Episodes
CONTENT WARNING
This episode contains extended conversations about sexual assault.
Unfortunately, due to professional and personal commitments, we've decided to conclude Snails & Oysters – for now at least. It's a series finale* because we both love this project and hope to bring it back one day. Until then, we've chosen a barnstormer of a movie to go out on: 1991's crime dramedy Thelma & Louise, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as the titular best friends, accomplices, and...
Published 02/16/23
In their last episode of 2022, Nat & Alli take it easy with a nice light Wes Anderson movie about... a broken family of egomaniacal has-beens, neurotic eccentrics, and semi-incestuous geniuses. Just in time for Christmas! The Royal Tenenbaums may have launched Anderson's mainstream success, but how does it hold up 21 years later? How does it handle Margot's bisexuality? And most importantly, why is Alli suddenly obsessed with AI?
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Published 12/15/22
Bust out your normcore, Nat & Alli are taking it back to 2010 with modern high school classic Easy A. Directed by Will Gluck and written by Bert V Royal, Easy A pays loving tribute to John Hughes and his contemporaries, rips shamelessly from John Hughes and his contemporaries, and talks a lot about John Hughes and his contemporaries. But is this a frankenstein of pop culture references or a member of a proud legacy? A progressive critique of patriarchal sex-shaming or simply a palatable...
Published 12/01/22
It's finally here. The movie you've been waiting for us to tackle and we have been avoiding like the plague. The bisexual's blight: Chasing Amy (1997). Of course, that's not what writer-director Kevin Smith set out to do, but BOY HOWDY it is what he did. Get the popcorn, this is one of those "Nat and Alli get mad" episodes.
Autostraddle, "My Rage at 'Chasing Amy' Helped Me Find My Bisexuality:" autostraddle.com/my-rage-at-chasing-amy-helped-me-find-my-bisexuality/
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Published 11/10/22
Who thought an Election Day special was a good idea in year of our Lord 2022? Only Nathaniel Grant Roberts, aka Booboo the fool. Join Booboo and Alli as they discuss Otto Preminger's capable adaptation of author Allen Drury's "conservative, paranoid fever dream" novel of the same name, starring Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, and a million indistinguishable white men. This is one of those "you don't have to watch, just enjoy our frustration" episodes.
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Published 11/03/22
CONTENT WARNING
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-- This episode includes conversations about sexualized violence, rape, and childhood SA. --
This week, Nat and Alli are taking a cozy little jaunt up to Sweden. We'll look at the fjords, ride the metro, and definitely overlook the country's seething undercurrents of fascism, racism, and misogyny...
Just kidding, we're talking about David Fincher and Steven Zaillian's unflinching adaptation of Stieg Larsson's brutal mystery/social commentary, The Girl with the...
Published 10/20/22
Nat and Alli kick off the countdown to Halloween right, by discussing Joel Schumacher's blood-soaked teen Vampire classic: The Lost Boys (1987). Although it's not explicitly bisexual, the film contains more queer eroticism than you can shake a stick at, particularly from Kiefer Sutherland as iconic bad boy David Powers. Along the way, we discuss 1980s paranoia around children, Schumacher's rollercoaster of a filmography, and what vampire stories can tell us about the culture that creates...
Published 10/06/22
CONTENT WARNING: Suicide. If you or a loved one are struggling, call the new National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 988.
Nat and Alli are delighted to be joined by video editor Annette Rainey to discuss 1961's The Children's Hour, starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as small town schoolteachers who are ostracized after a student spreads the rumor that the pair are lovers. The film is adapted from the 1934 play of the same name by Lillian Hellman, an ill-tempered Stalinist blacklisted...
Published 09/22/22
It's not just a city in Florida anymore! Nat and Alli sit down to discuss Sally Potter's 1992 adaptation of Virginia Woolf's 1928 fantasy novel, Orlando. Tilda Swinton stars as both male and female versions of the titular immortal as they explore life, love, and poetry throughout European history. Orlando celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year, coinciding with this year's Venice Film Festival where Orlando Debuted!
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Published 09/08/22
Nat & Alli are joined in the Snoysters studio by NYC playwright Victoria Provost to discuss Cloud Atlas. The Wachowski Sisters' and Tom Tykwer's 2012 adaptation of David Mitchell's 2004 novel of the same name, Cloud Atlas is a science fiction epic that blends six storylines separated by continents and centuries into the journey of a single soul/identity/consciousness. With an all-star cast all playing multiple parts, Cloud Atlas broke down the barriers between age, gender, and race,...
Published 08/25/22
Willkommen! And bienvenue! Welcome! Nat and Alli discuss Bob Fosse's 1972 classic Cabaret, which Roger Ebert termed the "movie musical for people who hate musicals." The final link in a chain of circuitous adaptations, Fosse's Cabaret centers on the intense relationship between actress Sally Bowles and writer Brian Roberts. Set in Weimar Berlin, their tangled love story intersects with issues of queerness, abortion, and fascism. So, you know, not at all relevant today.
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Published 08/11/22
Nat and Alli are just as c***struck by Yorgos Lanthimos's 2018 black comedy as when they first saw it in theaters – from the central performances by Weisz, Stone, and Colman; to the needle-sharp script by Tony McNamara and Deborah Davis; to the disorienting use of fisheye lenses. With three bisexual leads to discuss, our hosts are spoiled for choice as they discuss power, lust, and (possibly) love.
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Published 07/28/22
Nat and Alli cover a popular reinvention of a major superhero franchise that's previously struggled to find its cinematic footing, particularly its love interest because the actress said in an interview that she included the character's canonical bisexuality in her creative process (although the film's director was quick to clarify that this queerness wasn't officially part of the film's story). No, we aren't covering Thor: Ragnorak again, it's The Batman! The more things seem the same, the...
Published 07/14/22
Watch the full movie for free on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/SignalsThroughTheFlamesALivingTheaterDocumentary
Nat & Alli venture beyond their comfort zone of pop culture and sex puns to explore documentary ethics, avant-garde theatre, and anarcho-pacifism as they discuss Signals Through the Flames. This 1983 documentary centers on the founders of the Living Theatre, Julian Beck and Judith Malina. In the course of their nearly 40-year romantic and creative partnership,...
Published 06/30/22
Tempers flare as Nat & Alli butt heads over 2009's controversial twee anti-romcom (500) Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Is it an insightful satire of the romantic comedy genre or a half-baked hit piece written by a spiteful ex? Is Tom a charming but flawed lead or a raging psychopath? But the most important question of all is: Will Nat and Alli's friendship survive this episode?? (Yes).
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Published 06/16/22
Holy moly, a contemporary, realistic film with a bi lead where bisexuality is a big part of her life without becoming the sole defining feature of her characterization????? This is it, boys! The one we've been waiting for! Nat and Alli are thrilled to discuss Emma Seligman's debut feature Shiva Baby (2020), as its a hilarious comedy with rich imagery of food, sex, and (of course) death
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Published 06/02/22
DISCLAIMER: This episode contains a discussion of the aesthetics of fascism and how Top Gun can be read as a fascist film. To be clear, we are in no way suggesting that director Tony Scott, writers Jack Epps Jr. & Jim Cash, or any other person involved in the making of Top Gun is a fascist or holds fascist sympathies. Rather, our intention is to examine how fascist imagery and ideas infiltrate popular culture and prey on our emotions.
Nat & Alli feel the need for speed and there's...
Published 05/19/22
SPOILERS! For once that feels relevant, since this movie is still in theaters. Nat and Alli celebrate Snails & Oysters' first anniversary by discussing the best movie of 2022 and a strong contender for the best movie of the decade, the Daniels' sci-fi action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once. Tune in for discussions of the fractured experience of bisexuality and queerness, Albert Camus's rejection of nihilism and suicide, and Randy Newman as a singing raccoon. Support Snails &...
Published 05/05/22
It's the Snails & Oysters Spaghettageddon Extravaganza! Alli flew all the way out to LA just to eat fresh pasta and watch Brokeback Mountain with Nat and our special guest, TV writer Michelle Hsu! Listen in as Michelle initiates Nat and Alli into Brokeback lore, the trio reflects on the gentility and violence of nature, and everyone struggles not to weep openly on a hot mic!
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Published 04/21/22
Episode CW: Domestic violence, child abuse. If you or someone you know is suffering from DV, know that you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.
Nat and Alli discuss Dee Rees's exquisite feature debut, 2011's Pariah. After its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, Pariah launched the careers of Rees, star Adepero Oduye (12 Years a Slave, The Big Short), and cinematographer Bradford Young (Selma, Arrival). We discuss the complexity of home in...
Published 04/07/22
Nat and Alli are joined by filmmaker Peter AKA @gorbachev_simp to discuss David Lowery's 2021 fantasy film, The Green Knight. Adapted from the 14th century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," the movie leans into its source material's bisexuality subtext, while also questioning the Arthurian cycle's values of honor, masculinity, and chastity. The Green Knight video essay: youtu.be/Gmedp2ZvwBw
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Published 03/24/22
Nat and Alli celebrate Nat's mom's birthday with a completely irrelevant discussion of Bi the Way (2008), a road documentary directed by Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker. While the film itself is somewhat flawed, it serves as a window into early Aughts and the Bi Panic of Yesteryear. Nat and Alli discuss how far American popular consciousness has actually progressed in the past two decades, the never-ending cycle of moral panic, and deeply regrettable fashion trends of our youth.
Nat's...
Published 03/10/22
Nat and Alli are joined by Day 1 Listener and Friend of the Show, Alex Mannix, to discuss Ol Parker's surprisingly queer romantic comedy: Imagine Me & You. We discuss how vernacular has changed since 2006, the power of deviating from the romcom formula, and how we (not including Alli) all want to sleep with Matthew Goode.
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Published 02/24/22
Nat and Alli spend well over an hour gushing over Barry Jenkin and Tarell Alvin McCraney's 2016 coming of age drama, Moonlight. While sensitive lead Chiron is solidly coded as gay, his more confident love interest Kevin appears to be bisexual. How does that distinction separate Chiron and Kevin's experiences in childhood and high school? How does Kevin's sexuality play into his role as the "Elegba" of the film? What part does he play in Chiron's many metamorphoses?
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Published 02/10/22