In this week’s podcast, in the spirit of #OscarsSoWhite, Glenn and Daniel check out Dope, an overlooked coming-of-age comedy gem with a diverse and memorable cast, then follow it with a stop-motion Charlie Kaufman flick in which all of the supporting characters literally have identical faces. Insert profound connection here. (56:16).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Anomalisa): 6.5 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Dope): 8 out of 10

Show notes:

• [02:13] Review: Anomalisa
• [21:19] Spoilers: Anomalisa
• [31:14] Review: Dope
• [45:44] Spoilers: Dope
• Music for tonight’s episode is “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, a version of which of appears in Anomalisa, and “ Can’t Bring Me Down“, written and produced by Pharrell Williams and performed by the film’s cast, from the Dope soundtrack.
• I mentioned that I had only ever seen stop-motion animated sex in one previous film – that film was a rather juvenile Spanish short called Vicenta, which you can watch on Vimeo. I wouldn’t though. I didn’t mention it as a positive example.
• The analysis we referred regarding Oscar-nominated performances by black actors is written by Brandon K. Thorp in the NYTimes (here).
  As NYTimes summed it up on Facebook,

  “Of the 10 black women ever up for best actress Oscars, all played characters in poverty. 9 were homeless or nearly so. Black men have been up for best actor Oscars only 20 times. 13 of those characters were arrested. 15 were violent.”

Listen above, or download: Anomalisa, Dope (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)