Lytt til The Next Picture Show

Comparing 1996's FROM DUSK TILL DAWN to the new SINNERS can feel a bit like, as Scott puts it, comparing “Chopsticks” to Beethoven’s Fifth. But Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s sleazy vampire flick was clearly on Ryan Coogler’s mind when crafting his own film about a pair of brothers who spend one fateful night defending a nightclub from an invading horde of the undead. Coogler’s film also has much more on its mind beyond that pulpy premise, which we’ll get into next week, but for now we’re digging as deep as we can into the shallow pleasures and frustrating shortcomings of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, from the awkward but arguably endearing performances from George Clooney and Tarantino as fugitive brothers, to the moments that test the limits of Rodriguez’s run-and-gun filmmaking approach — and yes, of course we have to talk about the foot stuff, too. Then in Feedback, we respond to a couple of listeners pushing back on some of our Cronenbergian categorization in the last pairing.  Please share your thoughts about FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, SINNERS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net [comments@nextpictureshow.net], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Intro: 00:00:00-00:06:57 From Dusk Till Dawn Keynote: 00:06:57-00:11:55 From Dusk Till Dawn Discussion: 00:11:56-00:54:04 Feedback/outro: 00:54:04-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Over the decades, David Cronenberg has carved a distinctive and provocative filmography out of his interest in human decay and death, up to and including his new THE SHROUDS, a late-career entry in the writer-director’s body-horror canon. It’s a film that left some of us confounded in a way that our returning guest, critic Charles Bramesco, might argue is part of its Cronenbergian appeal; but placing it next to THE FLY in Connections clarifies how much it’s simply an evolution of the same pet themes Cronenberg has been circling since 1986 (and earlier), from overlapping obsessions with the mutability of bodies and technology, to the horror and guilt of watching a loved one deteriorate before our very eyes. And in Your Next Picture Show, we’re inspired to talk over another recent, highly personal project from an elder-statesman auteur that received a mixed reception, and which we never got to cover on the show: Francis Ford Coppola’s MEGALOPOLIS. Please share your thoughts about THE FLY, THE SHROUDS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net [comments@nextpictureshow.net], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Ryan Coogler’s SINNERS and Robert Rodriguez’s FROM DUSK TIL DAWN Intro: 00:00:00-00:02:00 The Shrouds discussion: 00:02:04-00:26:23 The Shrouds/The Fly Connections: 00:26:24-00:59:16 Your Next Picture Show: 00:59:17-01:03:15 Next episode preview and goodbyes: 1:03:16-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The way David Cronenberg’s new THE SHROUDS splices together unsettling ideas about technology and bodily transformation made us think of… well, a lot of his filmography, but the film’s visceral interest in how the human body decays feels directly connected to the director’s unlikeliest hit, his remake of THE FLY. We’re joined this week by critic and our nascent “gross and scary” correspondent Charles Bramesco to teleport back to 1986 and examine what lies beneath the rotting flesh of THE FLY, from its tender central relationship to its oozing physical effects to its Howard Shore score, that makes it a distinctly Cronenbergian grossout. Then in Feedback, a listener uses our recent discussion of THE THIN MAN to broach a bigger question about what we value most in our mystery stories.  Please share your thoughts about THE FLY, THE SHROUDS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net [comments@nextpictureshow.net], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Intro: 00:00:00-00:03:38 The Fly Keynote: 00:03:39-00:08:18 The Fly Discussion: 00:08:19-00:44:11 Feedback/outro: 00:44:12-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

BLACK BAG, Steven Soderbergh’s latest 90-minute collaboration with writer David Koepp, is in theory a sprawling international spy thriller, but in practice it’s a more intimate study of how a marriage can thrive in an environment where trusting your spouse is considered a weakness. This week we talk about how that genre disconnect works for and against BLACK BAG, before bringing in this pairing’s companion film, 1934’s THE THIN MAN, to compare how Nick and Nora Charles’s bantering, crime-solving partnership compares to the cooler, less boozy charms of Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender’s married spies. Then for Your Next Picture Show, we reach back to one of this podcast’s very first episodes to cannibalize a recommendation for a film that we’ve already covered on the show, but was too clear an inspiration on BLACK BAG to ignore. (And really, is there ever a bad time to recommend WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?)  Please share your thoughts about THE THIN MAN, BLACK BAG, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net [comments@nextpictureshow.net], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next pairing: David Cronenberg’s THE SHROUDS and THE FLY Chapters: Intro: 00:00:00-00:02:04 Black Bag discussion: 00:02:04-00:29:03 Black Bag/The Thin Man Connections: 00:29:03-00:58:35 Your Next Picture Show: 00:58:35-01:04:50 Next episode preview and goodbyes: 1:104:50-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Steven Soderbergh’s new BLACK BAG is a spy thriller, sure, but it’s also the story of a marriage, and watching its sophisticated central couple banter their way through a sprawling mystery, it’s hard not to be reminded of one of cinema’s most enduring and endearing crime-solving couples, Nick and Nora Charles. So this week we’re going back to their film debut, 1934’s THE THIN MAN, to see how W.S. Van Dyke’s (barely) pre-Code crime caper balances the effervescent charm of its hard-drinking stars against the plot mechanics of a murder mystery, and whether any of the film’s many supporting players ever manage to steal the spotlight from Nick, Nora, and their disobedient dog Asta. Then in Feedback, a listener writes in with a notable omission from our recent discussion of STARSHIP TROOPERS. Please share your thoughts about THE THIN MAN, BLACK BAG, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net [comments@nextpictureshow.net], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Chapters: Intro/favorite movie dinner scenes: 00:00:00-00:08:44 The Thin Man Keynote: 00:08:45-00:15:43 The Thin Man Discussion: 00:15:44-00:56:44 Feedback/outro: 00:56:45-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]