Mobtown Shank:

First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
I suppose I have a thing for radical priest movies.

Let the Corpses Tan (Helene Cattet & Bruno Forzani)
Q: Can you get high on Meditarianian views? A: Yes.

Bombshell: the Hedy Lamarr Story (Alexandra Dean)
Join me at the altar of Hedy Lamarr

(Ed. Note: There's also a pretty decent Hedy Lamarr bio graphic novel that came out this year too)

Witkin & Witkin (Trisha Ziff)
This is an important art documentary.

Phantom Thread (P.T. Anderson)
Luxuriate in this movie.

Damsel (Zellner Bros)
The Zellners are everything the Coens used to be and then some.

The Reluctant Radical (Ken Ward)
This is an important documentary.

Boom For Real (Sara Driver)
Jean-Michel Basquiat!

Las Sandinistas! (Jenny Murray)
I saw this documentary gem at MDFF!

Time Trial (Finlay Pretsell)
Just when you think you’re saturated with cycling-steroid stories, think again.

December 12, 2018 in Best Ofs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Best of 2018: Podcasts

Top 6 Podcasts Of 2018

by Bob Atkinson

The Dream (Stitcher)
Style - Investigative Reporting
Host Jane Marie dives deeply into the history and cultural impact of multi-level marketing (MLM) organizations like Amway and Avon that are totally NOT pyramid schemes. Think of them more like triangles of prosperity. Can you picture yourself at the top of the triangle? If not, you're weak and a loser and deserve those dozen boxes of unsold laundry detergent in your garage.
Money episode - Episode 2 - Women’s Work, wherein MLMs as path to female empowerment is explored.

Bagman (MSBNBC)
Style - Episodic History
The resignation of Maryland's own Spiro T. Agnew from the Vice Presidency in 1973, the overlooked under card to Watergate, gets explored by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. It's more than a little heavy-handed in making parallels to today's climate of political corruption, but nevertheless riveting, fun, and full of batshit craziness.
Money episode - Episode 6 - A Disappearing Act, wherein Agnew is convinced Nixon has put a hit out on him.

In the Dark (American Public Media)
Style - Episodic True Crime/Investigative Reporting
In the Dark is the best of the Serial spawn and host Madeleine Baran deserves a heap of Poddys for Season 2's super deep dive into the heartbreaking Mississippi case of Curtis Flowers, who has been tried SIX FUCKING TIMES for the same quadruple murder and currently on death row.
Money episode - Episode 7, wherein the host visits a defaced plaque dedicated to Emmett Till's murder. The past isn't dead.

Reply All (Gimlet)
Style - Tech/Internet Culture
Does online culture make you feel 10,000 years old and/or stupid? Reply All can't help with that. What it can do is unpack certain memes and explain that sub-culture you might have heard about so you at least feel that it's not all complete gibberish for a few minutes.
Money episode - Episode 131 - Surefire Investigations, wherein a complicated Tweet involving Gritty, the Philly Flyers' scary-ass mascot, is unraveled.

Heavyweight (Gimlet)
Style - Personal Stories
Jonathan Goldstein, a former This American Life reporter, helps people fix or come to grips with things in their pasts that have haunted them. It doesn't always work out, but it's always funny, touching, and vaguely Canadian.
Money episode - Rob, wherein actor Rob Corddry battles his entire family over whether or not he had broken his arm as a kid.

Mueller She Wrote (Independent)
Style - Political
The Trump Family Crime Syndicate has created a cottage industry for podcasters. Mueller, She Wrote, hosted by troika of female comics, is the best, funniest, and most comprehensive of the lot. They aren't journalists or lawyers, just super-smart and detailed-oriented obsessives who are really good at predicting what Bobby Three Sticks is going to do next.
Money episode - Whatever the newest one is.

December 12, 2018 in Features | Permalink | Comments (0)