Michael and Us

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/75275385 After fleeing the Swedish tax authorities, Ingmar Bergman briefly set up shop in Germany to make what is widely considered his worst film. We look at his Berlin-set, David Carradine-starring rise-of-fascism drama THE SERPENT'S EGG (1977) to find out if it's really as bad as all that. PLUS: What does David Brooks' taste in music tel...

Released shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Howard Hawks' SERGEANT YORK (1941) was an attempt to rouse popular support for America entering the Second World War. We excavate one of the biggest box office hits of its day and find a movie in which God and Country are pitted together, and Country wins. PLUS: we hash over some of the drastic and unhappy changes that have happened to our local...

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/381-fine-horse-74986287 The dystopia is already here in Boots Riley's SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (2018). This anti-capitalist comedy follows a telemarketer who is nearly seduced by a superstar billionaire. We discuss how the film identifies revolution as both necessary and nearly impossible. PLUS: musings on the end of Twitter and Chicago-based co...

We've gazed into the abyss many times before but the Ray Romano/Gene Hackman comedy WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (2004) - in which a former U.S. president runs for mayor against a small-town handyman - comes close to breaking us. PLUS: We recap the U.S. midterms, and ask: Is Ron DeSantis a serious threat to Donald Trump? (Short answer: no) Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week -

We finally felt lucky enough to discuss the grandaddy of right-wing law-and-order movies, DIRTY HARRY (1971). One thing is for certain: this is one cop who takes no guff from no one. PLUS: fiery hot takes on the U.S. midterms, the labour strike that is rocking Canada, and the future of entertainment. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Adam McKay's VICE (2018) sought to give Dick Cheney the full reckoning for his crimes through art that he will never receive in life. Is the film necessary cinematic intervention in the ongoing Cheney reclamation project, or a condescending failure? Your hosts disagree sharply on this cinematic polemic. PLUS: fiery hot takes on Elon Musk's Twitter takeover. "'Damn right,' I said" by Eliot Weinberg...

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/74048274 The terrible right-wing documentary RIDING THE DRAGON: THE BIDENS' CHINESE SECRETS (2022) attempts to argue that Joe Biden has used his diplomatic relationship with China to enrich his family. It's a theory that strikes us as basically true, but delivered with right-wing blinders. PLUS: on the political efficacy of throwing soup at...

PATREON BONUS - https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-brazil-w-73950546 Brazil’s extreme-right president Jair Bolsonaro might go down to defeat in the second round of presidential voting. But, win or lose, the political coalition he’s assembled may endure after October 30. In this interview, Luke talks to Vincent Bevins — who lived in Brazil from 2010 to 2016 and worked as a correspondent, wrote The...

In a distant future, a privileged ruling class lives in a city fuelled by an invisible army of workers who toil in barbaric conditions. Yes, this is the far-fetched scenario of one of the most iconic science-fiction films of all time, Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS (1927). We finally discuss the most famous of all Weimer-era movies, and debate whether or not the mediator between the head and the hand rea...

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/73759807 We discuss the chaotic state of British politics and the sudden end of the 44-day Liz Truss era; Alexandra Pelosi's surprise role in the January 6 hearings; and the very cheap pro-Donald Trump documentary TRUMPOCALYPSE NOW! (2017), another winner from Trump vs. the Illuminati director B.C. Fourteen.

We discuss death, bureaucracy, and postwar Japan in Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece IKURU (1952). PLUS: Everything you always wanted to know about Toronto's political culture (and upcoming municipal election) but were afraid to ask!

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/73406324 In this breezy and chill episode, your hosts compare notes on the craft of writing before getting into the most important topic of our times: a direct-to-streaming oddity called TRUMP VS. THE ILLUMINATI (2020). Cohost Will bravely watched this mysterious 69-minute movie on Tubi and is here to tell the tale.

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/73169180 In one of the most popular documentaries of the Michael Moore era, Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's for 30 days. We revisit SUPER SIZE ME (2004) and found - you guessed it! - a relic from a distinctly 2004 era of American liberalism.

In 2015, three American armed forces vets foiled an attack on a train to Paris. Three years later, Clint Eastwood enlisted the boys to re-enact their experience in a major motion picture. The result, THE 15:17 TO PARIS (2018), is a genuinely strange docu-fiction experiment that, yes, has a lot to say about America. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week and more bonus content - https:/...

PATREON EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/370-world-of-72907776 At long last, we have an extended discussion of a film by Wes Anderson. We discuss Anderson's political vision (or lack thereof) via one of his best films, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2013), and ask the question: What is Anderson nostalgic for?

The new documentary series UNPRECEDENTED (2022) seeks to offer an unfiltered look at the Trump family in the weeks before the 2020 election and the January 6 riot. We discuss how its thickets of editorial commentary obscure a potentially compelling look into America's former first family, and then have a laugh reading from Trump Jr's debut book "Triggered." Join us on Patreon for an extra episode...

PATREON EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/368-we-can-it-72470448 Our latest Superdelegate winner is Paul Verhoeven's demented blockbuster TOTAL RECALL (1990). We "get our asses to Mars" and discuss the film's future dystopia while also occasionally slipping into involuntary Arnold impressions.

Libertarian magicians Penn & Teller turn their gaze to the art world in TIM'S VERMEER (2013), a documentary that attempts to prove that, with just the right set of tools and a lot of money, one wealthy entrepreneur can paint a Vermeer. We discuss the bleak, empty void that is Penn & Teller's view of art. See Luke at the Toronto International Festival of Authors on September 27 - https://festivalof...

We mark Queen Elizabeth's passing by looking at towering work of royalist kitsch, THE KING'S SPEECH (2010). We discuss how this Oscar-winner humanizes the monarchy in order to uphold it. See Luke speak at the Toronto International Festival of Authors on September 27 - https://festivalofauthors.ca/event/critical-conversation-new-working-class/ Hear Will on Canadaland - https://www.canadaland.com/po...

PATREON EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/365-journeys-72120783 Luke finally returns to the podcast, and have we got a doozy of a movie for him. We return to the oeuvre of political scion Alexandra Pelosi and discuss DIARY OF A POLITICAL TOURIST (2004), a freewheeling account of the 2004 Democratic Party primary. It's both the worst and the best Alexandra Pelosi documentary we've w...

PATREON EXCLUSIVE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/71837828 At last - conservatives have made a movie about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Director Robert David (yes, the villain from Goonies) and Breitbart Media present MY SON HUNTER (2022), a feature film that alleges to expose the Bidens as an international crime family. Longtime friend of the show Chris Berube stops by to discuss why the bigg...

Popularly known as "one of the worst movies ever made," Ed Wood's GLEN OR GLENDA? (1953) was a pioneering attempt at progressive cinematic treatment of trans issues. It's also a film at war with itself. We're joined by special guest Valerie Faye to discuss why this extraordinary film is cinema's greatest depiction of "closet mindset." Join Michael & Us on Patreon for an extra episode every week -...

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/71449739 In the mid-'90s, a car dealership in Texas offered contestants a chance to win a free truck if they could perform one feat of physical and mental agility: keep one hand on the truck for longer than anyone else. The documentary HANDS ON A HARDBODY (1997) captures the contest in all its agony. We're joined by John Semley to discuss w...

One of the key films of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement, Glauber Rocha's masterpiece TERRA EM TRANSE aka ENTRANCED EARTH (1967) envisions a fictional Latin American country where the left- and right-wing parties both feed from the same trough, and asks what role art can play in revolution, if any. Friend-of-the- show Violet Lucca returns to place the film within the context of Brazil after the 1964...

PATREON EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/360-hitch-in-71080314 A new book collection, A HITCH IN TIME, brings together a wide range of writings by Christopher Hitchens from before his 9/11-era neocon conversion. Returning once again to one of our favourite subjects, we discuss how the essays show Hitchens at his best, while also foreshadowing the negative qualities that would come...