Category Archives: Podcast Reviews

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #213 – “The Brutalist” (2024) (dir. Brady Corbet), “M” (1931) (dir. Fritz Lang)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel return to the world of cinema with Fritz Lang‘s classic police procedural (and a prototype of the genre), M (1931), a film from Weimar Germany which hits a bit differently today, but no less powerfully. And then we venture into Brady Corbet‘s towering and inventive immigrant story (featuring an Oscar-winning performance from Adrian Brody, The Brutalist (1:07:37).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (M): 10 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (The Brutalist): 8.5 out of 10

Poster for "M" (1931) (dir. Fritz Lang)

Show notes:

  • [01:50] Review: M
  • [27:07] Review: The Brutalist
  • [46:20] Spoilers: The Brutalist

Listen above, or download: M, The Brutalist (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #212 – “My Old Ass” (dir. Megan Park), “Challengers” (2023) (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel check out two very different takes on thirtysomething nostalgia for your teenage years, first with My Old Ass, starring Aubrey Plaza and feature newcomer Maisy Stella as the older and younger versions of the same person, meeting through the magic of psylocibin. And then we catch up with Luca Guadagnino‘s fraught and sexy tennis triad, Challengers (1:01:26).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (My Old Ass): 8/10 (Glenn), 8.5/10 (Daniel)
FilmWonk rating (Challengers): 8/10 (Glenn), 6/10 (Daniel)

Still from "Challengers" in a scene featuring Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O'Connor.

Show notes:

  • [02:13] Review: My Old Ass
  • [22:40] Spoilers: My Old Ass
  • [36:23] Review: Challengers
  • [52:58] Spoilers: Challengers

Listen above, or download: My Old Ass, Challengers (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #211 – “Kinds of Kindness (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel check in on the latest from director Yorgos Lanthimos and his Poor Things collaborators Emma Stone and co-screenwriter Efthimis Filippou (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster, Dogtooth), whose presence announces in advance that this is gonna be one of the weird ones. Additional weird ones include Jesse Plemons and Willem Dafoe, and everyone who ventures out to catch this one in theaters (36:34).

May contain NSFW language.
[CW: Self-harm, pregnancy loss]

FilmWonk rating: 8 out of 10

Show notes:

  • [01:44] Review: Kinds of Kindness
  • [23:07] Spoilers: Kinds of Kindness
  • We slightly misstated Stone’s awards history, which includes Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress in Birdman and The Favourite (both eventual #1 Glennies selections), and wins for Best Actress for Poor Things and La La Land.
  • Yorgos Stefanakos, who appears in the film as R.M.F., did not appear in Dogtooth, but did appear in Poor Things, and is in fact a notary public and an old friend of the screenwriters of this film.

Listen above, or download: Kinds of Kindness (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #210 – “Furiosa” (dir. George Miller), “Unfrosted” (dir. Jerry Seinfeld), “Hustlers” (2019) (dir. Lorene Scafaria)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel reunite with long-time friend of the pod Erika to review Furiosa, a return to the Mad Max saga which absolutely refused to rest on its laurels conceptually or thematically. Then, at Daniel’s behest, we “see what Jerry Seinfeld is up to” with Unfrosted, new on Netflix. And then we venture back to a gem of a crime dramedy from 2019, Lorene Scafaria‘s Hustlers (1:17:55).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Unfrosted): 7/10 (Daniel, Erika), 4/10 (Glenn)
FilmWonk rating (Furiosa): 9.5/10 (Erika), 9/10 (Glenn, Daniel)
FilmWonk rating (Hustlers): 8/10 (Glenn), 9/10 (Erika), 7.5/10 (Daniel)

Still from "Unfrosted" featuring Hugh Grant dressed as Tony the Tiger, minus the mascot head.

Show notes:

  • [03:01] Review: Unfrosted
  • [18:19] Review: Furiosa
  • [41:38] Spoilers: Furiosa
  • [55:38] Review: Hustlers

Listen above, or download: Unfrosted, Furiosa, Hustlers (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #209 – “Road House” (dir. Doug Liman), “The Book of Clarence” (dir. Jeymes Samuel)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel check out Doug Liman‘s faithful and surprisingly enjoyable Road House remake, a film which somehow finds its feet with a western premise that was dated in the 80s, transplanted here into the Florida Keys, where that decade never ended. And then we reach back into 2023 for an epic of Biblical apocrypha by The Harder They Fall director Jeymes Samuel, The Book of Clarence, a mixed bag of religious satire which somehow manages to give The Life of Brian a run for its money. Exvangelicals should not miss this one (1:05:48).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Road House): 7/10 (Glenn), 7.5/10 (Daniel)
FilmWonk rating (The Book of Clarence): 7.5/10 (Glenn), 6.5/10 (Daniel)

Still from "The Book of Clarence" featuring LaKeith Stanfield and RJ Cyler

Show notes:

  • [02:17] Review: Road House
  • [27:17] Review: The Book of Clarence
  • [53:13] Spoilers: The Book of Clarence

Listen above, or download: Road House, The Book of Clarence (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #208 – “The Beekeeper” (dir. David Ayer), “The Kitchen” (dir. Daniel Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel check out The Beekeeper, an enjoyably uncomplicated John Wick retread which is heavy on bee metaphor and light on everything else. And then they check out The Kitchen, the near-future dystopian sci-fi film on Netflix, set in London’s last remaining social housing unit, and featuring the feature debut of actor Daniel Kaluuya as co-writer/co-director (53:59).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (The Beekeeper): 6/10 (Glenn), 5/10 (Daniel)
FilmWonk rating (The Kitchen): 7.5/10 (Glenn), 6.5/10 (Daniel)

Poster for "The Kitchen" (2024 Netflix film)

Show notes:

  • [02:26] Review: The Beekeeper
  • [21:04] Review: The Kitchen
  • [45:11] Spoilers: The Kitchen
  • The audiobook production of Vladimir Nabokov‘s Lolita that Daniel referred to was indeed narrated by actor Jeremy Irons, and is available on all audiobook platforms.

Listen above, or download: The Beekeeper, The Kitchen (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #207 – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (dir. Martin Scorsese)

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CW: Discussion of abuse

This week, Glenn and Daniel follow the western genre into the oil-rich 20th century and the terror of white supremacy in the Osage Nation with Killers of the Flower Moon (55:22).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 10 out of 10

Show notes:

Listen above, or download: Killers of the Flower Moon (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #206 – “Barbie” (dir. Greta Gerwig), “Oppenheimer” (dir. Christopher Nolan), “Asteroid City” (dir. Wes Anderson)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, we do a #Barbenheimer (Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie and Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer), then split the difference of pastel colors, artifice, and nuclear testing with one we missed from June, Wes Anderson‘s Asteroid City. (1:05:52).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Barbie): 8 out of 10 (Glenn)
FilmWonk rating (Oppenheimer): 8/10 (Daniel), 7.5/10 (Glenn)
FilmWonk rating (Asteroid City): 8 out of 10

Still from "Oppenheimer"

Show notes:

Still from "Asteroid City"

Listen above, or download: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Asteroid City (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #205 – “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (dir. James Mangold), “Joy Ride” (dir. Adele Lim)

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This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel face the destiny of Harrison Ford, who returns for his third and presumably final legacy sequel to a blockbuster franchise (barring any eventual return to Jack Ryan), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But first, we check out the upcoming raunchy road trip comedy from Crazy Rich Asians screenwriter Adele Lim, Joy Ride, in theaters this Friday (1:10:24).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Joy Ride): 7.5/10 (Glenn), 7/10 (Daniel)
FilmWonk rating (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny): 4/10 (Glenn), 5/10 (Daniel)

Still from "Joy Ride"

Show notes:

  • [01:53] Review: Joy Ride
  • [22:42] Spoilers: Joy Ride
  • [34:53] Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
  • [54:35] Spoilers: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
  • I did indeed misremember – Daniel did not like Crazy Rich Asians as much as I did.
  • Thank you for listening.

Listen above, or download: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Joy Ride (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #204 – “Cocaine Bear” (dir. Elizabeth Banks)

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This week, Glenn and Daniel meet a Cocaine Bear (28:43).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 6 out of 10

Show notes:

Listen above, or download: Cocaine Bear (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)