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

Posted on 03/26/2024 by Glenn B.

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)

Posted on 02/11/2024 by Glenn B.

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)

Posted on 10/21/2023 by Glenn B.

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:

[00:23] Review: Killers of the Flower Moon
[39:33] Spoilers: Killers of the Flower Moon
Native perspectives on Killers of the Flower Moon:
- Gangsters are the villains in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ but the biggest thief of Native American wealth was the US government by Torivio Fodder at The Conversation
- Joel (@trythebuffer)’s review on Letterboxd (via Twitter)
- After “Killers of the Flower Moon,” There Are Many More Indigenous Stories to Be Told by Stephen Carr Hampton at Native News Online.
- Indigenous ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ actors talk about their experiences during world premiere by Allison Herrera at KOSU (NPR).
- A profile of Sundown, a 1934 novel by an Osage writer, John Joseph Matthews, written by Brian Phillips at The Ringer.
The film features Fox News newsreel footage of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, and Daniel referenced another terrorist attack two years later in rural Levy County, Florida, the Rosewood massacre.

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)

Posted on 07/22/2023 by Glenn B.

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

Show notes:

[02:11] Review: Barbie
[10:14] Review: Oppenheimer
[55:56] Review: Asteroid City
Check out Glenn’s 8/10 written review of Barbie:
- “Barbie” (dir. Greta Gerwig) – Life in plastic
We referred back to our podcast review of Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch:
- FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #189 – “The French Dispatch” (dir. Wes Anderson), “Last Year at Marienbad” (1961) (dir. Alain Resnais)
Thank you for listening.

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)

Posted on 07/04/2023 by Glenn B.

Poster for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"

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)

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)

Posted on 02/26/2023 by Glenn B.

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

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 6 out of 10

Show notes:

CORRECTION: We misstated Elizabeth Banks‘ involvement with the Pitch Perfect franchise – she directed Pitch Perfect 2, and was initially signed to direct Pitch Perfect 3, but exited the project as director in 2016, reprising her acting role only.
“The pirate shanty movie” starring Margo Martindale from early in the pandemic was Blow the Man Down, which we reviewed in early 2020:
- FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #164 – “Blow the Man Down” (dir. Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy), “Lady Macbeth” (dir. William Oldroyd)
We referenced a tweet by Ben Crew (@BenjaminCrew1) on Twitter:

Cinema has existed for over a century and Dracula has never met a dolphin in any movie.
There are so many stories left to tell.
— Ben Crew (@BenjaminCrew1) December 27, 2022

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

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #203 – “Aftersun” (dir. Charlotte Wells), “Somebody I Used to Know” (dir. Dave Franco)

Posted on 02/12/2023 by Glenn B.

CW: Mental health issues

This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel find themselves in another February streaming season, as a trope-subverting rom-com drops on Prime Video with Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s new film, Somebody I Used to Know. But first, we check out a 2022 selection we missed, Aftersun, a father-daughter drama from director Charlotte Wells, making her feature debut to great acclaim (including several Best Director awards, and the DGA nomination for best first-time feature film) (58:50).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Aftersun): 9 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Somebody I Used to Know): 6 out of 10

Show notes:

[02:01] Review: Aftersun
[18:59] Spoilers: Aftersun
[24:51] Review: Somebody I Used to Know
[42:50] Spoilers: Somebody I Used to Know
Cloudy With a Chance of Christmas is actually not on Hulu; it was a Lifetime film, and is available on Lifetime’s standalone streaming subscription, or as a paid rental.
As promised, here is a list of the rom-coms Daniel watched over the holidays:
- Puppy Love for Christmas -8.5
- Merry Textmas – 5.5
- Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas – 7
- Mistletoe in Montana – 4
- Hanukkah on Rye – 9
- Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas – 6.5
Thank you for listening.

Listen above, or download: Aftersun, Somebody I Used to Know (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #202 – “Knock at the Cabin” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

Posted on 02/04/2023 by Glenn B.

This week, Daniel is out sick, and Glenn makes a solo journey (and a bite-sized review) of Knock at the Cabin, the latest dire and sincere world of director M. Night Shyamalan, as an adaptation of a Paul G. Tremblay novel. Tune in next week when Daniel will be back to review Aftersun and a new streaming selection (10:55).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Glenn)

Show notes:

Check out our previous reviews of Shyamalan films:
- FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #78 – “The Visit” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
- FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #97 – “Split” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
- FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #186 – “Old” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan), “Mosquita y Mari” (2012) (dir. Aurora Guerrero)

Listen above, or download: Knock at the Cabin (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #201 – “Avatar: The Way of Water” (dir. James Cameron), “Triangle of Sadness” (dir. Ruben Östlund), “Tár” (dir. Todd Field)

Posted on 12/19/2022 by Glenn B.

This week on the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel venture back to into the vast natural and technological ecosystem that is James Cameron‘s imagination, with Avatar: The Way of Water, a film we could hardly believe we were watching until the first frame actually appeared. Glenn also shares his spoiler-free thoughts on the myriad delights of Todd Field‘s Tár, a film which only feels impenetrable from the outside, and by design. And then we return to Force Majeure director Ruben Östlund‘s satirical Triangle of Sadness, which perhaps sails slightly off course but largely maintains its focus on razor-sharp satire of the privileged few (01:38:22).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Triangle of Sadness): 7 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Avatar: The Way of Water): 8 out of 10

Show notes:

[01:57] Intro: Tár (Glenn only)
[13:21] Review: Triangle of Sadness
[33:31] Spoilers: Triangle of Sadness
[57:10] Review: Avatar: The Way of Water
[01:25:38] Spoilers: Avatar: The Way of Water
Assuming Twitter still exists by the time this episode drops, here is the tweet in which I mistook an old post from a fan account for Neytiri for an official account because it had one of Elon’s dumb little fake blue-checks. We regret and are amused by the error.
https://twitter.com/legotrillermoth/status/1597438701751017472
We cannot have the same experience as anyone else watching this film, nor is that experience monolithic. And we’ll be the first to admit we were unprepared when it came to the discussion of Avatar: The Way of Water‘s depictions of Indigenous tribes and tropes. Elevating Indigenous voices when it comes to a discussion of this film is both the right thing to do and makes us better film viewers. Here is some reading on the subject. If you find more, please send it our way. Each of these stories reference the same 2010 comments about the Lakota Sioux by Cameron, but they each interview a variety of other voices on the subject.
- Indigenous People React to Director Comments, Cultural Appropriation in New ‘Avatar’ Movie by Darren Thompson (Native News Online)
- Indigenous people slam Avatar (again) for tropes and inaccuracies by Samantha Chery (Washington Post)
- James Cameron’s old comments prompt Native American boycott of new ‘Avatar’ sequel by Jonah Valdez (Los Angeles Times)
We’ve talked a lot about Avatar:
We referred to a video on cruise ship economics – it was not from Wendover Productions (although that is an excellent channel) – it was actually from PolyMatter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY1BFv8qEeM
Thank you for listening.

Listen above, or download: Tár, Triangle of Sadness, Avatar: The Way of Water (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #200 – “Athena” (dir. Romain Gavras), “Careless Crime” (dir. Shahram Mokri), “Saloum” (dir. Jean Luc Herbulot)

Posted on 10/12/2022 by Glenn B.

This week, on the 🎇200th Episode🎇 of the FilmWonk Podcast, Glenn and Daniel venture out into the world to check out a trio of dramas with an accidental common theme of violent revolution. First, we visit Athena (new on Netflix from director Romain Gavras), in which a Parisian tower block is under police siege and burning for answers and justice following the murder of a 13-year-old boy by three unknown men wearing police uniforms. Then we return to the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey world of Iranian director Shahram Mokri (who directed previous FilmWonk favorite Fish & Cat) for a Mobius strip of interconnected timelines all intersecting with the Cinema Rex fire, a real-life arson and disaster which caused hundreds of deaths and led (among other events) to the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 – that film is Careless Crime, and it is newly available for rent. And finally, we head to the watery delta of Saloum for an absolutely raucous African neo-Western (called a “southern” by its Congolese director Jean Luc Herbulot), as a trio of badass, Senegalese mercenaries hide out amid a thwarted escape from a military coup, navigating the strange and violent waters of a mysterious river town (new on Shudder) (01:24:21).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Athena): 7/10 (Daniel), 8/10 (Glenn)
FilmWonk rating (Careless Crime): 6 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Saloum): 8.5 out of 10

Show notes:

[02:32] Review: Athena
[25:01] Spoilers: Athena
[36:02] Review: Careless Crime
[58:59] Review: Saloum
[01:12:24] Spoilers: Saloum
Netflix released an amazing featurette on YouTube about the making of Athena – well worth a watch if you want to see how its many elaborate tracking shots, stunts, and pyrotechnics came together.
Thank you for listening.

Listen above, or download: Athena, Careless Crime, Saloum (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)

FilmWonk

Reviews, critiques, and general film-wonkery.

Category Archives: Podcast Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #203 – “Aftersun” (dir. Charlotte Wells), “Somebody I Used to Know” (dir. Dave Franco)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #202 – “Knock at the Cabin” (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #201 – “Avatar: The Way of Water” (dir. James Cameron), “Triangle of Sadness” (dir. Ruben Östlund), “Tár” (dir. Todd Field)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #200 – “Athena” (dir. Romain Gavras), “Careless Crime” (dir. Shahram Mokri), “Saloum” (dir. Jean Luc Herbulot)