34 episodes
The Review The Atlantic
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- TV & Film
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3.9 • 133 Ratings
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Don’t just watch a movie; understand it. Don’t just hear a song; consider what it has to say. On The Review, writers and guests discuss how we entertain ourselves, and how that defines the way we see the world. Join The Atlantic’s writers as they break down a work of pop culture each week, exploring the big questions that great art can provoke, making some recommendations for you, and having a little fun along the way.
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Top Gun
Top Gun: Maverick is out soon! But can any movie with fast planes, Tom Cruise, and beach volleyball truly compare to the classic fighter pilot movie about, as writer Shirley Li puts it, "cute boys calling each other cute names"? Find out with Shirley, Megan Garber, and David Sims, and explore the moral (but fictional) simplicity of an earlier era: the Cold War 80s.
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Knocked Up
In a possibly-soon-to-be-post-Roe v Wade world, our hosts Sophie Gilbert, Megan Garber, and Hannah Giorgis thought it'd be worth re-examining the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogan comedy "Knocked Up," to discuss the way the movie treats women's bodily autonomy, angry reactions from men, and abortion.
Megan also wrote recently on what it says that the movie simply edits direct mention of abortion out — and what that portended for the future of Roe, even fifteen years ago.
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Winning Time
The 1980s Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most dominant teams in sports. At a time when professional basketball was on its heels, the Lakers dynasty brought new excitement: Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, Jerry Buss and the glitzy Forum Club, and an uptempo flow offense. That’s the story of HBO’s big-budget series Winning Time, whose season 1 finale aired on Sunday, May 8th.
David Sims, Vann Newkirk, and Ross Andersen—three of The Atlantic’s biggest basketball fans—get together to discuss the series. Does it manage to weave together the era’s many storylines? Does producer Adam McKay’s style energize or distract? And why is the story of the Showtime-era Lakers called “Winning Time”?
Ross Andersen: It Had to Be the Lakers (Oct 2020)
Ross Andersen: Fight Night With LeBron (Oct 2018)
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Severance
The Apple TV+ dystopian thriller Severance is one of the most acclaimed shows of the year. Its grim take on the furthest extreme of "work-life balance" speaks to our strained pandemic-era relationship with the workplace and, according to our critics, offers a gripping throwback to an era of prestige TV before (as David Sims sees it) Netflix ruined everything.
Spencer Kornhaber, Sophie Gilbert, and David Sims go down the elevator to Lumon’s basement to talk waffle parties, real-life workplace anxieties, and what dystopian sci-fis they recommend besides Severance.
Further reading:
Sophie: 'Severance' Makes the Workplace Eerily Dystopian
David: The Netflix Bubble Is Finally Bursting
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The Northman
Shirley Li, David Sims, and Sophie Gilbert discuss the brutal new blockbuster The Northman. From the director of The Lighthouse and The Witch and based on the viking legend that inspired Hamlet, the film is a visceral experience that’s hard to summarize: Is it an arthouse revenge epic? A viking myth about toxic-masculinity? Shakespeare for people who love crossfit?
The Northman joins The Green Knight and The Last Duel as part of a trend of recent films recontextualizing medieval tales. David, Shirley, and Sophie unpack that trend. They discuss the 10th century tale the film is based on, how both Shakespeare and director Robert Eggers adapted it, and how modern storytelling has tried to bring the historical experiences of women into these hypermasculine myths.
Further reading:
The Northman Is an Unsentimental Portrait of a Hero
Coming Soon:
Severance
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
Shirley Li, David Sims, and Spencer Kornhaber discuss the hit action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once. At a time when every show or movie has a multiverse, how does this film’s “verse-jumping” manage to be so cathartic it made us cry?
The trio follows up on last week’s discussion of Turning Red to unpack how this movie uses a multiverse to convey the experience of an immigrant family. They also unpack Michelle Yeoh’s incredible career and how the film’s unique mix of silliness and sentiment gave her an opportunity she’s waited years for.
Further reading:
Everything Everywhere All at Once Is a Mind-Bending Multiverse Fantasy
How Hollywood's Weirdest Filmmakers Made a Movie About Everything
Everything Everywhere All at Once Is a Masterpiece
Coming Soon:
The Northman
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Customer Reviews
Shirley, keep giggling
This is a perfectly fine podcast! It’s more of a hang out vibe of these writers chatting together in an informal way. This has not advertised itself as a Serious Critical Review show so don’t expect that. If you want deeper analysis, go read the reviews on the site or find a show that spends hours on a topic. This is it’s own thing, it’s perfect for a quick commute, and you can tell these colleagues like talking to each other even when they have different opinions.
Bring it back!
Baffled by the negative reviews. If you’re a fan of podcasts like Blank Check, The Big Picture, etc. this is a great listen. Hosts like David Sims and Shirley Li are delightful, insightful, and not overly serious. Would love for this podcast to return.
David sims is the only good thing about it
The other hosts don’t really add much. Without David I think would be not worth listening to.
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