Drugs as weapons against us

A&E discuss John Potash’s 2019 documentary “Drugs as Weapons Against Us” as a way into a conversation about the intelligence community’s overt interest in the drug trade-as-social-control. Also discussed: Tupac, Bob Marley, Henry Rollins, Dylan, Nirvana, and of course (groan) hippies.

Cold Case Hammarskjöld Revisited

The gents reexamine Danish director Mads Brügger’s 2019 film Cold Case Hammarskjöld in an effort to learn less about the United Nations than the Washington Consensus.

From Portland Maine to Portland Oregon

Here we go: A&E chat Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 gem The Shining, wondering how it was that Kubrick saw into our unconscious.

Pissing in our faces

Richard Donner’s The Goonies (1985). Quite possibly the strangest film of the 1980s, not so much because of the explicit treasure-hunting content of this “kids” movie so much as the subtext: child exploitation, neoliberal capitalism’s obliteration of community, and other sins of the father. A&E discuss why this film still haunts the unconscious of an entire generation.

Tropic Thunder

Reconsidering Ben Stiller’s sleeper 2007 film Tropic Thunder, which, like the band formerly known as Viet Cong, does anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism better than old man Norm Chomley himself.

Contempt

A&E note the passing of Jean-Luc Godard by revisiting his legacy generally, focusing on his 1963 film Contempt. Along the way we chat indie punkers Silkworm, the genius of Jack Palance, and the future of film in the West.

Alex’s War, or, blackmailing Batman

A&E chat Alex Lee Moyer’s compelling and nuanced Alex’s War (2022), which survey’s the career of Alex Jones from his youth in Austin, Texas, to his international fame.

Nobody wants a stalker

A&E chat Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 masterpiece Stalker, the film that set modern science fiction on its trajectory, from Blade Runner and The Thing to Children of Men and Annihilation.

Pistol whipped

The gents chat the new Danny Boyle Sex Pistols miniseries “Pistol” and remind you that 1) we all have blood on our hands, and 2) because there literally may be no future, we need a Sex Pistols moment now more than ever.

Mopey Batman, or, Incel vs. Incel

With friend of the pod Joe back for more abuse, yr hosts chat Matt Reeves’s three hour incel turf war docu-drama, The Batman, wondering why it is Americans aren’t allowed to make or see good movies anymore.