Junk Filter Jesse Hawken

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The comedy writer Ursula Lawrence (Drunk History, Adam Ruins Everything) returns to the show from Madison, Wisconsin to discuss A24’s first foray into blockbuster filmmaking, Alex Garland’s Civil War, set in a near-future America torn into factions, as seen from the perspective of an intrepid team of reporters travelling to Washington D.C. to get an interview with the totalitarian President on the verge of being violently deposed by the “Western Forces” of Texas and California.

Garland has described the work as an anti-war film where the particulars of the conflict are mere backdrop to a general story of combat journalists, but Ursula and I discuss Civil War’s politics anyway, what the film is and what it isn't, and kick the tires on its stated tone of ‘impartiality’ which seems more like faux-neutrality (with a Trumpian president and references to ‘the Portland Maoists’ that cater to the audiences’ already-existing biases).

Plus: an on-the-ground report from Ursula about seeing Civil War in a theatre in Madison that serves food and drinks!

Follow Ursula Lawrence on Twitter.

Trailer #1 for Civil War (Alex Garland, 2024)

The writer Sean T. Collins joins the pod from Long Island for a deep dive into the original 1989 Road House and the 2024 remake now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Sean’s book Pain Don’t Hurt offered daily meditations on specific elements of Road House for an entire year, and we discuss the many virtues of this eighties classic about Dalton, the second-greatest bouncer in the world (Patrick Swayze) who is hired by the owner of a violent honkytonk bar in Jasper, Missouri to clean up the place, raising the ire of the local crimelord Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara) who rules Jasper with an iron fist and an amazing crew of henchmen. Sean has given this movie a great deal of thought over the years and we discuss the ludicrous plot, spectacular performances and classic one-liners.

And we also compare the OG Road House to the new remake with a pumped-up Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton and UFC fighter Conor McGregor in his screen acting debut as the main henchman, with the action transposed to the Florida Keys. The remake wisely does not try to recreate the original so much as to modernize it, resulting in a film that’s honestly not as bad as fans of the original feared it would be.

Become a patron of the podcast to access to exclusive episodes every month. Over 30% of Junk Filter episodes are exclusively available to patrons. To support this show directly for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) please subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Sean’s writing can be found at seantcollins.com and you can also support his work on Patreon.

Sean’s book Pain Don’t Hurt: Meditations on Road House is available from Mutual Skies publishing.

All Fucked Up: Erotic Tales from the Road House Expanded Universe - the fanfic zine by Julia Gfrörer, Sean T. Collins and Gretchen Felker-Martin, available on Julia’s Etsy store.

Trailer for Road House (Rowdy Harrington, 1989)

Trailer for Road House (Doug Liman, 2024)

CW: This episode discusses cinematic sexual violence.

The founder of Fun City Editions, Jonathan Hertzberg, joins the podcast from New York City to discuss the boutique video label and their latest blu-ray release, 1983’s Deep in the Heart, aka Handgun, directed by Ken Loach’s longtime English producer Tony Garnett.

Deep in the Heart, a brutal portrayal of American gun culture as seen from an outsider’s perspective, stars the undersung actress Karen Young in her screen debut as a Boston schoolteacher working in Dallas who is groomed and then sexually assaulted by a well-liked local attorney and antique gun collector. She gets nowhere trying to get the police and the church to support her quest for justice, but gets all the help she needs from the local gun club, and transformed by the culture and her experience, plans her revenge. The film was bought by Warner Bros. not to release the film properly, but to keep it from interfering with the commercial prospects of their upcoming Clint Eastwood release with a similar theme, Sudden Impact.

Deep in the Heart is the kind of film this label specializes in: films that have for various reasons been forgotten in the modern age but deserve to be restored, reissued and rediscovered. Jonathan gives us insight into the process and the challenges of locating and reviving these catalogue titles, and how Deep in the Heart still speaks to contemporary American concerns over 40 years later.

Become a patron of the podcast to access to exclusive episodes every month. Over 30% of Junk Filter episodes are exclusively available to patrons. To support this show directly for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) please subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Fun City Editions on Twitter.

You can order Fun City Editions’ new release of Deep in the Heart through their website.

Trailer for Deep in the Heart aka Handgun (Tony Garnett, 1983)

Fun City Editions trailer for Seeing Red: 3 French Vigilante Thrillers

Trailer for Strangers Kiss (Matthew Chapman, 1983), restored version coming soon from FCE

Access this entire 89 minute episode (and additional monthly bonus shows every month) by becoming a Junk Filter patron! Over 30% of episodes are exclusively available to patrons of the show. https://www.patreon.com/posts/164-ghostbusters-101387544

The writer and friend of the pod Adam Jackson returns for a show about the Ghostbusters series, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with the latest installment, Ghostbusters V.

We discuss the entire saga; from Ivan Reitman’s classic original, the Real Ghostbusters cartoon that refined the series as entertainment for kids, the disappointing 1989 sequel, the 2016 all-female reboot that became a flashpoint for culture warriors online, and the recent legacy sequels guided by Jason Reitman, which have recast this saga as some form of modern American myth about a family legacy instead of just being high-concept comedies about New York schlubs who become entrepreneurs (aka the winning formula for success)

We praise the Bobby Brown theme for Ghostbusters II, commend Dan Aykroyd for his fully-committed performance in the latest film (a stark contrast to Bill Murray’s clear disinterest in his continuing involvement), and dig into how these new films meant for “the true fans” of the series continually get wrong what the actual legacy of these films is, as Columbia Pictures continues to struggle to make a real cinematic universe out of this IP, forever hoping lightning will strike twice.

Plus: why isn’t Muncher in the new one?

Follow Adam Jackson on Twitter.

Ghostbusters promotional film shown at the ShoWest convention for the cinema exhibition industry, 1984

Clip from the 1985 Academy Awards - nominee for Best Original Song, Ray Parker Jr.’s ‘Ghostbusters’

Music video for Bobby Brown’s ‘On Our Own’ from the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, 1989

The writer Corey Atad joins me from Phuket, Thailand for a sequel to our Junk Filter episode about Bane that turned into a discussion about Tenet, and we return to the topic because of the recent cultural reconsideration of Christopher Nolan’s 2020 time-bending thriller, which was released during the pandemic and has taken some time to find an audience. 

Tenet got a one-week re-release in 70mm and IMAX 70mm in the leadup to this year’s Academy Awards, and Corey and I discuss the film as Nolan’s temporal pincer movement; it turns out he released the sequel to Oppenheimer 4 years ago, and we are only realizing it now. Unlike his latest, Tenet is about “the bomb that didn’t go off”, and is a film that perhaps needs to be seen a few times to be best appreciated, especially after seeing Oppy.

We talk about Nolan’s methodology, including the evolution of his creative team (his new cinematographer, editor and composer are bringing out the best in him), his award-season victory lap, and we go over the complex structure of Tenet, including the things that happen that maybe we don’t even understand after seeing it a few times but are clearer when seen theatrically… but do we even need to understand everything we enjoy? 

Plus: Bane jokes! 

Become a patron of the podcast to access to exclusive episodes every month. Over 30% of Junk Filter episodes are exclusively available to patrons. To support this show directly for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) please subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Corey Atad on Twitter and visit coreyatad.com

Final trailer for Tenet (Nolan, 2020)

“I Can’t Stop Watching Tenet, And I Finally Know Why” by Corey Atad for Defector, January 9, 2024

“Look What We Do Now” - Corey’s essay about The Zone of Interest and Oscar season controversy, for the Welcome To Hell World newsletter, March 11, 2024

Access this entire 99 minute episode (and additional monthly bonus shows every month) by becoming a Junk Filter patron! Over 30% of episodes are exclusively available to patrons of the show. https://www.patreon.com/posts/162-zone-of-with-100893723

The writer James Slaymaker, author of Time is Luck: The Cinema of Michael Mann, returns to the pod from Southampton to discuss Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest.

In this wide-ranging conversation James and I discuss Glazer’s methodology to adapt Martin Amis’ Holocaust novel for the screen, including his determination to create two separate films inside one film: what we see (the bucolic family life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss) and what we hear (the horrifying sounds of death from over the wall of the concentration camp next door). Glazer uses 21st century technology to tell this story to indicate that this film is not about history, but about the present moment, including provocative ideas about the ways we all try to compartmentalize and overcompensate to tune out the horrors of the world that make our own comfortable lives possible. 

We also compare The Zone of Interest to other Holocaust works to discuss why it’s so difficult to tell these stories with sensitivity and respect and without compromise, some of the most noteworthy sequences, and what the film has in common with Alain Resnais’ masterful short film about Auschwitz, Night and Fog. 

And of course we discuss some of the bad faith arguments from Zone of Interest haters, and some hot takes online from people who even if they saw and liked it, may not have grasped its point.

Night and Fog is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.

Follow James Slaymaker on Twitter.

James’ book Time is Luck: The Cinema of Michael Mann, is now available in paperback and Kindle.

Trailer #2 for The Zone of Interest (Glazer, 2023)