Movie Death Match: "The Last Waltz" v. "Stop Making Sense"

It Makes No Difference who wins: Hearing rock critic par excellence Steven Hyden assert the supremacy of The Last Waltz against Bright Wall / Dark Room editor Elizabeth Cantwell’s eloquent defense of Stop Making Sense is a Once in a Lifetime rhetorical contest. Listen below.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "The Dog Stars"

Glen, Aisha, and I were all fairly unmoved by Ridley Scott’s latest, The Dog Stars, which I wrote about last week. But it disappointed each of us in a slightly different way. Hear the Pop Culture Happy Hour episode below.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "The Odyssey"

Matt Damon is Odysseus and Zendaya is Athena. (Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal)

I fully expected my PCHH brethren Glen Weldon and (especially) Stephen Thompson to complain that Christopher Nolan’s all-star, shot-on-location-in-IMAX, no-expense-spared adaptation of a 2,800ish-year-old epic poem was too long with too few jokes. To my surprise and delight, they did not. Wailin Wong, who I had the pleasure of being on a panel with to dissect the probably-final Mission: Impossible last summer, shares my love of Tenet. It’s a fun episode.

My Washington City Paper review, meanwhile, is here.

Movie Death Match: "Inception" v. "Interstellar"

With just a week until the release of The Odyssey, two time-dilating Christopher Nolan joints go cowl-to-cowl in an IMAX melee so epic Homer could’ve written it. New York magazine / Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri rides for 2010’s Inception while Pop Culture Scientist (and University of Oxford scientist) Abigail James reps 2014’s Interstellar in an all-new, mostly-different Movie Death Match!

Movie Death Match: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" v. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"

New pod! We took the critical insight of Filmspotting and added the primal thrill of bloodsport to create Movie Death Match!

In our Disclosure Day themed debut episode, two "passionate and highly credentialed advocates" argue the relative merits of Steven Spielberg's two friendly-visitor classics. Representing 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind is Margaret Weitekamp, curator nonpareil! Pounding the table for 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is Jen Chaney, critic extraordinaire!

I'm grateful to them both for their game participation and to Filmspotter-in-Chief Adam Kempenaar for the opportunity to administer firm-but-fair cinematic jurisprudence.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu."

The trio from the Baby, Secret of the Lost Legend episode of A Degree Absolute! — Jordan Morris, Glen Weldon, and yours truly — reunite to work through our extremely mild enthusiasm for the latest Star War, The Mandalorian and Grogu. My Washington City Paper review of the same is here.

Discussing "The Christophers" on Filmspotting

Minnesota Nice: "Normal," reviewed

My Washington City Paper review of Normal, a Bob Odenkirk-headlined action movie — what a strange phrase — is here. You can also hear me discuss the movie with pals Glen Weldon and Ronald Young, Jr. on Pop Culture Happy Hour below.