Michael and Us

In Akira Kurosawa's KAGEMUSHA (1980), a lowly thief is recruited to impersonate a feudal warlord, and he almost gets away with it. This mighty epic gives us opportunity to ponder the role of illusion in maintaining power, and whether or not a lie will always be exposed. PLUS: Recapping the U.K. election, and hey, have you heard about this Joe Biden character? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF OUR ONGOING "STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP" SERIES ON PATREON - Join us there for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus It's Studio 60 vs the unions in Episode 17 ("The Disaster Show") of Aaron Sorkin's STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP. We're pleased to welcome Will Menaker (of Chapo Trap House and Movie Mindset fame) to help us make sense of Sorkin's perspective on organized labor. PLUS: So have you heard about Joe Biden? You've heard of Chapo Trap House, but here's there website - https://www.chapotraphouse.com/

Government and big tech are in cahoots to reshape America, and the only man who can stop it is Elon Musk. That's more-or-less the thesis of THE TWITTER FILES (2023), a movie that plumbs new depths even in the right-wing movie ecosystem. PLUS: The first Biden/Trump debate and state of the Canadian Liberal Party. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Democrats Need to Try Something Radical: Hire Christopher Nolan" by Matt Robison - https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/06/22/democrats-need-to-try-something-radical-hire-christopher-nolan/ "Why the Twitter Files Are in Fact a Big Deal" by Branko Marcetic - https://jacobin.com/2022/12/twitter-files-censorship-content-moderation-intelligence-agencies-surveillance See Will introduce "Hollywood Boulevard" at Toronto's Fox Theatre on July 9: https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/the-important-cinema-club-masterpiece-classics-hollywood-boulevard/

As we drift further and further into STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, we find a show that is quickly losing touch with its original premise of saving comedy, and transforming into a workplace soap opera with a lot of sexual harassment. We discuss episodes 14 ("The Harriet Dinner Part II") and 15 ("The Friday Night Slaughter"). PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/536-studio-sucky-106899255

You can go looking for the zeitgeist, but only the zeitgeist can find you. That's what the makers of countless pieces of failed Oscar bait have learned. In this special episode, we run through some of the most legendary failed Oscar bait of the last 25 years and speculate why they didn't catch anything. PLUS: presidential libraries, the Obama Foundation, and an autobiographical novel from an unlikely Hollywood star. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus See Will introduce "Hollywood Boulevard" at Toronto's Fox Theatre on July 9 - https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/the-important-cinema-club-masterpiece-classics-hollywood-boulevard/

We know you've waited a whole week since our last episode on STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, anxiously looking forward to any update on the Macau Deal. Your wish is our command. We discuss Episodes 12 ("Monday") and 13 ("The Harriet Dinner, Part 1") - more than halfway through, folks! PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/534-studio-sucky-106403874

When our politicians fail us, can journalism save us? We revisit George Clooney's GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (2005), about Edward R. Murrow's battle with Joseph McCarthy, and get a lesson in how the liberal imagination remembers the Red Scare. PLUS: the rise of A.I. in the arts, and the state of the centre-left in Europe. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Liberals, I Do Despise" by Adolph Reed Jr. - https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/12/09/liberals-i-do-despise "On Smarm" by Tom Scocca - https://www.gawkerarchives.com/on-smarm-1476594977 "Europe Is Warning Us" by Grace Blakeley - https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/06/europe-is-warning-us

We continue our long journey through the dark heart of Aaron Sorkin's STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP. Jordan gets pregnant, Harriet is inducted into the Falstaff Society, Matt & Danny create the most Epic Christmas TV broadcast ever, and Aaron Sorkin confirms once and for all that Santa isn't real in Episode 10 ("B-12") and Episode 11 ("The Christmas Show"). PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/532-studio-sucky-106000756

During the Trump presidency, #TheResistance had a powerful figurehead, and his name was (the late) Mr. Rogers. We discuss the Tom Hanks-led #nicecore landmark A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (2019), the strengths and limitations of Fred Rogers as a Trump-era political symbol, and what this movie fails to understand about him. PLUS: What's eating David Frum about the recent Mexican election? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Can You Say... 'Hero'?" by Tom Junod - https://www.neighborhoodarchive.com/publications/press/esquire/index.html "How Liberalism Betrayed the Enlightenment and Lost Its Soul" by Michael Brenes - https://jacobin.com/2024/05/cold-war-liberalism-moyn-review Mr. Rogers at the Emmys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upm9LnuCBUM&ab_channel=TheEmmyAwards

Growing up in Iran under the shadow of American imperialism, filmmaker Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa felt an unlikely personal connection with American cinema - specifically, the films of Jerry Lewis. In her documentary JERRY AND ME (2012) she explores Lewis as a symbol of America and a universal archetype for outsiders... but also runs into the limits of Lewis as a person. PLUS: We consider the legacy of Morgan Spurlock. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/430-reading-in-105570192

Our journey through America's second-greatest law-and-order franchise continues with WALKING TALL: THE PAYBACK (2007), a direct-to-video adventure with Kevin Sorbo. We discuss how the rural Dirty Harry was reimagined (or not) for the late Bush era. PLUS: Randall Emmett, Kevin Spacey, the death of cinema, and of course, Donald Trump's guilty verdict. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

The troops fight abroad, and sketch comedians fight on the home front. In our latest dispatch from the universe of Aaron Sorkin's STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, we ponder the author's tortured relationship with everything from advertising to gender to Woody Allen via "The Nevada Day" Parts 1 & 2 and "The Option Period." PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/528-studio-sucky-105072974

In the feature-film adaptation of John le Carré's TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY (2011), Cold War-era Britain doesn't look that much different from behind the Iron Curtain - visually, at least. We discuss the challenges of compressing an intricate novel into a two-hour movie, and try to situate le Carré politically. PLUS: Taking the temperature of the snap British election, and a fond farewell to a B-movie titan.

It's a jumbo-sized helping of Aaron Sorkin as we continue our descent into madness/journey through STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP. In this instalment, we consider Sorkin's views on race, the Greatest Generation, and Abbott & Costello. PLUS: We probe further into the dark heart of Jerry Seinfeld. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/526-studio-sucky-104631151

Maybe it's a fool's errand to look for politics in the Marx Brothers' DUCK SOUP (1933), but nevertheless, many have tried. We discuss the philosophy of the Brothers' tomfoolery, and the way that movies and literature imagine countries like Freedonia. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

After inhabiting the White House but before examining the Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin created a show that sought nothing less than to fix the most important American institution of them all: Saturday Night Live. We launch what will eventually become a multi-episode discussion of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP (2006-7). Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

You've seen Air, you've seen Blackberry, and are you ready for the Corporate I.P. genre to reach its baroque period? We discuss Jerry Seinfeld's UNFROSTED (2024), a comedy about the invention of the pop-tart, and attempt an ideological reading of a comedian who has stubbornly resisted ideology. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/523-from-freezer-103971720

A new campaign to boycott Canada's biggest grocery chain raises a plethora of issues about how monopolies work in Canada, and what role governments and consumers should play in combatting them. On this special episode, Luke welcomes writers David Moscrop and Mitchell Thompson to discuss the Loblaws boycott and Canada's grocery-store oligarchs, the Weston Family. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/103770757

In the election year of 2004, an ultraviolent subtitled right-wing Christian movie became a genuine cultural phenomenon and political lightning-rod. We finally discuss THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004) and theology according to Mel Gibson. PLUS: the White House Correspondents Dinner, the Columbia encampment, and the one optimistic takeaway of a discouraging week. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "This Is How Power Protects Itself" by Jack Mirkinson - https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/columbia-ccny-cuny-protest-nypd-police-brutality/ "Mel Gibson's Martyrdom Complex" by Frank Rich - https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/movies/mel-gibson-s-martyrdom-complex.html "The Gospel According to Mel" by Christopher Hitchens - https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/03/hitchens-201102 The Mel Gibson/Diane Sawyer interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ecnfe530IE

We had to do it. We heard that GOD'S NOT DEAD: WE THE PEOPLE (2021), the fourth entry in the Evangelical film franchise, goes all-in on the culture wars of the Trump years. We welcome back our official God's Not Dead correspondent Alex Shephard to discuss the wackiest entry yet. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/103293856

If all of our current class hierarchies were eliminated, what would replace them? This question is at the core of TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (2022), the art-house hit that show the limits of being an "equal-opportunity offender." PLUS: campus protests, keffiyeh bans, and the state of the publishing industry. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "No One Buys Books" by Elle Griffin - https://www.elysian.press/p/no-one-buys-books "The Delusional Triangle of Sadness" by Armond White - https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/10/the-delusional-triangle-of-sadness/ "Triangle of Sadness" review by Richard Brody - https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/triangle-of-sadness-reviewed-were-on-a-yacht-and-were-puking "Triangle of Sadness" review by Gabe Klinger - https://letterboxd.com/gabeklinger/film/triangle-of-sadness/

Less than a decade after the revolutionary potential of the May 1968 protests, Robert Bresson's THE DEVIL, PROBABLY (1977) follows a disaffected youth in a world full of evil who asks: Is life worth living? It's a hard question, but we do our best to answer it. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Aiming straight for the zeitgeist, CIVIL WAR (2024) is a disaster movie for the post-January 6th America. But in deliberately removing any politics or ideology from his vision of a country at war with itself, Alex Garland has made a movie that is rigorously, even militantly unwilling to say anything. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/517-civil-war-102614736

By the third entry of the God's Not Dead franchise, its creative team had clearly started listening to their critics. The result was a kinder, gentler right-wing Evangelical Christian drama that sought to heal divides... and failed at the box office. We welcome back New Republic writer and our resident God's Not Dead correspondent Alex Shephard to discuss GOD'S NOT DEAD: A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS (2018). JOIN US ON PATREON FOR AN EXTRA EPISODE EVERY WEEK - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

When he emerged on radio, he was celebrated as a pioneering black star in a white entertainment landscape. By the time of the Civil Rights Movement, he was regarded by many a symbol of black subservience. In this solo documentary episode Cohost Will considers the career and thorny legacy of Eddie Anderson, the actor and comedian who played "Rochester" on The Jack Benny Show. "Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy" by Katherine H. Fuller-Seeley - https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295056/jack-benny-and-the-golden-age-of-american-radio-comedy This episode first appeared on the Michael & Us Patreon. For an extra episode every week, join us at https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

With the world in flames, it was time to have a little fun. We return to one of our all-time favourite discoveries, checking in on John Cleese's mind-bogglingly awful GB News chat show THE DINOSAUR HOUR to see how or if it has evolved since its debut. PLUS: What exactly do conservatives mean by "Marxism"? And Will uncovers a right-wing Evangelical book from the 1950s that exposes the dark heart of Hollywood. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/515-escape-from-102297790

For seven weeks in 1936 and 1937, workers at the General Motors plant in Flint Michigan held a risky sit-down strike. A true David vs. Goliath story, their strike won recognition for the United Auto Workers and changed labour in the United States forever. With a newer UAW strike fresh in the memory, we discuss the BBC documentary THE GREAT SIT-DOWN (1976). JOIN US ON PATREON FOR AN EXTRA EPISODE EVERY WEEK - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Watch "The Great Sit-Down" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Py_vNt4fc&ab_channel=NickSmith See will introduce Gamera: Super Monster at the Fox Theatre in Toronto on April 16 - https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/important-cinema-club-gamera-super-monster/ "Joe Lieberman? Really?" by Branko Marcetic - https://jacobin.com/2018/07/joe-lieberman-democratic-party-conservative-left "Sam Bankman-Fried will grow old in jail. But don’t forget those who basked in his orbit" by Aditya Chakrabortty - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/28/sam-bankman-fried-jail-ftx-money

Imagine a world where shadowy forces completely disconnected from democracy control everything. Friends, you don't have to imagine, because this world is the setting for the quintessential '70s paranoia thriller, THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974). PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/513-parallax-101743154

We follow up our recent episode on a 1973 law-and-order semi-classic by examining its Bush-era remake. We found a gentrified and sandpapered WALKING TALL (2004), with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson" in a role "inspired by a true story" "suggested by events in the life of Buford Pusser." PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/512-walking-tall-101441962

In 1939, King George VI visited President Roosevelt to gain his support in the coming war. Some years later, it happened. As the Bill Murray vehicle HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (2012) unconvincingly argues, the Special Relationship was sealed over a hot dog. We dig up a forgotten piece of failed Oscar bait just to bury it all over again. BONUS Hyde Park on Hudson talk on our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/posts/101187856 "The National Review Wants You to Work Till You Drop" by Luke Savage - https://jacobin.com/2024/03/national-review-32-hour-workweek-sanders

Our Superdelgate patron tier has tasked us with discussed the sitcom THE GOOD PLACE, and it leads us down a dark and scary path of remembering culture and politics in the early Trump era. PLUS: Checking in with Garfield Eats, and Luke sounds off on Masters of the Air. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/510-2017-core-100993255

For decades, a cottage industry flourished in the subterranean depths of the American music industry: send a company your poem, and for a fee, they'll turn it into a song. Maybe the song will even be your entryway into the industry and the Billboard charts! But most assuredly it will not be. Was this industry exploitative? Did it produce art? What even is "art" anyway? We tackle all these questions and more as we discuss the documentary OFF THE CHARTS: THE SONG-POEM STORY (2003). Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/posts/100937391

An anti-imperial saga dreamed up by a Nixon-supporting conservative... a White Saviour narrative adapted to a time skeptical of White Saviours... folks, you could say that DUNE: PART TWO (2024) and its source material are a land of contradictions. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/508-spice-world-100540196

In 1991, over 100 of the the most famous singers, movie stars, an athletes in America got together to record a song for the troops in the first Gulf War. We take a visit to the consent-manufacturing factory and discuss the "apolitical" James Woods-hosted TV special VOICES THAT CARE: STAND TALL, STAND PROUD (1991). Watch the special here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1S_UNaWps&ab_channel=LeapingTrout Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Remember. Every day here, you're selling. Every thing you do, every interaction you have, every breath you take needs to be in the service of selling. But it shouldn't look like that. We're not that kind of store. Our customers don't appreciate being sold to. You should feel proud to work here. We discuss THE STORE (1983), by the god of cinéma vérité, Frederick Wiseman. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/506-merchant-100124429

Against the backdrop of the incredibly boring 2000 election, the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman went on a cross-country journey to see if George W. Bush or Al Gore represented America. The result was THE PARTY'S OVER (2001), aka THE LAST PARTY 2000 - that's right, it's an official sequel to the Robert Downey Jr-hosted documentary. We found many resonances between this fossil from the turn of the millennium and our current moment. PLUS: The Democratic Party primary, the fascist Italian Prime Minister in Canada, and a fond farewell to David Bordwell. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's official website - https://www.davidbordwell.net/

In 1985, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie brought some of their most famous peers under the same roof to record "We Are the World." To some, the result was the epitome of tacky celebrity philanthropy culture. But for the makers of the new documentary THE GREATEST NIGHT IN POP (2024), it was exactly what that title says. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/504-requiem-for-99670227

What Dirty Harry Callahan did for the big city, Buford Pusser did for the rural south. We discuss the Silent Majority semi-classic WALKING TALL (1973), a Nixon-era Red State phenomenon that asks: who needs due process when you can carry a big stick? Good scenes from FRAMED (1975) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI8behel7BE&t=45s&ab_channel=BananasAboutMovies Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/posts/503-suggested-by-99355800

We've made a bit of a hobby of mining children's movies from the 1990s for ideology, so our Superdelegate patron tier sent us a challenge: discuss ANTZ (1998) and its vision of an anthill as an alienated '90s workspace. We happily obliged. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/502-rainy-day-in-99216863

In 1987, America was ready to look back on the Vietnam War... with laughter. We discuss GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (1987) and why it is one of the quintessential "boomer liberal" texts. PLUS: We check in on the state of Canadian politics (it's not good, folks). Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

We mark an auspicious anniversary in frankly self-indulgent fashion, by revisiting one of our mutual favorite movies: Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY (1982). We ask: does the future belong to Rupert Pupkin? And if so, how? PLUS: See, it started as a Michael Moore podcast... PATREON-EXLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/500-500th-98738387

The American healthcare system is broken, but why? According to Robin Williams in PATCH ADAMS (1998), it's because the medical profession has lost touch with the healing power of laughter. We discuss one of the most cloying movies of all time. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

We discuss THE MENU (2022) and its place in the context of the current wave of "eat the rich" cinema. PLUS: we discuss Walter Isaacson's new hagiography of Elon Musk, and Joe Biden's wildly successful "I'm fit for office" press conference. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

It begins as an "eat the rich" movie, but turns into something very different. We discuss the movie that is burning up TikTok, SALTBURN (2023), and its odd take on class mobility. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/497-oxbridge-98117512

We're in a contemplative mood on this episode, and there's no filmmaker better suited for such a mood than Yasujirō Ozu. We discuss his final film, AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON (1962), and how Ozu's seemingly narrow thematic and stylistic palette encompasses so much of the human condition. PATREON-EXLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/496-autumn-97874507

Are commercial considerations always doomed to taint art? And are commercial considerations really a taint? We discuss Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's meta-movie ADAPTATION (2002) and the artist/hack dichotomy. PLUS: We mark the passing of the world's most famous minimalist sculptor and murder suspect. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Can "anti-woke comedy" save America? That's what a conservative scribe for the Washington Times theorizes. We give the idea due consideration, and find some of the essential contradictions in conservative comedy. PLUS: Luke visits London, and tries to find the real London. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/494-joke-save-97392407

The world can't stop discoursing about it. Hillary Clinton herself has championed it. And our Superdelegate patrons specifically requested it. It time for us to turn our attention to the most discussed movie of the past year. We talk about BARBIE (2023). PLUS: We bid a fond farewell to Ron DeSanctimonious. "Seeking Social Democracy," the book Luke coauthored with Ed Broadbent, is available here: https://ecwpress.com/products/seeking-social-democracy-ed-broadbent Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

When he emerged on radio, he was celebrated as a pioneering black star in a white entertainment landscape. By the time of the Civil Rights Movement, he was regarded by many a symbol of black subservience. In this solo documentary episode Cohost Will considers the career and thorny legacy of Eddie Anderson, the actor and comedian who played "Rochester" on The Jack Benny Show. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/96931714

Cohost Will asks your kind indulgence as he invites Jack Frayne-Reid (from the Reel Politik podcast) to has over one of his personal obsessions: the blockbuster 2014 Monty Python reunion show. They discuss MONTY PYTHON LIVE (MOSTLY) and how comedy can change and wilt under different social and political contexts. Check out Reel Politik - https://soundcloud.com/reelpolitikpodcast Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus