Book and Film Globe Podcast Book and Film Globe

It's a blockbuster podcast this week as host Neal Pollack returns from the well-managed wilds of America to once again parse the culture with our ace critics. Stephen Garrett is back from Cannes to review 'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse,' the sequel to an Oscar-winning animated film from five years ago. Stephen marvels, literally, at the exciting animation, the fun action set pieces, and the genuine heartfelt emotion of the script. Neal finds a lot to admire in the movie but thinks it's a little too much and also he has a heart of stone and despises genuine emotion.Then it's Sara Stewart's turn, offering her hot take on Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' live-action remake. Sara is not in the "Little Mermaid shouldn't be black" camp, but she is in the "movie is too long for kids and also the cinematography is murky" camp. Also, she doesn't like the new Lin-Manuel Miranda song starring Awkwafina as a rapping seagull, a very 2023 problem.Omar Gallaga stops by to prove that for 50 seconds there are monsters on the Earth as he discusses 'I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson,' the greatest TV show ever made in the history of TV. Neal spends five minutes describing the content of various sketches while Omar is just glad that Neal is on Tim Robinson's team because now he can get him to click on www.thedrivingcrooner.com. This show is vital and essential to the survival of humanity, please watch it.And enjoy our podcast!

Book and Film Globe Editor in Chief Neal Pollack is taking a well-deserved Memorial Day jaunt across America. Pinch-hitting as host this week — and doing a swell job — is frequent BFG contributor Scott Gold, who's written for the site about The Mandalorian, Moon Knight and tons of other Disney and Star Wars and adjacent properties.This week, Scott talks to Jonpaul Guinn about Fast X, whose Dominic Toretto character has provided Vin Diesel and crew with a lifetime of speedy chasecraft. "Dom sticks that landing and many fiery, infrastructure-puncturing other ones while racing to save his family," concludes Guinn's article and the podcast goes into depth befitting a 10-chapter cinematic universe.Next up is Jeopardy expert (and 0ne-time contestant) Daniel Cohen, who talks to BFG about Jeopardy Masters, the new sort of playoffs for past champs. They dive deep in the weeds here, but the big question on the minds of most will be "Who the hell authorized the disclosing of Daily Double locations to the audience before play begins?"Finally, Scott talks to Dan Friedman about Silo, the new Rebecca Ferguson dystopian mystery on Apple TV+. We learn that barely anything has survived the apocalypse, except for Apple II computers and badass leather jackets.

Our podcast has arrived this week! We show the breadth of our range, we go heavy, we go light. To start, Rob Kutner comes by to discuss the WGA Strike with host Neal Pollack. Both Rob and Neal are "inactive" WGA members, but Rob is out on the pickets with a Guild almost entirely united in solidarity. The producers and the big corporations are really putting the screws to writers these days. Neal and Rob talk about the inadequacy of the compensation, the inequity within the Guild itself, and the looming specter of AI that hangs over the entire industry. And they close with a rousing chorus of 'Solidarity Forever.'Next up, James Porter, a contributor to our sibling publication, Rock and Roll Globe, appears to discuss his review of the terrific new Little Richard documentary, 'I Am Everything.' A passionate Little Richard fan, James is happy to see one of his musical heroes getting his due. He and Neal both really enjoyed the interviews with old bandmates and family members, Neal liked the information about fringe drag performers in the 1950s, and James enjoyed the clips from Little Richard's old blues numbers before he became a megastar in the mid-1950s. Neal could take or leave the academic talking heads, who get too much screen time, but James is correct when he states that they don't actually say anything wrong. Really fun movie, worth checking out.And while 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' needs no extra boost, Neal and guest Scott Gold both had a good time at James Gunn's swan song to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Scott says that the movie maybe relies a little too much on slow-motion walking scenes. Neal isn't in love with the more modern music choices. And they both feel like the two-and-a-half hours leads to some repetitive scenes, if not some narrative bloat. But there can be no doubt that Guardians 3 is still fun and weird, and, especially as regards the origin story of Rocket Raccoon, genuinely scary and gruesome. A finger-wagging "no so fast" to anyone who says that the MCU is dead.My god, isn't that enough? Enjoy the podcast!

It's your favorite hour of the week, the listening of the BFG podcast! This week, Neal Pollack welcomes Ayun Halliday to the BFG podcast dome to discuss the box-office non-success 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret,' an adaptation of a 50-plus-year-old Judy Blume novel about a young suburban girl's coming of age. Neal found the movie sweet and sentimental, but Ayun, who was really looking forward to this product, didn't appreciate the film's wan attempts at modern social relevance. It's soft-focused and natural-seeming. But, our critic wonders, where is the menstrual blood? Good question, a question that only BFG can ask.Over on Disney+, Peter Pan gets another adaptation, this one from David Lowery, director of The Green Knight. Neal Pollack and Stephen Garrett, two boys who did grow up, found this thing kind of lame. For one, Peter Pan himself is a dishrag. And Stephen, while he liked the young woman who played Wendy, found himself desperately underwhelmed by Jude Law as Captain Hook. There was also no menstrual blood in this movie.Nor is there, as far as we have seen, in Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies, an unwanted prequel series to the 1978 musical, now airing on Paramount+. Paula Shaffer stops by to complain about the lousy autotune soundtrack and the production's weird insistence on setting itself in 1954, before the "50s" really started. For something set in the age of segregation, it sure is an integrated world. A lame product that most people will quickly forget. But it's worth talking about, and there will, apparently, be a second season of this High School Musical knockoff.That's it. That's the podcast. Enjoy!

An interesting mix of topics and points of view highlights this week's episode of the BFG podcast. Host Neal Pollack welcomes Sharyn Vane to talk about the somewhat sinister trend of conservative legislators and legislatures trying to defund libraries. Sharyn says this is an extension of the movement to keep kids away from sexualized literature, particularly literature about transgendered culture and politics. But public libraries are a non-ideological good that provide multiple public services to people of all ages, politics, and walks of life. Surprise surprise, we are against defunding them.We're also against the idea that people should ban or refuse to screen the films of Woody Allen. But the Cannes Film Festival has decided to do just that with Allen's latest film, Coup de Chance, which he shot in Paris, starring a cast entirely of French actors. Michael Washburn stops in to say "we're seeing a lack of moral courage on the part of the festival's organizers." Neal and Michael discuss the modern films of Woody Allen, but the politics of his lingering abuse scandal, however exonerated he might be, continue to hover over his career. Maybe Book and Film Globe will host a screening of the movie when they get the chance!Finally, it's time for Stephen Garrett to appear, reviewing the movie of the week, Ari Aster's 'Beau Is Afraid,' a deeply bizarre psychological comedy about maternal obsession, neurosis, and anxiety, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Stephen admires Ari Aster's "original vision," but says "it just doesn't gel". Neal calls it the "ultimate Jewish theater kid with mommy issues movie." If you want to see Ari Aster's id on the screen, this is the movie for you. It is not the movie for us, particularly.Enjoy our show.

In this tremendous milestone for BFG, for BFG editor-in-chief Neal Pollack, for Sea of Reeds Media, and for the history of the world in general, this week we celebrate the 100th episode of our podcast! And by "celebrate," we mean, "do what we've always done on the show at a high level, and with a funky new theme song."Neal summons frequent guest Stephen Garrett to discuss the vampire action-comedy 'Renfield.' No one has a bad word to say about Nic Cage as Dracula. Who could? But Neal in particular found the screenplay to be a tonal mess, with a useless drug-lord subplot taking away what is good and fun about the movie. Stephen, a happier person, tends to only see the good and fun. You be the judge, and beware if you invite Nicolas Cage into your house.There's no dissent about 'How To Blow Up A Pipeline,' though. Sara Stewart joins Neal to praise the indie environmental activism thriller, now in theaters. It reminds them both of gritty, realistic 1970s political movies. And there's the added juice that studios refused to touch the movie because of its politics and because they are funded by oil companies. But it's a raw and engrossing film with nary an ounce of narrative fat. It's the most left-wing movie you'll see all year, but whatever your politics, check it out.'Beef' is our TV show of the week. Susie Bright joins Neal to heap praise on this Netflix show, which, she wisely points out, has all the elements of classic Korean revenge dramas. The show is Korean-American by birth, and Susie also informs us that Korean filmmakers are steeped in classical French film techniques as well. She even susses out elements of classic French farce in the narrative. Neal agrees the show is good, but is also deeply raw and emotional, and asks "why are we watching this?" I guess you could ask that about anything, which we do every week on the podcast.Enjoy the episode! See you for #200!