Gartbage Film

134: Conclave (2024) - Popes is Guys

Gar(t)bage is back with 2024's airport paperback papal political thriller, Edward Berger's CONCLAVE! We're learning Ralph Fiennes' full name, revisiting 3rd Rock from the Sun, and decide that every character in this film is a Pope, before discussing Catholicism and the Absolute Mysteries, power structures and rotting institutions, and what it means to stand for something instead of against something. Get ready to hear a lot about specificity becoming universality as we get into each pope's candidacy, the power of presenting alternatives in the face of certainty, and how much you have to screw up to have a sin named after you. And we're here to investigate: is John Lithgow's Father Tremblay Canadian? We're getting heavily into the ending and varying interpretations, so be warned of heavy spoilers! Next time, we're getting into Oscar talk with Paul Thomas Anderson's ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER!

133: The 2025 Trashies - Garbage Can Lid of Damocles

We're returning after a long unplanned break with the most important awards ceremony in film: the Trashies! Nick and Erin are running down their favourite performances of 2025, talk instrumental & song scores, and our best theatre-going memories of the year before discussing new-to-us discoveries and our top 5 of the year. It all leads up to the key questions of the year: how did they make Ethan Hawke just a little guy? Why is Josh O'Connor legally mandated to appear in every film? What's with all the dual roles (looking at you Robert Pattinson, Michael B Jordan, and Wagner Moura)? And just who is Damocles? But most importantly, who will take home the vaunted Golden Garbage Can Lid? Past winners include Nolan's OPPENHEIMER and Guadagnino's CHALLENGERS. Movies discussed - light spoilers on all of the below: BLUE MOON - Richard Linklater IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU - Mary Bronstein WAKE UP DEAD MAN - Rian Johnson BLACK BAG - Steven Soderbergh SINNERS - Ryan Coogler THE SECRET AGENT - Kleber Mendonça Filho ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER - Paul Thomas Anderson NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE - Matt Johnson NO OTHER CHOICE - Park Chan-wook THE NAKED GUN - Akiva Schaffer UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE - Matthew Rankin DEUX FEMMES EN OR (TWO WOMEN) - Chloé Robichaud MICKEY 17 - Bong Joon Ho

132: Bound (1996) - Butch Fatale

It's beginning to look a lot like Noirvember! This week we're getting steamy with the Wachowski's debut film, BOUND from 1996. Before getting into the film we're discussing the Wachowskis at large, their graphic novel and Hong Kong cinema influences, and how Bound was their Hollywood guarantor. This unique noir takes the Billy Wilder and Hitchcock influences and makes it the Wachowskis' own - we're breaking down the how's and why's, and how this feeds perfectly into the Matrix. Gina Gershon, Jennifer Tilly, and Joe Pantoliano are in the finest forms of their career, with Gershon and Tilly fighting over casting, and Joey Pants fighting to be nude on screen. Plus we learn how the crew became fluent in Wachowski as Susie Bright's proto-intimacy coordinating, Bill Pope's visuals, Zach Staenberg's editing, and Don Davis' music bring the sisters' style to the screen. Plus: sex, sex, SEX!

131: Interview with the Vampire (1994) - Rat Capri Suns

Our exploration of the spooky south continues with Neil Jordan's 1994 adaptation of Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE! We love the insane family dynamics of our vampire trio, and so this episode importantly praises Kirsten Dunst, is okay with Brad Pitt, is in awe of whatever Tom Cruise is doing, and is surprised by least erotic Antonio Banderas performance. We are of course finding a way to make this story about class, Nick compares Rice to Charles Dickens, and we ask the ultimate question: what does this have to do with Cher? Plus, more teenaged Erin lore surrounding her experience with this book, how this book and film changed fan fiction forever, and another edition of Graboid Onto These Facts. Next time on the pod we're getting into Noirvember with the Wachowski sisters' debut, BOUND! Note: there is a little audio hiccup around 46:00-47:00 -- it is temporary and does not occur throughout the episode.

130: Lone Star (1996) - Miller/Daddy Time

Hot off SINNERS last week, this week we're tackling a different kind of story about racial tensions in the south: independent filmmaker novelist John Sayles' neo-western mystery, LONE STAR from 1996! We're talking Sayles' career and how his fingerprints cover Hollywood from Roger Corman to ET the Extraterrestrial before diving into thoughts on the Alamo. And in our discussion of this film's themes and central mystery that deal with the grey areas of borders we all experience, we define once and for all what "politics in movies" means. The cast is all on fire, and we discuss how Chris Cooper plays subtext to the back walls, how we need to see more Elizabeth Peña & Joe Morton, how Kris Kristofferson is always scary, and how Matthew McConaughey has always been Daddy. Next time we're squeezing in something spooky just in time -- Tom Cruise goes southern gothic in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE!