Talkin' Long Movies on "Weekend Edition Sunday"

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon. (Apple)

There’re few things I love more than to immerse myself in he richly-imagined world of a movie, but even I can see that popcorn flicks, in particular, have hulked out to dangerous dimensions. I noted this alarming trend on the occasion of Avengers: Endgame in 2019 and again back in May when Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction true-crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. Weekend Edition Sunday host Ayesha Roscoe had me and my pal Bob Mondello on to refute, which great respect, her assertion that movies are too long. According to Bob, what was originally slated for a four-minute time slot was allowed to strech out to a luxurious 7:15, which seems fitting.

The Old Vampire and the Sea: "The Last Voyage of the Demeter," reviewed.

He’s well-fed on his ocean voyage from Romania to England.

My Washington City Paper review of the Dracula… mid-quel. I guess? … The Last Voyage of the Demeter is here.

The Roach Eaters: "The Pitchfork Disney" returns to DC after 27 years.

Em Whitworth and Jack Rento rehearse The Pitchfork Disney. (Photo: Caroline Johnson)

Here’s a feature I did for the City Paper about a scrappy young paor of actors, Em Whitworth and Jack Rento, putting up their own DIY production of Philip Ridley’s The PItchfork Disney, a gnarly play that had its U.S. premiere at Woolly Mammoth back in 1995 and hasn’t been seen in Our Nation’s Capitol since.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One"

IMF lifers Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie always wanted to crash a train together. (Paramount)

it’s an honor and a privilege to dissect the latest entry in my favorite film franchise with Linda Holmes, Wailin Wong, and Roxanna Hadadi on today’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. My estimation of the film grew when I saw it a second time after we recorded this, but it’s an accurate reflection of my somewhat perplexed initial response.

Choose to Accept "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One"

I did a big reversal on latest impossible Mission in the interim in between when we recorded the forthcoming Pop Culture Happy Hour episode on it and when I saw the film again and wrote my Washington City Paper review. That’s why the latter is more effusive than the former. Sometimes that happens!

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" and What's Making Us Happy

Harrison Ford is superannuated and super angry in Dial of Destiny. (Disney/Lucasfilm)

I’m destiny-dialin’ on Pop Culture Happy Hour this week with Glen Weldon and Kristen Meinzer.

The Mileage, but also the Years: "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," reviewed.

Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are, respectively, alarmed and astonished. (Disney/Lucasfilm)

If octogenarian adventure has a name, it’s Indiana Jones! My Washington City Paper review is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Asteroid City" and What's Making Us Happy

Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks in Wes Anderson’s latest. (Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features)

Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is one of my favorite films of the almost-half-concluded year, an entirely predictable result given his track record with me. I was chuffed to discuss it with Pal-For-Life Glen Weldon and The Indicator host Wailin Wong.