This is not a love story.
By comparing the larger-than-life romance of Superman & Lois with the infamously toxic spectacle of Sid & Nancy, we reveal how love (when filtered through media and myth) becomes a performance. And in an image-obsessed culture, what happens to intimacy when it’s produced rather than lived?
10 Jul 2025
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park and Jurassic World are prophesies about modern technological hubris. From the endless continuation of the franchise to thrill-seeking expeditions, the line between wonder and ruin is a fine one.
28 Jun 2025
28 Years Later: The Trailer
Taylor Holmes's recitation of Rudyard Kipling's "Boots" provides the emotional core for "28 Years Later," transforming a historical recording into a chilling premonition.
15 Jun 2025
The Studio (2025) & The Player (1992)
This episode analyzes the film industry's self-mythology through the lens of "The Studio (2025)" and "The Player (1992)," revealing a cycle of belief and betrayal.
5 Jun 2025
Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold, Part 2
Eve Arnold's photography captures Marilyn Monroe's vulnerability and strength on the set of The Misfits, highlighting a rare collaboration built on mutual trust and consent.
31 May 2025
Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold, Part One
Eve Arnold's photograph of Marilyn Monroe reveals the scrutiny and rare stillness beneath the mid-century icon's stardom, capturing a moment of subtle agency.
23 May 2025
The Oscar (1966)
This episode analyzes the film "The Oscar" (1966), exploring its flaws and over-the-top production to reveal insights into Hollywood's mythmaking machinery.
21 May 2025
Academy Awards Illustrated (1971)
You probably didn’t expect the definitive history of Hollywood’s most prestigious night to be launched on a daytime talk show.
More than a record of categories, dates, and names, Robert Osbourne's Academy Awards Ilustrated is a tribute to the permanence of print in a culture obsessed with ephemeral media. It laid the foundation for Oscar commentary and scholarship in the decades that followed. It also highlights the disconnect between cultural memory and archival truth.
17 May 2025
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024)
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024) explores what it means to be born into a very bright spotlight, and what it takes to live up to it.
The 2025 DVD release from Kino Lorber offers audiences a chance to discover (or rediscover) a living legend while helping preserve her legacy through the power of physical media and independent film.
Please note: this episode contains spoilers.
16 May 2025
Judy (2019)
Dorothy Gale could click her heels and get back to her farm in Kansas. But for one of MGM's brightest stars, where exactly was she supposed to go?
Rupert Goold's Judy captures the iconic performer in the late 1960s. Defrauded, displaced, and out of options, she accepts a five-week engagement at London's Talk of the Town.Judy is a story about cost; the incalculable price paid not just for fame, but for performance itself. With the 2019 Blu-ray in hand, let's unpack the MGM myth, reveal the person behind the persona, and affirm the sacred contract between artist and audience.
Please note: this episode contains spoilers for the 2019 film, Judy.
12 May 2025
Judy Garland & Liza Minnelli: Together
Liza Minnelli didn’t intend on sharing the London stage with her mother. But, Judy Garland had other plans.
This episode explores how their mother-daughter duo at the London Palladium marked the beginning of a captivating and enduring shared legacy.
The reissue of Judy and Liza: Together (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/judy-liza-together-judy-garland/40850108%5C) is a marvelous example of “mother knows best” in action. And sixty years on, it’s clear that Judy’s ambush worked better than anyone could have imagined.
3 Sept 2024
Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong by Katie Gee Salisbury (Situations Wanted, Women - Episode Three)
Season One: Situations Wanted, Women highlights books about women in film that are also written by women. Our third episode discusses the 2024 biography, Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong by Katie Gee Salisbury.
14 Aug 2024
My Cousin Maria Schneider by Vanessa Schneider (Situations Wanted, Women - Episode Two)
Season One: Situations Wanted, Women highlights books about women in film that are also written by women. Our second episode discusses the 2018 book, My Cousin Maria Schneider: A Memoir by Vanessa Schneider. Here, we take a look at how Maria spoke up for women during her career, and the women who speak up for Maria now.
31 Jul 2024
Dying of Politeness by Geena Davis (Situations Wanted, Women - Episode One)
Season One: Situations Wanted, Women highlights books about women in film that are also written by women. Our first episode discusses Geena Davis' 2022 memoir, Dying of Politeness. Here, we take a look at Davis' mantlepiece - and her three Oscars that provide not only a timeline of her career; they also reveal a spectrum of womanhood through Davis’ experience in Hollywood and her relationship with the moving image.
10 Mar 2024
The Blood Cried Out: The Final Moments of "Killers of the Flower Moon" (2023)
Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" lays bare our shared consciousness - and the role of mass media within it. The three-hour adaptation of David Grann’s journalistic odyssey into the Reign of Terror demonstrates how the biopic and historical genres can heal old wounds while opening new ones.
However, it’s the epilogue, transporting us from 1920s Oklahoma to a live radio performance in the 1930s, that elevates the film from true crime reenactment to cultural reckoning. A line of just seven words underscores the profound and potent combination of memory and media. It’s also a call to action for integrity and literacy in a media-driven age.
31 Jan 2024
The Iron Claw (2023)
Amidst the riveting and high-stakes world of professional wrestling, The Iron Claw (2023) captures the unmatched resilience and haunting legacy of the Von Erich brothers. Told through the lens of the eldest and last surviving brother, Kevin, the quest for title glory driven by their domineering father is met with personal turmoil and a series of devastating losses.
21 Dec 2023
A Lovely Precious Dream: The Parallel Legacies of Chadwick Boseman and Lorraine Hansberry
Before Wakanda Forever entered the mainstream to represent longevity, respect, and identity - especially for those across the African diaspora - there was "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black."
Playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry, author of the landmark play A Raisin in the Sun, first coined the phrase fifty-eight years ago. Even though their lives never intersected, the legacies left behind by Hansberry and Boseman are both emblematic of a cultural turning point that has served as catalysts for social change and creative inspiration.
In this episode, we will highlight the real-life events behind Hansberry's seminal work, delve into Boseman's deliberate journey to Wakanda, and discuss how their shared legacies make powerful pleas for broader media representation.
21 Dec 2023
Very Good and Shockingly Evil: Jekyll, Hyde, and Horror at the Oscars
Before Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 talkie, nine silent U.S. productions attempted to bring Stevenson's commentary on the duality of human nature to the big screen. Often cited today as the most overlooked film genre during award season - especially on Hollywood's biggest night, horror broke through at the Oscars with March’s dual role as Doctor Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde.
In this episode, we will highlight career-defining adaptations of the gothic novella, take a closer look at the first horror film to win a top acting prize, and discuss how the current golden age of horror elevates the genre from industry outsider to award-season contender.
21 Dec 2023
De La Noche: Lupita Tovar & Universal's Drácula
For decades, Spanish Drácula (1931), the dual-language production of Universal's Dracula (1931) directed by Tod Browning, was considered a lost film. It would be Lupita Tovar, George Melford's leading lady, who would help carry the legacy of this once-forgotten production into the 21st century.
In this episode, we will trace Tovar's career from talent-search find to Hollywood matriarch, examine an industry aiming to use the new invention of sound to capture audiences abroad, and explain why Spanish Drácula is essential viewing.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
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Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
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YouTube
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Engagement
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