and the poor dear is crying into its beer. Why? Because The Fault In Our Stars, an adaptation of John Green’s YA romance about teenagers with cancer, is poised to become a box-office hit this weekend. This week, we wonder if that movie gets around our cultural resistance to feel-bad cinema, and guess at the source of that resistance. And with the threat of a future where patrons will have to pay a little extra to weep in the middle seats, we discuss the range of amenities (and hassles) that theater chains are devising to increase revenue and keep people coming to the movies. The game this week is “The Crying Game,” in which Dissolvers have their knowledge of tearjerkers—and 1980s TV theme songs—tested. And we sober up as always with our quick-fire recommendation segment, 30 Seconds To Sell.

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