Our Superdelgate patron tier has tasked us with discussed the sitcom THE GOOD PLACE, and it leads us down a dark and scary path of remembering culture and politics in the early Trump era. PLUS: Checking in with Garfield Eats, and Luke sounds off on Masters of the Air. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/510-2017-core-100993255

For decades, a cottage industry flourished in the subterranean depths of the American music industry: send a company your poem, and for a fee, they'll turn it into a song. Maybe the song will even be your entryway into the industry and the Billboard charts! But most assuredly it will not be. Was this industry exploitative? Did it produce art? What even is "art" anyway? We tackle all these questions and more as we discuss the documentary OFF THE CHARTS: THE SONG-POEM STORY (2003). Join us on...

An anti-imperial saga dreamed up by a Nixon-supporting conservative... a White Saviour narrative adapted to a time skeptical of White Saviours... folks, you could say that DUNE: PART TWO (2024) and its source material are a land of contradictions. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/508-spice-world-100540196

In 1991, over 100 of the the most famous singers, movie stars, an athletes in America got together to record a song for the troops in the first Gulf War. We take a visit to the consent-manufacturing factory and discuss the "apolitical" James Woods-hosted TV special VOICES THAT CARE: STAND TALL, STAND PROUD (1991). Watch the special here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1S_UNaWps&ab_channel=LeapingTrout Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week -...

Remember. Every day here, you're selling. Every thing you do, every interaction you have, every breath you take needs to be in the service of selling. But it shouldn't look like that. We're not that kind of store. Our customers don't appreciate being sold to. You should feel proud to work here. We discuss THE STORE (1983), by the god of cinéma vérité, Frederick Wiseman. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/506-merchant-100124429

Against the backdrop of the incredibly boring 2000 election, the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman went on a cross-country journey to see if George W. Bush or Al Gore represented America. The result was THE PARTY'S OVER (2001), aka THE LAST PARTY 2000 - that's right, it's an official sequel to the Robert Downey Jr-hosted documentary. We found many resonances between this fossil from the turn of the millennium and our current moment. PLUS: The Democratic Party primary, the fascist Italian...

In 1985, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie brought some of their most famous peers under the same roof to record "We Are the World." To some, the result was the epitome of tacky celebrity philanthropy culture. But for the makers of the new documentary THE GREATEST NIGHT IN POP (2024), it was exactly what that title says. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/504-requiem-for-99670227

What Dirty Harry Callahan did for the big city, Buford Pusser did for the rural south. We discuss the Silent Majority semi-classic WALKING TALL (1973), a Nixon-era Red State phenomenon that asks: who needs due process when you can carry a big stick? Good scenes from FRAMED (1975) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI8behel7BE&t=45s&ab_channel=BananasAboutMovies Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/posts/503-suggested-by-99355800

We've made a bit of a hobby of mining children's movies from the 1990s for ideology, so our Superdelegate patron tier sent us a challenge: discuss ANTZ (1998) and its vision of an anthill as an alienated '90s workspace. We happily obliged. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/502-rainy-day-in-99216863

In 1987, America was ready to look back on the Vietnam War... with laughter. We discuss GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (1987) and why it is one of the quintessential "boomer liberal" texts. PLUS: We check in on the state of Canadian politics (it's not good, folks). Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

We mark an auspicious anniversary in frankly self-indulgent fashion, by revisiting one of our mutual favorite movies: Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY (1982). We ask: does the future belong to Rupert Pupkin? And if so, how? PLUS: See, it started as a Michael Moore podcast... PATREON-EXLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/500-500th-98738387

The American healthcare system is broken, but why? According to Robin Williams in PATCH ADAMS (1998), it's because the medical profession has lost touch with the healing power of laughter. We discuss one of the most cloying movies of all time. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

We discuss THE MENU (2022) and its place in the context of the current wave of "eat the rich" cinema. PLUS: we discuss Walter Isaacson's new hagiography of Elon Musk, and Joe Biden's wildly successful "I'm fit for office" press conference. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

It begins as an "eat the rich" movie, but turns into something very different. We discuss the movie that is burning up TikTok, SALTBURN (2023), and its odd take on class mobility. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/497-oxbridge-98117512

We're in a contemplative mood on this episode, and there's no filmmaker better suited for such a mood than Yasujirō Ozu. We discuss his final film, AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON (1962), and how Ozu's seemingly narrow thematic and stylistic palette encompasses so much of the human condition. PATREON-EXLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/496-autumn-97874507

Are commercial considerations always doomed to taint art? And are commercial considerations really a taint? We discuss Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's meta-movie ADAPTATION (2002) and the artist/hack dichotomy. PLUS: We mark the passing of the world's most famous minimalist sculptor and murder suspect. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Can "anti-woke comedy" save America? That's what a conservative scribe for the Washington Times theorizes. We give the idea due consideration, and find some of the essential contradictions in conservative comedy. PLUS: Luke visits London, and tries to find the real London. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/494-joke-save-97392407

The world can't stop discoursing about it. Hillary Clinton herself has championed it. And our Superdelegate patrons specifically requested it. It time for us to turn our attention to the most discussed movie of the past year. We talk about BARBIE (2023). PLUS: We bid a fond farewell to Ron DeSanctimonious. "Seeking Social Democracy," the book Luke coauthored with Ed Broadbent, is available here: https://ecwpress.com/products/seeking-social-democracy-ed-broadbent Join us on Patreon for an...

When he emerged on radio, he was celebrated as a pioneering black star in a white entertainment landscape. By the time of the Civil Rights Movement, he was regarded by many a symbol of black subservience. In this solo documentary episode Cohost Will considers the career and thorny legacy of Eddie Anderson, the actor and comedian who played "Rochester" on The Jack Benny Show. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/96931714

Cohost Will asks your kind indulgence as he invites Jack Frayne-Reid (from the Reel Politik podcast) to has over one of his personal obsessions: the blockbuster 2014 Monty Python reunion show. They discuss MONTY PYTHON LIVE (MOSTLY) and how comedy can change and wilt under different social and political contexts. Check out Reel Politik - https://soundcloud.com/reelpolitikpodcast Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

The thing about mass culture is, it channels the ambient wisdom of its day. So we applied this theory to the new Willy Wonka reboot WONKA (2023) and looked to see what it said about our times. Friends... we were not disappointed. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/490-grindset-96483445

Your coworkers are spying on you. Your boss won't let you keep the expired food. The coffeeshop is charging you an arm and a leg to rent a laptop. In Aki Kaurismäki's funny and wonderful FALLEN LEAVES (2023), can a budding romance survive the everyday indignities of life under capitalism? PLUS: What would a British West Wing look like? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus TORONTO: See Will introduce The Dragon Lives Again (1977) at the...

From THE FLASH to SOUND OF FREEDOM and many more along the way, we look back at some of the movies that defined the podcast in 2023, and hand out the coveted Michael & Us Awards. What won Best Movie? Worst Movie? Dumbest Idea for the Podcast? Biggest Disappointment? PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/488-fourth-us-in-96020283

We ring in the new year by raiding the fridge for some holiday leftovers. It's become an annual tradition on this podcast to try to extract ideology from Tim Allen's "Santa Clause" franchise. With THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE (2006), we hit the motherlode. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

To celebrate Christmas (and at the behest of our Superdelegate patrons), we took a flight on Victor Ziegler's Lolita Express to a big mansion in Long Island, where we watched Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT (1999). We had a great time revisiting a movie that only gets richer and stranger with every viewing. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/95244713