ACFmovie podcast

Titus & Angelo Codevilla talk about cancel culture as a tool of oligarchy & the way democratic politics could overcome it: Cancellation is a two-way street, the more it's wielded, the more oligarchs & their minions isolate themselves from the people.

Titus & Matt Shapiro (Polimath) talk about his data project on COVID--cases, deaths, state by state, across the US. We also talk about the great big good news story the media isn't dealing with well: America's vaccination success, which seems to augur a return to normal life--or a chance to put life back together again--by summer. (We also talk about Looney Tunes!)

Titus & Flagg discuss Andrzej Wajda's last movie, a portrait of Poland's most famous painter, Wladyslaw Strzeminski, his struggle against Communism, how tyranny destroyed him, & his activity as a teacher.

Titus & Oliver Traldi talk about slacking & slackers--music, movies, & the attitude of the 90s--how slack has been replaced by activists, therapy, & work; what there is to learn from slacking--how Socrates was a slacker; & why even serious endeavors require slacking, idleness, leisure, to afford inspiration.

Titus & Scott Yenor talk about his new book, The Recovery Of Family Life, the problem of loneliness, lack of marriage character, & of a public education that puts career above anything else. Feminism is a great success in achieving what it promised--autonomy, freedom, choice--but not so when it comes to happiness...

Titus & Pete Spiliakos continue their discussion on rhetoric & politics with criticism of the corruption of political institutions & the need to create a new political elite, that's populist & interested in governing.

Titus & Pete Spiliakos talk about Peter Lawler as pundit, how he influenced Pete as he became a pundit, Peter's realism about political matters & the distinction between politics & rhetoric. Then we talk about our political drama.

Titus & Armond White discuss Spielberg, America's preeminent pop artist, the most important Hollywood director of the last half-century, & Armond's new collection of essays & reviews on Spielberg.

Titus & Flagg Taylor talk about A Hidden Life, the new Terrence Malick movie, a beautiful portrait of faith & sacrifice, as well as an examination of the political corruption of the simple life of peasants in light of Plato's Republic. A true story!

Titus & Zena Hitz discuss The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, the last of our series of five Sturges comedies--going back to war, small town America, & rescuing losers from their fate, Sturges employs the powers of comedy to save a girl from the dishonor of being pregnant without a husband & a young man from the dishonor of failing to serve in the war, rededicating America to babies, hope, & peace in t...

Titus & Zena Hitz discus Preston Sturges's war comedy--how the military transforms America into a very fun, very rambunctious democracy, & a small town boy can become mayor! Down with the business oligarchy, up with the public spirited--this is his most Capra-esque story.

Titus & Brandon Weichert discuss space power, the new space race & America's vulnerabilities, the new generational conflict with China, the need for a new vision & a transformation of national security bureaucracies & political leadership in D.C. to defend American assets in orbit & the need for a new high tech manufacturing push, with government R&D, to give the young generation something worth d...

Titus & Zena Hitz talk Sturges' very popular solution to the money problem in a marriage--be astonishingly beautiful & not too moral. Money & images are twin themes in America, in politics as much as in the movies, since we're all trying to figure out what we want, what we're chasing after, & how to get it. We also talk about Zena's other love--Frank Capra, & a preview of coming attractions...

Titus & Zena Hitz talk about The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges's most wonderful romantic comedy, or The Pratfall of Man. Comedy may seem an unlikely candidate to fix the problems of modern woman, but Sturges suggests, this is the way to the altar.

Titus & Carl Eric Scott talk about Peter Lawler & PostModern Conservative, the dissident conservative blog where we began our work of cultural criticism, Carl in music criticism, me in movies, sometimes overlapping. We talk about Peter's Tocquevillian insights & manner of looking at America, about The Restless Mind, & wrap up with Carl's Rock Songbook.

Titus & Armond White & Matt Zoller Seitz & Godfrey Cheshire talk about their new book of film criticism, covering the 1991-2011 period, & the 90s in cinema--the new works by the masters of the 70s, the new indie cinema, & the new possibilities of film criticism at that time, just before print collapsed & everything was reduced to content...

Titus & Flagg Taylor talk about the late Peter Lawler--his Tocquevillian teaching & his comic manner of reaching his audience, some of his impressive or amusing observations, & our friendship at Postmodern Conservative, Peter's attempt to offer liberal arts thought to the broad audience.

Titus & Tom Harmon talk education guided by Peter Lawler's thoughts--about what's wrong with America's cognitive elites, the new ruling class, how come it's got such a powerful effect on conservative and Republican elites, too, and how we might help conservatives who opt for homeschooling and classical schools.

Titus & Lucas Morel talk about the professor's new book on Lincoln & the Founding--the needed civic education for our times, the teaching of equal freedom & natural rights, its importance for Lincoln, the greatest American, & its relevance to our times & the tyrannical temptations undermining equal protection of the laws today.

Titus & Jody Bottum & Armond White discuss novels & cinema, adaptations, when & how the movies improve on literature, as well as the difficulties facing the translation of narration into performance.

Titus & Paul Seaton remember the late Peter Lawler on the anniversary of his birth. We talk about his intellectual development--his broadening interests from American politics through Tocqueville to French thinkers like Manent & del Sol, as well as through Pascal to Augustinian theology--but always in the service of understanding & helping along the great American experiment.

Titus & Pete Spiliakos offer our third annual report on the catastrophic oligarchy in our two parties, with special attention to the suicide of the Republican party, which won everything in 2016 only to succumb to zombie Reaganism...

Titus & Brian Smith talk about Peter Lawler's example of generosity, his teaching of relational being, & how to think about our crisis in light of Tocqueville's insight that the American mind is restless, anxious, even miserable in the midst of prosperity.

Titus & Gregory Collins talk about his book on Edmund Burke's political economy--manners & commerce, America & France, empire & freedom. Burke is a founder of modern political conservatism, a modernizer & a liberal, but one dedicated to preventing the madness of revolution & preserving tradition as much as possible.

Titus & Dan Mahoney talk about Peter Lawler's reflection on the human being as person--both individual & relational, defined by wondering & wandering, not fully at home in the world, but at home with homelessness inasmuch community make being a self-conscious mortal being worthwhile.